What to do: lose weight or gain weight? How to lose weight and get pumped up if you're fat. Is it possible to get fit and lose weight at the same time?

The topic of losing weight and creating a beautiful, sculpted body has become very popular recently. How to lose weight and build muscle at the same time interests many girls from all over the world. And I understand them perfectly, because lose weight and build muscle means looking not just a skinny girl, but a girl with beautiful curves and an athletic figure. Who doesn't want that?

More and more articles are appearing on this topic, and they are all completely different: some write that it is possible, others claim that it is impossible. I specifically decided to look into this difficult issue in order to finally find out which of them is right.

The first thing you need to understand is what types of tissues are responsible for losing weight and gaining muscle mass? And the second - Can you burn fat and grow muscle at the same time?

Fabric types

According to the prevailing opinion: gaining muscle mass and losing weight, that is, reducing the amount of fat in the body, are two opposite processes that cannot exist simultaneously. This is partly true, but not complete. Let's figure it out.

The process of losing weight occurs by reducing the layer of adipose tissue. That is, adipose tissue is responsible for weight loss. That's sorted out. What about gaining muscle mass? With muscles, everything is also very simple: muscle tissue is responsible for muscle growth. Up to this point, everything seems to be clear. Then let's move on.

Ongoing processes in tissues

Now to understand Is it possible to lose weight and build muscle at the same time?, let’s move on to a more complex point: the processes occurring in our tissues at the time of losing weight or gaining muscle mass.

Think about it: can something be in both a catabolic (destruction process) and anabolic (creation process) state? In our case, can muscles grow and break down at the same time? Or is fat burned and stored at the same time? I think the answer is obvious - of course NOT! After all, one type of tissue, for example muscle, cannot be in two states at the same time, just like fat.

But two DIFFERENT fabrics CAN! But muscles and fat are two different tissues! Therefore the conclusion follows: you can lose weight and gain muscle at the same time, but taking into account several important points! We'll talk about them a little later, but first we'll find out under what conditions fat burns and muscle grows.

Conditions for muscle growth and fat burning

In order to the muscles grew, need to anabolic processes in muscle tissue were at a constant high level . This is achieved in several ways:

— creating favorable conditions for the production of the anabolic hormone samatropin;

- increase in caloric intake and increase in energy expenditure (consume fewer calories than expend).

For the reverse weight loss process it is necessary that most of the time in the body catabolic processes predominated in adipose tissue. This is achieved in several ways:

- creating favorable conditions for fat burning;

- reducing the daily calorie intake and increasing energy expenditure (consume fewer calories than you expend).

Here, of course, you will have a question: so How can you lose weight and build muscle at the same time?, if they require completely different conditions? You won't believe it, but IT IS POSSIBLE! You just need to divide the training into two different components: gaining muscle mass and burning fat. Now I will tell you how this can be done.

Little tricks that will help you lose weight and build muscle at the same time

When we usually talk about gaining mass (muscle + fat) and “cutting”, there is a cyclical nature of these two different processes, which does not suit those who want lose weight and get pumped up at the same time, that is, everyone reading this article. There are 2 stages here: the first is mass gain, when along with muscle mass, fat mass also grows; and in the second, fat burning takes place directly, or as this stage is also called, the body “drying” occurs.

To avoid such a long process, which is mainly used by professional athletes in bodybuilding or representatives of women's bikini fitness sports, there is a shorter way for you.

Nutrition

In order for your caloric intake to be ideal for both weight loss and muscle gain, you need to include more protein foods in your diet. The body will perceive an increase in protein foods and a decrease in the consumption of fats and carbohydrates as a general decrease in daily caloric intake. And since proteins are the most important building material for your muscles, it will serve their good growth without the deposition of excess fat, since you have reduced fatty and carbohydrate-rich foods to a safe minimum for your body.

Rest

But even under such seemingly ideal conditions, there are pitfalls: without sufficient carbohydrate intake, you will feel a lack of energy, especially during training. Therefore, it is imperative to replenish energy reserves from other sources and give your muscles and body as a whole proper rest and good sleep.

Workout

Is it possible to build muscle and lose weight at the same time? without a drawn up training program, but simply mindlessly “raping” all the exercise machines in a row? I think everyone can guess that the answer is NO. In this process, the approach to the training process is very important. If you want to lose weight and get pumped up at the same time, then your workouts should be clearly divided: one day you have strength training with heavy weights to increase muscle mass, and the second day - or. This differentiation by day is necessary in order for the processes of muscle growth and weight loss to proceed more efficiently. The first day you work on mass, the second – on fat burning and weight loss.

But if you want to know my opinion, then I would advise girls to study according to a slightly different scheme. You can build muscle and lose weight at the same time, but is this the result you actually mean by these words? For a girl who wants to look fit and with a little muscle definition, she doesn’t need to exercise in the same way as a professional athlete performing on stage and setting herself the goal of winning an international bodybuilding championship. Mass training is quite difficult and not everyone understands how to do it correctly and what weights to work with.

Now let's summarize a little:

I hope you now understand this difficult and controversial issue: how to lose weight and build muscle at the same time? This is possible if you understand what types of tissues you are dealing with when you talk about muscle growth and weight loss. And also understand that lose weight and get pumped up This is possible only with proper construction of the training process and an established nutrition system.

Your coach, Janelia Skripnik, was with you!

Contents [Show]

Among women who want to lose weight, there is a fairly common myth that if you exercise, including in the gym, you can pump up your muscles so much that your body will become more like a man’s. The same biceps on your arms will grow, a powerful back will appear, your legs will become more voluminous due to the growing muscles. Naturally, any girl strives to look spectacular and slim, but at the same time, no one wants to lose her femininity. And when choosing a way to lose weight, women, having listened to each other’s less than competent opinion, refuse to play sports and simply limit themselves to food, going on various diets that are not suitable for them. At the same time, the weight comes off slowly, the mood deteriorates, the body, at best, becomes thin but flabby, which means that the long-awaited result never comes.

