Drying the body: what is it and how to do it correctly for women and men, diet when drying

Drying the body is a process during which a person strives to reduce the percentage of fatty tissue in the body as much as possible, while maintaining muscle mass and strength. Simply put, drying is a set of measures that consists of a special low-calorie diet and intense training. The main task of athletes during this period is to maximize physical activity, actively consume protein foods and reduce carbohydrates in the diet. This process is quite complex, requiring a serious approach, as it has a number of contraindications and side effects.

Who needs body drying and how it differs from losing weight

The method of drying the body in order to reduce the amount of subcutaneous fat is most often used by professional athletes. After all, it is impossible to be at the same weight and physical shape all year round. Therefore, bodybuilders first gain weight, and after a while they begin to “dry out.” The process of gaining weight allows you to build muscle, and drying gets rid of the fat layer, forming a beautiful relief.

However, drying the body is relevant not only for professional athletes. It is also useful for people who have problems with excess weight. Since only an integrated approach will help you get rid of extra pounds. A well-structured nutrition system and an appropriate training program.

Please note that professional body drying differs from regular weight loss with a change in diet and regular physical activity. People who just want to lose weight are working for long-term results. Proper weight loss requires a long period of dieting and systematic exercise. Often, those who are predisposed to obesity have to adhere to certain dietary rules throughout their lives. This is how they manage to stay in shape.

When drying, a special menu is drawn up. All fat-containing foods are excluded from the daily diet, the amount of carbohydrates is reduced to a minimum (or also eliminated), and salt is removed. Sticking to such a diet for a long time is not recommended. Otherwise, instead of the expected benefit, you can only harm the body. Lost weight will be returned in double volume, which is explained by the slowdown of metabolic processes during fasting.

Therefore, unlike the usual getting rid of extra pounds, which should take place smoothly and systematically, without any special prohibitions on a variety of foods, drying the body should be short-lived.

Exercises that burn fat

To noticeably dry out, it is recommended to devote more time to the strength part of the selected program. It’s important to eat right, and create an approximate diet for the week ahead. As for exercises for drying the body, it is problematic to work out certain muscle groups separately, but emphasis needs to be placed on them. Do not abuse it at a wild pace from the first workout, but systematically increase your working weight and remove fat.

For legs

To get dry and see the pattern on the body, it is important to work a lot with all muscle groups. If your lower extremities are particularly swollen with fat, focus on how to dry your legs. It is important to control the ratio of BZHU, take special products (powders, tablets) with a fat-burning effect. During training, increase the intensity and number of approaches of the following exercises:

squatting with a barbell with a straight back;
forward lunges with dumbbells;
standing press;
classic squats.

For the belly

This need arises after childbirth, when a woman strives to get her figure back in shape. If the doctor allows you to remove problematic doses in this way, additional attention should be paid to the abdominal muscles. These are classic and lateral crunches, leg lifts, and rowing exercises. Drying your abs is not a matter of one day; training should become the norm of your usual routine.

How to get in and out of drying

The main component of drying is a change in diet, which involves a smooth entry and exit. You can’t start drying suddenly. The body must be gradually prepared for extreme stress.

First of all, gradually cut back on the amount of carbohydrates you consume. This should be done in advance, several weeks before drying. Remove sweets from your diet, then gradually reduce the amount of fruits, pasta, and cereals with a high glycemic index. Minimize your intake of fats and complex carbohydrates.
During the drying process, try to eat small portions, but often. Preferably every 2-3 hours. Don't forget about enough liquid. This is approximately 2-2.5 liters per day.
Skip the salt. But if you are not a professional athlete who is preparing for serious competitions, it is enough to add less of it to your dishes. Drying for athletes takes place under much more stringent conditions compared to those who simply want to lose weight.
Be sure to eat after training so that your body can recover from intense exercise.

When your efforts have brought the long-awaited result, do not rush to immediately increase the caloric content of your diet. The exit from drying should be just as smooth. After all, while you are drying out, metabolic processes in the body slow down greatly. A rapid transition to a regular menu will inevitably lead to excess weight gain, and all efforts will be in vain.

To prevent this from happening, proceed very carefully. Gradually add foods to your diet and carefully monitor your body's response to changes. Keep in mind, consuming carbohydrates after cutting will cause puffiness. Enter them into the menu smoothly. Start with small amounts of fruit and dairy products, gradually returning to your normal diet.

