Veteran bodybuilder Rich Gaspari recently shared the best practice to build muscle and lose fat at a faster pace. Having retired from professional bodybuilding all the way back in 19xx, Gaspari has still maintained excellent fitness levels. As a result, his bodybuilding wisdom holds a lot of weight in the fitness community.
During the prime of his career, ‘Dragon Slayer’ was admired for his insane conditioning and muscularity. He started competing in 1983 and continued to show his talent until the early 1990s. The 60-year-old’s resume includes several victories like the Mr. America, Mr. World and the first ever Arnold Classic title.
Gaspari competed on the Olympia stage seven times and achieved a runner-up finish on three of those occasions. The bodybuilding community has honored the legendary bodybuilder’s achievements by inducting him in the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2004. He is also the recipient of the 2013 Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gaspari is a prominent voice of the sport and he continues to impart bodybuilding knowledge through social media channels. In recent times, the veteran bodybuilder has voiced his concerns about heavy PED use among young lifters and warned about the long-term implications. But he primarily uses social influence to enrich his followers’ knowledge of the craft. Be it stating the importance of exercises like Romanian deadlifts or Jefferson squats, or sharing tips to build massive arms with 21s training, Gaspari has dedicated a lot of time to giving bodybuilding wisdom off late.
Rich Gaspari on how to lose fat and gain muscle fast
Recently, Rich Gaspari laid out a clear path to achieving muscle gain and fat loss through training and nutrition. We must caution once again that Rich Gaspari’s advice may not go down well with the people that are looking for that one miraculous solution to every problem related to health and fitness. Rather, it is best suited for those looking to commit themselves to a life of consistency, and discipline. Because Rome and Ronnie Coleman were not built in a day!
Being an elite member of his profession, Gaspari is constantly approached by people that are interested in knowing the right way to lose fat and gain muscle.
“The answer is the compound effect. The compound effect is using a combination of things to cause a positive overall effect,” Rich Gaspari stated.
He elaborated further on the idea of compound effect and explained:
“So the answer is consistent training with weights and Cardio, proper nutrition, proper supplementation and proper rest. When you do all these things the results are a positive effect in getting in shape by building muscle and losing fat. There is not just one task that will get you into the best shape you can be,” Gaspari stated.
While many of us have no problem in taking care of each aspect in isolation, a vast majority fails in coordinating the balance between diet, training, rest and supplementation. But the veteran bodybuilder reiterates that synergizing these four pillars – training, diet, supplementation and rest – is the best, and probably the only way, to progress.
“This is when you do many things together, synergistically that makes the effect of what you’re trying to accomplish happen even quicker,” He added.
‘Dragon Slayer’ elaborates further on the compound effect
While speaking about the role of training and diet in weight management, Gaspari stated:
“You need to train. Of course, you know, training is important… Doing your workouts. I always talk about training to failure, training with intensity when you do your workouts. The other thing is diet. You also have to make sure that put in the proper eating and not eating sh** food, making sure that you’re eating the proper amount of macronutrients with protein, carbs, and fats.”
Gaspari advises following the 40-20-40 rule for macronutrients. In simple terms, it means that proteins and carbohydrates must contribute 40 percent each in your caloric intake. Fats should be a moderate 20 percent of total caloric intake. The overall caloric intake must go up after regular intervals if you’re trying to gain muscle. For fat loss, move into the opposite direction.
“So (the caloric intake) goes up 300 calories every three weeks if you’re trying to bulk up. If you’re trying to lose body fat, you go the other way, slowly lowering the calories.”
Supplementation and rest are as important as training and diet
While diet and training are the two main pillars of health and fitness. Gaspari stated that getting assistance from supplements can help balance out the nutrient and mineral intake. Supplements can come in handy when you cannot follow a strict diet. However, ‘Dragon Slayer’ reiterated that supplements should be taken in moderation to assist the diet.
“They’re not a replacement for food,” Gaspari said, loud and clear.
Training, diet and supplementation cannot bring the results you want if the body does not get the rest it needs. This, in turn, brings us to the fourth and the most important aspect of fitness. Gaspari stated the importance of rest in simple words and said:
“The fourth is proper sleep, proper rest. Many people, they go without any type of rest and then they overtrain. They can’t make gain. You want to give proper rest to that body.”
He added:
“I always tell people… They make their gains while resting. Not while they’re training.”
Bodybuilding world is crawling with ‘experts’ that promise astonishing results with fad diets, questionable training methods and supplementation. It has become extremely essential to separate the wheat from the chaff and Rich Gaspari’s advice on muscle building does just that!
Watch Rich Gaspari explain the compound effect below, courtesy of his personal Instagram account:
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