It has often been said that you can’t lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously. That statement is actually incorrect. Beginners can do it. Even guys who have been training for a long time who make drastic changes to their diet and their workout programs can do it. You can’t do it for extended periods of time, but it can be done.
For example, if you are currently doing traditional steady state cardio, switch to sprints. Sprints have an anabolic effect and do not produce cortisol at the same rate that traditional cardio does. Not only that but they burn twice the fat. So you will build muscle and get leaner at the same time.
If you are currently using light weights and high volume workouts, increase the weight and reduce the sets and reps. This will help you get stronger, build muscle and avoid unnecessary cortisol production.
If you are currently eating 2500 calories per day, jack it up to 3500 calories per day. This will ignite your metabolism and you will start building muscle and burning fat faster than you have in months. You will notice that your temperature increases and you are hot even in the dead of winter. This is a sure sign that your metabolism is jacked. But be careful because this magical effect will only last for a few days or weeks at most. Then you will have to start employing some nutritional trickery to keep the effect going without getting fat.
What can’t be achieved on a long term basis is MAXIMAL muscle gain and MAXIMAL fat loss AT THE SAME TIME. You can do both simultaneously on a long term basis, but neither will be maximized. That is the key difference that many people often overlook. So if you want to be ripped like Georges St. Pierre or Terrel Owens you can’t also hope to add 30 pounds of muscle in the next 12 weeks. It’s one or the other. At the same time, if you want to get jacked like a strongman competitor, you can’t be trying to maintain a single digit bodyfat percentage for the next 12 weeks.You’re going to have to accept the fact that you will gain some bodyfat on a massive bulking cycle. You won’t become a fat slob (if you eat right) but you may soften up a bit. This can be dieted off later.
If you want to gain as much size as possible you need a program like this:
If you want to get shredded at warp speed, in 28 days or less, you need a program like more like this: http://tinyurl.com/agqphe
Choose one. Kill it. Then move on to another goal.
Be relentless,
Jason Ferruggia
20. Jun, 2012
at 2:44 am #
You seem to be rigth, – I was after some wight loss, and I am making some progress (from 120 kg on 22 Aug ’11 to <98 now, incl lowest point @ 95 kg around mid-April, then I gained a bit back after my umbilical hernia was repaired, but I am going steady again).
I was doing mainly cardio + limited weigths, and I noticed that there is a minor muscle increase, too.
My question would be on the optimal length of cycles:
So you write that you can sustain fat burning + muscle growth for a few days; but if you alter more cardio oriented training with more intense interval training with some weight training here and there, is it best to keep cycles separate for at least a couple of weeks,?
Or can different activities be chosen and mingled at will, following one's mood and doing what feels appropriate on a particular day (as no two days are alike, and you cannot fully control other events and factors)?
i must confess I much more prefer to take it as it comes than to rigidly adhere to a plan…