OT: burn fat and gain muscle mass

[Br0nc0Buster]

I am trying to lose some belly fat I developed over the past break from drinking a bit too much beer, but I am also trying to gain muscle mass.

I am just wondering what kinds of specific workouts I should look into that may be more effective for burning fat but not losing weight necessarily.

I lift about 3 times a week, and I do some cardio also about 3 times a week.
But while I am gaining weight, which is what I want to do, I am not having success thus far with the belly fat going away. I have been told that I can gain mass and lose fat at the same time.

How often should I do cardio and what kinds of workouts would be best?

I was wondering if anyone was knowledgable in fitness, because I am not really at all.

[DenverFanMan6]

Your best bet would be doing lower ab workouts because those are the hardest to get. Also do plyometrics.

[Bronco Boy]

You can't lose fat in one specific area. Just do more cardio, or eat better. It's pretty tough to build muscle mass while losing fat unless you have a really strict diet or are just starting to work out.

[tsiguy96]

as far as cardio goes, do high intensity interval training, not steady state.

lift heavy and intensely in the gym, dont be a weiner.

[loborugger]

www.crossfit.com

[tsiguy96]

Originally Posted by loborugger

www.crossfit.com

good for burning fat and increasing cardio health and endurance, not so much for gaining muscle.

[loborugger]

Originally Posted by tsiguy96

good for burning fat and increasing cardio health and endurance, not so much for gaining muscle.

If you say so

[chaz]

muscle burns fat, thus the more muscle you add the faster you'll burn fat.

Also, as far as burning fat goes: lifting elevates your metabolism for 24 hours or so afterwards, while cardio doesn't have such a prolonged effect. (although cardio obviously has a lot of other benefits).

Make sure you're incorporating squats into your workout, probably the single most effective lift there is.

Make sure to pack your meals with protein (although less red meat or pork) and healthy carb(rice, pasta, fruit), especially right after workouts.


just some random thoughts, hope it helps!

[chaz]

Originally Posted by TwinCitiesBronco

It's pretty tough to build muscle mass while losing fat unless you have a really strict diet or are just starting to work out.

Not so much. It's hard to lose weight while adding muscle, but it's not hard to burn fat. Muscle does the work for you. So while you're total weight may not decrease, your body fat % will change. Spot on about diet though, very important. Obviously your body won't burn fat if you keep a constant supply coming in.

[tsiguy96]

Originally Posted by loborugger

If you say so

i know so

people who are going from not doing anything to crossfit will get some hypertrophy from it for sure, but its not the intention of crossfit to make people jacked.

[DenverBrit]

Go low carb.....no white rice, pasta, bread.

Lot's of protein.....try Isopure Zero carb protein powder. 200 calories and a whopping 50g protein. I drink one with every workout. Plenty of cardio.

Fish, chicken, veggies. Nothing fried, but use olive oil.

Whole foods have fruit juices for 3.99....they contain 8 servings of fruit in each bottle.

To get rid of belly fat, you have to cut way back on the foods that like to live there.

Good luck.

[loborugger]

Well, I have gained a fair amount of lean muscle mass from it, and if I followed a decent diet more rigously, I would have under 10 percent body fat easily... but whatever.

But you are right, if you wanna look like you stepped on a tire pump and got inflated then crossfit is not for you. If instead you are interested in total body fitness - decreasing your run times while at the same time developing your deadlift totals or increasing core strength while lower your heart rate, then crossfit rocks.

Having read thru the weight lose thread in the maniac community, there are those who will argue ad nauseum over the trivial matters in work out routines. I am not here to say that crossfit is superior to everything ever created for every human being.

However, I know this... 1. It works for me. 2. It has worked for others. 3. It is was created by people that know a crapload more about the physical body than I do (and most likely you, too). 4. Its free. 5. It has A TON of resources. 6. More than just a work out routine, it has great diet info. 7. did I mention its free? 8. It was created for initially for the SEALS and Marines - people who are interested in functional strength and not vanity. 9. If you get into a crossfit gym, you will get a support system that is 2nd to none. 10. If you don't, did I mention all the stuff on the website is free?

So, I am gonna throw it out there for Broncobuster. Its not for everyone. But, I would be SHOCKED if he followed it for a period of time and didnt improve. If he likes it, then more power to him. If not, nothing lost.

But, hey, thanks for your nitpicking.

[tsiguy96]

Originally Posted by loborugger

Well, I have gained a fair amount of lean muscle mass from it, and if I followed a decent diet more rigously, I would have under 10 percent body fat easily... but whatever.

But you are right, if you wanna look like you stepped on a tire pump and got inflated then crossfit is not for you. If instead you are interested in total body fitness - decreasing your run times while at the same time developing your deadlift totals or increasing core strength while lower your heart rate, then crossfit rocks.

Having read thru the weight lose thread in the maniac community, there are those who will argue ad nauseum over the trivial matters in work out routines. I am not here to say that crossfit is superior to everything ever created for every human being.

However, I know this... 1. It works for me. 2. It has worked for others. 3. It is was created by people that know a crapload more about the physical body than I do (and most likely you, too). 4. Its free. 5. It has A TON of resources. 6. More than just a work out routine, it has great diet info. 7. did I mention its free? 8. It was created for initially for the SEALS and Marines - people who are interested in functional strength and not vanity. 9. If you get into a crossfit gym, you will get a support system that is 2nd to none. 10. If you don't, did I mention all the stuff on the website is free?

So, I am gonna throw it out there for Broncobuster. Its not for everyone. But, I would be SHOCKED if he followed it for a period of time and didnt improve. If he likes it, then more power to him. If not, nothing lost.

But, hey, thanks for your nitpicking.

there we go.

it makes you better at basically everything, but not great at any one thing. what most people need. not many are going to have the dedication to stick with it though.

