Winter is coming! This means that the perfect time has arrived to start sculpting your summer body. During the summer months people enjoy warm temperatures and sunny weather conditions and often walk around shirtless for reasons of comfort, to get a tan or to flaunt their body. This is especially true in a beach or lake setting, during pool parties or athletic activities in sunny and warm weather conditions. Obviously, walking around shirtless is so much more fun when you feel confident in your own skin, knowing that you have a body that is in amazing shape and even turns heads when you walk by.
So many men dream of having an amazing physique, however, they think that sporting an athletic physique is not in the stars for them due to their genetics. You may be one of these men. In reality, their genetics are not to blame. A lack of proper knowledge about training and nutrition is. People either really don’t know what to do. They read so much conflicting information about getting in shape that they end up even more confused than before, causing them to take the wrong type of action which leads them to destination nowhere. This lack of results evolves in them not taking any action at all.
Read on and discover the simple truth about what it takes to go from zero to hero. Where you now see a weak, flabby frame void of any muscle mass in the mirror, you will soon see a strong, muscular, athletic physique like that of a Greek God’s sculpture.
THE PERFECT MALE SUMMER BODY
A summer body or beach body refers to an athletic physique with just the right amount of muscle mass packed on your frame, combined with a low body fat percentage of around 10%.
Typical characteristics of a summer body that is considered attractive are a well-developed chest, strong, athletic shoulders and a wide back, supplemented with strong arms and a visible washboard six pack abs.
For the lower body, a pair of athletic legs with just the right amount of muscle mass should accompany the upper body. Don’t make the mistake of focusing entirely on your upper body while neglecting your legs. You’ll look ridiculous when you have the upper body of an Adonis while having the legs of an anorexic chicken.
In order to achieve this most efficiently, we need to separate our summer body transformation into two distinct phases, namely the muscle building phase and the fat loss phase.
The muscle building phase is where we focus on progressively heavier weights and stimulate our bodies to grow bigger by eating more. However, we will eat more in a strategic way that will keep fat gain at bay and will allow you to stay fairly athletic throughout the process.
In the old school days, people gorged themselves daily and gained insane amounts of weight in very short timeframes. Unfortunately, most of the weight gained was from the type of mass we don’t want to gain, fat!
Our bodies are limited by how much muscle they can pack on during a certain time period. The more untrained you are, the faster you will gain muscle. But still, for natural lifters, this translates in only 1 to 2 pounds of lean mass per month depending on the individual. This means that there’s no need to go overboard with our calories, as all calories that aren’t used for building muscles or filling up our glycogen stores, will be stored as body fat.
During the second phase of your body transformation, we’ll focus on melting off the unwanted pounds of body fat, so that we can reveal our hard-earned muscle mass. The lower your body fat, the better your muscles will show due to increased muscle definition. We will achieve this by eating in a way that will force fat loss, combined with heavy lifting and together, this will preserve your hard earned muscle mass.
These cycles of lean bulking and cutting down is what will result in building your best physique. The first time you do this, you will experience amazing results due to all this untapped potential for muscle gains. You will already see a drastic difference after the first time you repeat this cycle and will be able to proudly show off your athletic body during the summer.
If you repeat this process year after year, where you first focus on packing on mostly lean muscle to your frame for a couple of months, followed by a time period where you focus on fat loss, you will have the physique most men dream of.
THE BEACH BODY ACTION PLAN
PART ONE: THE MUSCLE BUILDING PHASE
The first part of your physique transformation plan is the muscle gaining phase. This is the part where we will focus on strategically packing on a good amount of muscle in all the right areas to create the ideal harmonic proportions that make the male body look amazing.
You will perform a 3 day per week resistance training routine that is centered around a couple of key exercises. These key exercises will be responsible for 80 – 90% of your summer body results. Your key movements are compound multi joint movements that will stimulate a lot of muscle mass at once. Combined, they will target your whole body musculature and will efficiently and effectively allow you to become significantly more muscular.
