When it comes to getting contest ready, most people find an arduous, gruelling 16-week prep the standard procedure. It’s time to reevaluate how we get stage ready or in shape for summer by employing these 5 proven strategies for keeping body fat low year-round.

1: Implement Intermittent Fasting

Not always ideal for periods of adding muscle, but certainly a way of keeping bodyfat low all year-round is by implementing intermittent fasting into your routine.

By condensing your meal window into an 8-hour period, it becomes difficult to overeat calories due to the reduced meal frequency, even if you do make bad food choices during the window.

Intermittent fasting isn’t for everyone, however: due to the nature of heavy lifters requiring upwards of 3,500kcals daily, it may be better suited to females and individuals at lower bodyweights rather than seasoned bodybuilders.

One thing is for sure: with the amount of benefits that fasting offers in regards to freeing fatty acids from the bloodstream to be mobilised for energy, enhanced GH, and its effects on insulin, it remains an excellent way of staying lean if you’re able to condense your daily macronutrients into a shorter eating window.

2: The 6:2 Week Template

Rather than an all-out assault on gaining muscle for 9 months of the year, plan your bulking and cutting cycles more meticulously with a commitment to 6 weeks of a calorie surplus, followed by 2 week cutting periods.

A good target using this approach would be to aim for roughly a 500 daily calorie surplus during the bulking weeks whilst subtracting the same amount from your daily macronutrients over a 2 week period.

This should ensure you don’t gain excessive fat over the course of the year.

Make sure you integrate Shredabull in acute phases to really ramp up the fat loss during the 2 week period, as well as ensuring Matador is on hand to counteract any overspill of nutrients during the bulking periods.

3: 5:2 Template

An even more attentive approach could be adopted by having 5 days per week when you’re in a surplus, followed by 2 days per week when you eat at maintenance calories (not in a deficit).

Doing so would ensure a more modest gain of overall mass over the course of the weeks and months, but would also ensure that the gains were quality lean tissue and unlikely to be fat.

This approach requires extreme diligence and patience, but it can be optimal for a lot of individuals who are worried about their body’s ability to stave off fat when using traditional bulking methods who may have ended up out of control in the past.

Integrating TauroTest to keep natural testosterone levels high during these periods would help optimise lean tissue gain when the surplus is at a modest level.

4: Carb Backloading

Popularised by John Keifer, carb backloading is a nutritional system where the individuals holds off carbohydrates until the post-workout window, where he/she is then free to consume whatever they want, including donuts, cake and cheeseburgers.

The theory behind this is that the body is in a position to vacuum these calories up while keeping the individual sane and unrestricted from their favourite foods throughout the year.

It also allows the daytime to be optimised for fat mobilisation where fatty acids can be released into the bloodstream more readily.

One thing is for sure when following this methodology: Matador, a glucose disposal agent, NEEDS to be on hand to ensure nutrient assimilation to the right tissues and cells and to ensure no overspill.

5: Constant Cardio

Perhaps the most ideal on the list depending on your stance towards cardio, but including additional activity year-round will burn more calories, that’s a given.

HIIT is preferable for this option due to its greater metabolic effects, but for some a simple hourly walk each day or time with the dogs outside is sufficient for staving off any excess gains from all the donuts (sorry, brown rice and organic potatoes) you’ll be consuming during this period.

For a slight twist on this, try using 1 capsule of Shredabull twice per week doing low-intensity-steady-state cardio in a fasted state as an alternative!

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