starting work out

[hking03]

Trust me, it is impossible to simultaneously GAIN muscle and LOSE fat. This is bodybuilding 101, folks.

 

I'm just going to throw this out there, but couldn't it theoretically be possible if you have a large body fat %?

 

If you have a relatively stable caloric intake of 2300 calories and your body requires say 3000 just to maintain your current weight you would create a deficit of 700 calories a day or ~1.5 lbs of weight loss per week, just from diet. If you also worked out 4 times per week and burned on average 700 additional calories during your workout you would create an additional deficit of approx 2800 calories or just under a pound of weight loss...

 

Ultimately, I understand that weight loss doesn't necessarily translate to fat loss, but it would seem that people get stronger while losing weight... which would lead to the belief that you are gaining muscle mass and losing fat at the same time.

 

I'm not an expert and I haven't taken enough physiology (read: none) to know for sure, but in my own personal case I lost about 30lbs in 3 months, but became so much stronger and increased my bicep/tricep size, decreased my waist and thighs and increased my chest size... so it would seem that I gained muscle while losing fat... unless I didn't...

[MarathonRunner]

What was your hydostatic bodyfat before and after you started your training?

 

If running preserved muscle every competitive bodybuilder would run but they dont and their diet is spot on (at least the ones who are serious) whether that be those who follow keto, low carb or a more balanced approach (protein is always kept high).

 

Muscle loss is going to happen on any diet, and those who claim to gain muscle while in a caloric deficit while burning excessive calories through exercise are generally just kidding themselves.

 

As i said, if running didnt burn muscle and in fact allowed a person to gain muscle then every bodybuilder would be running because the goal in bodybuilding is to come in as big and lean as possible.

.

 

I've never had access to underwater weighing to measure my body fat, but I have had caliper measurements done by trained individuals, and I know I've been able to lose body fat while gaining strength and muscle in my legs. As for my upper body, I have no idea if I lost muscle or not, but I certainly didn't lose any strength - I was able to lift just as much, or more, with my upper body.

 

You'll notice in my reply I said that it is different for competitive body builders, because they want to gain as much muscle as possible, and generally they have very little body fat to burn, but for the average individual, who is just working out for health benefits, running is not going to burn muscle. If it did, competitive runners would have very little muscle, and, in fact, they have plenty of muscle! Obviously not as much as body builders, or weight lifters, but they do have muscle.

 

I've also seen plenty of individuals in both my group fitness classes, and have had plenty of personal training clients, who were able to lose weight (fat), and gain strength. It doesn't happen overnight - it takes time (months to years), but it is certainly possible for individuals to be running without burning up muscle! If there is carbohydrate or fat to be burned, the human body is going to prefer to burn those for energy. Now, if you just do cardiovascular exercise (ie. running or some other form of cardio) you are going to lose a significant amount of lean tissue (ie. muscle) along with fat. But if you strength train AND do cardiovascular exercise, you can minimize the amount of muscle tissue lost.

 

I will fully admit that things are different for professional or competitive bodybuilders, or for competitive lifters. But the fact of the matter is that most people don't fall into that category.

 

Some articles from one of my favourite exercise scientists that covers some of this stuff:

 

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/fatfactsdlk.html

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/musclesgrow.html

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/hypertrophy.html

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/metabolismcontra.html

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/glycogen.html

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/resistanceweight.html

http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/aerobicresistanc.html

[MarathonRunner]

I'm just going to throw this out there, but couldn't it theoretically be possible if you have a large body fat %?

 

If you have a relatively stable caloric intake of 2300 calories and your body requires say 3000 just to maintain your current weight you would create a deficit of 700 calories a day or ~1.5 lbs of weight loss per week, just from diet. If you also worked out 4 times per week and burned on average 700 additional calories during your workout you would create an additional deficit of approx 2800 calories or just under a pound of weight loss...

 

Ultimately, I understand that weight loss doesn't necessarily translate to fat loss, but it would seem that people get stronger while losing weight... which would lead to the belief that you are gaining muscle mass and losing fat at the same time.

 

I'm not an expert and I haven't taken enough physiology (read: none) to know for sure, but in my own personal case I lost about 30lbs in 3 months, but became so much stronger and increased my bicep/tricep size, decreased my waist and thighs and increased my chest size... so it would seem that I gained muscle while losing fat... unless I didn't...

 

There are some studies that support what you experienced. To quote from this article: http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/aerobicresistanc.html

 

"A negative energy balance generated by cardiorespiratory activity, instead of reduced caloric intake, and sustained for several months has been shown to result in weight loss that is predominantly attributable to a loss of body fat (Bouchard & Despres, 1995) . In contrast, when the negative energy balance is caused by lower energy intake (through diet alone), one also loses a significant amount of lean tissues, which may be as much as 50% of the total weight loss (Tremblay, Despres, & Bouchard, 1985) .

Resistance training and circuit training studies have shown decreases in body weight and fat mass with comparable increases in fat-free mass (Gettman & Pollock, 1981) . One of the noteworthy benefits of resistance exercise, as it relates to weight loss, is the positive impact of increasing energy expenditure during the exercise session and on maintaining, or increasing, fat-free body mass while encouraging the loss of fat body weight (Young & Steinhard, 1995) . An impressive finding to highlight with resistance training is that the energy expenditure following higher total volume workouts appears to be elevated, with an increase in fat utilization (due to a lower respiratory exchange ratio) during this period (Melby, Scholl, Edwards, & Bullough, 1993) . The evidence unequivocally supports the combined use of aerobic exercise and resistance training for optimal changes in body composition to successfully attain weight management goals."

[RedOne]

random question..but would you consider swimming as bad as running in terms of losing muscles? I know its cardio..but it also works the upper body muscles..

[jp.mylittlepwny]

This is getting a bit out of hand with x person quoting this article that person quoting that. I'm just curious if anyone has put theory into practice and had it translate to real results.

 

If you're trying to put on weight, decrease/avoid any activity outside of time spent hitting the weights to favor Calorie intake vs expenditure.

 

I weighed in at 170 at the beginning of summer. I'm currently sitting at 182 trying to get up as high as I can before school starts (food is expensive in London). The principles I follow are:

1. lift heavy (with good form) 3-4 times a week max. Compound exercises are king.

2. Eat often as clean as possible

3. Rest at least 7 hours a night

4. Avoid excess calorie expenditure. Don't let this stop you from doing what you enjoy. I dragonboat on weekends and play table tennis. I compensate by eating more on those days.

5. Drink a post workout shake. Personally I add 1 scoop of whey isolate + 1 cup of vanilla soy and water.

Regardless of what the scientific literature says, this has worked for me and I will continue to follow what works.

 

Putting on any significant muscle as with weight loss takes time. Don't expect to gain more than 2lbs of both muscle and fat a week.

[naspec]

Adding my support to previous suggestions of Starting Strength and Stronglifts as good beginner routines. They are dead simple, technique doesn't take long to learn, and they will give you the most results for a given amount of time you sink into it. Perfect for a busy med/premed student.