Training, Strength & Muscle Building
Andrew Griffiths
Max sets per muscle group per session 

The data shows that up to 6-8 sets per muscle group, the gains continue to rise, but beyond, we get hit with a pretty hard plateau – it's clear that more work doesn't always equal more gains, and can even be detrimental.

Max sets per muscle group per session 

Training

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Losing fat

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Why am I struggling to lose fat?

Now, this post is not for everyone, this post is for those of you who feel like you have tried everything and have never fully understood why it's not working. 

 

You no longer need to keep stressing over this, as it will, without doubt, be one of these three issues:

 

1- Poor or no Nutrition Plan (eating/drinking too much)

 

2- Poor or no Training Plan (training with no structure and training like a fairy)

 

3- Medical Condition 

 

Once you have ruled out number three with a trip to the GP, you can be quite sure that it’s number 1 or 2, or likely a mixture of the two. This might feel like some harsh truths, but the amount of people who have started working me with the illusion that they have tried everything is simply unbelievable.

I know far too many people who are struggling and getting frustrated that they’re not losing fat but have no idea how many calories they’re consuming each day, this is like complaining that the recipe you followed tastes like crap, yet you didn’t actually follow the instructions. 

 

Let’s step into the shoes of someone who has “tried everything”, they don’t drink much, they train 4 times per week and hardly eat at all.

This is usually what this person week looks like:

- They don’t eat much…yet each evening they have a dessert containing upwards of 500 calories. 

- They train four times per week…yet they don’t follow a plan, so they don’t train at all, they workout 4 times a week, trust me there is a difference.

- They don’t drink much…yet this weekend they did get drunk because it was their best friends birthday, actually the weekend before they celebrated a christening…..you can see where I’m going with this.

 

Let’s say your evening treat adds up to 300 calories, you have that 5 days a week, it ends up being 1,500 calories, now let’s factor in the 4 Jaeger Bombs on the weekend (632 calories)….. I love Jaeger Bombs…and then the 4 pints (720 calories). Oh, let’s not forget the Big Mac meal you had as a “1 off treat” (1,120 calories). Maybe this is an exaggeration….maybe not, but you can see how easily a week can escalate, due to these little extras we have added an extra 3,972 calories to our week!

A big issue I find is that people who eat like this think it’s normal, they think that they have just been dealt a slow metabolism hand. “All my friends are stick thin and they eat the same as me”, how do you know the eating habits off all your friends? Yes, they might go out every weekend the same as you, but they are a lot more active in the week as they don’t have an office job, or they only have an evening treat on a Friday, yet you have one every day. People will see a snapshot of someone’s life and think it’s their normality. 

Let’s take me for example, I eat out most days on the weekend, and I’ll likely treat myself to the odd Costa panini and maybe the odd chocolate in the week. However, I train 4 times a week…. I mean properly train, I drink a ton of water, I’m very active through the days, most months I don’t drink any alcohol, my regular meals and my calorie intake are inline with my goals.

So, this is not me saying that you should completely eliminate all these treats because as you can see, I don’t! What I am saying is that you need to be a bit more self-aware of what you’re doing through the week and how that will affect your body composition. You need to take control of your body and mindset and not let anything hold you back from what you’re aiming to achieve!

Not losing fat
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The Dumbbell Lateral Raise

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The Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Stand with the dumbbells by your side or to your front with your shoulders pinned back. Without any swinging, lift the dumbbells to your side with a slight bend at the elbow, continue to go up until your arms are parallel to the floor and then pause for a second. Lower the dumbbells back down slowly whilst maintaining constant tension.

Training Plan Template

What makes a good training plan?

I often get asked how I structure my training plans, now this is something that will be completely tailored to the individual, we have got to take their age, weight, training experience, goals, posture and movement patterns into consideration. Having said that, I’ve put together a workout plan here that will give you a good idea as to how to structure your fat loss training plan to help reach your body composition and fitness goals.