Indeed, for weight loss and a healthy appearance, diets alone are not enough: you need at least minimal physical activity in order to shape your body and maintain its elasticity. At the same time, your physique will not look like a man’s under any circumstances: the hormone testosterone is responsible for “pumping up” large muscles in men. Women have tens of times less of this hormone. And if men need a huge amount of time and special medications to form a muscular body, like bodybuilders, then for girls, even if they really want to, such a body is not achievable without the intervention of chemicals.

When you start playing sports, naturally, after a long rest, the muscles have to increase a little in order to cope with the load, but if at the same time a certain amount of fat is lost, then there will be no increase in the volume of the arms, thighs, and abdomen, they will simply look more elastic, and not flabby.

If you have been involved in sports for a long time, you have a healthy athletic figure, but you want to slightly reduce the volume of some parts of your body, this is also possible. The so-called “drying” of muscles will help here. In this case, the muscle fibers responsible for endurance, not strength, work. Adviсe
If you finally realized that pumping muscles and a bodybuilder figure are not a threat to you, and are going to the gym, follow these simple instructions for creating a sporty but feminine body:

• Increase the duration and number of aerobic workouts: running, skiing, cycling. If you choose training on simulators, set the minimum load.
• Don't try to do everything as quickly as possible. Your goal is to develop the slow muscles that are responsible for endurance, since they are smaller in volume than the fast muscles that are responsible for strength. To visualize this, think of a wiry, lean marathon runner who can run 40km and a muscular sprinter who runs short distances.
• Try to perform exercises without load or with minimal weight, but with a high number of repetitions. If you've completed 200 reps and still have a lot of strength left, continue working until you feel physically tired.
• When training, try to stick to general load exercises, do not focus on specific parts of the body.
• When performing, for example, two sets of 100-150 repetitions, rest between sets for about 3 minutes to allow the muscles to clear lactic acid.
• Exercise daily. This is how endurance is built, not strength. And the muscles are formed accordingly.
• To increase muscle volume, the body needs protein. If you don't want this, deprive the muscle fibers of nutrition. This way they will be restored using the nutrients already present in the body.
• Drink plenty of water. This will speed up the fat burning process.
• After training, eat only slow carbohydrates: porridge, salad, pasta. Protein foods can be eaten only 2-3 hours after physical activity.
• Include stretching in your exercise program; it gives grace and femininity to your figure.
• In order to give slimness and elasticity to the muscles, without pumping them up, self-massage of problem areas is effective.
• Don't expect quick results. Slow muscle fibers are slow to start working, you need to wait for them to begin to develop. But the result is worth it.

How to play sports without building muscles. Link to main publication

When trying to lose weight in your legs, you should be careful when developing your training regimen. Despite the fact that the female body, for hormonal and a number of other reasons, is not prone to rapid and strong growth of muscle mass, with improper training it is possible to pump up certain areas. Therefore, the loads should be carefully calculated and the exercises performed correctly.

How to lose weight in your legs without building muscles

Strength loads burn a large number of calories, but due to them the size of muscle fibers increases, and accordingly the volume of the legs. As a result of such exercises, your legs may become more pumped up.

Let's discover the secrets of achieving success in losing weight without building muscle mass:

• high frequency of repetitions in the exercise;
• little or no weight;
• short rest between approaches (no more than 30 seconds);
• cardio load 40-60 minutes after the main complex;
• quality stretching before and after training;
• a diet with a predominance of vegetables, fruits, and grains.

More cardio!

Running, an exercise bike, elliptical training and other types of cardio can effectively get rid of excess calories and cellulite on your legs. If you go to the gym, then each workout should end with a similar load. When doing fitness at home, go jogging in a park or other convenient place.

Advice! Walking and running, step aerobics and shaping are great for fat-burning workouts.

Cardio rules:

• Regularity. To achieve maximum results, classes should be performed at least 4 times a week.
• Time. The duration of the workout has a great influence; adipose tissue begins to decrease only after 20-25 minutes of training. Walking and cycling will be effective if you do it for at least 30 minutes.
• High quality shoes. This applies not only to running and cycling, but to any exercise. The comfort of the shoes determines the duration and safety of the workout and reduces the risk of injury.

Features of nutrition for weight loss

Exercise alone is not enough to lose weight. Reducing fat mass without significantly replacing it with muscle mass is only possible with diet.

Reduce your consumption of fast carbohydrates - donuts and cakes, sweets, sweet carbonated waters. However, with a sharp decrease in the supply of glucose to the brain, it gives a signal to the entire body to accumulate adipose tissue. To prevent this from happening, reducing the amount of carbohydrates consumed in food should be done gradually. You can eat a piece of chocolate and some sweet pastries in the morning.

Attention! If your goal is to lose weight and not build up your legs, you should not include protein drinks or gainers in your diet. Also try not to exceed your daily protein intake.

Adjust your diet. Eat at the same time, in small portions and at least 4-5 times a day. The main diet should consist of breakfast and lunch. You can skip dinner altogether or replace it with light food; fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products are suitable.

Spicy and salty dishes and foods fried in oil should be completely excluded from the diet. They do not benefit the body, but greatly increase appetite and quickly increase body volume.

Fat burning exercises for slimming legs

Strength training should be carried out on all muscle groups in the legs.

On calves

To reduce the size of your calves, you can perform 4 types of exercises:

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• Walking on toes for 2-3 minutes in 4 approaches;
• Rolling from heel to toe and back.
• Raising against the wall on your toes 50 times in 3 sets.
• A stretch in which you need to pull the toe towards you.

