body building

gypsyrose85

so question. When a person wants to lose fat by body building and gain a lot of muscle...Should they be doing cardio? If so when should they be doing it? From my understanding cardio takes away from muscle building.

deanc350

There are plenty of great programs at http://www.bodybuilding.com/

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/find-a-plan.html

Great recipes, articles and info

fivethreeone

You're sort of conflating two things. Losing fat and gaining a lot of muscle are two separate things and pretty much never happen at the same time. What you need to realize is that size is a matter of diet, not exercise.

Most people lose fat while weight training as a matter of eating at a calorie deficit. Then, once they lose excess fat, they increase their calories so that they can gain weight (muscle and some fat), then cut back on calories to lose the fat over the muscle.

It is possible to do all of that doing the exact same exercises the entire time. The gain and loss of muscle/fat is primarily about whether you are at a calorie deficit or not.

If you are interested in losing fat, cardio can help create the calorie deficit necessary for that to happen, but cardio itself won't be the reason for fat gain/loss.

jacksonpt

fivethreeone wrote: »

You're sort of conflating two things. Losing fat and gaining a lot of muscle are two separate things and pretty much never happen at the same time. What you need to realize is that size is a matter of diet, not exercise.

Most people lose fat while weight training as a matter of eating at a calorie deficit. Then, once they lose excess fat, they increase their calories so that they can gain weight (muscle and some fat), then cut back on calories to lose the fat over the muscle.

It is possible to do all of that doing the exact same exercises the entire time. The gain and loss of muscle/fat is primarily about whether you are at a calorie deficit or not.

If you are interested in losing fat, cardio can help create the calorie deficit necessary for that to happen, but cardio itself won't be the reason for fat gain/loss.

Agreed.

Diet for weight control (deficit to lose, surplus to gain) and exercise for body composition (fat loss or muscle gain/retention).

JoRocka

jacksonpt wrote: »

fivethreeone wrote: »

You're sort of conflating two things. Losing fat and gaining a lot of muscle are two separate things and pretty much never happen at the same time. What you need to realize is that size is a matter of diet, not exercise.

Most people lose fat while weight training as a matter of eating at a calorie deficit. Then, once they lose excess fat, they increase their calories so that they can gain weight (muscle and some fat), then cut back on calories to lose the fat over the muscle.

It is possible to do all of that doing the exact same exercises the entire time. The gain and loss of muscle/fat is primarily about whether you are at a calorie deficit or not.

If you are interested in losing fat, cardio can help create the calorie deficit necessary for that to happen, but cardio itself won't be the reason for fat gain/loss.

Agreed.

Diet for weight control (deficit to lose, surplus to gain) and exercise for body composition (fat loss or muscle gain/retention).

seconded/thirded all of the above.