How to eat while drying

Looking at the many restrictions in food that the drying method implies, it is easy to understand that this process is really very difficult for our body. But if you decide to achieve the desired results using this method, you will have to be patient.

It is a special diet that allows you to quickly burn subcutaneous fat deposits. Moreover, for each person the menu is selected individually, taking into account his physiological characteristics, including the speed of metabolic processes. Someone has the opportunity to eat more carbohydrates, while others have to be content with only proteins. Therefore, to create a proper nutrition plan, you may need the help of a qualified nutritionist.

If the drying diet allows for the presence of complex, long-digestible carbohydrates, it is allowed to consume:

brown unpolished rice;
vegetables that contain water and fiber, but without sugar (cabbage, cucumbers, bell peppers, lettuce, greens).

When you really want something sweet, you can enjoy a carbohydrate-free sugar substitute with stevia by adding it to your tea or coffee.

A no-carbohydrate diet when cutting involves a complete abstinence from carbohydrates. Only low-fat protein foods are allowed to be eaten:

chicken fillet (without skin);
lean beef, veal;
rabbit meat;
turkey fillet and quail meat;
chicken egg white;
quail eggs (whole);
various seafood and lean sea fish;
Drinks: water, black and green tea, coffee.

Whatever the diet: low-carb or no-carb, we must not forget about enough water. When drying, which involves physical activity, its amount should not be less than 2.5 liters per day. Please note that we are talking about clean drinking water. Tea and coffee are not taken into account.

Sports supplements

We figured out what to eat during drying. It remains to be seen whether it is necessary to include in the diet special sports supplements that support the body in conditions of limited nutrition. It is not necessary to use them, but depending on the specifics of your diet and training program, they can slightly speed up and even make the drying process easier.

Protein

A popular supplement that contains protein and amino acids. The only type of protein that can be used in the drying process is sugar-free whey isolate. In fact, it acts as a substitute for protein products. This is a kind of way to add variety to your diet.

Creatine

Relevant for men during the period of muscle building. Helps increase muscle strength and size. But it is not suitable for drying the body. Since it does not allow you to achieve the desired relief, but only “inflates” the volumes due to fluid (the effect of creatine is based on the accumulation of water in the muscle fibers).

BCCA

This sports supplement is very useful in the cutting process. It contains amino acids that our body is not able to produce on its own (valine, isoleucine, leucine). They are the ones who prevent the destruction of muscle tissue during acute carbohydrate deficiency during drying.

L-carnitine

Acts as a light fat burner. Promotes an increase in body temperature, produces energy as a result of the breakdown of fat deposits. L-carnitine is recommended to be taken 30 minutes before training, as well as on rest days.

Fat burners

Most often, athletes use fat-burning supplements with the ECA complex (ephedrine, caffeine, aspirin). These components effectively break down fatty tissue and reduce appetite. However, fat burners are contraindicated for people prone to hypertension (fat burning supplements with the ECA complex increase blood pressure).

Fluid intake

Approximately 70% of muscle consists of water. For most nutrients, water is an indispensable transport system, and it plays an important role in all intracellular processes.

When the body receives little fluid, the transport of nutrients and active substances suffers, you lose strength and feel sluggish due to the accumulation of metabolic end products such as ammonia, urea and uric acid. Drinking a glass of water before and after meals will help you maintain adequate hydration throughout the day.

And be sure to drink water during training, especially in the warm season.

Sample menu for a week during drying

We present an example of a weekly menu in the form of a short table:

Day of the week	Breakfast	Snack	Dinner	Afternoon snack	Dinner
1	2 egg whites, 3 tbsp brown rice, coffee	Boiled chicken fillet with vegetables	Cabbage salad with rice	Vegetable salad with seafood	Steamed turkey fillet, cucumber
2	Protein omelet, green tea	Salad with seafood and egg	Stewed rabbit meat with vegetables	Lettuce leaves with boiled rice	Baked sea fish
3	Fresh cucumber, 3 tbsp rice, black tea	Boiled veal with vegetables	Baked sea fish with lettuce	Green vegetables	Steamed fish with vegetables
4	Steamed chicken cutlets, coffee	5 egg whites, green salad	Boiled rice with asparagus	Eggs with seafood	Stewed veal, cucumber
5	Vegetables with rice, green tea	Steamed sea fish cutlets	Boiled buckwheat with cabbage	Green vegetable salad	Boiled chicken fillet with herbs
6	Fish cutlets, egg white, coffee	Rice with seafood	Lean beef baked with vegetables	Vegetable stew	Steamed sea fish, cabbage salad
7	Protein omelet, boiled rice, black tea	Quail eggs (white+yolk)	Lettuce leaves with seafood	Boiled seafood	Boiled beef salad with fresh vegetables

