How to Get a Low Percentage of Body Fat Without Burning Muscle

Achieving low body fat levels without losing muscle requires attention to your lifting, cardiovascular work, diet and possible additional conditioning work. Lift to preserve your muscle while you drop body fat, do cardiovascular exercise to burn fat, diet to ensure that you are getting enough nutrients to maintain your muscle mass without excess to be stored as fat, and do conditioning work to burn fat and improve your recovery. Consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise plan.

Instructions

  1. Use Compound Lifts

    • 1

      Use the squat, deadlift, chin-up, bench press, barbell row and military press to train your muscles. These exercises not only work the largest muscles of the body, but the smaller ones, too. Train the whole body each workout.

    • 2

      Lift with intensity by training with at least 75 percent of your one-repetition maximum. Keep your rest periods short. This will stimulate the release of testosterone, a hormone that helps build muscle, or will help you retain the muscle you have while you are dieting.

    • 3

      Perform cardiovascular work in the morning. This will allow you to do it every day without interfering with your lifting, which can be done in the evening. This also allows you to boost your metabolism twice each day.

    • 4

      Eat plenty of protein from whole foods like beef, chicken, milk, fish and eggs. Get essential fats from fish oils, flax, nuts and seeds, which are necessary for hormone production, particularly testosterone. Get your carbohydrates from whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

    • 5

      Condition yourself to tolerate greater training volume. On your off days, drag a weighted sled or jump rope. Do not exhaust yourself, but gradually build intensity and training volume.