Is my workout good enough to lose fat and gain muscle mass?
I basically use weights (Bowflex) every other day along with a few ab workouts. I am currently purchasing Whey protein shake and plan on using it in the morning and after my workout. And the days i dont work out i plan on having protein shake in the morning and at night. I also have a job doing stock in which is alot of heavy lifting and sweat. Is this a good enough activity and workout to lose fat and gain noticable muscle mass?? Thanks for your time
November 9th, 2010 at 12:40 am
You don’t give enough information to answer your question.
Bottom line, best source for great, healthy, drug-free, short training videos on YouTube is through a guy who goes by “Scooby.” He has a website at scoobysworkshop dot com with tons of videos for all the different muscle groups for beginner and advanced lifters. You will not be sorry you visited his site. I think every one of his videos is very useful.
Okay, my two cents: Your body builds muscle mass when it rebuilds the muscle tissue that is torn down during intense exercise. But this rebuilding takes place in the days following the workout in what is essentially a healing process, and THAT’S when your body relies on the protein. So the protein drinks before working out are not much value to the building process. If you are not getting enough nutrients when your muscles are trying to repair themselves in the 5-7 days after the workout, your workout was a waste of time.
Whey protein is fine, but you don’t have to spend extra money for protein. Protein can be found in big doses in fish, beans, beef, poultry, and dairy products. Better to eat a steady diet of more but smaller meals throughout the day, assuring that you’ll always have enough protein when your body is repairing.
Losing fat is a totally different body process than gaining muscle. (But the fun thing is, the more muscle mass you have and use during exercise, the more quickly you burn fat when exercising) You can pack in too many calories especially when trying to gain muscle. Whether the calories come from protein or fat or wherever, if you consume more calories than you use, your body will store the extra calories/energy as FAT. Weight training and good nutrition lead to muscle growth; while sustained cardio exercise (areobic and anarobic) will burn more previously-consumed calories (fat) and lose excess body fat.
So the trick (and it’s not easy) is to consume enough protein-rich calories to feed your muscle-repairing process, but no more, because excess calories will become body fat even while you grow your muscles. The balance is really hard to find, so body builders tend to go into “seasons”, first trying to bulk up with heavy lifting and many calories, while in then second season, beginning several weeks before a contest, they cut calorie intake a bit and pour on the aerobic, fat-burning exercise. But even during this period, cutting calories too much can cause muscle loss – EVEN while lifting weights continues.
Very long answer, but I hope it’s useful.