“How do you stay in shape?!” she asked me as I piled three brownies and a slice of pie on my plate.
I responded plainly, “I workout.”
That’s the short answer. But it’s only part of the story.
I have been working out very hard for a very long time to afford myself the luxury of indulging without sacrificing my six-pack abs.
I’ve learned a few tricks over the years that help me stay lean and keep me on track. But the main reason I can eat a carton of ice cream without noticeable weight gain is because I forged my body into a calorie burning machine.
In fact, I can nap all day at the beach and burn 3000 calories while getting a sun tan.
How is this possible?
I have achieved Critical Mass.
Having Critical Mass is the most important goal for anyone who wants sustainable fat loss.
Critical Mass lets you off the treadmill and puts a stop to yo-yo diets.
Critical Mass keeps the belly fat off you for good.
It also allows you to enjoy your favorite foods, including sweets and treats, without feeling guilty or packing on extra pounds.
The good news is that anyone can achieve Critical Mass if they work for it.
What is Critical Mass?
Critical Mass is a foundation of muscle mass that burns a ton of calories.
Having Critical Mass allows you to ‘absorb’ calories without gaining any fat.
How is this possible?
Because Muscle is Metabolic
Muscle burns calories. One pound of muscle burns about 50 calories a day.
Build 10 pounds of muscle and you will burn 500 calories EVERY DAY without doing anything.
At that rate you will lose one pound of fat, every week, just by having those 10 pounds of muscle on your frame.
Or, if you’re not interested in fat loss, you can eat an extra 500 calories a day without gaining an ounce, because your muscle will burn those calories as fuel.
Building muscle is like adding cylinders to a car’s engine. The more cylinders in your car’s engine, the more fuel you burn. (and the higher your performance potential.)
Similarly, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn. (and, once again, the higher your performance potential.)
So, no matter what your fitness goal is, building muscle should be your #1 priority.
Drug-free lean muscle mass is the ultimate indicator of overall heath and vitality. Muscle mass works around the clock to keep you healthy and trim.
How to Build Critical Mass
Building Critical Mass takes time and dedication. But with persistent effort anyone can do it.
You build Critical Mass just like you would build a wall – One brick at a time.
Just focus on laying each brick as perfectly as possible and the wall will take care of itself.
Training and nutrition are your brick and mortar.
Each day, have the best workout you possibly can, and eat as good as you possibly can. That’s how you set a brick in place.
Then you do the same thing tomorrow. And again the day after that. Each day you build from yesterday’s brick.
Eventually you will build yourself into a brick shit-house.
If you get sloppy, lazy, impatient, or cheap, your wall will be shit, and you will be disappointed with the results. You might even have to rebuild your wall. Work with purpose, and focus on one brick at a time.
Do your best today and tomorrow takes care of itself.
It’s going to take a lot of time in the gym and clean eating, but it’s well worth it.
Critical Mass Method: Workout and Diet
I recommend starting with an all out assault. For best results, become obsessed with building muscle for a while.
Dedicate yourself to a workout program and learn about nutrition.
Start to learn the basic exercises and understand macronutrients.
Take the time to build your body and build your knowledge of nutrition. The muscle and knowledge you gain will be kept for life.
After you achieve Critical Mass, your physique will endure the occasional binge, or time away from the gym.
Throw yourself 100% into your training. Find a workout routine you can stick to that has you in the weight room at least four times a week.
Get your diet on point. Start eating clean and learn how to cook. Meal prep is the Number One tool for anyone who wants to get in shape.
It may take you three months or it may take you three years to achieve Critical Mass. It all depends on the work you put in.
For best results, follow the instructions in the sections below.
Critical Mass: Make the Commitment
For the first few months of training, don’t miss a session.
Train relentlessly until you see progress week after week. Take photos before you start and take a progress picture every week. This is an important step. You need picots to accurately assess your progress.
Make a commitment to train everyday, no matter what, until you get the results you seek. Missing a session is a slippery slope. Don’t do it.
Command yourself to go to the gym. And none of this “I don’t have time to workout today” bullshit.
Everybody has the same amount of time each day. It’s up to you to make time for training. Don’t let yourself off easy.
Go to the gym first thing in the morning. When you’re fresh and focused.
Set an alarm clock and beat the sun up. Get your ass out of bed and go. Every. Single. Day. No matter what.
It’s not a debate. It’s not a negotiation.
You’ve already made up your mind when you decided to get in shape. Now just follow the program.
Getting fit is that easy. It only gets hard when you think about changing your mind.
Now about that program…
The Critical Mass Training Protocol
To achieve Critical Mass you will train primarily for strength.
Muscle follows strength. It’s that simple. (The expanded formula is strength + good meals = muscle gains.)
Your goals should be to Bench Press your body weight, Back Squat 1.5x your body weight, and to deadlift 2x your bodyweight.
So, if you weight 200 pounds, You should aim to bench press 200 pounds, Back squat 300 pounds, and deadlift 400 pounds for one rep a piece.
This may seem daunting at first, but your body is designed to do this. You just need to train it to handle it. It doesn’t matter where you start, just make small improvements each workout and you WILL get there.
Once you have reached your strength goals, you will have achieved Critical Mass.
Strength Training Workout
Skinny guys and fat guys alike should take this same approach to their workout:
Train for strength by doing your first exercise with maximal weight.
Then do three exercises after that, in the muscle building weight and repetition range. (6-10 reps using weight that you struggle to get 10 reps with but could not possibly complete 11 reps with. This range is the sweet spot for building muscle.)