The exercises which your workouts will focus on are the bench press, the weighted chin up, the overhead press, the upper back row and the squat. These exercises stimulate the majority of the muscle mass in your body, however, some muscle groups won’t get an optimal growth stimulus from compound exercises alone.
In order to achieve a balanced physique with the right proportions, you will perform a couple of smaller accessory movements to complement your main movements. Adding in some accessory exercises to directly target certain muscle groups that otherwise would lag will make the picture complete.
The workout routine consists of 3 workouts per week. These will be performed on non-consecutive days to optimize muscular and central nervous recovery before the next training session arrives. More isn’t necessarily better. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to do too much. Muscles need about 48 hours to fully recover between sessions and so does the nervous system. Getting adequate rest will assure that you are fresh when the next training comes around and you are able to give it your best and have a quality workout.
BEACH BODY MUSCLE BUILDING TRAINING ROUTINE
TRAINING A
Bench press 3-5×6-10
Row 3-5×6-10
Squat 3-5×6-10
Lat pulldown + Triceps cable extension 3-4×8-15
Lateral raises + Leg curl 3-4×8-15
*Optional: Calf raises 3-4×8-15
TRAINING B
Chin up 3-5×6-10
Incline press 3-5×6-10
Reverse lunges 3-5×6-10
Seated dumbbell overhead press + Face pull 3-4×8-15
Hyperextension + Bicep curl 3-4×8-15
*Optional: Calf raises 3-4×8-15
PHASE ONE WORKOUT INSTRUCTIONS
You will perform workout A and workout B in an alternate fashion on non-consecutive days 3 times per week. Every muscle group will be hit with a frequency of 3 times per week, albeit with different movements. This will allow for steady strength progression and muscle growth, while minimizing the risk of developing over-use injuries.
The first three movements of each workout are the money movements of that workout and should be performed in the 6 to 10 rep range. This rep range allows for optimal hypertrophy on a set per set basis and allows for easy and quickly noticeable strength progression.
If you’re new or at least fairly new to lifting, you don’t need a whole lot of volume to grow. Therefore lean more towards the lower end of the recommended volume in the training routine. 3 sets per exercise will be sufficient to stimulate the maximum hypertrophy if you don’t have a solid base yet.
If you’ve been lifting for more than a year or have been going through multiple cycles of adding mass and cutting down and you’ve already got some muscle packed on your frame from previous training cycles, then you can progressively go up in volume, since your body may need more work to grow after a certain point. However, if you find that it wears you out too much or you don’t recover as well, stick to 3 to 4 sets.
For the main movements, the first three movements in each workout, you should pick a weight that you can lift 6-7 times with proper technique and build it up to you performing 10 reps with that weight.
End each set with 1-2 reps left in the tank and rest about 3 minutes between each set to allow your body to fully recover and to lift with optimal performance. Once you’re able to perform 10 reps, you’ve hit the top of the rep range and it’s time to repeat the process but with a heavier weight. Throw 5 – 10 pounds on the bar and work your way up from 6-7 to 10 reps again. Rinse and repeat.
The supplemental lifts will make up the second part of each workout and will be performed in a slightly higher rep range. This will allow you to use proper technique on each assistance exercise, hit the targeted muscle effectively and will be easier on the joints and tendons. Pick a weight that you can lift 8-10 times with proper technique and work your way up to about 15 reps. If you’ve hit the top of the rep range, repeat the process but with a heavier weight.
To save time, you can perform your accessory work in a superset fashion where you perform two exercises back to back with no rest. Since the exercises are paired to not interfere with each other due to the exercises hitting different muscle groups, your muscles won’t be negatively affected due to lack of rest. You will still rest each muscle group for about 3 minutes between sets, but since you’re supersetting your accessory work and one muscle group already gets to rest during part of the superset, only rest 2 minutes between each superset.
