There is an opinion that only men need drying. For example, to emphasize the worked muscles of the torso and other parts of the body. However, this set of measures is also popular among women. Yes, you can hardly come to work in a short top and shorts, but why not to the fitness center? In the end, it is enough for many that they like the reflection in the mirror. What reasons motivate girls is not such a pressing question. More interesting is how to get a beautiful relief shape without compromising your health.
What is body drying and why is it needed?
Cutting is a period during which a person reduces the percentage of fat in the body, while trying to preserve muscle mass and strength to the maximum.
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In bodybuilding, cutting traditionally follows after gaining weight. A bodybuilder first builds muscle through strength training, a calorie surplus, and plenty of protein. Then, when there is already enough muscle, the calorie intake is reduced. As a result, the percentage of fat decreases, and the relief becomes more distinct.
Weightlifters, powerlifters, boxers and other athletes also go through this period and are forced to adapt to their weight categories. In this case, the goal is not a beautiful muscle definition, but the desired number on the scale while maintaining strength indicators.
Regardless of the purpose, drying methods and the body’s reaction to this stressful period are approximately the same. Therefore, the rules for effective weight loss will not differ.
The Need for Sports Supplements
During drying, you need to resort to the use of sports supplements, the list of which is quite extensive.
- Protein is a basic sports supplement containing proteins and amino acids. It is necessary to replenish insufficient amounts of vitamins in the body. Sugar-free whey isolate is recommended for use. The cocktail replaces a full meal.
- Creatine is necessary specifically for increasing muscle mass. But its action is based on replenishing muscle mass with water, so it is not recommended to use such supplements during drying. You won’t be able to achieve relief, but you will be able to gain mass.
- BCAA contains a large number of amino acids that are not produced by the body on its own. The substances act as a blocker in the process of muscle destruction.
- L-carnitine is a lightweight fat burner that simply helps with the burning process by increasing strength and energy, as well as increasing body temperature. Recommended for use half an hour before training.
- Fat burners – fat burners with the ECA complex are recommended for use. The action is aimed at dulling the feeling of hunger. The compositions have a large number of contraindications.
Before use, it is recommended to consult with specialists regarding the choice of a particular sports supplement.
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What happens to the body during drying
The universal rule for losing weight is: to reduce your fat percentage, you need to create a calorie deficit. In other words, consume less than you spend. It doesn’t matter how it is achieved: reduced calorie content, increased activity, or all together. If the body lacks energy, it begins to burn fat reserves.
It is considered Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation that to lose a kilogram of fat you need to spend 7,716 kcal. It turns out that this can be achieved in a month if you cut your daily diet by 250 calories. And if you limit yourself even more, for example by 500 kcal, you will burn 2 kilograms.
It sounds logical, but when it comes to the body, mathematical models don't work. The problem is that our body is perfectly adapted to survive in starvation conditions and has a number of Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete metabolic adaptations:
- Energy waste is reduced . In response to a lack of calories, the body reduces the production of thyroid hormones, including triiodothyronine, which regulates metabolic rate. As a result, you spend less energy both on maintaining life and on physical activity.
- Hunger is increasing . Cutting calories and losing weight reduces levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that regulates satiety. And the concentration of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, increases. As a result, you feel hungry all the time.
- Muscles are burned . A lack of calories reduces levels of the anabolic hormones insulin and testosterone Moderate energy restriction with high protein diet results in healthier outcome in women and increases the concentration of cortisol, a glucocorticoid that promotes the breakdown of muscle tissue. As a result, you lose muscle mass along with fat.
The more scarcity you create, the more pronounced these adaptations become. Moreover, they persist even after you increase your caloric intake back. That is why, when coming off strict diets, people, as a rule, quickly return to the previous weight or gain even more, and frequent drying of athletes increases the risk of excess weight.
Thus, the main task during drying is to avoid metabolic adaptations of the body to hunger. And the main way to do this is to take it gradually.
Which fruit and vegetable dryer to buy
The correct choice is based only on the needs of the user. Based on the experience of buyers and the opinions of experts, we can draw up a brief set of recommendations:
- Any type of dehydrator is suitable for drying fruits and vegetables from the garden, including without additional temperature settings. Such dehydrator dryers for fruits and vegetables are inexpensive and are often purchased for home or garden use.
- A wide temperature range and precise settings allow you to make marshmallows, yoghurts, candied fruits, dried meat and fish. This feature is supported only by medium and high-priced devices.
- If the volume of food is large, you should not take a compact dryer for 4-6 pallets. For such purposes, capacious models with 10 or more trays are needed, which process more products in less time.
- Models with a vertical heater require user participation - due to uneven heat distribution, it is necessary to periodically swap trays. There are devices with a special design of pallets that partially solve this technical feature.
The top best dryers for fruits and vegetables include only reliable and proven devices that have proven themselves in use. Therefore, when choosing and purchasing one of them, it is enough to focus on technical and design features, as well as cost.
How long should body drying last?
