a fitness specialist told me this.

realworksuks said:
what the above poster said it true for me as well. But I have strength trained before.

Before I ask this question I just want to say i'm not argueing with you; I believe you guys.

So, since I have started weight training a few months ago I have seen massive amounts of my strength come back, perhaps even above what I ever use to be. I have had a calorie defecit the whole time though. So If I am not gaining any muscle, how is it that I am getting stronger?
Click to expand...

strength and hypertrophy are not entirely linked together.
 
realworksuks said:
what the above poster said it true for me as well. But I have strength trained before.

Before I ask this question I just want to say i'm not argueing with you; I believe you guys.

So, since I have started weight training a few months ago I have seen massive amounts of my strength come back, perhaps even above what I ever use to be. I have had a calorie defecit the whole time though. So If I am not gaining any muscle, how is it that I am getting stronger?
Click to expand...

Just because you have a calorie defecit doesnt mean you dont gain muscle!!

low reps high resistance = strength gains
mod reps mod resistance = hypertrophy
 
buzz said:
strength and hypertrophy are not entirely linked together.
Click to expand...

Ding, we have a winner! Even if you get stronger during a cut, doesnt mean your muscles grow. And for a newbie, its generally easier to put on muscle while burning fat, but, like Buzz stated, it wont happen if your a newbie guy and really skinny.
Besides, strenght gains can from from neuromuscular adaptiones aswell (did i name it right? if not, please correct me) basicly, the CNS (central nerve system) has alot to do with how much you can lift, the more efficient it is, the more of your muscle it manages to recruit during a movement.

And if you still think you're gaining muscle while loosing fat, and you have good diets and training programs, then good for you!

Realworksucks:

Have you weight trained alot before you started over? if so, you got something called muscle memory. I got hit by a car, before that i squatted a bit over 100kg, when i started squatting again, i could barly rep 35kg 4x6 now im up at 60kg 4x6 and ive been on a deflict. The other lifts havent improved as much. So thats muscle memory for ya :p
 
Yeah, Karks...the CNS is teh king. The GTO is typically scared of going heavy until we convince our inhibitory feature that we're not going to kill ourself by going heavy.
 
Golgi Tendon Organ. Research it, it's hella interesting. Evo and myself had an in depth conversation about this on the phone the other day, we concluded it's 'the bastard' of the CNS.
 
mreik said:
Golgi Tendon Organ. Research it, it's hella interesting. Evo and myself had an in depth conversation about this on the phone the other day, we concluded it's 'the bastard' of the CNS.
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I will use the power of google.

Anyways, if you got any good articles on hand about it, feel free to PM me.
 
alright I thought of another thing regarding this topic.

So I've been cutting like i've said. The past three days I have been eating too much veggies and fruits etc, all healthy type food pretty much but I haven't been getting a calorie defecit. So I have ended up with just maintance calories the past three days. So on days where I get carried away like this and realize by supper time I will have gone all the way up to my maintance... should I eat another 500 or so calories and maybe turn something into muscle? I've been doing a full body workout three days a week so.... what do you guys think?
 
. . .

It's possible to lose fat and gain muscle. But, like the other users in this thread said: it's very hard. It's far more realistic to take the bulk, cut, bulk, cut, approach.
 
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yeah but as far as my question goes.. when I end up eating maintance calories while i'm cutting should I go ahead and eat 500 extra calories and perhaps get muscle out of it? Or will that just not work for some reason?
 
You seem to think that repair and muscle growth occurs over the course of one day, it doesn't. If you are cutting you need to be in a deficit, if you are bulking you need to be in a surplus. Going back and forth is going to give you neither results, you will just be at a stand still.
 
you guys seem to be avoiding the question. I understand that it's much easier just to stay consistent and either cut or bulk. But what about the days where I already screwed up and am at maintance calories, if I ate the required extra calories for growth would I not gain muscle???
 
realworksuks said:
you guys seem to be avoiding the question. I understand that it's much easier just to stay consistent and either cut or bulk. But what about the days where I already screwed up and am at maintance calories, if I ate the required extra calories for growth would I not gain muscle???
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No. you would not.
 
im not sure what the question is, but if you ate the reuired amount of calories for the extra work out, you would gain muscle.
 
You will. But you will put on fat also, negating what you just did the previous day of 'cutting' (remember you lost some muscle yesterday too because you were below maintenance). Hence, like Leip and Karky said, leaving you with nothing.

Question answered?
 
I don't understand what is so hard about just maintaining your diet for the purpose of muscle building, or the purpose or fat burning...
 
bah so many conflicting views here, I think it'd be better to gain muscle for that day than just maintance weight, that's a total waste of a day, even if I do gain some fat, at least i'll gain that little miniscule amount of muscle.

I guess I just really want to understand how this whole process works. I get the basic idea, if you are in calorie surplus and train you gain muscle, if you are in a calorie defecit you lose fat. That must be for some certain interval though, and I don't know if it's necessarily a day.

For example. I am going through a cutting phase let's say, and I go to the gym and do a hardcore full body workout. I come home and have a big juicy steak with some chicken and vegetables. A very big high protein meal. Let's say that meal is 1500 calories. Won't my body just start to rebuild the muscle right then and there? So let's say for the rest of the day I just have a 300 calorie supper, of say fruits and veggies. That leaves me with 1800 calories for the day, well my maintance is 2200, so i'm at a defecit, so I should lose fat... but what about that huge meal I ate after my workout where I ate well over what I needed. Shouldn't my body have started to build muscle right after my workout and then quit building muscle near the end of the day when it became more deprived of nutrients?!?

I just want to have this process explained to me. Does anybody even understand what i'm trying to ask?
 
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