Workouts while cutting

During the drying process, it is necessary to combine diet with regular physical activity. The training program should include intense strength training and cardio. The main thing is not to overdo it with cardio loads in order to avoid a decrease in performance in strength exercises.

Strength training during the drying period

When continuing strength training while cutting, you should not take lighter weights, compensating for this with an increased number of repetitions. To burn off calories, you will do cardio exercises. And strength training stimulates muscle growth - this is its main goal.

It is best to train in drying according to the following scheme:

Work each muscle group twice a week.
Perform 6-12 repetitions in one approach. So that you end up doing about 40-70 repetitions per muscle group in one training day.
Be sure to pause between sets for 1-3 minutes.
Do not work to failure, especially in complex multi-joint exercises such as deadlifts, squats, presses, etc. Sets to failure are only acceptable for simple exercises aimed at working small muscle groups.

Give your body a lot of stress, but don't forget that your body is under a lot of stress due to the change in diet. If you realize that you are not able to complete the approach in compliance with the technique, interrupt the process so as not to get injured.

Cardio training during the drying period

Cardio exercise is a great way to increase the number of calories you burn. But you need to be extremely careful when drying them.

Excessive cardio training greatly fatigues the central nervous system. Nothing less than strength training. By going all out on your cardio, you'll certainly lose more calories, but you won't be able to do as much strength training as you need. Which will lead to muscle loss.

The optimal amount of cardio training while cutting is 4-5 per week. If you notice a decrease in strength indicators, reduce the number of exercises or the time of their implementation.

You can also replace long-term cardio with high-intensity interval training, which also burns more calories in less time. For the central nervous system, short, high-intensity exercise is preferable. But you shouldn't do them every day. In combination with strength training, they place a very large load on the body, which increases the risk of injury. The right solution in this case is alternating cardio and HIIT. For example, 2 workouts per week.

Bottom line

Losing weight quickly without losing muscle can be very easy or really difficult.

The process requires discipline and innovation, but if you follow these tips, you may be surprised at how smoothly it goes:

resort to a radical calorie deficit;
eat plenty of protein and carbohydrates;
train with weights;
cut down on cardio;
add the necessary sports nutrition -

...and then you can lose up to 1 kg of fat per week, while maintaining your muscles and strength!

What is body drying for men and women: differences

Men naturally have greater endurance, strength and muscle mass. The percentage of fat in a man's body is significantly less compared to a woman's. Therefore, representatives of the stronger sex can afford more intense training during the drying period. Although some professional athletes with well-developed muscles also train intensively while continuing to dry out. But this situation should be considered an exception.

A woman’s body reacts very quickly to changes in her diet. The female body contains more fatty tissue and high levels of estrogen. If a girl removes all fatty and high-calorie foods from her usual menu, the harmoniously built balance in her body will be disrupted.

As a result: the level of hormones will decrease, the content of muscle tissue will decrease, ligaments will weaken, metabolic processes will be disrupted and slowed down, appearance will suffer (hair will become brittle, dry skin, swelling will appear, etc.). This state can hardly be called the desired result that one strives to achieve during drying. Therefore, for health, women are recommended to leave 25 g of unsaturated fats in their diet.

Drying for athletes

For professional athletes, body drying is not just a term. It is the most important stage in preparation for competitions. This is the key to maintaining their competitive shape. Many years of work on muscle formation becomes obvious only through the burning of excess fatty tissue. Only by reducing the amount of subcutaneous fat can you demonstrate well-developed muscles.

If there is no lean muscle mass, a bodybuilder may not be allowed to compete or receive a lower score. This is why drying the body is so important for athletes preparing for important competitions.

The drying period for athletes can last from 1 to 3 months. The time is determined by the percentage of subcutaneous fat and the individual rate of metabolic processes in the body. Many bodybuilders go on a completely no-carb diet in the run-up to competition. Some even refuse water a few days before performances in order to remove as much fluid as possible and keep their muscles dry. Although refusing water is a very difficult and unsafe test for the body.