A1 - Dumbbell walking lunges | 10 Reps x 3 | 50 seconds rest

B1 - V-grip cable row | 12 Reps x 3 | 40 seconds rest

C1 - Lying leg curl | 12 Reps x 3 |  40 seconds rest

D1 - Incline dumbbell bench press | 12 Reps x 3 | 40 seconds rest

E1 - Seated tricep press | 15 Reps x 3 | 30 seconds rest

E2 - Alt dumbbell bicep curls | 10 Reps (each arm) x 3  | 45 seconds rest

F1 - Dead bugs | 40 seconds x 3 | 20 seconds rest

F2 - Ortis ups | 40 seconds x 3 | 20 seconds rest

G1 - Rowing machine | 200m x 4  | 40 seconds rest

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Once you have completed your workout you should be feeling awesome! 

You might now be thinking how you can design your own plan, well if this is the case we need to look into what the prefect rep range might be.

This is a very common question and it’s not the first time I’ve touched on this subject.

Let’s get straight into it.

High Reps (12-15):

Burn more calories 

Medium Reps (8-12):

Optimise muscle building 

Low Reps (4-8):

Strength

Okay, so if my goal is fat loss then it makes sense for me to perform a higher amount of reps to burn more calories, correct? Well not really!

If you want to lose fat, you should be trying to develop a decent amount of muscle tissue (in the gym), the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolic rate. 8-12 reps are gold when it comes to hypertrophy (muscle development). You can very effectively hit all three mechanisms of hypertrophy (three mechanisms of developing muscle):

- Mechanical tension (high resistance)

- Metabolic stress (pump/cell swelling) 

- Muscle damage (stretch)

 

Okay, so if my goal is fat loss then it makes sense for me to perform between 8-12 reps, correct? Well not really!

Possibly the biggest factor when it comes to muscle building is mechanical tension, putting enough resistance through your muscles to force them to develop. You will need to use heavyweight, therefore you’ll need to perform fewer reps (4-8 reps) to optimise this mechanism.

 

Okay, so if my goal is fat loss then it makes sense for me to between 4-8 reps and lift heavier, correct? Well not really!

You’ll need to have plenty of rest between sets when lifting very heavy, so you won’t be burning a high amount of calories.

 

I can hear the shouts....”Andy……I’m confused…..How many reps will help me to lose fat??’

 

Well, you need an element of all three. You can include each element in each of your gym sessions e.g heavier at the start, or a more effective plan would be to incorporate this through phases /cycles. 

 

Example: 

- Month one mainly higher reps with the odd strength session

- Month two mostly medium reps with the odd bit of strength work

- Month three should be strength-focused, I don’t mean spending the full session training between 4-8 reps, instead, start the session with heavy compound exercises like squats or deadlifts (after your warm-up of course), then increase the reps through the session. Once you come to the end of this phase you should have increased strength, that would be the goal of this phase.

 

Here is an example of how you could structure these sessions:

Month one full-body example session:

A1 - Leg press - 12 reps x 3

B1 - Cable row - 12 reps x 3

C1 - 45 degree hip extension - 12 reps x 3

D1 - Seated shoulder press - 15 reps x 3

E1 - Lateral raises - 15 reps x 3

Month two full-body example session:

A1 - Front squat - 10 reps x 3

B1 - Bent over row - 10 reps x 3

C1 - Lying leg curls - 10 reps x 3

D1 - Military press - 10 reps x 3

E1- Horizontal cable pull - 12 reps x 3

F1 - Dead bugs - 15 (each side) x 3

Month three full-body example session:

Online PT.jpg

A1 - Barbell back squat - 6 reps x 5

B1 - Cable pull down - 8 reps x 4

C1 - RDL’s - 8 reps x 4

D1 - Barbell bench press - 10 reps x 4

E1 - Cable tricep push down 12 reps x 3

F1 - Rowing machine 200m x 5

Now, a big thing you need to consider when putting your training plan together is how likely you are to stick with that plan, if you do the same session every single day then this will be completely soul-destroying. You need to consistently mix it up (month by month) allow every workout to take you one step closer to where you want to be.

Disclaimer - You must consult with a medical or fitness professional before starting any new exercise and nutrition programme.