Spring Break Guide: How to Get Lean and Shredded For It

Check out this spring break guide on how to get lean, shredded and everything in between for you to look your best and the way you desire before taking that well-earned week off.

Spring break is on March 4-11 in the United States and February 20^th to March 17^th in Canada. This means there is more or less a month (less if you are Canadian) to prepare to get tan and look great before you put on your bikini or swim trunks – let’s face it, you want to look good in a Speedo.

This fitness spring break guide was created and shared by Dr Mike Israetel. Dr Mike Israetel has a PhD in Sport Physiology and is the co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, a YouTube channel focused on hypertrophy. He is the person many bodybuilders turn to when it comes to anything related to building muscle.

He went deep on 8 topics to come up with the ultimate fitness spring break guide for you to get lean, shredded and however you want to look. Check it out.

Fitness Spring Break Guide: How To

The 8 topics he covers in this spring break guide are:

1. Defining the exact goal and timeframe
2. The diet plan
3. The training plan
4. The cardio plan
5. The vacation bloating problem
6. Diet and training during vacation
7. What type of sauce to use if you’re a saucy guy
8. After vacation

1. Exact Goal and Timeframe

First of all, if you are reading this as soon as the article went live, you won’t have enough time to actually get jacked and pack on a lot of muscle. Unless you are a complete beginner and experience newbie gains, you won’t be able to pack more than 2-4 pounds of muscle in the next few weeks until Spring Break happens.

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

What will make a difference in how you look is to lose body fat, for example 10 pounds of fat which is doable. “It’s got a huge visual change, visual appeal versus gaining even 10 pounds of muscle, which is impossible in these time frames.”

This fitness spring break guide is all about keeping the muscle in your body and getting leaner.

2. Diet Plan

Very basic, follow this:

• 4-5 meals per day
• The core of the meal is a fist-size portion of protein
• Two fist-size veggies on each meal
• 1-3 fist-size fruit or grains (zero if you need/want to lose a lot of weight)
• Keep fat intake pretty low to drive fat loss

3. Training Plan

Here is the checklist on the training plan for this fitness spring break guide to getting you lean and shredded:

• 4-6 training days per week
• Split your workouts, but target your muscles 2-4 times each week with 3-8 sets per session
• Focus on arms, delts, chest and abs to look nicer

4. The Cardio Plan

“Doing a ton of cardio has some effect on fat loss before the energy and time invested, that effect is not worth the trade-off in most cases,” Israetel says. The plan here is to focus on your diet.

However, you can do 10,000-12,000 steps every day to burn more calories and supplement your diet.

If you want to supplement, try creatine.

5. Bloating Problem

Bloating can be a problem and it can happen just days before you get to your vacation place or even in the first few days. But there is a solution, according to Mike.

In the last 2 weeks before your trip, double your salt and water intake.

Sounds crazy, but this will make you look worse for maybe a week and then normal again. When the carbs hit on your trip, when you’re eating normal again, you will look bigger and leaner for most of the trip.

6. Dieting and Training During Vacation

You made it to your trip, is it over? No, this is the ultimate fitness spring break guide after all.

First rule:

• Don’t eat rubbish all the time – try to have light, protein meals, lean breakfast and a dinner that is not loaded on fat
• Hydrate well during the day and night

Second rule:

• Don’t eat like you are a bodybuilder contestant either
• Get some nasty junk food and enjoy it (it will also help absorb the alcohol you have been drinking)

Third rule:

• If you decide to do training, go light with high reps
• Don’t assume you will wake up early to do some training before the day starts
• Shower after training
• Practice deloading – training 2-3 times a week and save some energy for the parties

7. What Type of Sauce

In here, Dr Mike Israetel gives tips for people who are on drugs.

• Don’t bring drugs on the trip – you won’t lose muscle by not taking them for that week
• Pull your GH out half a week before the trip

8. After Vacation

Lastly, on Israetel’s spring break guide, this is what you will want to do after the party is over and you return home.

• Take a week or two to eat pretty clean to rejuvenate
• Ease back into training so you don’t need to rush the next time you want to get in shape for the next vacation

And that, in a nutshell, is everything you need to know about this spring break guide focused on fitness and how to get leaner and look shredded for the vacation.

Click on the video below if you want to see Mike’s humour and deep knowledge on each of these topics.

VIDEO – Fitness Spring Break Guide

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