For muscle relief for girls

Some girls decide to get in shape and urgently go on a diet on the eve of the next fitness and bodybuilding competition. Others are more interested in preparing for the summer and simply wanting to get a fit figure. In both cases, proper body drying is simply necessary for girls, but the results will appear only after a few weeks. It’s possible to get rid of your sides, thighs and belly, but first you have to completely give up coffee and alcoholic drinks, chocolate and your favorite fast food. A strict diet, regular training, and a woman’s dream can be realized.

Program

To see six-pack abs, you will have to train for more than one month, and it is important to combine strength training harmoniously with carbohydrate-protein alternation in your daily diet. This drying program for girls is designed for 8-12 months, but positive results are observed in a shorter period of time if all rules are followed. Before drying the body of fat, it is important to exclude medical contraindications. Recommendations:

The basis of cutting is strength training, where the main recommendation is to intensively perform as many repetitions as possible with minimal rest breaks to burn fat.
Based on your general condition, regularly add working weight, thereby increasing your endurance and your athletic performance.
As an alternative to strength training, you can choose a cross-fit training program, which provides additional cardio, works the abdominal muscles, and removes fat.
As for nutrition, light carbohydrates are completely excluded, complex carbohydrates are consumed only in the first half of the day. The second half consists of protein foods without fat.
Control your fluid intake, otherwise your metabolism will slow down and your body will dry out at a slower pace.

Drugs

If you don’t have time to visit the gym, a solution has been found. Drying the body for girls at home is possible, but you should also think about buying sports nutrition and amino acids. The free market is dominated by a huge range of body-drying preparations for girls, which promote rapid and irreversible fat burning. As a result, the female silhouette becomes striking and athletic. To dry yourself out, you can use the following progressive body preparations:

Lipo-6 line from Nutrex;
fat burner Black Widow and Methyldren;
Innovative Labs;
Cloma Pharma.

Contraindications to drying the body

Drying the body involves a special diet, the goal of which is not to get rid of extra pounds, but to eliminate the subcutaneous fat layer while maintaining muscle mass. For the human body, drying is an unnatural process, so it has many contraindications. Most of them are based on reducing or completely eliminating carbohydrates, which act as a source of energy.

When planning to dry off, you need to remember the following important points:

Drying is a strong stress for the body. It is mainly suitable for professional athletes whose condition is under constant medical supervision.
Proper drying of the body is impossible without appropriate knowledge in the field of medicine, dietetics and sports.
This is a very complex process that requires serious preparation.

Drying is only suitable for people in good health. Even with minor deviations from the norm, reducing carbohydrates can lead to serious consequences. It is strictly contraindicated for:

diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and liver;
renal failure;
diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
pregnancy and during breastfeeding;
the presence of diabetes mellitus and other diseases associated with metabolic disorders;
chronic pathologies during periods of remission and exacerbations;
mental disorders.

In addition, drying the body can have an extremely negative impact on the body of even a completely healthy person. An excessively low concentration of glucose in the blood provokes a feeling of general weakness and frequent dizziness. Negative manifestations can be observed not only in physical, but also in mental form. When the body experiences a lack of carbohydrates for a long time, a person has difficulty concentrating, finds it difficult to solve simple questions, and has difficulty with memory.

In conclusion, it should be said once again that drying the body with strict adherence to the appropriate diet really makes it possible to achieve impressive results. Fatty subcutaneous tissue disappears, muscle mass is preserved, and a beautiful, clearly defined relief is formed.

But we must not forget that drying is an unnatural process for the body. Essentially, this is its exhaustion, which can cause serious harm to health. A spectacular body comes at a very high price. Therefore, it is better to dry only for professional athletes. But simple fitness enthusiasts should limit themselves to more gentle methods.

Why should you listen to me?

I managed to achieve the desired muscle definition (the photos presented on this page belong to me), and I was also able to help guys with “bad” genetics do the same. As a personal training director and nutrition consultant, I'm constantly trying to find new exercises by reading the latest and greatest research on diet and exercise, talking to natural bodybuilders, nutritionists, personal trainers and anyone else who has a keen interest in physique transformation.

Therefore, I present a complete guide on how to dry properly to acquire sculpted muscles with a low percentage of subcutaneous fat. Hope this helps you.