Reducing body fat % - HELP!

pamp1emousse

I've heard that as you approach your goal weight, if you want to reduce your overall body fat % and tone up (which I do), the emphasis needs to be on strength training. I've also heard that in order to reduce body fat % you need to actually burn fat as well as strength training by cutting calories. But, ON TOP of that I've heard that you can't really build muscle when you're at a calorie deficit.

I'm now really confused :sad: Is some of my information hideously wrong or am I missing something here? This all seems pretty contradictory! Should I still be doing cardio and strength but just more strength than cardio now? HELP ME PLEASE

ErinMarie25

BOTH!!!

Do both cardio AND strength training. Muscle does burn fat, the best way to get rid of fat is cardio, too. Doing both would be great. I do both as well. I do cardio at least 6 times a week and strength training 3-4 times a week.

Azdak

There is too much emphasis placed on "building muscle". It doesn't increase metabolism all that much and the average exerciser is not going to gain that much.

However, there are metabolic effects of strength training that enhance weight/fat loss, independent of any gains in muscle mass itself.

So, maintain a modest calorie deficit and keep lifting. Make sure you are lifting "heavy" at least once a week (work up to that intensity if you are not doing it now), and do 1 or 2 cardio interval workouts in addition to any endurance training you are doing.

Keep in mind that the lower your body fat % and the closer you get to your "goal" (assuming your goal is appropriate), the slower the progress and the more you have to work to get there.

Oh, and don't be afraid to take a couple of weeks and eat at "maintenance" calories every 6 wks or so.

End6ame

You can build muscle on a calorie deficit, just not significant amounts of muscle and you will plateau in your strength gains sooner. What Azdak said is correct though, you need to lift HEAVY. I would recommend three days per week though for faster/better results. Also use free-weights because they will engage more muscles at one time.

pamp1emousse

Thanks for all the good advice! I have a question which may sound pretty stupid tho... When you say lift 'heavy', do you mean as heavy as I can with fewer reps? Or up the weights to as heavy as I can while still doing 10 but only 1 set? I'm rather new to this strength training business :blushing:

Azdak

Thanks for all the good advice! I have a question which may sound pretty stupid tho... When you say lift 'heavy', do you mean as heavy as I can with fewer reps? Or up the weights to as heavy as I can while still doing 10 but only 1 set? I'm rather new to this strength training business :blushing:

Sorry, that was a quick response that needed more detail. For the purposes of this discussion, I would call "lifting heavy" to mean lifting a weight that results in fatigue in, say, 5-8 repetitions. (As opposed to the more common 12-15 reps).

Now, if you are new to this, this is not something you go out and do tomorrow. It might take several weeks to build up to this level. Your muscles can adapt to heavier weights more quickly than your ligaments and tendons, so you need to give them time to grow stronger as well.

So, in this case, I would almost say both answers are correct. If you are doing 10-rep sets, then your first step is to increase the weights so that you are reaching maximum effort at 10 reps--you could not do another rep with good form. Then gradually up the weights, a little at a time, to the heavier levels described above. Do those workouts no more than 2 times per week, and every 3-4 weeks, take a "break" and go back to lower weights in the 12-15 rep range for a couple of sessions.

Technically, for now, you could get by with one set, but it's not a good idea to lift the heavier weights without a warm up. Plus sometimes you find out during one of your beginning sets that you can lift more (or less) that day. I would still recommend 3 sets, with the first 2 as "warm ups" of increasing intensity.

Pinoy_Pal

I hope this article helps ]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek88.htm