What is the best way to lose fat while still doing muscle building?
I have been taking a weight training class(muscle building) but I wanted to also know the best way to lose some body fat other than diets. Any exercises would work. I also wanted to know if when building muscle over fat, you just get bigger? I have gained about 8lbs of muscle in a little while and I just look bigger, not more fit. Any help would be appreciated.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Any cardio loses body weight.
July 16th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
pretty much any exercise that makes you sweat will help you lose weight.
and, it takes a while before you look fit. the way it works is that it takes your fat and turn it into muscle. and remember, muscle is heavier than fat.
just give it time and you should get the results you want.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Do 4-5, 40 minute sessions of moderate intensity cardio per week plus your weight training routine. This and a high protein/calorie deficient diet will make you loose weight and maintain muscle mass. You won’t gain muscle and loose fat though.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
You are right. Your muscles are getting bigger but still covered with fat, so it only looks bigger, not fitter.
The only way to burn fat is cardio. Here is a good plan for a bodybuilder:
3 days a week
30-45 mins a day
Make it intense enough so it would be a bit hard to speak while breathing. If you are out of breath then you are overdoing it.
Cardio also burns muscles if you are not training them. So don’t worry about losing muscles 🙂
Cheers 🙂
July 16th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
sorry to say, but those from those “8 pounds of muscle” you gained, probably 1 or 2 pounds of that was actually muscle. You should increase your reps to build muscle endurance, along with your cardio routine.
July 16th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Sorry to give you some tough love here, but the only reliable way to lose fat without losing muscle is
a) intense weight lifting
b) adjusting your diet
I know you said “other than diets” but you are lying to yourself if you think there is any exercise program that will be more effective than eating right. Eating right is 80% of the challenge and any serious fitness professional (who is honest and not trying to get you to buy their program) will tell you so.
Cardio is great as an extra calorie burn – but without intense weight lifting, all cardio will do is burn fat AND muscle. Please, please don’t expect to lose fat and build muscle on a cardio program.
Since your weight training program appears to be effective so far, stick with that. But to get rid of the fat that’s hiding the muscle, you need to eat properly. There’s not enough room in this space to go into full detail, but you want to eat slightly excess calories on your workout days and significantly lower calories on your non-workout days (I’m assuming you are lifting 3x/wk). Excess means probably 50 to 100 calories more than you burn. Lower calories means about 500 calories less than you burn. (I don’t know your exact weight and height, so I’m estimating here.) That should get you to lose at least a pound of fat a week and continue to make small muscle gains. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to put links here but a great site for all this is http://worldfitnessnetwork.com .
November 4th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Yes it is possible to gain lean qaulity muscle while losing body fat!! You see when you participate in a strict weightlifting program you build muscle , and when you add muscle to your frame it causes your body to burn fat at a more efficient rate.