Thread: Building Muscle & Losing Body Fat

get the book burn fat feed muscle by tom venuto, it will answer all your questions and other that would've never thought to ask!

the short answer is no (under very few circumstances).

Originally Posted by Titusfied

Is it possible to do both successfully at the same time?

I've been working out for a few months now, and just recently I've been reading that you cannot properly lose body fat AND gain muscle mass at the same time.

About 3 weeks ago I started the following routine:

I lift 4-5 days a week. Every day I run a mile to warm up. Then I go to weight training. I will lift chest, back, shoulders, and legs once a week, and bi's and tri's twice a week. Abs I lift 3-4 days a week, but only a few sets. I lift each muscle about 4 sets of 8-10 reps. Once I finish my lifting, I swim for about a half hour.

Will this routine give me the results I am looking for? Bigger and more defined muscles and less body fat?

Thanks for any input.

1) I would do cardio after training not cardio and then straight into weights
2) Answere to your ? most likely not
3) You don't need to train arms twice a week. They will get the second set of training when working back and chest.

So I would be better off just focusing on lifting weights for X amount of time, then switching up to focusing on cardio, then rinse and repeat to get th ebest results? Why does it work this way? It makes sense to me that if my muscles keep getting sore from lifting, that I'm developing my muscles. Then the cardio could only cut out some of the calories I've taken in during the day, so how could I NOT lose fat too?

Any further explanation would be helpful.

Originally Posted by MyK

get the book burn fat feed muscle by tom venuto, it will answer all your questions and other that would've never thought to ask!

That page is LONG. Quick question, since I don't have much time to sit back and read it right now at work: Will this book give me tips on how to build muscle as well, or is this just a way to lose fat and keep it off?

You should only constrain your workouts to close to one hour, I would not attack weight training as a "how many minutes" workout. If your goal is to build bigger more defined muscles then train that way. There is more then enough information on this site and I'm sure folks will be more then happy to chime in. By doing HIIT and weight training you will lose weight and since you are relatively new you may have some muscle growth assuming no change in your diet. You need to prioritize your goals, weight loss or more muscles. IMO the weight loss is the easy part, the muscles are the fun part.

Do you have any idea what your body fat % is? If it's over 18% I'd do the weight loss first, then pack on some muscle.

Well, my body fat is around 15-16%. I'd like to get it around 10-11% though, so my abs and muscles overall are well defined.

I've been lifting on and off for over 5 years now, but just recently (last 5 months) have a stuck with it again and really feel motivated. What type of cycles should I start? Lift weights for 6 weeks, with intermitent cardio say 2-3 times a week just to stay in shape, then visa-versa for cardio? Longer? Shorter?

Thanks for the replies.

depends...which route do you want to go first? bulking or cutting? there's a ton of info on this board regarding either route.

I say to focus on weight training, but do a little cardio in order to build a foundation for later when you want to do a lot of cardio for weight loss.
Anyway, if you're just starting this whole weight training thing, you'll probably lose body fat while you're building muscle. Someone who's been training consistently for years might not be able to do this as easily, but I think a beginner can.
Another thing is, once the muscle starts to pack on, you're new, larger shoulders and arms will probably make the belly seem smaller in camparison.

I wanna cut first, but I don't want to lose muscle mass or strength. I read a bunch of the articles, and most of it seemed to focus on the dieting. If I focus more on cardio activities and minimize my lifting exercise, coupled with a new diet, should that be all I need to know and do?

Originally Posted by Titusfied

I wanna cut first, but I don't want to lose muscle mass or strength. I read a bunch of the articles, and most of it seemed to focus on the dieting. If I focus more on cardio activities and minimize my lifting exercise, coupled with a new diet, should that be all I need to know and do?

This is not Rocket Science!!!
1.Lift 4x a week..................post your exact weight workout
2. do cardio 3 times a week
3. Post your diet
4. weight workouts should be 30min to 1 hour.

what happens after you get to 10%? Are you just going to maintain? You should be able to do that fairly easily over about 8-10 weeks, if you go more quickly then that I think you'll lose muscle.

Personally I think you're in a good range for putting on some size and stripping the weight off in March/April.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

This is not Rocket Science!!!
1.Lift 4x a week..................post your exact weight workout
2. do cardio 3 times a week
3. Post your diet
4. weight workouts should be 30min to 1 hour.

I know, sorry for being annoying.. I'm just not seeing any results in losing body fat, and I've been working at it for a few months now.. I do not eat very healthy, but I've been slowly changing my diet to cut out the bad stuff, because if I just try to change all at once, I'll never be able to stick to it.

My diet is about to go on a drastic change starting this week. I'm only going to lift one muscle each time I work out now.

Originally Posted by Titusfied

My diet is about to go on a drastic change starting this week. I'm only going to lift one muscle each time I work out now.

it needs to. diet is important.

why?

I'm assuming by your response asking why, that I should be doing more?

Chest/Tri's - Day 1
Back/Bi's - Day 2
Shoulders - Day 3
Legs - Day 4

Abs every day?

Originally Posted by Titusfied

I'm assuming by your response asking why, that I should be doing more?

Chest (10 sets)/Tri's ( 5 sets) - Day 1
Back (10-12 sets) /Bi's( 5 or 6 sets)- Day 2
Day 3 rest
Shoulders ( delts 10 sets, traps 4 sets)- Day 4
Legs ( quads 8-10 sets, hamstrings 4-5 sets, calfs 4-5 sets)- Day 5
Day 6 and 7......sat and sun???......no drinking!!!!

Abs 2 or 3 times a week

Just an idea.
Reps 6-12.....mix it up....different reps on different exercises.

If you know your diet sucks then what are you asking us for advice on? No magic answer, get your shit right and good things will happen.