I heard different opinions on this matter from other messages boards and friends and family...Can you lose and build muscle simultaneously? Majority said No...Some say it's possible but difficult. What's your opinion?

chiarij

Lose what? weight? muscle? Short answer: you can certainly lose weight and build muscle simultaneously. You might not lose as much weight as if you didn't do any weight training (which is building muscle) but you'll lose fat and most importantly you will build muscle which is metabolically active (i.e. burns calories) which fat is not. If you lose weight without doing weight lifting you will lose muscle as well as fat/weight.

You'll hear the old argument that "muscle weighs more than fat" which is not true. A pound is a pound is a pound. Muscle is denser than fat, so a particular volume of muscle will weigh more than the same volume of fat. But a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat, and isn't that what we want - to be tight and trim and wear a smaller size?

Losing weight really fast and building muscle is probably difficult to impossible. Slowly losing weight and building muscle would more doable.

When i started lifting four years ago I lost 30# of weight and put on quite a bit of muscle without really dieting, although my weight then stabilized.

My current plan for losing weight while adding muscle looks like this:

Goals:

1) 10% Bodyfat (~242# BWT). (currently 26%)

2) 3 pull-ups. (currently 1/2)

3) BWT Military press. (currently 245#)

4) 350# Incline press (current PR is 310#). This one isn't a gimmee, I might train very hard all year and fall a bit short.

I will be changing things up a bit as I lose these last 50# of fat and focus on developing strength in 2006. I will be upping my calories a bit, and trying to increase my protein consumption. Furthermore I will be adding cardio 3xweek in the form of 500M sprints on the concept2 Rower.

New diet: BWTx10Cal/day, broken down into 30% protein/30% Fat/40% Carbs. I will make sure i hit my protein goal each day although I may eat fewer carbs and fat then I am allowing for.

Exercise:

1) Lift 3xweek. Lots of work on deads, squats and incline press, plus curls and rows. I still need to build a stronger base.

2) Row 3xweek after lifting, doing a series of intense 500M sprints. These are for conditionaing rather than fat burning

3) Yoga 3xweek. I really need to work on my flexibility.

4) Grip training. I have lost significant grip strength this past year, which I would like to remedy with thickbar work, gripmachine and griper training. Also some plate curls and sledgehammer levers for my wrists.

If you are new to weightlifting, it is quite doable for the first few months, depending on how much fat you have to lose. The "golden period" seems to be under six months, which is why all those challenge programs are 12 weeks.

Once you have been lifting for a while, it gets really hard to build, and even harder to build and cut body fat without muscle loss.

Mel

Thanks again you guys for all your help! It is greatly appreciated.