On the hips

To reduce hip size, do the following exercises:

1. Hands, palms, rest on the floor between your legs, bent at the knees. Smoothly move your thighs apart relative to each other.
2. Straight leg raise while lying on your side. It should be held in the raised position for several seconds. We do 8-10 times on each leg in three approaches.
3. In a sitting position, we focus on our palms behind us. There is a soft ball between your thighs; you need to squeeze it with your feet and pull your toes towards you. We return to the starting position and repeat the exercise again. Need to do 10 times.
4. We kneel down and place our straight palms on the floor. We swing our legs 15 times each. You need to do 3 approaches. This exercise is one of the most effective in combating hip size.

On the buttocks

To reduce butt size, it is useful to do the following exercises:

1. Lying on your back, rest your hands with your palms down along your torso. We bend our legs at the knees. Raise your pelvis and hold it for a few seconds. Then we lower ourselves and repeat the exercise again.
2. We do lunges alternately on each leg 15 times.

How to do strength exercises without gaining muscle mass

Strength training is necessary to maintain muscle tone, but high intensity can cause them to grow, which will negatively affect the volume of the legs. To prevent this from happening, you should use the following rules:

1. Minimum or no burden. For strength exercises, take dumbbells up to 5 kg, squat with or without a free bar.
2. Intensity and high number of repetitions in the approach.
3. Short rest between sets, performing supersets and circuit training.
4. With strong muscle growth, replace strength training with breathing practices and cardio exercises.

Bodyflex training

This is a unique technique that combines exercises and aerobic breathing exercises. Classes on the system were proposed by Grieg Childers. Due to special breathing during exercise, every cell of the body is saturated with active oxygen. It is an excellent fat burning agent, and its interaction with physical exercise allows you to achieve incredible results in a relatively short period of time.

During training, you need to correctly alternate the stages of diaphragmatic breathing. There are only five of them, but you need to master them before starting bodyflex:

1. Exhale deeply through your mouth. At this stage, empty the lung cavity as much as possible from air. To do this, the air is exhaled sharply, similar to squeezing.
2. We quickly inhale air through our nose. The lungs should be filled with air to capacity. When performing the exercise correctly, the inhalation is very loud.
3. Exhale sharply through the mouth, pushing air through the diaphragm.
4. We hold our breath. Performing the exercise requires the work of the abdominal muscles, they should move the stomach as close as possible to the ribs. Do the exercise very smoothly. Hold the air for a few seconds.
5. Inhale through your nose. The abdominal muscles and diaphragm contract smoothly, air fills the lungs through the nose.

Pulling the leg back

In other words, this exercise is called “swallow”, it is necessary for working out the skeletal muscles in the buttocks and thighs.

• First pose. The body is lowered to the floor, focusing on the knees and outstretched palms. Next, move the center of gravity from the palms to the elbows.
• Second pose. The center of gravity is evenly distributed over the slightly bent leg and elbows. The toes point to the floor. The head is raised, the gaze is directed downwards. In this position, we carry out five stages of diaphragmatic breathing. We return to the first pose.
• Third pose. Maximum leg raise, toes perpendicular to the floor. We stretch the leg at the same time as breathing exercises. We return to the starting position.

When performing the “swallow”, you need the toe to reach towards the body. We focus on the elbows, not the palms. In this way, your hips and butt will be tense.

Seiko

Using the exercise, the inner thighs are tidied up and excess fat tissue around the knees is eliminated:

• First pose. Focus on your knees and palms.
• The leg is moved to the side.
• We pull the limb, trying to pull it as close as possible to the head.
• We do eight repetitions, combining them with breathing exercises.

To achieve the best effect, do three approaches.

Leg stretching

Tightens the back of the thigh:

• Your back lies on the floor, your knees are at right angles to your body, your hands hold your knees.
• The legs smoothly stretch towards the head, bringing them as close as possible to the body. The legs are straight, the knee joints are supported by the hands.
• We return to the starting position slowly, only then lower our limbs to the floor.

Pretzel

This exercise is designed to simultaneously work the thigh muscles and waist muscles.

• We sit on the floor and cross our legs. The right leg should be above the left.
• The right hand is placed behind the back, and the left is placed on the upper knee.
• At the same time, we turn the torso to the left, and pull the right knee as close as possible to the torso with the left hand.

Important! When performed correctly, it feels like the muscles of the hips and waist are stretched. All movements should be done smoothly; it is forbidden to jerk, as this can lead to muscle injuries.

Scissors

The exercise is designed to keep the abdominal muscles toned.

• We lie down on our backs.
• Raise your legs no higher than 10-15 cm above the floor, your back is straight, your hands rest with your palms on the ground.
• We alternately swing our legs like scissor blades. Repeat 10-12 times.
• Smoothly lower your feet to the floor.

To achieve maximum effect, you need to do three repetitions on each leg.

What to do if your legs are already pumped up

Have you overdone your strength training, done it incorrectly, and as a result, your calves and thighs have become somewhat bulky due to the growth of muscle mass? Stop strength training completely for a while and work on stretching 3-4 times a week. To lose weight in the leg muscles, yoga, stretching, and the bodyflex described above are suitable.

Useful video

Find out how to tighten your butt without overweighting your legs.

Conclusion

In order for your legs to quickly lose weight and become slender and toned, you should do strength exercises correctly and be sure to include stretching in your routine. It is also important not to exceed your daily protein intake. Abuse of strength training and improper execution may lead to an increase in the volume of muscle tissue while burning fat, but will not lead to the visual effect of slimness and elegance.

As a rule, athletes who work out in gyms put maximum effort into increasing muscle mass. The desire to reduce muscle size may seem strange, but nevertheless, if you set this goal for yourself, you will not be alone.

Instructions

You can’t just stop playing sports; muscle tissue is very easily replaced by fat. You will have to train with light weights and a large number of approaches. Really big – from 100 to 250 times.

