Hi, I'm working on an excersize program for my cousin.. I've motivated him into getting fit, and I told him I'd whip a plan up for him to get him started, since he does not know much about fitness and I don't want him to get confused/overwhelmed/discouraged. One problem though, that I've never been clear about is the relationship between 'fat loss', 'muscle mass gain' and 'muscle tone'. I constantly hear conflicting "facts" about how to do these correctly, and in what order.... so hopefully you guys might be able to help me sort this out?
I know eating less calories (eating the appropriate healthy food), and aerobic activity are the two main factors in getting rid of fat. But I've also heard that for bulking up, you need to up the calories, do sets with lower reps/higher weights, and do minimal aerobic activity... because apparently it prevents the muscles from growing? So is it therefor impossible to do both significant fatloss and muscle gain at the same time? I know that some people gain some fat after bulking up, but they just counter that with a short fatloss program afterwards. But shouldnt that make you loose muscle mass if aerobic activity is so detrimental to your muscles?
I do lots of activities... biking, tennis, kayaking, hapkido, etc... it's unavoidable for me, and I've noticed that I don't really have an increase in muscle mass, is that why? Or could there be other reasons.
Also, my muscles don't have very good definition; they're fair in size, but they aren't too defined... if toning requires more reps with less weight, then you obviously can't bulk and tone at the same time... how would I do this? for myself and my cousin... bulking before and toning afterwards? or toning and then bulking?
I do hapkido three times a week, and on the days that i'm not doing hapkido I work out my upper body with free weights, fairly intensly. I take one day a week to rest (no lifting, and no hapkido). Now this should be fine because I'm leaving a day (hapkido days) in between my workouts, but I'm not sure if those count, because we do do excersizes such as pushups and what not... does that kind of cancel off the fact that it's a 'resting day'...?
One last thing... what's the scoop with cortisol. I hear it's a "nightmare". Does that get released with aerobic activity also? Because I hear that you shouldnt work out for more than 45 minutes... does 'working out' include any activity aside from weightlifting such as sports?
Sorry if my thoughts are all over the place, I've just got many questions and they were all rushing into my head at the same time... If anyone can help answer some of these, I would appreciate it a lot.
Cheers,
Dylan
I know eating less calories (eating the appropriate healthy food), and aerobic activity are the two main factors in getting rid of fat. But I've also heard that for bulking up, you need to up the calories, do sets with lower reps/higher weights, and do minimal aerobic activity... because apparently it prevents the muscles from growing? So is it therefor impossible to do both significant fatloss and muscle gain at the same time? I know that some people gain some fat after bulking up, but they just counter that with a short fatloss program afterwards. But shouldnt that make you loose muscle mass if aerobic activity is so detrimental to your muscles?
I do lots of activities... biking, tennis, kayaking, hapkido, etc... it's unavoidable for me, and I've noticed that I don't really have an increase in muscle mass, is that why? Or could there be other reasons.
Also, my muscles don't have very good definition; they're fair in size, but they aren't too defined... if toning requires more reps with less weight, then you obviously can't bulk and tone at the same time... how would I do this? for myself and my cousin... bulking before and toning afterwards? or toning and then bulking?
I do hapkido three times a week, and on the days that i'm not doing hapkido I work out my upper body with free weights, fairly intensly. I take one day a week to rest (no lifting, and no hapkido). Now this should be fine because I'm leaving a day (hapkido days) in between my workouts, but I'm not sure if those count, because we do do excersizes such as pushups and what not... does that kind of cancel off the fact that it's a 'resting day'...?
One last thing... what's the scoop with cortisol. I hear it's a "nightmare". Does that get released with aerobic activity also? Because I hear that you shouldnt work out for more than 45 minutes... does 'working out' include any activity aside from weightlifting such as sports?
Sorry if my thoughts are all over the place, I've just got many questions and they were all rushing into my head at the same time... If anyone can help answer some of these, I would appreciate it a lot.
Cheers,
Dylan