There is a myth in the fitness world that revolves around the belief that when you build muscle, fat just falls off. Regardless of the hype surrounding many of the fad “get in shape” programs, this is just not true.
Let’s get a few facts straight:
- The human body requires muscle and fat
- Muscle does not replace fat.
- Fat does not turn into muscle.
- Muscle does not turn into fat.
Muscle and fat are two distinct substances in animal bodies.
Reducing fat and building muscle requires a well designed program that incorporates both muscle building exercises and a muscle building/fat loss diet. Let’s look at each component.
Effective Muscle Building Program
A program that is focused on building muscle and increasing strength usually involves free weight and machine exercises structured in such a way as to encourage the high intensity training of the major muscle groups of the body. High intensity training is accomplished by breaking up the workouts to allow for sufficient rest and recovery time between exercise sessions.
There are many options when it comes to developing a workout plan. Most will be dictated by your goals and your schedule. For instance, will you perform your resistance workouts three, four, or five days a week? How will you break down the muscle groups for each workout? The key is to hit every major muscle group at least once a week and planning in suffiicent rest in between workouts.
Effective Diet For Muscle Building
The key to an effective muscle building diet is to follow a menu that is both rich in protein (the muscle building blocks) and also discourages the accumulation of body fat. There are many diets out there, but any meal plan that supports muscle growth and fat loss typically revolves around 5-6 small meals during the course of a day. Each meal should consist of roughly a 60-30-10 percentage split between protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
A meal will consist of a lean protein such as fish, skinless poultry, or lean beef. Lean and skinless cuts are key here, as you want to minimize the intake of the fat that is associated with beef cuts such as ribeyes and filet mignon and the fats found in poultry skin. Carbohydrates should come from fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Fat intake requirements will typically be met through the intake of meat, poultry, and seafood, but can certainly be supplemented with limited portions of seeds and nuts.
The percentage breakdowns between protein, carbs, and fats is important. But even more important are the total number of calories in each meal. In other words, portion control.You need to develop a plan that dictates portion sizes based on your caloric needs. Caloric needs vary from person to person. Some people are trying to gain muscle and lose existing body fat. These people would need to adopt a diet plan that restricts calories to balance energy and muscle support needs versus the desire to lose fat.
These numbers are all able to be calculated based on an individual’s body weight, fat loss goals, and muscle growth plan.
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The market is full of fad diet and exercise programs. Some focus on weight loss with minimal coverage of workout routines. Others cover extensive exercise programs with very little attention paid to diet recommendations. Very few do a good job of presenting a program that combines both.
Again, when you build muscle, fat does not melt away or change. To accomplish your goals around muscle growth and weight gain/loss, an effective program combining exercise and diet is required. To learn about an effective and comprehensive muscle building / weight loss program, check out the Adam Waters RTP Transformation System
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