Random question

mattylevan

Hi,
Bit of an odd one this I think. I'm training for a half marathon and a sprint triathlon, I also do a lot of hiking and some rock climbing as well as a few weight exercises, mainly squats and dead lifts. I've also improved my nutrition by swapping a lot of pasta, rice etc for green veg.

Anyway the resultof all this is I'm losing body fat and showing a small amount of muscle definition andI'm curious how far this will go.

Google results suggest that to look 'ripped' you need to focus on weight training and cut out things like running and cycling but is that actually true? Note that if it is I'd sooner be able to get up Snowdon or run 5 miles than have a six pack but I wondered if both are possible and if so how.

jemhh

If you continue to lose body fat, you will continue to increase the visibility of your muscle. You can absolutely have visible muscle while still running and cycling--you just need to be sure to eat enough to support all of the activity.

TavistockToad

If you have enough muscle mass, you'll look 'ripped' when you get to a low enough bodyfat.

chrisrc131

You absolutely don't have to give up running in order to lift weights and build muscle.

There are limits to your body's ability to recover and you'd obviously be doing more if you're doing both. For most people, you just have to eat enough to make up for the calories you burn.

socalrunner59

You need to reduce body fat and build muscle to looked ripped (six pack, shoulder caps, etc).

Standard bodybuilder approach is to bulk (build muscle), then cut (reduce fat). Building muscle doesn't preclude cardio activities.

But it sounds like you are concerned about strength & speed given your goals.

Marathon is endurance (slow twitch muscle fiber); sprint swimming is fast twitch.

World class athletes have a greater percentage of one type of muscle fiber, while the average person has about 52% slow twitch and the remaining a combination of fast twitch Type II A & B. Slow twitch muscle fiber uses oxygen efficiently, thus doesn't tire as quickly. Fast twitch gives explosives power and fatigues quickly.

Training won't change the composition of an individual's muscle fiber. If you want to do both endurance racing (marathon) and speed racing (sprint triathlon) you have to train the different types of muscle fiber to their potential.

Keep in mind that strength is movement specific; but strength does not translate to increased speed (in other words, strength alone won't give you speed in a swim sprint). Increased strength and speed, requires movement specific strengthening with speed.

rybo

You don't have to cut out your running and tri's. You can still get very lean, definitely keep up the strength training and get enough recovery