Is it possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time? The answer is yes. But people often say that you need to eat more to gain muscle, and you need to eat less to lose fat. How can you do it at the same time? Well, these two goals can be pursued simultaneously. According to one study, men who sat for long periods were able to reach their VO2 max while also increasing their bench press and leg press reps. Do you want to achieve similar goals? You can continue reading.
This article will introduce you to a highly effective leg and abs workout to help you build core and lower body strength and muscle mass. As we all know core muscles and legs are the foundation for all physically demanding tasks in our daily activities, having strong muscles and abs can also enhance your physique and make you look stronger and healthier.
The leg and abs workout introduced in this article targets your legs and core muscle groups, which not only helps you strengthen your lower body but also burns fat and shapes your abdominal muscles. Know that your legs contain the largest muscle groups in your body, so hitting your leg muscles with compound movements through a leg and abs workout will work for more muscle groups and increase your heart rate so your body Can use the fat stored in the body to burn calories. Legs and abs workout is an ideal complement to leg exercises.
How to Count Calories to Match Your Fitness Goals
Counting calories is a practical approach to managing your nutrition and achieving specific fitness goals, whether it’s weight loss, muscle gain, or maintenance.
Determine Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR):
Your BMR is the number of calories your body needs to maintain basic physiological functions at rest.
Use an online BMR calculator or consult with a healthcare professional to estimate your BMR based on factors such as age, gender, weight, height, and activity level.
Set Your Daily Calorie Goal
Once you know your BMR, determine your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) by multiplying your BMR by an activity factor that reflects your daily physical activity level.
For weight loss, create a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than your TDEE. A deficit of 500 to 1000 calories per day typically results in a safe and sustainable rate of weight loss, translating to about 1-2 pounds per week.
For muscle gain, consume a calorie surplus by consuming more calories than your TDEE. A surplus of 250 to 500 calories per day is often recommended for lean muscle growth.
Track Your Caloric Intake
Use a food diary, mobile app, or online tool to track the number of calories you consume each day.
Be meticulous about recording portion sizes and ingredients to ensure accuracy.
Pay attention to both macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to maintain a balanced diet.
Consider Nutrient Timing and Quality
While calories are crucial for managing weight, prioritize nutrient-dense foods to support overall health and performance.
Aim to include a balance of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, and adequate hydration in your diet.
Consider timing your meals and snacks around workouts to optimize energy levels, recovery, and performance.
The Burn Fat and Build Muscle Training Plans
In these abs workout plans, you’ll alternate periods of heavy and low-rep leg and abs workouts to build muscle and burn calories toward your muscle-building and fat-loss goals. This type of exercise increases the body’s metabolism by regulating muscle endurance and strength. By combining your efforts with meal planning, creating a training plan that simultaneously targets fat loss and muscle building requires a careful balance of resistance training, cardiovascular exercise, and proper nutrition, which may seem like a good idea.
Resistance Training
* Focus on compound exercises: Compound exercises engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, making them efficient for building muscle and burning calories.
* Aim for a mix of heavy lifting (low reps, high weight) and moderate-weight, high-rep exercises to stimulate muscle growth and endurance.
* Perform resistance training sessions 3-4 times per week, allowing at least 48 hours of rest between sessions targeting the same muscle groups.
Cardiovascular Exercise
* Incorporate both steady-state cardio and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) into your routine.
* Steady-state cardio (e.g., jogging, cycling, swimming) helps burn calories and improve cardiovascular health.
* HIIT involves short bursts of intense activity followed by brief rest periods and is effective for both fat loss and muscle preservation.
* Aim for 2-3 sessions of steady-state cardio and 1-2 sessions of HIIT per week, adjusting based on your fitness level and goals.
Nutrition
* Focus on a balanced diet that includes lean protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and plenty of fruits and vegetables.
* Eat a moderate calorie deficit to promote fat loss while providing enough energy for muscle building and recovery.
* Aim for a protein intake of around 1.6-2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight to support muscle growth and repair.
* Stay hydrated and limit processed foods, sugary drinks, and excessive alcohol consumption.
* Consider timing your carbohydrate intake around workouts to fuel your training sessions and support recovery.
Rest and Recovery
* Incorporate active recovery days into your routine, such as yoga, walking, or light stretching.
* Listen to your body and adjust your training intensity or volume as needed to prevent overtraining and injury.
Progressive Overload
* Keep track of your progress and adjust your training plan accordingly to ensure consistent improvement.
Leg and Abs Workout: The Exercises
1. Deadlift
How:
1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with the barbell set on the floor in front of you.
2. The bar should be positioned over the middle of your feet, with your toes pointing slightly outward.
3. Bend at your hips and knees to lower your body and grasp the bar with an overhand grip (palms facing you) or a mixed grip (one palm facing you, one palm facing away).
4. Drive through your heels and push the floor away as you stand up, lifting the barbell.
Why:
The deadlift is a compound abs workout that primarily targets the muscles of the lower back, glutes, hamstrings, and core.