A sample chest workout looks like this:
- Warmup 45 pounds (empty bar) 15 reps
- Warm up 95 pounds – 10-12 reps
- Warm up 135 pounds – 8 reps
- Working Set 185 pounds 6-8 reps
- Working Set 205 – 4-6 reps
- Heavy Triple Working Set 225 – 3 reps
- Another Heavy Triple Working Set 225 – 3 reps
Your last two working sets should be a maximum effort. Meaning you are pushing yourself as hard as possible to get three reps. USE A SPOTTER.
Lift in a safety rack too if available. Sometimes have the safety bars give you confidence to lift heavy weight you never have before, without worrying about it crushing you.
Then do three more exercises, each for four sets. Train within the 6-10 rep range each set.
Something like this:
Incline Dumbbell Press 4×8, Dumbbell Flyes 4×10, Dips 4×10 (or as many reps as possible per set).
That concludes your chest workout.
Now, follow this workout formula to build a back, legs, and arm workout. Perform each 1-2 times per week.
Some people have a hard time seeing results. If you are one of those people I say, change your approach.
And keep going until something good happens. Eventually it will. It has to. That’s how it works.
(There are tons of workouts on this site. Find one here or reach out to me and I will help you create one.)
If I could offer a suggestion, Make sure you increase the weight lifted for each exercise for every workout. This is how you make progress.
Critical Mass Diet
Muscles need fuel to grow.
Eating quality meat and vegetables is how you build Critical Mass.
Consuming at least one gram of protein per day, per pound of bodyweight is a minimum requirement to build muscle.
High Protein foods include:
Whole eggs, egg whites, chicken, beef, lamb, and fish.
All of these items should be accompanied by plenty of green vegetables.
It doesn’t matter if you eat one meal or 10 meals a day. Just hit your minimum protein requirements.
You may find it challenging to get adequate protein eating whole foods. If that is the case, get a high quality protein powder, without artificial ingredients or added sugar and mix up some shakes.
I am currently on a Ketogenic diet and drink one carton of egg whites and one protein shake daily.
Eat ONLY enough carbohydrates to have energy to workout. Rice and sweet potato are your go-to carb source.
Everything else is off limits until Critical Mass is achieved.
(The only exception to this rule is if you are a skinny guy. Skinny guys can eat anything they want as long as they consume all required protein FIRST. Eat protein first otherwise you will fill up on junk and miss your mark.)
Maintaining Critical Mass
So, after many months of hard work and dedication, you’ve finally achieved Critical Mass. Congratulations.
Now what do you do?
For starters, enjoy all the looks and compliments and have a slice of cake to celebrate.
But don’t slack off for too long. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.
When you hit Critical Mass it’s time to maintain it.
Maintaining muscle requires a baseline of nutrition and regular training.
Just because you now burn 2500 calories a day doing nothing doesn’t mean you will keep burning calories at that rate if all you did was eat donuts and park your ass on the couch.
You must still train regularly and eat your minimum nutrition requirements. If you do neither, your hard earned muscle mass will whither away.
As you continue to add muscle mass to your frame, you must increase your nutrient intake to sustain it, because your baseline maintenance nutrition increases in-line with the amount of muscle you have.
Critical Mass: Stacking the Deck
Having Critical Mass is like stacking the deck in your favor.
It takes a while to get the cards in the right spot, but once they are in position you can win at will.
Critical Mass unlocks the ability to eat whatever you want without gaining an ounce of fat.
As I mentioned before, muscle is metabolic. Every pound of muscle burns calories. This happens non-stop, around the clock.
Building muscle elevates your metabolic rate. Once you build enough muscle, you stack the deck in your favor and you’ll become a fat burning machine.
You’ll become a machine and enjoy the benefits that come with it:
- You stay in shape easier
- You are healthier
- You’re stronger and more energetic
- You become more resilient
Your entire body becomes more efficient at Critical Mass. So when you have a cheat meal, you process the bad stuff easier.
Even if you eat a cinnabon, which tastes great but rots in your stomach, your body will literally burn it up. So it does less damage to your body.
Whereas if you didn’t have critical mass, the toxic by-products of the Cinnabon will sit in your body and weaken you.
Just like garbage sitting in a landfill, it will rot in your belly, because it’s not being burned.
If you have critical mass however, your muscle will burn that cinnabon up and the garbage will disappear.
Critical Mass is Commutative
Critical Mass is like compound interest. But instead of gaining more and more money as time goes on, you can eat more and more food without gaining fat.
In fact, you will actually build more muscle and burn more calories rather than get fat. Thus allowing you to eat even more food without gaining fat.
This cycle will continue as long as you continue to train and get your baseline nutrition requirements.
Gain enough muscle and you can crush an entire cherry cheesecake without a noticeable change in your physique.
Critical mass isn’t a license to kill the dessert bar at every opportunity. It’s about allowing you to splurge a little bit without gaining fat.
Once you achieve Critical Mass, you must continue learning about nutrition and training. You will gain an intuitive understanding of your body and nutritional needs as time goes on.
Once you obtain critical mass you stay ripped easily. You will burn fat in your sleep. And easily get away clean from eating junk for a day, IF you meet your maintenance requirements.
Do the work on the front end. After that you can cruise a bit. You’ll have the ability to lose weight at will. Or indulge without any big set backs.
I have phases where I eat like crap. I’m human after all and I want to enjoy my food too. But when I stray too far, I get back on track because I have physical standards to maintain.
If I get sloppy with my diet, I’m at the point now where I have the tools to get into top-shape relatively quick.
I can eat anything I want for a week, and be right back where I started one week after that.
You can get to that point to. It just takes a little effort on the front end.
Thank you for explaining this concept in a straightforward way.
Some of us innately understand this but reading it in black and white imprints it on the mind,
I hope this helps people understand and take control of their health.