9 Tips to Build Muscle while Losing Fat
Discover how to burn fat and build muscle at the same time with this step by step guide. Gaining Muscle and Burning Fat simultaneously comes down to taking the correct steps. Learn exactly how to do body recomposition while burning fat faster.
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Building muscle and burning fat at the same time is not only possible but it's also the best option for many people. Doing both simultaneously is referred to as body recomposition and scientific research confirms that it can work very effectively. Specifically it tends to be most effective for beginners and people that have a high body fat percentage, however even if you've been working out for a while or you have a low fat percentage you don't have to go the traditional route of switching between cutting and bulking phases. '
And the very first tip is to forget about your weight on the scale because if you're measuring your results incorrectly you might feel that what you're doing isn't working even though it is in fact working very well. Solely relying on body weight as a measure of progress can actually be misleading and counterproductive. This is because the scale only reflects the overall weight of our bodies, which includes not just fat, but also muscle, bones, organs, and water weight.
As we put ourselves through strength training exercises to build muscle, our bodies go through significant changes in composition. Muscle is denser than fat, meaning that as we gain muscle, it takes up less space than the equivalent amount of fat. So, even if we are successfully building muscle and burning fat at the same time, the scale may not show a substantial decrease in body weight. Instead of focusing on the number on the scale, it's important to monitor other indicators of progress, such as changes in body measurements, improved strength and endurance, what you look like in the mirror and how well your clothes fit.
The next tip is to focus your workouts purely on building muscle rather than burning fat. In fact burning fat shouldn't be on your mind at all when it comes to creating and fulfilling your workouts, the fat loss is going to come from your diet. To build muscle you need to increase training volume and progressively overload overtime. Training volume can be summed up as total sets x reps x the weight load used. Focusing on progressively increasing the weight load is one of the most straightforward ways to ensure that you're increasing training volume and stimulating your muscles to grow.
A great tip for the number of sets and reps to effectively stimulate muscle growth, is to aim for 18 to 20 heavy sets per muscle group per week and 6 to 10 reps per set. I recommend splitting your weekly number of sets into two workouts with 9 to 10 sets per muscle per workout. To accomplish this you can stick to a split training routine like Chest and back on one day, then legs the next day, then arms and abs on the third day. Then take a day off and repeat. Alternatively you can also do full body three times a week and in that case it would be 6 sets per muscle group per workout. As you up the weight load you use your reps will likely drop which is fine, that's why we have an upper range of 10 reps and a lower range of 6 reps.
If you can perform a weight load for 10 reps you want to up the weight, then most likely your rep count will drop, and then you should work on getting your reps back up to 10 with that heavier weight load as you get stronger overtime. Then repeat that process. Now this is a basic strategy that works very well especially in your beginner stages of development
But another tip to really help you get stronger and progressively overload is to incorporate periodization and to switch your rep ranges every 3 weeks or so. This will help you lift much more weight over time and in turn build much more muscle. A great starting point is to aim for 6 to 8 reps for 3 weeks, then 10 to 12 reps for the next 3 weeks, and finally 3 to 5 reps. Then repeat that cycle. You'll likely find that each time that you go back to a previous rep range you'll be able to lift a heavier weight load. The higher rep ranges will help you build more muscular endurance, while the lower ones will help you build more power and strength. Keep in mind that each of these rep ranges should be matched with a weight load that's heavy enough to make you hit failure before the upper end of that rep range. So you should be lifting a much heavier weight for 3 to 5 reps as opposed to 10 to 12 reps. I know that none of this sounds like the quick fix magic bullet to muscle growth, but if you're consistent with this training strategy for even 9 weeks I think you'll be very impressed with your results both in terms of strength and muscle growth.
Moving on to cardio. The main tip with cardio is to keep it very low impact and at a very low intensity to prevent it from interfering with your...