According to Tufts University researcher Miriam Nelson, and author of Strong Women Stay Slim, women who lifted weights and dieted shed 44% more fat than women who only dieted. This is because muscle, unlike fat, is active tissue, meaning that it burns calories daily in order to maintain itself. Building muscle actually helps you burn fat and lose weight.
This is the ?other? form of exercise, and represented separately in this list because both weight training and cardiovascular exercise are part of a complete exercise program, each one providing benefits the other doesn't offer. Running doesn't substitute for push-up. And bench presses don't do the same thing as play racquetball.
For the healthiest overall results from a weight training program, be sure to give equal attention to both the upper and lower body. It's a natural inclination to be drawn more to one or the other ? desiring to build up either your shoulders, arms, chest, and back, or legs and buttocks. But for the healthiest results from your weight lifting efforts, you must develop both your upper and lower bodies. Having a disproportionately built upper or lower body can easily lead to health complications in the underdeveloped portion.
Another key to maximizing the gains and minimizing the pains when pumping iron is to balance out each exercise you perform by next performing one that strengthens the opposing muscle group. For example: if you pump your biceps, next pump your triceps; if you pump your thighs, next pump your hamstrings. A simple way to look at it is this: if you work out a muscle group on the front of your body, switch next to working out the opposite muscle group on the back of your body.
In general, 3 smaller sets of any given exercise is recommended over 1 larger one as the intermittent periods of rest after each repetitions (?reps?) strengthen the muscles enough to get more out of the subsequent rep. How much to lift and how many reps to do depends on your goals. If toning existing muscle mass is your goal, then lift more frequent reps of lighter weight. If building new muscle mass is your goal, then lift fewer reps of heavier weight.
If you plan to include cardiovascular exercise and strength training exercise in the same workout, perform the strength training exercises first. This is because the body puts the fuel it burns to use in a particular order, and while you can maintain plenty of energy to work out aerobically after lifting weights, doing cardiovascular exercise first can easily exhaust you before you get your weight training in.
Finally, there's a deceptive aspect to the dividing of the concept of Exercise into two categories ? cardiovascular and strength training ? and that is this: one can also be the other. In the case of strength training, it can easily double as cardiovascular exercise as long as you remember to consciously breathe while you lift weights.
Breathing is an essential element of receiving the benefits of weight lifting anyway, as the blood cells responsible for the process of mending the muscle tears weight lifting causes feed on oxygen. The more we feed our body oxygen while we're working out, the greater the effects of each rep. The way to breathe when lifting weights is consistent throughout: breathe in when you flex the muscle group being affected; breathe out when you relax the affected muscle group.
I can understand how you might be confused because it's true that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be and the more fat you will burn as a result of having more muscle.
My point was not that building muscle and losing fat at the same time is impossible, but that attempting to build muscle and lose fat at the same time is not as efficient because you are chasing after two conflicting goals.
Let me explain...
If you want to put on the most muscle possible, you would engage in what's called a 'bulking' diet. That is where you eat 10-15% over your maintenance level calories. The rate of muscle growth can be quite rapid at this level of caloric intake, but the rate of fat gain can often be as high as the rate of muscle gain (a 1:1 ratio).
So why would you ever want to gain fat along with the muscle? Simply because you will gain the maximum amount of muscle possible only if you stay in a caloric surplus. People who want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time have to alternate periods of caloric surplus with periods of caloric deficit and therefore will gain muscle much more slowly.
Let's talk about cutting diets.
The goal on a cutting diet is to eat 10-20% below your maintenance calories in order to burn as much fat as possible without sacrificing muscle. On any cutting diet, some muscle loss is almost inevitable, but your goal is to maintain as much lean body mass as possible.
A beginner is much more likely to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. (That's why being a beginner is pretty cool). For a beginner, almost anything works because your body isn't used to the stress of training, so great "beginner gains"can be made with virtually any training program.
But after about 6 months, the gains slow down, then nearly stops as you become more advanced and get closer to the limits of your genetic potential.
At this point, You have to work harder and smarter in order to keep your body progressing and changing. Not counting the initial "beginners gains" growth spurt, the only ways I know of to date that you can do both (build muscle and lose fat quickly) is thru anabolic steroids or to be extremely genetically gifted.
You see, testosterone promotes leanness and it builds muscle. Having super high levels will allow you to chase both goals and do it well. Of course, that isn't a risk free path and in the U.S. it is illegal. And there are a slew of other problems with that. I just wanted to insert that point.
Is it impossible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time? Nope. It's possible. It's simply more difficult and not the most efficient approach.
There's an old proverb that says, "If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither." Gaining muscle and losing fat require different eating methods to achieve. If you attempt to do both, you may end up in limbo going nowhere.
If you don't mind making much slower progress in muscle gains, you can put on muscle and trim down body fat. But many people want faster results, so they focus on a single goal and put all their effort and energy into that one goal.
Then when they reach a certain body fat percentage, they go the other way. Keep all the muscle they just built and lose the fat. In essence, you might start off at 200 lbs, 15% body fat but at the end, you might be 195 lbs, 9% body fat and have more muscle then you did at 200 lbs. Because you gained as much as possible, then cut away the fat. Now you are bigger but leaner.
My recommendation: Pick one goal and stick with it until you are satisfied. It's faster, easier and works better then trying to do both.
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