Where to start: volume or definition?

One of the issues that generate greater doubt in the weight room any gym, especially among people who start in this world, is not quite sure where to Get Started How volume or definition? We know our purpose, but not the way forward.

It is true that the process to reach a good definition will come marked largely by physical condition we left and the genotype of each own, but what is certain is that in order to define muscle, we must first create it.

How to start if you are new: the first 6 months

If you are a beginner in the world of weights and your goal is to achieve, over time, a good state of definition, as “Holy Norma” you must start with a touchdown: a learning period .

Regardless of the percentage of body fat which initially rend it , to achieve the goal it will be necessary to employ about six months of training adaptation (at least, and can be extended up to one year) that allows us to learn the technique, cadence and appropriate frequencies, As well as to handle different intensities and workloads.

During this period should not only get to lose body fat stored initially, but will enter a gradual process of muscle gain , always following a balanced diet normocaloric.

Period of adaptation passed: walking towards the volume stage

Once we have done this learning stage six months / one year, we will serve as contact, it is normal that we focus to start the volume period as yet not have enough muscle to define.

At this stage we follow what will be a high – calorie diet in which metamos 10% -20% of our metabolic rate by first calculating our metabolism and applying the appropriate rate for each individual activity.

Ideally , we start with a high calorie diet by 10% . If we see that it is not enough, then we will increase up to 20% increase. If, for example, we start from a normocaloric diet of 2500kcal, during the adaptation stage, we can raise it to approximately 2800kcal in the volume period.

The goal to make a good step is to achieve optimal volume but controlling and rise not spend 20% body fat or 22% maximum . This fact is important that we bear in mind when following the diet volume as if We passed and we, for example, 30% body fat during the stage volume, spend too much time on stage definition can lose some of the muscle mass gained.

To lead a good stage it is important that you consider some key training volume in terms of number of weekly workouts, muscle groups, basic exercises and series.

The time that we will dedicate to the stage of volume is not going to be something fixed, since it will depend on each person and the evolution that has experienced. So once we go seeing results, around four, five or six months, we will recognize when we’ve reached the shapes and the optimum volume to start with the next step .

Prepared for the last stage: to be defined!

We have followed a process of adaptation and learning, followed by a volume stage that has allowed us to create the optimal muscle we need. If we have followed a training and proper diet, we are more than ready to begin the definition phase and good training guidelines.

The definition stage should not be too long, since the more time we devote to the definition the more fat we lose, but also the more muscle (something we are not interested in). Thus, as a general rule, we can follow a plan of definition that encompasses from about seven weeks until a dozen at most.

What really makes the difference between stage volume and the definition will not be the exercises, but the diet. If we want to gain muscle, as we have said, we must do a hypercaloric diet, while if we want to lose fat we will have to follow a hypocaloric.

In the case of routine can even be exactly the same, yes, finding logical variations in intensity, periodization, strength routines or repetition factors that create and determine various and alternative workouts.

CONCLUSIONS

In people with experience in this process, it is easy to know and clearly limit the time in which to move from one stage to another; but for people who start, they can be a pattern of guidance on how to approach a correct path to the definition.

If anything is clear it is that everyone is different and will respond in different ways to the same process, as each will be influenced by other factors as may own genotype . For this reason, a person may have more or less difficulty in lowering or gaining weight, or in the muscle gain itself, depending on whether it has an ectomorph or endomorph genotype.