Get in Shape Now - Answers to 2 Common Fitness Questions
I like answering questions related to fitness, because exercise has always been an important part of my life.
I truly do believe that the only "stupid" questions are the ones that aren't asked.
Today I'm going to answer 2 of the most common fitness questions that I get on a regular basis.
The questions will be in bold text, and my answers follow.
Enjoy! #1 - I want to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
Can I accomplish both at the same time? If so, how should I structure my diet and workout? That's a tough one.
Adding additional muscle mass while at the same time burning body fat is definitely more difficult than trying to do just one or the other.
I would actually advise against trying to do both simultaneously.
Our bodies are very complex, and unless you're very experienced with exercise, you'll see much better results if you just work on one goal at a time.
Since gaining muscle is one of your goals, I say work on that first.
Focus only on weight training, and getting the right nutrients in your diet to encourage muscle growth.
Get about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, and also make sure you get plenty of complex carbohydrates.
Don't worry about getting a little bit of extra body fat in the process.
Why? Once you're satisfied with your mass gains, you can move your focus over to fat loss.
In the end you will have MORE mass and LESS fat than when you began.
Make sense? #2 - I'm trying to add muscle size, but I also like doing cardiovascular work.
Will too much aerobic exercise keep me from gaining mass? If your main goal is to pack on some extra muscle mass, doing large amounts of aerobic exercise IS NOT a very good idea.
Let me explain.
Aerobic exercise, especially when done in large quantities, burns calories.
Calories that your body COULD be using to grow new muscle.
On top of that, it takes you out of that "anabolic" state that you NEED to be in for muscle growth to happen.
Doing too much cardiovascular stuff actually puts your body into a "catabolic" state, which makes it very difficult (if not impossible) to add the muscle mass that you want.
I truly do believe that the only "stupid" questions are the ones that aren't asked.
Today I'm going to answer 2 of the most common fitness questions that I get on a regular basis.
The questions will be in bold text, and my answers follow.
Enjoy! #1 - I want to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
Can I accomplish both at the same time? If so, how should I structure my diet and workout? That's a tough one.
Adding additional muscle mass while at the same time burning body fat is definitely more difficult than trying to do just one or the other.
I would actually advise against trying to do both simultaneously.
Our bodies are very complex, and unless you're very experienced with exercise, you'll see much better results if you just work on one goal at a time.
Since gaining muscle is one of your goals, I say work on that first.
Focus only on weight training, and getting the right nutrients in your diet to encourage muscle growth.
Get about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, and also make sure you get plenty of complex carbohydrates.
Don't worry about getting a little bit of extra body fat in the process.
Why? Once you're satisfied with your mass gains, you can move your focus over to fat loss.
In the end you will have MORE mass and LESS fat than when you began.
Make sense? #2 - I'm trying to add muscle size, but I also like doing cardiovascular work.
Will too much aerobic exercise keep me from gaining mass? If your main goal is to pack on some extra muscle mass, doing large amounts of aerobic exercise IS NOT a very good idea.
Let me explain.
Aerobic exercise, especially when done in large quantities, burns calories.
Calories that your body COULD be using to grow new muscle.
On top of that, it takes you out of that "anabolic" state that you NEED to be in for muscle growth to happen.
Doing too much cardiovascular stuff actually puts your body into a "catabolic" state, which makes it very difficult (if not impossible) to add the muscle mass that you want.
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