Building Muscle While Maintaining 8 Pack Abs – Is It Possible?
If you’ve been working incredibly hard and have finally achieved 8 pack ab status, you may be thinking of changing your goal set and spending some time working on building more muscle mass.
You know that to lose body fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit to utilize stored fat as a fuel source. To build muscle mass however, you need to be in a calorie surplus to generate this new tissue with.
Obviously these two don’t go together, so you choose to focus on fat loss first. Now that you’ve achieved your goal, you want to maintain those abs, but wonder if it will be possible to do so while building muscle.
Let’s look at what you should consider.
The Rate Of Muscle Growth
The very first thing that you will need to keep in mind if you’re wondering about building muscle while maintaining 8 pack ab status is the rate of muscle growth you will experience.
If you want to pack on lean muscle as fast as you possibly can, expecting to stay just as lean as you are right now is not realistic. As you will want to be maximizing your calorie intake (within reason) so that you do build muscle to your full capacity, this means you may have extra on some days that do get converted into body fat.
As long as you are reasonable with your calorie surplus, you shouldn’t be adding pounds and pounds of fat, but some gain would be expected.
On the other hand, if you do want to stay very lean, then accept the fact that your rate of muscle growth will be sacrificed. You’ll be building muscle to the tune of one pound or less per month, so won’t be seeing dramatic changes in any significant time frame.
As long as you can keep this in mind, you can help yourself stay more realistic.
The Type Of Diet Utilized
Second, also take into account the diet that you’re going to be using. The leaner you want to stay while working on building muscle, the more precise you’re going to have to be with your diet plan. This means tracking each calorie that goes in along with timing your nutrient intake perfectly.
Some people prefer to use muscle building periods as a time when they can relax and be less anal about their diet, but this doesn’t quite align with the goal to stay as lean as you possibly can.
The Lean Versus Shredded Effect
Finally, take note that you need to understand the difference between ‘lean’ and ‘shredded’. Being highly shredded to the point where you can see superior definition between all eight abs is going to require added effects such as water depletion and likely carb depletion. This will not be possible if you’re trying to create an anabolic environment to build muscle in, so something that you can’t sustain.
Keeping yourself lean – possible.
Keeping yourself shredded – not.
Pay attention to the difference.
So there you have some of the most important tips to remember about the ability to build muscle successfully while staying lean. If you’re smart in your approach you should see good results in your quest but you do need to stay realistic at the same time.
Four Alternatives Flours Your 8 Pack Ab Diet Plan
If you’re seeking 8 pack abs and are someone who likes to bake, it’s important that you start thinking of some of the smart substitutions that you can use in your diet to continue on with your baking while staying lean.
Flour is one item that you’ll definitely need to remove as it’s a simple carb that will only add unwanted calories and hinder your fat loss progress.
So what can you use in replacement of white flour? Let’s look at a few alternatives to give you some ideas.
Oat Flour
The first type of flour that will be good for those who are performing intense workout sessions and do need more carbs in their diet plan is oat flour. Oat flour is high in fiber and will be a source of complex carbs, so it won’t break down in the body and spike blood glucose levels to nearly the same extent as regular flour would.
You can either purchase oat flour already made or if you like, prepare it yourself by grinding up some oats in a blender until a very fine consistency is reached.
Coconut Flour
Second, another flour to consider adding to your diet in replacement of white flour as you do your baking is coconut flour. Coconut flour is going to have the advantage of being lower in carbs and higher in fats.
The form of fat you’ll see in coconut flour is a medium chain triglyceride, which does act slightly differently in the body and will be great for helping to boost your energy level.
This fat is far more usable as a source of immediate energy than the calories from other fats are, making it a smart move for those performing intense workouts as well.
Brown Rice Flour
Brown rice flour is the next flour variation that you might want to consider. This flour is going to provide more fiber than regular flour would and is also gluten free, so excellent for those who are following gluten-free diet plans.
Brown rice flour is going to make for a good substitute for most recipes, but do note it may not rise up as well as regular flour would.
Almond Free Flour
Finally, the last type of flour that you might consider is almond flour, commonly called almond meal. This is another good low carb alternative to regular flour that will be high in monounsaturated fats, helping to improve your heart health.
Since there are very few carbs in almond flour, you also won’t see a spike to your blood glucose level followed by a crash like you typically would.
So next time you’re getting ready to do some baking, consider these options instead of regular flour. Flour is one ingredient that you definitely should look at replacing as often as you can and these all provide suitable substitutes.
