The biggest problem in the fitness industry: how to lose fat without losing muscle?
There has always been a problem in the fitness industry: how to lose fat without losing muscle? For bodybuilders, the most precious thing is muscle. I work hard every day to lift irons and train hard for nothing else, I just hope that my muscles will be more obvious and the edges and corners will be more distinct.
If you want to have sharp edges and corners, you need to reduce your body fat rate, while maintaining muscle content as much as possible to ensure muscle fullness. What exactly should be done to maintain muscle mass while reducing body fat percentage?
This sounds impossible, because building muscle requires a caloric surplus, and losing fat is a caloric deficit. Losing fat while gaining muscle is equivalent to having both fish and bear's paw. To have both fish and bear's paw requires reasonable training methods and plans.
By adjusting the diet structure and planning training methods, you can perfectly achieve muscle building while increasing fat loss and gaining a perfect body shape.
There are many ways to lose weight in the fitness industry. It seems that as long as you want to lose weight, this prescription will definitely help you. However, everyone has different physiques, physical conditions, and living habits. A prescription cannot be so magical. effect.
But research shows that all obese people have one thing in common: they have a lot of body fat and very little muscle.
For weight loss, it's not a matter of body composition ratios, muscle is very important for everyone. High muscle mass and low body fat rate are more than just looking good.
Muscle can promote metabolism, increase hormone levels, and maintain good health. The biggest benefit of muscle mass for dieters is that it allows you to burn more calories.
There is one key to maintaining muscle mass while losing fat: alternating between strength training and aerobic training. The study found that when the trainer alternated between strength training and aerobic training, the trainer lost 7.2kg of fat and gained 3kg of muscle.
This study shows that it is possible to reduce fat while maintaining muscle mass. Cardio training burns a lot of calories and makes you lose fat, while strength training builds muscle mass.
Just changing the training method is not enough, we need to change from the following points in order to reduce fat while maintaining muscle.
- Do full-body strength training
The best way to maintain muscle content is to perform strength training, mainly train three major muscle groups, and properly perform whole-body circuit training, so that every skeletal muscle in the body can participate in the training.
Do strength training 3-5 times a week to maximize muscle retention while losing fat.
- High protein diet
The basic building block of muscle is protein, and muscle loss is approximately equal to protein loss. During weight loss, it is necessary to reduce calorie intake, so it is necessary to increase the proportion of protein in the total calories of food. Properly increasing protein content will help increase satiety, and ingested protein can also provide materials for muscles, allowing muscle tissue to better build muscle.
- Don’t lose weight fast
Fat loss and increase in calorie principles are opposite, increase requires excess calories, while fat loss requires reduction in caloric intake. If you're losing weight quickly, chances are you're losing muscle along with fat, rather than just losing fat.
The human body needs 2000 calories per day. If you only eat 1200 calories per day, then the calories are far from enough. In the case of severe lack of calories, the body will start autophagy to break down muscle and fat to supply energy for the body.
- Eat less frequently
Instead of sticking to your previous eating habits, switch from three meals a day to five meals a day. This is not for you to eat more, but for you to divide the amount of the day into 5 servings.
This reduces the burden on the body, increases digestion, and allows the body to absorb protein better.
Maintaining muscle mass while losing fat is not an easy task, but just stick to the above methods and you can do it perfectly.