To maximize your muscle gains and achieve a superhero physique, you should focus on strength training before doing cardio in a workout, according to Chris Hemsworth’s personal trainer.
Starting your training with weights helps ensure you have enough energy to fuel your muscle growth, he said. lucas zocchiChris Hemsworth’s longtime personal trainer and head coach at Center
“Focus on using as much energy as you can in the elevators,” Zocchi told Insider.
Centr’s fitness programs offer variations of Hemsworth’s muscle-building workouts for your fitness level and gym access, using evidence-based techniques like emphasizing heavy strength exercises first.
The technique is part of what helped Hemsworth build his trademark athletic aesthetic, said Zocchi, who helped the actor train for Thor and other leading roles.
The weights-first approach helps ensure cardio doesn’t interfere with your gains and focuses on muscle, whether you’re trying to bulk either
lose weight
to get slimmer.
Prioritize heavy lifting, especially if you’re short on time
Muscle building occurs when you challenge your body with more and more resistance, such as heavier weights or more repetitions, a principle known as progressive overload.
To get the most out of your gym sessions, you need to be able to work hard enough to signal your muscles that it’s time to adapt by getting bigger and stronger, according to Zocchi.
Lifting first in a workout ensures you have the most energy available to stimulate your muscles, he said. More energy also helps you tackle compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at once, like deadlifts, squats, and presses, to build strength and muscle throughout your body.
You’ll also want to get plenty of rest between sets and focus on your breathing, Zocchi said.
“It’s amazing how much more you get out of the gym when you do that,” he said.
Lifting weights at a fast pace can be great for improving your overall fitness or improve cardiovascular endurance without runningbut for the best muscle and strength gains you need to allow time to recover between sets, evidence suggests.
And if you’re short on time and have to choose between strength training and cardio, Zocchi said strength training is the way to go if maximizing lean muscle mass is your goal.
Even if you’re trying to lose weight, Lifting weights can help you burn fat over time increasing your overall metabolism as you get stronger and more muscular.
Diet is more important for weight loss than cardio
Many people incorporate a lot of cardio into their weight-loss workouts, and while it can help burn calories, it’s not as important to fat loss as what you eat, according to Zocchi.
“Diet really gets overlooked when it comes to keeping body fat down,” he said.
To lose weight, including body fat, you must be in a calorie deficit by burning more energy than you eat in the form of calories. But it’s much easier to consume calories than to burn them, which is why experts say you can’t escape a bad diet.
Strategies like eat more protein and enough carbohydrates, and focusing on nutrient-rich whole foods can help you burns body fat for a leaner physique while minimizing any muscle lossaccording to a nutritionist.