Don’t prioritize weight over form. Using proper technique is critical to avoid injury and for your long term tendon and joint health. You want to be able to train for the rest in your life and rock an amazing physique for the rest of your life. If you can’t lift it with proper technique, it’s too heavy for you. Leave your ego outside and be honest with yourself. Over time, you’ll become stronger and weights that are heavy now will feel light later on.
MUSCLE BUILDING PHASE DIETARY INSTRUCTIONS
In order to gain muscle most efficiently, it’s requires one to eat in a calorie surplus. Simply put, adding quality contractile tissue requires you to eat more. Eating more calories and protein will aid in supplying your body with the necessary building blocks to build new muscle mass, fill up your glycogen stores, fuel your workouts and feel great during the whole process.
The tricky part is that your body can only build so much muscle at a time and only requires so much food to do so. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but eating like a total pig and gorging yourself with everything in sight will only lead to you sporting the physique of a sumo wrestler, not that of a beach hunk.
Aim to eat a calorie surplus of about 200 – 300 calories per day on top of your maintenance calories. This will ensure that your body will build muscle mass, but fat gain will be kept to a minimum. A total weekly surplus of 1400 to 2100 calories will be consumed in order to build muscle without becoming a doughnut.
A strategy I love to use is to divide my weekly calorie surplus divided primarily over my workout days. If I for example train on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll eat most of my additional calories for the week on my workout days to give the muscles additional fuel at the times they need it the most. For example, instead of eating a 300 calorie surplus daily, I’ll eat 500 additional calories on workout days and 150 additional calories on rest day. This still equals out to be a 2100 calorie surplus.
Protein is a vital element to build muscle. While you don’t need as much as most supplement companies have you believe, not getting enough will unfortunately hinder your gains. A good recommendation is to eat about 0.8g of protein per lb or 1.8g of protein per kg of body weight. A 176lb / 80kg male will for example need around 140 grams of protein to achieve optimal results.
The rest of your calories will be a good mix of carbs and fats. Don’t fall into the low carb or low fat fad diets. Both carbs and fats are essential for optimal health and performance. Want to have fantastic workouts, a high testosterone level, more muscle mass, amazing health and simply feel your best every day? Eat carbs and fats from quality sources.
Along the way you may reach a weight gain plateau. If you’re not gaining any additional muscle mass after a certain period of time, add another 100-200 calories to your daily calorie total to reignite the muscle building process. Combined with training intensely, your muscles will grow.
Once you’ve packed on a significant amount of size and you’ve reached the point of 15 – 17% body fat, it’s time to start phase two of your summer body quest.
PHASE TWO: THE SHREDDING PHASE
Once you’ve packed on a good amount of size to your frame it’s time to start getting down to a lower body fat percentage in order to maximize the visual effects of the mass you carry on your frame. Being lean does something magical to your body. Not only does it make your body look better, it makes you overall more attractive. Don’t we all know this person who used to carry a couple of pounds too much that instantly turned into a way more handsome person, especially face wise, just because he lost the excessive weight and has a sharper jawline and overall more pronounced male facial characteristics?
Body wise, the goal is to cut down to around 10% body fat. Depending on your genetics and the amount of muscle mass you carry on your frame, most people will look their best when they reach a body fat percentage of between 8 and 11%. Going lower than that isn’t necessary to achieve the beach body summer look most men want and most women find attractive. Not only will you look too lean and veiny for what most people find optimal, you will start to experience negative effects of an excessively low body fat percentage and a calorie intake that is too low.
When it comes to our training, the goal is not necessarily to gain strength anymore, but to maintain what we have built up. When you’re in a calorie deficit, your body is not in an optimal environment to build muscle. Therefore we will tune our training volume down a bit to ensure that our recovery isn’t compromised. It only takes about 1/3rd of the volume we used to build our muscle to maintain it. So by focusing on a couple of hard sets close to failure per week, where our body is stimulated to hold on to its current amount of muscle mass, we will keep what we’ve built with just the right amount of training, without compromising recovery or feeling worn out.
