Muscle Gain and Body Fat Reduction

[leeh1987]

Hi this may seem like a silly question but i would love some info.

Basically i have been training since November 2010.

My regime is roughly

Monday - Bi's and Back
Tuesday - One hours Competitive 5 a side football
Wednesday - Shoulders and stomach
Thursday - Chest and Tri's
Friday - Bi's and Back
Saturday - REST
Sunsday - REST

I usually work out intense for about 90 mins till failure.

I have noticed some nice gains, especially on my triceps.

However i would like to lose some bodyfat in order for the muscles to look more defined.

My problem is i still want to have muscle gain. I have read that in order to gain muscles you consume more calories, however to lose bodyfat you must consume less calories than you use.

Can someone please clarify and give me some tips on Diet, Supplement (i don't take any supplement), Cardio exercises?? Anything that will help really.

Thanks

Lee

 

[magick]

You can certainly gain muscles while losing fat. You just won't notice dramatic muscle gain because you're on a calorie deficit.

My recommendation would be to do more weight exercises that target multiple muscles at once instead of isolation ones. if I read your schedule correctly, you're mostly doing isolation exercises. Doing exercises that focus purely on your biceps are not going to burn a whole lot of calories. Doing exercises that utilize your biceps in addition to a whole lot of other muscles, such as under-handed pull-ups, will work out a whole lot more muscles, and thus promote more muscle growth over your body and make you burn more calories.

You also need to do a lot of intensive cardio. I mean a lot. Don't do steady-state running of like 6-10 miles at a comfortable pace. That encourages your body to remove "excess" muscle because they don't do a whole lot when you're running 10 miles at a nice, steady pace.

Instead either do HiiT or intensive mile runs, preferably running for both. Running is so much more effective than other form of cardio else besides possibly swimming, and that's because swimming requires you to use all of your muscles constantly in the same manner running forces virtually all of your lower body/core muscles to be in perpetual motion and endure a great deal of force.

If you want to lose weight while retain a good amount of muscle, intensive cardio in limited amount, both HiiT and forms of intensive runs should be done in under 24 minutes, are absolutely required. There's no other feasible way to force your body to use calories more effectively.

Lastly, diet is the most important. Preferably stay on a 200-300 calorie deficit. The weight-loss will be hard to notice for a while, but it's far more preferable than going on the 400-500 one which guarantees that you'll lose muscle if done properly.

Plus it's easier to follow a 200-300 calorie deficit for the rest of your life than a 400-500 one, and making dietary changes is a life-style change, not something you do for a couple months just to lose 5-10 lbs.

Eat plenty of protein. Don't over-do it, conventional wisdom days eat X grams of protein a day, X being your body-weight in pounds. So someone 160lb should eat at least 160 grams of protein a day.

Limit your carb intake, but don't forgo them entirely. They're necessary to provide good amounts of energy to your body and in fairly limited amounts they won't make you gain weight.

Eat a good deal of vegetables. Don't eat as much fruit as people tell you to. Fruits are good for you, but they're also full of sugar and are not as filling as carbs and protein are. One medium-sized banana is ~170 calories, and I have yet to see someone eat limit their fruit consumption when they decided to go on some strange diet. Fruits can quickly add up, especially since they're not as filling as carbs and proteins and can easily overwhelm you without you noticing it.