[sgbfan]

Originally Posted by chaz

Not so much. It's hard to lose weight while adding muscle, but it's not hard to burn fat. Muscle does the work for you. So while you're total weight may not decrease, your body fat % will change. Spot on about diet though, very important. Obviously your body won't burn fat if you keep a constant supply coming in.

Not so much? Didn't you support what he just said?

I think its pretty tough to burn fat and gain muscle mass at the same time. It is possible, but the fat will burn off fairly slowly. In order to gain mass, you have to work out correctly, and supplement with an appropriate diet. In order to burn fat, you have to burn more calories than you consume. Eating a diet to help gain mass takes away from the calorie deficit needed to burn fat.

I do think it is possible to do both, but it takes away from both aspects when you do so.

Just keep up the hard work and eat right. It might come off slowly, but the fat will come off.

[Dagmar]

Just gonna leave a bookmark here.

[loborugger]

Originally Posted by Dagmar

Just gonna leave a bookmark here.

Because of gained knowledge or because of the potential for internet b**** slapping?

[ZONA]

Stop drinking beer for one. Lift like your life depends on it. You need to go intense if you want to see quick changes. At least 1/2 hour of pure weight training 4 times a week. You will get faster results of course the harder and more often you work out. I do cardio 3 times a week and weights 6 times a week. You do this, along with eating right, you will lose that gut fast, in 3 months, I promise.

Do 30 minutes of medium cardio before lifting weights. Then 30 minutes of weight training, and don't go wimpy here. Be smart but be intense. Push yourself.

Tons of protien 5 times a day, at least 30 grams every meal. Limit most of your carbs until an hour before you work out (I eat 50% of my carbs for the day and hour before my workout). Most of your carbs should be from fruit and veggies, some whole grain pasta is ok and oatmeal is terrific.

[bombquixote]

Crossfit rocks. It won't make you look like a bodybuilder, it will make you look like an athlete...because you'll be training athletically. If done with dedication, crossfit will harden your body. You'll get stronger in virtually every way. You will build muscle, just not superfluous muscle.

If you choose something other than crossfit, definitely do lift. Center you workouts around compound movements, e.g. deadlifts, squats, cleans, bench, pullups. Isolation movements, e.g. curls, tricep extensions, lateral raises, should be supplementary.

Someone mentioned high intensity interval training for cardio, and I second this. It will quicken you metabolism more than long slow cardio will, and won't cost you any of the muscle gain from lifting that long slow cardio sometimes can. That being said, long slow runs are still good for you.

As for losing fat, diet is more important than virtually any workout. Think in terms of nutrient value per calorie. By that I mean ditch the junk food and booze. Get as many of your calories as possible through fresh salads, steamed vegetables, fruit, legumes and lean meat. Avoid as much processed food as possible. Supplement your carbs with a little brown rice or sprouted grain bread. The zone diet is a very good place to start your diet research.

Good luck and have fun!

[Florida_Bronco]

Originally Posted by DenverBrit

Go low carb.....no white rice, pasta, bread.

Lot's of protein.....try Isopure Zero carb protein powder. 200 calories and a whopping 50g protein. I drink one with every workout. Plenty of cardio.

Fish, chicken, veggies. Nothing fried, but use olive oil.

Whole foods have fruit juices for 3.99....they contain 8 servings of fruit in each bottle.

To get rid of belly fat, you have to cut way back on the foods that like to live there.

Good luck.

Good post. I had great luck with the low carb diet I was on.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

Less calories, more cardio. It's fairly simple. But yeah, less carbs, more protein.

[Swedish Extrovert]

What worked for me:

Go vegetarian for about 6 months.
Drink 1-2 myoplex shakes a day (you should be getting 100-150 grams of protein a day depending on your size/workout intensity)
DONT neglect cardio.

Edit - Eat plenty of COMPLEX carbs (try to limit, if not cut out simple carbs - ie anything processed, high sugar, or if corn meal or white flour is the main ingredient, which is a lot of stuff).

[enjolras]

Originally Posted by SonOfLe-loLang

Less calories, more cardio. It's fairly simple. But yeah, less carbs, more protein.

That won't lead to muscle gain. That's the real problem, in order to gain muscle you have to take in a LOT of calories (I do in excess of 3500 and sometimes more than 4000 a day during hypertrophy periods).

I suppose it's possible to do both, but I can't do it and I've never worked out with anyone who has. After a period of muscle building I'll inevitably have some extra fat that I need to work off (now the metabolic effects of increased muscle make that pretty easy to do).

Lowering your caloric intake while attempting to gain muscle almost never works.

[OCBronco]

Myself, I've been working out quite a bit with kettlebells, and I love that stuff. That said, I wouldn't recommend getting into it unless you have a qualified trainer nearby. There is a bit of a learning curve, initially.

As for the diet, I've been getting good results with this company: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/

The fundamentals of their diet are free. You just have to sign up for their e-mail packet. I haven't signed up for their full diet plan, because I don't really have the time to really readjust everything. It's pretty thorough.

The basics are easy enough, though:

1. Eat 5-6 times a day

2. Eat Vegetables (and/or fruit) with every meal.

3. Eat lean protein with every meal.

4. Eat some mono or poly unsaturated fat with every meal (olive oil, nuts, avocadoes, etc.)

5. Save heavy carbs for after your workout.

6. The 90% rule: the difference between following a diet 90% of the time and 100% is negligible. This means that if you're eating approximately 42 meals a week, you could cheat for 4 or 5 of them, and suffer little ill effect.

[orinjkrush]

anybody else here do P90X? worked for me, dropped 20 lbs and increased muscle size nearly everywhere.

[yerner]

Somebody explain Crossfit. I've looked at the website a bunch but am still not sure what it is. I may be full retard.