2.Squat
How:
1. Keep your chest up, shoulders back, and core engaged to maintain stability throughout the movement.
2. Begin by hinging at your hips and pushing your buttocks back as if you were sitting back into a chair.
3. Continue lowering your body until your thighs are parallel to the ground, or as low as you can comfortably go while maintaining proper form.
4. Keep your knees aligned with your toes and avoid letting them collapse inward.
Why:
The squat is a fundamental abs workout that targets multiple muscle groups, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. It’s considered one of the most effective exercises for building lower body strength and muscle mass.
3.Glute Bridge
How:
1. Lie on your back on a comfortable mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
2. Keep your arms extended along your sides with your palms facing down for stability.
3. Activate your core muscles by gently drawing your navel toward your spine. This helps stabilize your pelvis and protect your lower back throughout the movement.
4. Press through your heels and lift your hips off the ground until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
Why:
The glute bridge is a simple yet abs workout for targeting the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and lower back muscles. It’s particularly beneficial for improving hip stability, strengthening the posterior chain, and enhancing overall lower body strength.
4.Barbell Roll-Out
How:
1. Start by placing a barbell with weight plates on the floor.
2. Kneel behind the barbell and grip it with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart.
3. Your knees should be directly under your hips, and your arms should be fully extended, keeping your shoulders directly over your hands.
4. With control, begin to roll the barbell forward by extending your arms and reaching the barbell away from your body.
5. Continue rolling the barbell forward until your body is fully extended, and your arms are overhead.
Why:
The barbell roll-out is an advanced abs workout that primarily targets the rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and obliques. It also engages the shoulders, arms, and lower back muscles to stabilize the body throughout the movement.
5.Incline Gym Ball Plank
How:
1. Place a stability ball on the ground and position yourself in front of it.
2. Kneel and place your forearms on top of the stability ball, keeping your elbows directly under your shoulders.
3. Extend your legs behind you and position your toes on the ground, creating a plank position with your body.
4. Lift your knees off the ground and straighten your legs, coming into a plank position on the stability ball.
5. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your heels, with your forearms resting on the stability ball and your elbows bent at approximately 90 degrees.
Why:
The incline gym ball plank is a variation of the traditional abs workout that adds an element of instability, engaging more muscles, particularly the core stabilizers. Performing this exercise on an inclined surface, such as a stability ball, increases the challenge by requiring greater activation of the abdominal muscles to maintain balance and stability.
6. Hanging Knee Raise
How:
1. Locate a stable pull up bar dip station that is high enough for you to hang from without your feet touching the ground.
2. Stand underneath the pull up bar dip station and reach up to grip it with both hands, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Use an overhand grip (palms facing away from you) or an underhand grip (palms facing toward you), whichever is more comfortable.
3. Hang from the bar with your arms fully extended and your body straight.
4. Keep your core tight and your legs together as you exhale and slowly lift your knees upward toward your chest.
5. Inhale as you slowly lower your legs back down to the starting position, allowing them to fully extend but not completely relax.
Why:
The hanging knee raise is a great abs workout that primarily targets the lower abs, but also engages the entire core and stabilizing muscles.
7.Plank
How:
1. Begin by getting into a prone position on the floor, face down.
2. Position your elbows directly beneath your shoulders, with your forearms resting on the floor parallel to each other.
3. Extend your legs behind you, resting on the balls of your feet.
4. Tighten your abdominal muscles and brace your core to maintain a straight line from your head to your heels.
5. Ensure that your shoulders are stacked directly above your elbows, with your shoulder blades pulled down and back to engage the muscles of your upper back.
6. Squeeze your glutes to keep your hips level with the rest of your body. Avoid letting your hips sink toward the floor or hiking them up toward the ceiling.
Why:
The plank is a foundational abs workout that targets multiple muscle groups, including the abdominals, obliques, lower back, and shoulders. It’s highly effective for improving core strength, stability, and endurance.
Can You Superset the Leg and Ab Workout?
You can superset leg and ab workouts to create an efficient and effective workout routine. Supersetting involves performing two exercises back-to-back with little to no rest in between. This approach not only saves time but also keeps your heart rate elevated, leading to increased calorie burn and improved cardiovascular fitness.
Select Your Exercises
Choose a variety of leg exercises to target different muscle groups, such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, leg presses, or calf raises. For abs, opt for exercises like crunches, leg raises, Russian twists, planks, or bicycle crunches.
Plan Your Supersets
Pair one leg exercise with one ab exercise to create your superset. Aim to alternate between targeting your lower body and your core to allow for adequate recovery between muscle groups. For example:
Squats followed by crunches
Lunges followed by leg raises
Deadlifts followed by planks
Leg presses followed by Russian twists
Progression:
As you become more accustomed to super setting and your strength improves, you can increase the intensity of your workouts by:
Adding resistance (e.g., using weights or resistance bands) to the exercises.
Decreasing rest time between supersets.
Cool Down and Stretch:
Once you’ve completed all your supersets, take a few minutes to cool down with some light cardio (such as walking or jogging) and perform static stretches to help improve flexibility and reduce muscle soreness.
By supersetting leg and ab workouts, you can create a challenging and time-efficient workout routine that targets multiple muscle groups and helps you achieve your fitness goals.