Increase the amount and duration of aerobic exercise. This could be running, cycling or skiing. If you exercise on exercise machines, use the minimum load.

Give up the desire to run as quickly as possible. Your task is to develop the slow muscles responsible for endurance. They are much smaller in volume than fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for strength. It is enough to compare a sprinter and a marathon runner to understand this.

Choose one or two exercises for each muscle group. Perform them every workout with a high number of repetitions. Perform two sets of 100-150 repetitions. Between

Rest for 2-3 minutes to allow the muscles to clear lactic acid.

Perform exercises with minimal or no weight. Force yourself to work and endure so that your muscles are really loaded. If you have completed 200 repetitions and feel that you still have strength, do not stop, work until you are completely physically tired.

Exercise daily. This is the only way to develop endurance, not strength.

In order for muscles to grow after exercise, they need protein. You need to deprive muscle fibers of nutrition. In this case, the body will recover using existing muscle fibers and fat cells.

After training, you can only eat slow carbohydrates - porridge, pasta, salad. Protein foods can only be eaten two to three hours after physical activity.

Drink as much water as possible. This will allow you to accelerate the process of burning fat and reducing muscle fibers after a specialized workout.

Don't expect results to appear quickly. Slow-twitch fibers take a very long time to come into play, and it will take you some time to get them to develop.

How not to pump up muscles when exercising

Body recomposition is a long process of restructuring the body, which is based on the desire to simultaneously gain muscle mass and burn fat. It is impossible to recompose the body without the right approach to nutrition and training. The question arises, is it possible to turn fat into muscle? Such a process is not possible. But it is quite possible to gain muscle mass and burn fat at the same time, although this contradicts your energy needs. Building muscle requires a surplus of calories, while burning fat requires a deficit.

How to turn fat into muscle? How does it actually work? Who is able to succeed at this and who is not and why? Read on to find out how to build muscle and burn fat...

How to lose weight and build muscle?

Nothing gets people to hit the gym and take supplements more than the desire to build muscle and burn fat—body recomposition, as experts like to call it.

Body recomposition is a very long and difficult process of restructuring the body, which is based on the desire to simultaneously increase the amount of muscle mass in the body and reduce fat, which is often impossible to achieve without following strict rules in calculating calories and the amount of training.

The main thing you need to know is that muscle building and burning are two opposite processes from the point of view of the energy of our body. Building muscle requires a surplus of calories, while burning fat requires a deficit. Without the right approach, attempting to carry out these actions at the same time can lead to undesirable consequences.

Everyone says, “To lose fat, you need to do certain exercises, eat right, and take supplements,” right? You can burn fat while maintaining muscle mass, right?

Is it possible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Well, I have news: good and bad.

• The good news: Yes, it is possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

• The bad: this is only possible under certain conditions.

• Very bad: most of the advice on how to lose weight so that you lose fat and not muscle is no good.

Yes, those “gurus” who swear they know the secret to gaining muscle mass are almost always talking nonsense. And I can prove it.

In this article, we'll talk about how the body actually builds muscle and loses fat, and then we'll look at what you need to do to do it.

Let's start with gaining muscle mass.

Is it possible to gain muscle mass and burn fat at the same time!?

Physiology of muscle growth

Two vital processes take place in your muscles every day - protein synthesis and protein breakdown.

1. The destruction of proteins means their breakdown into smaller components: peptides and amino acids.

1. Protein synthesis means creating new proteins, as well as their smaller components.

When you are healthy and your diet is in order, muscle tissue remains in a fairly stable state. That is, the rate of synthesis and breakdown is more or less balanced, and you do not lose or gain significant amounts of muscle in your daily life. (Strictly speaking, you lose muscle mass as you age, but you get the idea.)

In order for muscle to grow over time, the level of protein synthesis must exceed the level of protein breakdown.

This means that the body must produce more protein than it loses, and then muscle growth increases slightly.

Then what should be done to ensure that the rate of protein synthesis exceeds the rate of breakdown?

You must take certain actions in order to start and maintain this process. Muscles undergo a fairly active metabolism (metabolism), which requires quite a lot of energy to maintain it. Without this, muscles will not grow.

And the main thing you should do here is, of course, train your muscles. Strength training damages muscle cells, which signals the body to increase protein synthesis to repair muscle tissue.

Although this does not mean that by restoring muscles, the body returns them to their previous state. It strives to adapt to new stimuli—training—and produces new muscle cells, increasing muscle size and strength.

Research shows that progressive overload is the key to muscle growth.

“What is “progressive overload”?” you ask? This is a gradual increase in the level of tension in muscle fibers. When you systematically give your muscles more and more load, they constantly adapt to it, becoming bigger and stronger.

Like a true weightlifter, you must get stronger if you want to get bigger.

Of course, muscles can become stronger without increasing in size (due to increased neuromuscular activity), but there will come a point when more muscle fibers are required to achieve your training goals.

Pumping is great and can be included in a training program, but high rep ranges and exhausting sets should never be the focus. This training significantly increases metabolic stress, which promotes muscle growth, but not as much as progressive overload does.

This is why the biggest athletes in the gym are usually also the strongest, and why those who are chasing pumps by doing supersets, drop sets, giant sets, etc., do not have the same physical capabilities.

Your main goal in training should be to constantly increase your working weight.

If you don't do this, you won't get the benefits of progressive overload and will gain little muscle mass no matter what else you do (unless you use chemicals, of course).

Heavy training and progressive overload do not guarantee muscle growth because you also need to eat right.

You've probably heard that you need to eat a lot to get bigger, and there's some truth to that.

You must consume enough protein, which provides the basis for muscle growth, and also consume enough calories, which ensures that protein synthesis is as efficient as possible.

However, before we talk about diet, let's look at the other side of body recomposition, namely fat burning.

Physiology of Fat Burning

How to force the body to burn fat? Losing fat is easier than you thought.