Both the Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation scientists and the trainers of The Complete Guide to Bulking and Cutting, How To Plan Your Strength Training While Cutting (Ultimate Guide) agree that it is most effective to lose 0.5– 1% of body weight per week. This speed allows you to avoid a strong decrease in metabolism, lose fat and at the same time maintain and even increase Effect of two different weight-loss rates on body composition and strength and power-related performance in elite athletes muscles. At the same time, it is worth taking into account your own characteristics.
The higher the percentage of body fat, the less Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise muscle you will lose on a diet.
So, if you have a high percentage of body fat, you can use more aggressive diets in the first weeks of cutting to lose 1.5% of your body weight per week. Provided proper nutrition and training, such a speed will not lead to loss of muscle mass.
Over time, when the percentage of body fat decreases, it is worth Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation to switch to a softer diet so that Changes in psychological state and self-reported diet do not go away during various phases of training in competitive bodybuilders muscles. In the second month, aim for a loss of 1% of weight per week, in the third - 0.5% per week.
If you want to dry yourself and are not tied to any deadline, there will be no problems. Just watch your weight and adjust your caloric intake so that you lose no more than a kilogram per week.
If you need results by a certain date, start drying 8-12 weeks before it. It is not recommended How To Plan Your Strength Training While Cutting (Ultimate Guide) to continue cutting beyond this period: even with a small calorie deficit, a long diet will negatively affect your metabolic rate, the percentage of muscle mass and your performance.
Where to start drying
The whole process begins with the formation of a nutrition system and defining goals for achieving a beautiful body. To do this, record your weight and volumes and understand your nutrition. Having studied the list of permitted products, it is recommended to create your own list that suits the athlete’s taste. From the collected list, they make up their diet for the week, completely excluding carbohydrates.
It is important! It is recommended to first undergo examination by doctors to identify diseases that become a contraindication for burning fat in the presented way. If they are not there, a doctor or trainer is consulted about the prepared diet and then they practice nutrition with training under the careful supervision of specialists.
How to regulate nutrition when drying the body
To lose the desired percentage of weight per week, you need to reduce your caloric intake. In order to preserve muscles, you need to choose the right percentage of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Below we will explain how to do this.
How much to reduce calories
To get started, cut your daily calorie intake by 250–300 kcal and watch the results. If you start losing 0.5-1% of weight per week, maintain this regimen until the weight stops. If there is no progress, you can add more physical activity, such as 2-3 cardio sessions per week, and see if the pounds come off.
If there are no results, try reducing your intake by 500 kcal per day. With the correct ratio of macronutrients and strength training, such a diet will not lead to loss of muscle mass.
If your weight still doesn't change, try adding more physical activity or looking for another problem. For example, lack of good sleep, high stress levels or hormonal imbalances.
If you start losing more than 1.5% of your body weight per week, it's worth reducing your deficit to slow down your weight loss and maintain muscle.
How much protein, fat and carbohydrates to consume
The most important macronutrient for drying the body is protein. It enhances A randomized crossover, pilot study examining the effects of a normal protein vs. high protein breakfast on food cravings and reward signals in overweight/obese “breakfast skipping”, late‑adolescent girls feeling full and accelerates Presence or absence of carbohydrates and the proportion of fat in a high‑protein diet affect appetite suppression but not energy expenditure in normal‑weight human fed subjects in energy balance metabolism, and also helps maintain positive Whole-body protein utilization in humans protein balance. This is a condition in which muscle protein synthesis exceeds protein breakdown.
Most bodybuilders and athletes during cutting consume A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes, Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation 2.3–3.1 g protein per kg of body weight without fat. This indicator can be calculated using “smart” scales with bioimpedance analysis. If you don't have access to these, use a calculator with average values for men and women.
You can also find out the right amount of protein by your overall body weight. Research data show that 2.4–2.5 Pronounced energy restriction with elevated protein intake results in no change in proteolysis and reductions in skeletal muscle protein synthesis that are mitigated by resistance exercise, Anabolic and catabolic hormones and energy balance of the male bodybuilders during the preparation for the competition, grams of protein per kg of body weight is enough to protect the body from muscle loss under hypocaloric conditions.
It is important to monitor the amount of fat. They are necessary in the diet to avoid hormonal imbalances during drying. In particular, to maintain normal testosterone levels, consume Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation of at least 15–20% of calories from fat.
Carbohydrates are needed to maintain high performance during training. Calculate the required amount of proteins and fats, and finish off the remaining calories with carbohydrates.
If you notice that your performance has dropped dramatically, increase your carbohydrate intake at the expense of fat and see how it affects your performance and weight.
Features and Recommendations
Burning fat using the presented method has many conflicting reviews from nutritionists.
Therefore, you should consider the most common questions in this topic:
- Fat deficiency is a huge loss for the body, since fats are necessary for normal cell metabolism. Deficiency leads to dry skin, deterioration of nails and hair. The lack of the proper amount of fat leads to stagnation of bile, and in girls, a cessation of the production of estrogens (hormones necessary to regulate the menstrual cycle).
