The basics of muscle definition or cutting in the Natural Body Building

Bodybuilding or Body Building (from English: physical culture) is a motor activity that exploits:

• training with overloads (traditionally free-body exercises and / or with dumbbells, barbells and isokinetic machines)
• and a particular diet (not always in line with the requirements for a correct and healthy diet)

• low percentage of fat mass (Low% Body Fat Mass)
• high percentage of lean mass (High% Body Fat Free Mass).

Although Body Building is often confused with other disciplines that use gym training, the goals that characterize the various activities are far from similar; bodybuilding seeks exclusively for aesthetic improvement, while Weightlifting (activity that includes two specialties: Strappo e Slancio) and Power Lifting (a discipline that focuses on maximum lifting in three exercises: Squat, Bench press and Ground detachment) ) aim to achieve maximum athletic performance.

• The increase in muscle mass and the definition or cutting (from English: cutting, refining, stripping) are the two main phases of bodybuilding.

While the increase in mass, as can be guessed from the term itself, is aimed at increasing the muscular dimensions [above all following chronic hypertrophy and "pump" (transient spraying)], the definition of muscle or cutting aims at the goal to reduce to a minimum the thickness of adipose pannicles (measurable by detecting the percentage of Fat Mass or% Body Fat) and the interstitial aqueous "film" present between the dermis (deep layer of the skin) and epimysium (membrane that surrounds the muscle).

Obviously, the difficulty in achieving maximum muscle definition depends equally on:

1. Quality of the starting body composition
2. Individual preparation
3. Supply

With regard to the quality of the starting body composition there is very little to say; cutting (although in this case it would be better to call it weight loss) results in absolute terms (kg lost) much simpler, faster and more effective in conditions of overweight or obesity (Body Mass Index [BMI]> 24.9) compared to a normopeso organism that must reduce the Body Fat% (% BF) below the physiological limit or individual "set-point" (balance point of the body mass). This means that in general weight loss and muscle definition (maintaining a constant diet and physical activity) never follow a linear trend; indeed, far from it. The drop in fat mass tends to slow down drastically as we go below 15% in men and 24% in women. This metabolic reaction generally occurs for two reasons:

1. The organism interprets the decrease of the adipose mass as a critical situation and reacts accordingly lowering the basal metabolism
2. The body interprets the calorie reduction as a critical situation and reacts accordingly by lowering the basal metabolism

At the same time, there is an individual arrangement that determines the aesthetic orientation and body composition; this parameter is commonly called somatotype (Sheldon 1940) * and depends on the anthropometric characteristics of the subject (skeleton and lean mass / fat mass ratio). The somatotype differs in the following way:

• Endomorphic: narrow shoulders and wide hips, soft body, high body fat and viscerotonic
• Mesomorphic: muscular, mature appearance, thick skin, correct and somato-tonic posture
• Ectomorphic: youthful appearance, high, not very muscular, intelligent and cerebrotonic

* // www.my-personaltrainer.it/somatotipo.htm

It is however necessary to remember that the simple individual predisposition can interfere in the muscular definition for the achievement of excellent aesthetic results, but does not significantly affect the maintenance of a normal body mass, where per normal (normal weight) means:

• Males: IMC 18.5-24.9 with percentage of fat mass approximately 15%
• Fertile females: BMI 18.5-24.9 with percentage of fat mass approximately 24%

Aware of the fact that reducing the BF% beyond the lower limit of the normal weight is NOT an improvement of the state of health, but on the contrary, it can represent a negative stress for the organism (in relation to the individual set-point), it is advisable to face cutting in the least critical way possible. To do this, it is essential to optimally manage the power supply and the time required to reach the desired definition level.

Basic food cutting rules

1. The muscular definition involves the energetic combustion of the storage fats, therefore it is fundamental to favor a slightly negative energy balance (energy balance = introduced food energy - metabolic energy consumed). Despite all the "novelties" that have emerged in the field of physiology, endocrinology, chronobiology, etc., the concept remains the same: fat is reduced if cellular combustion exceeds the energy introduced. What must however be kept in mind is that the balance must NEVER be too negative, for two reasons: 1) avoid lowering the metabolism 2) maintaining a certain applicability of the diet avoiding the early abandonment of the subject. A good compromise could be the dietary contribution of 10% less than the calories indispensable for maintaining normal weight. This can be achieved either by limiting certain foods (thus reducing the calories introduced) or by increasing energy expenditure (for example, by including a mild daily aerobic activity such as uphill walking).

2. Once certain levels of BF% have been reached, the simple, slightly low-calorie diet is no longer sufficient; at this point the Natural Body Builder must intervene on the details. The first trick is undoubtedly that of splitting meals as much as possible. Starting from a minimum of 5 to 7 meals a day, the bodybuilder must make the most of the energy expenditure induced by digestion. In this way, in addition to favoring the activation and maintenance of body metabolism, insulin peaks are minimized (mainly induced by large meals and excessive portions of refined carbohydrates with a high glycemic index) responsible for the adipose deposit and post-prandial lipolytic block .

3. No less important, food choices; obviously, in this phase of the definition, junk foods and baked desserts have been lost for a while now! In cutting it is essential above all to preserve the muscle mass reached during the training year, therefore, the protein fraction that ranges from 1.2 to 1.5g / kg of desirable or real weight (depending on the subject's body composition). be divided into all meals of the day; assuming 100 or 120g of protein per day, it would be appropriate for at least 15-20g to be present in every meal of the diet. Let me be clear, this does not mean that increasing the aforementioned increases the mass of the muscle nor that in this way the lean mass is completely preserved from catabolism during cutting; however, the right protein intake can in the best possible way limit the damage caused by the muscle definition phase. At the same time, it is not possible to reduce carbohydrates too much as their protracted deficit negatively affects the neoglucogenesis deriving from the amino acids of muscle proteins; it is however possible to concentrate them in the most favorable moments for their metabolism, that is: in the morning, before training and (absolutely within the first hour and even better if in the first 15 minutes). NB. The greater the volume of aerobic activity introduced in the training table, the greater must be the intake of carbohydrates in the diet. With regard to fats, better if kept between 25 and 30% of total calories but of good quality; it is advisable to prefer unsaturated and in particular polyunsaturated lipids, perhaps with a ratio between essential omega3 and omega 6 fatty acids of 1: 4 or better 1: 3. Vitamins and salts must necessarily reach the levels of daily requirement and, for this purpose, it is advisable to evaluate their integration through a nutritional interview with a professional in the sector (sports dietician, sports dietitian, sports nutritionist or sports doctor). In all this, the supply of water and dietary fiber must absolutely not be neglected; the fiber (in a quantity of about 30g per day) favors the modulation of the alimentary glycemic index and promotes the cleaning of the intestine from faecal waste, while water is essential both to guarantee the development of maximum performance in training and to guarantee the potential recovery and maintenance of renal function.

At the moment, there are no known training strategies with overloads that facilitate muscle definition more than others, even if the empirical practice suggests how to insist with the training of a specific sector during cutting (eg abdominal area) may favor the much discussed weight loss in that area. Therefore, in the cutting phase it is advised to simply follow training tables characterized by a low number of repetitions (max eight) with a high recovery between the series (up to 3 '), in order to take advantage of the anaerobic alactacid metabolism ( creatine phosphate energy substrate - CP) and to minimize muscle glycogen reserves; the rest-pause (pause for relaxation between the repetitions) could represent a particularly suitable technique.

In conclusion, reporting these strategies does not presume to summarize in a few lines over 40 years of experience in cutting Natural Body Building, however, they can constitute an important starting point that will certainly find further corrections through the increase of personal experience and length of training.