• Don't get hung up on diet.
• There is no need to avoid carbohydrates, or indeed any other food.
• You should not eat a strictly defined number of meals per day on a schedule.
• Don't try to manipulate hormones.

In order to avoid mistakes when losing weight, you need to properly understand the mechanics of this process - how to burn fat correctly.

The first and most important mechanism is energy balance.

This means the relationship between the energy you provide to the body through food and the energy that is expended in cellular and physical activity. This ratio is often measured in kilocalories.

As evidenced by weight loss trials over the past 100 years, the truth is this: you must expend more energy than you consume.

You've probably heard it all before, and if you're disappointed, let me explain how to properly burn fat, not muscle.

When you eat food, you provide your body with a relatively large amount of energy in a short period of time. It burns some of this energy and stores some as fat for later use.

Scientifically, this process of nutrient absorption is called “postprandial.” "Fasting" means "after" and "prandial" means "having to do with food." In this postprandial state, fat burning does not occur because the body is in fat storage mode.

The reason for this is simple: why does the body burn fat to produce energy if you provide it with the required amount and even more?

Eventually, the body completes digestion and absorption of food, which takes several hours, and then enters a state that scientists call “post-absorptive.”

The energy obtained from food has ended, but the functioning of the body must continue. What can the body do to meet its energy needs?

That's right - it can burn fat. The body must now go into “fat burning mode” to work while it waits for the next meal.

Every day, your body moves from a postprandial to a post-absorptive state and back again, storing and burning fat.

Here is a simple graph that clearly demonstrates this:

The light parts of the graph show what happens when you eat food: insulin levels rise to help absorb nutrients, and fat burning stops.

The dark areas show what happens when the energy from food runs out: insulin levels drop, signaling the body to start burning fat.

What happens if these two parts of the graph are more or less balanced? That's right - the fat level will remain the same. The body will burn approximately the same amount of fat as it stores.

What happens if the light parts exceed the dark parts? Then fat reserves will exceed the amount of fat burned, and fat deposits will increase.

What happens if the dark parts collectively exceed the light parts? You burn more fat than you store, which means your overall fat mass decreases.

This is why losing significant amounts of fat requires expending more energy than you take in.

It doesn't matter how many "unclean" foods you eat or when you eat them. Your metabolism operates according to the first law of thermodynamics, which means that fat stores (energy) cannot be increased without providing excess energy and cannot be decreased without limiting energy intake, thereby creating an energy deficit.

• That's why research shows that low-calorie diets result in clinically significant weight loss, regardless of the macronutrients they rely on

• That's why Professor Mark Haub was able to lose 12 kg while on a diet of protein shakes, cakes, cookies, chips and pastries.

When it comes to simply shedding extra pounds, calories are still calories. The body uses a certain amount of energy, and if you give it less than it needs, then it has no choice but to continue burning fat to maintain life.

What if your goal is more than just losing weight? What if you want to lose fat but not muscle? In this case, calories are no longer just calories. Some types of calories become more important than others here.

I have already written about this in detail in my books and articles, so I will briefly outline the essence.

When you're cutting calories to lose fat, make sure you're consuming enough protein.

Research shows that when calories are reduced, high protein diets are more effective in reducing body fat, and these diets also help preserve muscle and increase feelings of fullness.

How much protein should you consume?

Instead, I prefer to follow the advice of scientists at Oxford University. This is the conclusion they came to:

“The protein requirement for athletes involved in strength training and dieting will be approximately 2.3-3.1 grams. per kg. body weight without fat deposits and will increase depending on the severity of the diet and the increase in muscle mass.”

If you have a lot of body fat (a man with 20%+ body fat or a woman with 30%+ body fat), you can reduce this amount to 0.8 grams and you will be fine.

So now you know how the body builds muscle mass and stores and burns fat. Let's see what happens when these 2 processes occur simultaneously.

How to gain muscle mass and burn fat at the same time

There is a lot of talk around gaining muscle mass and burning fat at the same time.

People sell pills, powders, programs based on super-secret technologies. Skeptics say that this is completely impossible. The truth, however, is somewhere in the middle. Some can achieve recomposition, some cannot. How to lose weight correctly so that you lose fat and not muscle?

The main determining factors are the level of training and experience of the athlete. Here are 2 general principles:

• If you're new to strength training or starting up again after a break, you shouldn't have trouble gaining muscle mass and burning fat at the same time.

• If you train for at least 6-8 months without much rest, you probably won't be able to achieve recomposition.

The exception to point 2 are those who have been training for a certain amount of time, but have not focused on compound exercises with heavy weights. They are likely, like beginners, to make rapid progress in the beginning, including muscle growth while on a calorie deficit.

“Why are there such rules?” you ask. – “Why can’t anyone achieve success in body recomposition, no matter the circumstances?”

Because from a physiological point of view, there is an irreconcilable discrepancy between fat loss and muscle growth. Their mutual incompatibility stems from their relationship to the body's energy balance.

When the body is in a negative energy balance (calorie deficit), it reduces fat mass, but also has the unwanted side effect of reducing the body's ability to synthesize proteins.

You lose muscle mass when you diet to burn fat. The body is not able to synthesize enough protein to balance the processes of its formation and breakdown.

So, if your goal is to maximize muscle growth, make sure you are not in a calorie deficit. And since it is impossible to accurately determine daily energy expenditure, athletes who want to gain muscle mass deliberately overestimate the body’s energy needs, thus maintaining a small excess of energy.

This is the science behind the claim that you should eat more to get bigger. Although it would be more accurate to say that you must consume a little more energy than you expend in order to become bigger. This creates the basis for muscle growth.

This is why it is so difficult to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. You're restricting calories and losing fat, but you're also limiting your body's ability to build and repair muscle tissue.

