If you want to lose fat while KEEPING your muscle mass, Lactic Acid Training is a very powerful method.
The reason is simple...when large amounts of Lactic Acid (properly called lacate but since everybody knows it as lactic acid, we'll stick with that) are generated, your body secretes Growth Hormone in response.
And GH is one of the most powerful fat-burning, muscle-sparing hormones your body has in it's arsenal.
Just to be clear, this type of training won't result in spot-reduction of fat in the chest...the GH response allows fat to be released from those stubborn fat cells, wherever they are, which then allows your body to burn it off through a caloric deficit and/or exercise.
Power Start Lactic Acid Training For Unlocking Stubborn Fat
With this technique, you'll be performing 10 total sets of one exercise. The first set is going to be done using a moderate weight for 15 to 20+ reps and a fast tempo (essentially cranking out reps without trying to focus on tension or tight form). The goal is to generate as much Lactic Acid as possible.
Then you'll reduce the weight by about half and take 20 seconds rest (or the time it takes to change weights, if more than 20 seconds).
For the remaining 9 sets, you're going to focus on STRICT tension-focused form in the bottom half (stretch) range of motion.
By never fully locking out, you not only keep tension on the muscles, you prevent substantial blood flow in or out of the muscles. This is known as Occlusion Training or Blood Flow Restriction Training.
This style of training keeps the Lactic Acid (and other metabolic waste products) localized in the muscles.
It's important to note, in this case, we're not after training performance...we don't care AT ALL about how many reps we get.
We actually expect REDUCED performance (in terms of reps). We WANT that overload of metabolic waste products to happen. It's the focus of the training style and the reason we're doing it how we're doing it. These metabolites are a potent fat-burning and muscle-building signal to your body.
We'll continue these strict occlusion sets for 8 more sets, taking 20 seconds rest in between sets...just enough time to get a bit of muscular recovery without allowing for complete clearance of Lactic Acid.
When performing these lighter sets, take them to the point of "chemical" failure (by which I mean the Lactic Acid burn stops your muscles from functioning properly). The weight will be light enough that you won't hit nervous system or muscle fiber failure, both of which are much tougher to recover from.
How to Do Power-Start Lactic Acid Occlusion Training for Chest
The exercise we'll be using for this technique is the bench press. You can use either a barbell or dumbbells. I actually find it easier to do with a barbell as it's easier to do faster-tempo sets with a barbell because of the increased stability of the bar.
First, load the bar with your HALF weight. This will save time when pulling weight off for the remaining 9 sets. You won't have to put anything back on. In my case, I've put a pair of 25's on the bar first, then 45's on the outside. The half weight is 95 lbs and the full weight is 185 lbs.
Unrack the bar and perform reps with power, using a fast tempo and no pauses. Don't worry about keeping strict form but don't resort to bad form, either. Push until you hit chemical failure and you can't get another rep.
Remove half the weight (in this case, I pulled the 45's off).
Now unrack the bar and perform sets in the bottom half of the range of motion, focusing on muscle tension. Bring the bar up to just above the sticking point. Use a short, almost-robotic type of movement, pausing at the top and the bottom of every rep.
The idea here is to keep tension on the pecs and not allow much blood flow in and out of the muscles.
As I mentioned above, don't worry about how many reps you get. It completely doesn't matter. Just go for FEEL...and it should be feel BRUTAL. The Lactic Acid build-up and the muscle tension will be painful.
When you get to the end of the set, you'll find out one of the reasons why we go to just above the sticking point...finishing out the last rep in order to re-rack the bar.
Rest 20 seconds, then go again.
By the time you've finished all ten sets, you''ll have a MASSIVE pump in your chest and you'll have generated MASSIVE amounts of Lactic Acid / lactate in your entire upper body.
This training technique can be used with just about any exercise that has a decent stretch component that allows for continuous muscle tension at the bottom. The stretch phase is more useful than the contraction phase as the stretch portion generates more waste products in the target muscle (in my experience).
If you want to build muscle and burn fat at the same time, this is one of the BEST techniques you can do to get the job done.
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