BEACH BODY FAT LOSS TRAINING ROUTINE
TRAINING A
Bench press 3×6-10
Row 3×6-10
Squat 3×6-10
Lat pulldown + Triceps cable extension 2-3×8-15
Lateral raises + Leg curl 2-3×8-15
*Optional: Calf raises 2-3×8-15
TRAINING B
Chin up 3×6-10
Incline press 3×6-10
Reverse lunges 3×6-10
Seated dumbbell overhead press + Face pull 2-3×8-15
Hyperextension + Bicep curl 2-3×8-15
*Optional: Calf raises 2-3×8-15
PHASE TWO WORKOUT INSTRUCTIONS
As you can see, the exercises themselves don’t change. The same exercises we’ve used to build our muscle mass are the same exercises that will be responsible for us to hold on to our muscle mass when cutting down. The difference is to be found in the amount of volume you perform.
The same amount of volume used to build our muscle mass isn’t required to maintain our muscle mass. In order to avoid issues concerning recovery, we will tune the volume down a little to only 3 sets per major exercise and 2-3 sets for accessory work.
The most important factor when it comes to training is that you take your sets close to failure and train with the proper intensity. You can get away with a lower training volume when cutting down, but intensity (proximity to failure per set) cannot!
The rest of the workout instructions don’t really change. Train 3 days per week on non-consecutive days, rest 3 minutes between sets in major lifts, superset accessory lifts if you wish in order to save time and rest 2 minutes between each superset.
Stick to the prescribed rep ranges during this phase and while the focus is primarily on maintaining your strength, you should apply the same progression model as in phase one. If you’re fairly new and in your first year of lifting, you will still be able to make strength progress during a cutting phase, albeit slower. So once you hit the top of the recommended rep range, simply increase the weight by 5 – 10 pounds and work your way up again.
SHREDDING PHASE DIETARY GUIDELINES
In the muscle building phase, the key to gaining primarily lean mass was to eat in a modest calorie surplus. In the fat loss phase, the opposite is true. The number one way to melt off the excessive fat covering your muscles is to induce a calorie deficit. By eating less calories on a consistent basis, your body will have no other choice than to tap into its fat reserves for energy. You don’t need fancy diets or have to eliminate specific foods from your diet and there are no magic pills! A calorie deficit is the secret to fat loss.
There’s no need to go on mind torturing crash diets or to deprive yourself of any food just for the sake of being lean. The key to long term success is moderation. Anything taken to extremes is temporary since extremes are simply not sustainable.
For this reason, I highly recommend that you create a calorie deficit of about 10-20% of your daily calorie requirements. Doing so will allow you to lose fat at a good pace without experiencing any negative effects of dieting down. Doing so will make sure that you still feel energized and that you will be able to perform your best when your workouts come around.
It’s crucial that you still eat sufficient amounts of protein to ensure proper recovery from the workouts and that your body has the essential building blocks to maintain it’s hard earned muscle mass as easily as possible.
Once you’ve been losing fat for a while, there will be a moment where you plateau. If a plateau occurs at a stage where you still have fat to lose in order to reach your desired level of leanness, you’ll have to lower your calories again in order to reignite the fat loss process again. I recommend that you start with a 20% calorie deficit when you’re further removed from your goal and apply a smaller 10% deficit when you are closer to your goal.
Once you’ve reached a point where you’re happy with your level of leanness, simply eat at your new maintenance level calories and maintain your current physique.
HOW LONG SHOULD EACH PHASE LAST?
The amount of time spent in each phase will depend on the amount of body fat you carry. When starting a muscle gaining phase, I always recommend that you are relatively lean first. This means no higher than 12% body fat.
Fat gain is inevitable on a muscle building phase, but it’s definitely possible to minimize the amount of fat you gain. If you start from a place where you are already pretty lean, you tend to have more time to prolong your gaining phase.