As you've probably realized by now, building muscle in a calorie deficit requires very high levels of protein synthesis (or very low levels of protein breakdown, or both). In short, anything you can do to increase your body's ability to synthesize protein and decrease its rate of protein breakdown will greatly help you in your quest for recomposition.

This is why beginners or those returning to exercise can be so successful at losing fat and building muscle. Their bodies are “hyperresponsive” to exercise, and this outweighs the restrictions on protein synthesis that a calorie deficit imposes.

Over time, these “privileges” of the beginner disappear, however, the restrictions on synthesis become more and more until they finally become insurmountable. You simply won't be able to stimulate synthesis and inhibit breakdown, maintaining the balance necessary for muscle growth. This is why the goal of experienced weightlifters is to maintain muscle and strength while burning fat, not gain it.

So, we've fully covered the theory of body recomposition, now let's move on to practice and talk about what you should do to achieve it.

Maintain a moderate calorie deficit

This is the basis of body recomposition. How to lose weight so that you lose fat and not muscle? You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat, but you shouldn't eat so little that you accelerate muscle loss.

Instead, you need to maintain a moderate (20-25%) calorie deficit, which will allow you to quickly lose fat while maintaining muscle mass.

If you don't know how to do this, here is a simple formula that I provide in my books for maintaining a daily calorie deficit of about 20% if you exercise 4-6 hours a week.

• 2.4 gr. protein per kilogram of body weight per day;
• 2 gr. carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per day;
• 0.4 gr. fat per kilogram of body weight per day.

This is a good starting point for most people, but may need to be adjusted if you exercise more than 4-6 hours per week, or if you are a fairly thin woman (you may need to reduce carbs to 1.5g/kg and increase fats up to 0.5 g/kg).

Once you determine these numbers for yourself, create your daily nutrition program.

Focus on basic exercises

The idea that isolation exercises and high rep ranges will produce maximum results is a myth perpetuated by many athletes.

Get rid of fat deposits and you will look sculpted. One training style does not provide more definition than another.

When you're in a calorie deficit, you need to do the exact opposite of what many people say: you need to emphasize heavy compound exercises. Especially if you want to gain muscle mass and burn fat.

You should perform squats, deadlifts, military presses, and bench presses every week, and should do the majority of your work with a weight that is 80-85% of your 1RM (4-6 or 5-7 reps).

This is a key type of training for natural athletes looking to increase muscle mass and strength. The main “secret” to the effectiveness of high rep ranges and high volume training that fitness models talk about is the use of chemistry. And period.

If you go this route as a natural bodybuilder, you will not achieve your goals.

Do HIIT workouts instead of regular cardio

You shouldn't do cardio if you want to gain muscle, but at some point you'll have no choice but to incorporate cardio into your routine. Ultimately, you will simply need to expend more energy each week to continue burning fat, since you can only do so much strength training before you overtrain.

When this moment comes, you should not start doing regular low-intensity cardio training for 1-2 hours, 5-7 days a week. Sure, it uses up energy and helps you lose fat, but it also reduces muscle mass.

Instead, do 1-2 hours of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) 1 time per week. Yes, you understood everything correctly: you can work on relief by doing cardio no more than 2 hours a week.

Don't believe me? Here's the "summer version" of my body that I achieve and maintain by doing strength training for 4-5 hours per week and HIIT training for 2 hours per week.

I think it's short (20-25 minutes) HIIT workouts burn more fat and maintain muscle and strength better than long, low-intensity cardio sessions.

There aren't many shortcuts to health and fitness, but HIIT training seems tailor-made for burning fat. Use it.

Get enough sleep

This point is often overlooked, but is extremely important for gaining muscle mass and burning fat.

Not getting enough sleep for a week will be enough to reduce levels of testosterone, growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which play an important role in gaining and maintaining muscle mass and burning fat.

The amount of sleep a person needs varies, but the National Sleep Foundation (USA) recommends that adults get 7-9 hours of sleep at night to avoid the effects of sleep deprivation.

Take the Right Fat Burning Supplements

I'm talking about supplements last because taking them only makes sense if you're dieting, exercising, and getting enough sleep.

And let me be clear: you don't need supplements to achieve body recomposition, but they will help you achieve it if chosen correctly.

Specifically, you should achieve 3 things with supplements:

1. you must maintain the intensity of your training, which will help maintain muscle and strength;

1. you must improve your body's ability to maintain and build muscle mass and strength;

1. you want to burn fat as quickly as possible, which minimizes the amount of time you spend in a calorie deficit.

Luckily, there are several safe, natural supplements that can help you achieve each of these goals. You will find information about them below.

Supplement #1 for body recomposition

The first thing you need is a post-workout recovery supplement that contains 2 ingredients that help achieve body recomposition:

Creatine

Creatine is a combination of 2 amino acids. Creatine is synthesized in the human body, and its source is food.

It's the most researched supplement in the sports nutrition world, and the evidence for its effectiveness is clear: it helps build muscle and strength even in a calorie deficit, and reduces muscle damage and inflammation that occurs after training.

Bottom line: If you do strength training, you should take creatine.

Carnitine

Carnitine is a substance consisting of the amino acids lysine and methionine and is involved in the production of cellular energy.

Research shows that creatine supplements reduce muscle damage and soreness that occurs after exercise, as well as improve muscle recovery.

Supplement No. 2 for body recomposition

• dramatically increases metabolic rate;

• enhances the effect of fat-burning substances produced in the body;

• increases the feeling of satiety.

This is achieved through effective dosages of synephrine, naringin, hesperidin, forskolin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), hordein, salacia and 5-HTP (hydroxytryptophan).

Plus, the decaf formula means you can continue drinking coffee and your favorite caffeinated pre-workout drinks.

The conclusion is obvious: in combination with proper nutrition, a fat-burning supplement will help you lose fat faster.