- The need for water - water is required not only during training in large quantities, but also for the normal functioning of the body. The calculation of water when drying the body is 30 ml per kg of weight and an additional 15% to the obtained value.
- Regulation of glucose levels - often with a complete refusal of glucose, dizziness and weakness occur. If you have a similar problem, it is recommended to eat 25 g of dark chocolate with a cocoa content of at least 75%.
- Dairy products are prohibited because they contain milk sugar, which turns into glucose.
If it is not possible to give up dairy products or sweets for a long time, it is better not to adhere to drying at all.
How to exercise while drying your body
To preserve muscle, it is important to continue strength training and make it no less intense than before cutting. You can also add cardio exercises to burn extra calories, but on the condition that they will not reduce your performance in strength exercises.
How to do strength training
You should not change your work mode for many repetitions with light weights. You'll use cardio to burn calories, but the goal of strength training remains the same - to provide your muscles with the stimulus to grow.
Use the following Recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: Resistance and cardiovascular training regimen:
- Train each muscle group twice a week. You can use four-day or five-day splits.
- Perform 6–12 reps per set at 70–80% of your one-repetition maximum (1RM). On average, do about 40-70 repetitions per muscle group per workout.
- Rest 1-3 minutes between sets.
- Do not use sets to muscle failure on complex multi-joint movements such as squats, deadlifts, standing and bench presses, and bent-over rows. You can only use them in simple single-joint movements on small muscle groups.
Exercise your body hard, but remember that your body is under stress due to lack of nutrition. If you feel like you can't finish a set with good technique, quit. It's better not to finish it than to get injured.
How to do cardio
Cardio is a great way to increase your calorie deficit, but you shouldn't get carried away with aerobic work.
Long cardio sessions tire out the central nervous system (CNS) just as much as strength training. As a result, you will spend more calories, but at the same time reduce Concurrent training: a meta‑analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises, High volume of endurance training impairs adaptations to 12 weeks of strength training in well‑trained endurance athletes the volume of strength training and lose muscle mass.
Do no more than 4-5 cardio workouts per week. If your strength levels drop, reduce the amount or time of aerobic exercise.
You can also replace long-term cardio with high-intensity interval training - they will burn a lot of calories and spend less time on exercise. With regard to the effect on the central nervous system, short intense loads are less Effects of fatigue duration and muscle type on voluntary and evoked contractile properties, Mechanisms of fatigue differ after low- and high‑force fatiguing contractions in men and women, Central and peripheral fatigue in male cyclists after 4-, 20-, and 40‑km time trials are more expensive than long work at an average pace. But you still shouldn’t do HIIT every day: due to the high intensity, the risk of injury increases, especially if you also do strength exercises.
You can alternate between different types of aerobic exercise, such as two long sessions at a moderate pace and two HIIT sessions per week. In any case, perform cardio after strength training - this way you will go into the weights with fresh central nervous system and will be able to perform the necessary volume to maintain the muscles.
Allowed products for dry consumption
While following the presented system, the following food products are allowed:
- chicken (only skinless fillets are allowed);
- beef and veal;
- rabbit;
- quail meat;
- turkey fillet;
- chicken eggs without yolk;
- quail eggs;
- tuna, hake, pollock;
- squid, mussels, shrimp, clams;
- water, coffee and green tea - without additives.
Stevia can be added to tea and coffee.
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How to recover
In addition to nutrition and training, it is very important to provide the body with all the conditions for high-quality recovery. Here are some important points.
Sleep at least 7–8 hours
Lack of sleep increases ghrelin levels Interactions between sleep, stress, and metabolism: From physiological to pathological conditions, which increases hunger and cravings for sweet foods, negatively Insufficient Sleep Undermines Dietary Efforts to Reduce Adiposity affects protein balance, slows recovery and reduces your ability to lose fat.
Learn to deal with stress
Chronic stress increases cortisol levels and reduces A Link Between Sleep Loss, Glucose Metabolism and Adipokines levels of adiponectin, a hormone that is involved in the breakdown of fat. You cannot influence external factors, but you can change your reaction to them. To do this, for example, master relaxation techniques - meditation and breathing practices Effect of short‑term practice of breathing exercises on autonomic functions in normal human volunteers, Abbreviated Resonant Frequency Training to Augment Heart Rate Variability and Enhance On‑Demand Emotional Regulation in Elite Sport Support Staff
Follow your diet
Irregular meals are another stress for the body. Eat Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation 3–6 times a day at approximately the same time.
Try recovery techniques
Get a massage An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis , use a massage roller THE EFFECTS OF SELF‐MYOFASCIAL RELEASE USING A FOAM ROLL OR ROLLER MASSAGER ON JOINT RANGE OF MOTION, MUSCLE RECOVERY, AND PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW, start taking BCAA Amino acids and central fatigue - all of these methods help reduce delayed muscle pain, avoid stiffness and loss of strength 24-72 hours after power loads.