During the shredding phase, the amount of body fat you carry matters a lot as well. The less fat you’ve put on during your bulk, combined with having put on a good amount will make it so much easier to get to your goal. Not only does carrying less body fat allow you to spend less time in a calorie deficit, carrying more muscle mass also makes you look leaner faster, compared to someone with less muscle mass.
How long each phase should lasts depends on the amount of body fat you carry. I always recommend that people focus on getting lean first and then focus on adding muscle. by lean I don’t mean shredded, but somewhere between 9-12% body fat. This is a good starting point that will allow you stay in a calorie surplus for a couple of months without adding too much fat. Once you reach a body fat percentage of about 15-17%, I’d say it’s time to cut down.
After a certain body fat percentage point, you simply start to look pudgy and you won’t look like you lift anymore when you take your shirt off. Even though you can’t always stay in your peak shape, you can still look amazing compared to the majority of the population regardless of whether you’re bulking or cutting. Once you’ve put on a solid amount of muscle size and have reached the point of 15-17% body fat, it’s time to start your shredding phase.
The shredding phase will last depending on how much fat you have to lose and how lean you want to get. I always recommend a range of 8-12% for the summer beach body physique. This will make every inch of your muscles visible, causing your body to be a pleasure to the eye. However, there comes a point where you can become too lean. This usually happens when you dip below the 8% level and is where your skin becomes way thinner and you become too veiny for most people’s taste. Going below 8% usually brings along a couple of negative effects such as decreased mood, libido and increased hunger. Therefore, 8 – 12% body fat combined with a decent amount of muscle mass is the sweet spot for aesthetics and feeling amazing.
The amount of time one should spent in each phase can’t really be set in stone as it depends on your body fat percentage. But to give you a general guideline, if done properly and starting out at 10 – 12% body fat, you can go on a muscle gaining phase for 6 – 12 months, where you add a moderate amount of additional calories to your diet and keep upping the calorie surplus slowly and diligently as you reach weight gain plateaus. Once you’ve put on a decent amount of mass, have gained a significant amount of strength and have reached the 15 – 17% body fat mark (the point where your abs are slightly visible but already a bit blurry), then it’s time to cut down.
The fat loss phase, contrary to popular belief, is actually the easiest phase. To go from 15-17% to around 10% will for most people require 3 – 6 months depending on how strict they are with their diets. If I lock myself into a disciplined mental state, 3 months is all it takes to look really lean.
These time references aren’t set in stone, but are references of my clients and my own experience.
Using body fat as an indicator is an amazing tool. Why stop gaining muscle after 6 months when you’re still pretty lean and still look amazing? Why start bulking when you will only end up fatter at your current level of body fat? Use the mirror as an indicator of which direction you should head in.
If you’ve been repeating this cycle for a couple of years, as a natural lifter you’ll probably have already packed on most of the muscle mass you can gain and you can opt for a more traditional way of thinking when it comes to bulking and cutting. If you’ve already gained 90% of your maximum natural potential, you can use colder months of the year to slowly gain those last bits of muscle mass and start focusing on leaning down again when spring arrives. Since you’ve already built of solid base for yourself, you can work in smaller cycles, maximizing your potential of what is left to squeeze out.
CONCLUSION
In order to achieve the perfect male summer body, one has to go through a cycle of gaining muscle and shredding down again. After one cycle of properly adding quality mass to your frame and leaning down to a low body fat percentage, you will already look drastically different compared to the version you were before.
The real magic happens when you’ve been consistent for years though. while you’ll look amazing after one cycle, if you go through repeated cycles of adding lean mass and then leaning down again, you’ll absolutely look amazing because of the compounding effect caused by having built more and more muscle over the course of time. The more muscle you carry, the more amazing you’ll look at a low body fat percentage.
It’s not complicated. It just requires the right knowledge combined with consistent quality training and a dietary approach that causes you to get results and that is easy to stick to.
Now it’s your time to transform your body and to make heads turn when you take your shirt off.
Kevin Mahjoubi