Supplement No. 3 for body recomposition

A pre-workout drink containing a clinically effective dosage of 7 ingredients that work to increase energy levels, improve focus, and increase performance.

The better you can maintain your workout intensity while dieting, the easier it will be to maintain muscle and strength. Everything is very simple.

In addition, it is worth noting that caffeine directly helps you burn more fat and also enhances the fat-burning effect.

Conclusion

Now you know everything about building muscle and burning fat at the same time.

It is not as mysterious and complicated as many “experts” tell you. And there are no tricks or tricks to achieve this.

Maintain a moderate calorie deficit, eat plenty of protein, train hard, do HIIT workouts, take the right supplements, and the results will follow.

And even if you are too experienced in training to successfully achieve recomposition, you can still use everything written in this article to maximize fat burning and minimize muscle loss.

Based on materials:

legionathletics.com/body-recomposition/

(12 ratings, average: 4.67 out of 5)

For those losing weight, the number one question is the following: What is more correct - to throw all your efforts into burning fat or to carefully sculpt muscle relief?

When a fitness trainer recommends strength training, it generates much less enthusiasm than a fat-burning class.

And in vain: burning fat and strengthening muscles are two sides of the same coin.

If you lose weight but don't gain muscle definition, no one will appreciate your efforts. It seems logical - but they prevent you from going the right way Common myths about strength training and fat loss.

Myth 1: To lose weight you need aerobics, aqua aerobics, callanetics, but it’s too early for exercise equipment!

Losing weight does not depend on the title of the lesson, but on the heart rate during the lessons. If you work with a heart rate of 130-160 beats per minute, you get endurance training. This is what helps burn fat. When the pulse rises above 170-175 beats, this is already strength training, which allows you to pump up your muscles.

A high heart rate can be achieved both in the pool and in step aerobics. The less often you exercise, the faster your heart will beat. If during aerobics you are out of breath, gasping for air, hammers are pounding in your head, sweat is flowing through your body, and your legs are tangled - we are no longer talking about any fat burning, you are training strength (and not in the most healthy way for the heart). Look for a slower class or hit the treadmill where you can workout at your own pace!

Myth 2: You won't lose weight using exercise machines.

Error again. Firstly, simulators are different. For example, cardio equipment - treadmill, exercise bike, stepper, elliptical - provide exactly the same load as aerobics.

Secondly, what most of us do on so-called strength machines (with weights, blocks and cables) does not amount to real strength training. In order to raise your heart rate to 170 or higher beats per minute, you need large weights, with which you can do no more than 10 (or better yet, 6-8) repetitions per set. Typically start with half your body weight for the shoulders and chest, and half your body weight for the legs and back.

Such a hard workout lasts no longer than 40 minutes, and you will be so tired that you will hardly be able to lift anything else. And a typical gym session for a fitness club is one and a half to two hours with low weights, 15-30 repetitions per set and a short rest between them - this is a regular interval training that does not pump up the muscles, but tones them and - attention! – burns fat perfectly. Don’t expect any special strength or significant muscle growth from her!

Myth 3: As soon as I start exercising, my muscles grow a lot. I don't want to have a pumped up figure!

Don't worry - in order to “pump up”, you need to lift very heavy weights. What do you get? While you lead a sedentary lifestyle, your muscles gradually atrophy. You come to the club, give them a load, and they have to increase slightly to complete it. Over the first 6-9 months, large muscles (primarily at the front of the thigh) may increase in volume by 1-2 cm. But if you lose excess fat at the same time, the volume of the thigh will not increase, it will only become denser.

But after this period, you will have to sweat a lot if you want to build up your muscles further! They generally grow much worse in women than in men, that’s how hormones work for us.

Some ladies, thanks to training, become twice as strong, and the volume of their muscles remains virtually unchanged.

In general, you shouldn’t be afraid of muscle growth: after all, they are supposed to make up 30% of women's body weight (40% for men). Meanwhile, without training after 30 years, we lose approximately 2.5-3.5 kg of muscle mass in 10 years. Because of this, the elasticity of the chest and buttocks decreases, posture deteriorates - in general, all the signs of aging are evident. Be glad that you are postponing these unpleasant changes!

Myth 4: It is very difficult to build muscle at home.

Nothing like this- after all, you always have the weight of your own body at your disposal. Try to load them as much as possible with those mice that require attention.

If it's the legs or buttocks– learn to squat on one leg (first with support on a chair or wall); if it's breasts, arms, back – do push-ups from the floor (when this seems easy, place books under your arms). Well, if you hang a horizontal bar and parallel bars on the wall or sit a child on your back while doing push-ups, professional bodybuilders will envy your build!

Myth 5. To remove fat from problem areas, you need to do special exercises for them.

As you already know, to burn fat, you need to exercise with a pulse of approximately 130-160 beats. Whether you achieve this by walking along the path or endless swings - it doesn’t matter. Another thing is that special strength exercises with a pulse level above 170 beats will help change the proportions of the figure - for example, broaden the shoulders and enlarge the chest so that the hips do not look awkwardly wide.

Myth 6: You need to lose weight first and then build muscle.

It is better to do this at the same time, otherwise while you are losing weight, there will be nothing left of the muscles. For example, on some days you go for strength training, on others - for fat burning. Or choose lessons where two types of load are combined: these are group classes with a small (up to 30 kg) barbell, dumbbells and other weights - Body Pump, Barbell, Body Sculpt, etc. Functional training, which we talked about in detail in the November issue, will also help. Just don’t forget about proper nutrition, otherwise there will be no point in training!

Myth 7. Barbells and dumbbells are only for advanced athletes!

Everyone needs free weights - barbells and dumbbells. On strength training machines, the muscles work separately: on one, the legs are in front, on the other, the legs are behind, on the third - the back... Why waste so much time? It is much more beneficial to use 80% of the muscles in one exercise - for example, a squat with a barbell, where all the muscles of the legs, buttocks and back are worked. The notorious advanced “jock” can then “finish” that part of the leg that does not suit him on a strength training machine.

Myth 8. After training, everything should hurt.

In professional sports this may be acceptable. But if you exercise for your own health, After training, you should only feel pleasant fatigue and slight muscle tension.

Myth 9. Strength training can make you gain weight.

But this is true. Muscle is 30% heavier than fat, so you can get leaner but still heavier than before. Focus not on the scales, but on the measuring tape and your own reflection in the mirror.

It also happens that in the first weeks of training both weight and volume increase. This is due to the fact that the muscles have already begun to grow, and the fat covering them has not yet burned off. You may have become interested in strength training at the expense of endurance work. Or maybe you just eat too much and the excess has no reason to move from its home!

Why do you need to first lose weight (burn fat), and only then build muscles and not the other way around?

Or purchase my paid training course, everything there is mega-cool:

• After losing weight and reaching 10-15% body fat (men); 15-20-25% (women) = fix this result.

It is imperative to record the result so that excess weight (fat) does not come back. I talked about this in more detail. This process takes about 5-6 months.

• After this, you can begin to grow muscles.

Gradually increasing your calorie intake, that is, it is important to try to gain predominantly lean muscle mass (max muscle, min fat) in order to look/feel 100%.

And to do this, you need to gradually increase the calorie content, for example, by +50 grams. carbohydrates/week and look in the mirror at yourself to see how the result of muscle and fat growth is progressing. If muscles grow with a minimum of fat = everything is fine. If you are growing and have a lot of fat = not good, you need to reduce it slightly.

The goal is that you should try to gain mainly MUSCLE (with a minimum of fat).

In this regard, I recommend that you study my blog, in particular, the section about “bodybuilding”, or purchase my paid training course (everything is there, from start to finish, in one place, step by step):

Losing weight and growing muscles at the same time is impossible, because these are completely different physiological processes that a priori simply cannot be combined into one.

Therefore, there is only one scheme. Actually, that's all. Good luck to you!

Congratulations, administrator.

A typical beginner, who has just signed up for a gym, usually sets two goals for himself at once - to get rid of the small tummy that appeared from regularly “eating goodies” and a sedentary lifestyle, and to pump up his muscles a little (most often we are talking about the abs, arms and chest ) to look more or less decent on the beach.

However, turning fat into muscle is not as easy as it seems at first glance. Strictly speaking, in one workout it is almost impossible to force the body to first burn fat and then direct the released energy to build muscle. In fact, these are two completely different and mutually exclusive physiological processes.

Do muscles burn fat?

On the one hand, the greater the muscle mass of the body, the more energy and calories are spent on the needs of metabolism and metabolism - accordingly, the body begins to get rid of excess fat reserves. On the other hand, muscle-building strength exercises alone have minimal impact on fat loss.

Separately, we note that neither twisting nor any kind (even the most sophisticated) can help get rid of belly fat. To create sculpted six-pack abs, the most important thing is proper nutrition - and even regular cardio is not as effective as a balanced diet.

Lose weight and get pumped up: strategy

In fact, adipose tissue is fundamentally different from muscle tissue. Fat is a reserve source of energy, considered by the body as a passive balance, while muscles are metabolically active elements for normal functioning. The more muscles in the body, the more calories are spent on maintaining them.

Although a particular muscle may literally be hidden beneath a layer of fat that stores thousands of calories, during strength training the body will never use the energy from the fat surrounding the muscle to power it. The reason is simple - muscles, in fact, work not on fat, but on carbohydrates.

Glycogen and energy for training

The first 40-50 minutes of any physical workout, be it running, swimming, cardio, crossfit or any strength exercises, the body uses energy accumulated in the muscles and which is a product of processing carbohydrates from food. It is believed that the average person needs from 80 to 150 g of glycogen per physical workout.

Only after spending the reserves of this glycogen, the body will gradually move on to other sources of energy - proteins and fats. Or, more precisely, to muscles and free fatty acids. In this case, the order is most often exactly this - glycogen, muscle, fat. In fact, fat is a reserve supply of energy that the body does not want to burn.

Fat as a source of energy

The most important condition for “freeing” free fatty acids from the fat cell and making them a source of energy for physical activity is low blood sugar (and insulin) levels. In simple words, the body can burn fat only in the complete absence of carbohydrates in the stomach and glucose in the blood.

It is for this reason that if followed for a long time, it will lead to weight loss and weight loss without any physical training. In contrast, even a small serving of French fries contains so many carbohydrates and calories that you would have to run about 6 km to burn them off.

Why do people get fat?

FitSeven has written in detail about how chronically high blood sugar, caused by chronic consumption of fast carbohydrates with a high glycemic index, gradually “weans” the body to use fat as an energy source. A person even with a moderate caloric intake.

To successfully lose weight, you need to not just “go on a diet”, reduce the amount of food you consume and exercise vigorously, but first review your entire diet and limit sources as much as possible. Only this method will really help you lose weight and burn fat.

Muscle Building Strategy

Being the main enemy of weight loss, carbohydrates are critical for the body to build muscle. Without enough carbohydrates in your diet, you will have neither the strength for successful physical training nor the reserves for subsequent recovery and growth of muscle tissue. This is why a beginner cannot lose weight and build muscles at the same time.

Only professional athletes are able to combine training to burn fat and grow muscles - however, in their case it is more about “drying out muscles” rather than losing weight, since athletes initially have low levels of body fat. However, they are completely unsuitable for people with an initial level of physical fitness.

***

Unfortunately, turning fat into muscle is not as easy as it seems. If you want to lose weight, first focus your efforts on controlling your diet and glycemic index of carbohydrates, and only then start exercising. It makes sense to switch to cutting training only when the percentage of body fat drops to 10-15% in men and 20-25% in women.