Lose fat THEN add muscle

Rae6503

FIRST you lose fat by eating less than you burn.

THEN you build muscle by lifting heavy things eating more than it takes to maintain your weight.

Or you can do a little bit of the first, then a little bit of the second, then a little bit of the first, then....



http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-fundamentals-of-fat-loss-diets-part-1.html

The Fundamentals of Fat Loss

Create an appropriate caloric deficit/set caloric intake appropriately
Set protein intake
Set dietary fat intake
Everything else depends

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/muscle-gain-mistakes.html

The simple physiological fact is that, to gain muscle, you have to provide not only the proper training stimulus, but also the building blocks for the new tissue. This means not only sufficient protein (see below) but also sufficient calories and energy. While it’s wonderful to hope that the energy to build new muscle will be pulled out of fat cells, the reality is that this rarely happens (there are some odd exceptions such as folks beginning a program, and those returning from a layoff).

Vivian_Phoenix

Id prefer to do it in phases as you described.
Phase 1: lost fat
Phase 2: build muscle

dizam

You can gain muscle and lose fat. Here is how:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/

Jeff92se

Did I miss something? That aricle deals with losing fat. Not the order to build muscle/lose fat.

My guess is that's easier to lift heavy while fat, gain the muscle, then cut down. Asthetically, that might not be pleasing.


But it would avoid you cutting down, losing more muscle, then trying to gain it back again.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I trimmed down to lose fat and lifted heavy to decrease the amout of weight loss attributed to lean mass.

Rae6503

Did I miss something? That aricle deals with losing fat. Not the order to build muscle/lose fat.

My guess is that's easier to lift heavy while fat, gain the muscle, then cut down. Asthetically, that might not be pleasing.


But it would avoid you cutting down, losing more muscle, then trying to gain it back again.

Nope, not missing anything, that's all the article is about. It's not about the order. My point was that most experts agree you can't do both at the same time. You can do them in whatever order you want. I'd assume most women would prefer fat loss first.

UponThisRock

Good thread. Lots of wheel spinning goes on when folks try to do both at the same time.

Acg67

You can gain muscle and lose fat. Here is how:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/

sorry scooby is a known bro scientist that gives terrible advice

Jeff92se

Good thread. Lots of wheel spinning goes on when folks try to do both at the same time.

I'm happy with my size and strength. Not sure if I'm gaining any mass but my lifts have been improving. I mainly want to lose fat and retain as much mass as possible. I'll give up some mass if that's what it takes. Which is fine considering my lifts have been improving.

getitamb

Kettlebell did both for me. At the same time.

UponThisRock

Kettlebell did both for me. At the same time.

^^^An exception to the rule that you can't do both is a beginner, or someone returning to lifting from a long layoff

infamousmk

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

LabRat529

Kettlebell did both for me. At the same time.

^^^An exception to the rule that you can't do both is a beginner, or someone returning to lifting from a long layoff

Also... I know I at least have confused increases in muscles strength with increases in muscle mass. If I understand everything correctly, they're not necessarily the same. in other words, you can train the fibers you have, but if you want to add fibers, you've got to eat a surplus of calories and protein.

Or is it you're just adding mass to the fibers? I admit... I'm not sure. Are muscle fibers like neurons in that you get what you get and you're not getting anymore once you're all grown?

Rae6503

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

Yes!
A: it burns calories.
B: it strengthens the muscle you have
C: it helps preserves it as you lose
it's fun
E: it's good for your health in other way, stronger women live longer, are independent longer, I think it increases bone density which is always a good thing for women...

infamousmk

Frick. I knew the answer. I do love P90X .... I just need to clean up the spare bedroom again. And stop being such a whiny little b!tch.

twinmom01

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

It depends on what you want...I have been eating right and doing a lot of strength exercise with a bit of cardio - I have really reshaped my body (still have a ways to go) but have only lost 6 lbs...people who haven't seen me in a while think i have lost 15-20 lbs....

as for calf high boots - a lot has to do with your frame and how muscular your calves are - I am sort of squat to begin with and my calves are very muscular - even if I lost 30 lbs I dont' think i could get my calf in an average boot on the market...heck my skinny sister has the same issue - muscular calves - it super sucks cause some of those boots are super cute...someone needs to make boots for plus size calfs - not the stupid ones where it gives you a choice to unzip a zipper for extra room....

tuffytuffy1

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

It depends on what you want...I have been eating right and doing a lot of strength exercise with a bit of cardio - I have really reshaped my body (still have a ways to go) but have only lost 6 lbs...people who haven't seen me in a while think i have lost 15-20 lbs....

Thank you! You sound exactly like me. I have been working with a personal trainer 3 times a week and have only lost 8 or 9 pounds in 5 months. But I see my body shape changing and other people think I have lost much more than 8 or 9 pounds. I was starting to wonder if I needed to literally stop the weight lifting 3 days a week and just do cardio to burn fat, cut down on the personal training sessions, etc. So I guess I am doing the right thing???

Lauren5280

I think the only reason people say it can't be done is because it will take longer to see the scale budge and we're a society of quick fixes and quitters. So if you loose the fat first then you'll see big losses on the scale and hopefully you'll stay motivated.

I am living proof that you can do both at the same time. It just means that the scale doesn't move as quickly but I have to tell you the shape of my body has moved very rapidly.

Luckily when I started my journey I took several measurements and I took before photos. I am not only able to measure my progress not only by what the scale says but by what my tape measure and photos tell me.

AdAstra47

You can gain muscle and lose fat. Here is how:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/

Agreed. I'm not sure about all of the info in this article, but a lot of it matches what my doctor told me as well. And I am living proof that it works.
I have a monthly checkup, and my doctor does a BMI test on a fancy machine each time. He tells me that, over the past 8 months, I've lost about 61 lb of fat & water weight, and gained about 7.5 lb of muscle.

How? It's biochemistry. Yes, to burn fat & lose weight you must eat fewer calories than you need to burn for energy. BUT the thing is that protein is used for other things besides fuel / calories / energy. It is used to build up & repair your muscles too. So if you're active & work out, not every gram of protein that you eat ends up being counted as a "calorie" by your body. An excess of protein is generally used to build up muscle, or sometimes it is discarded & passes from the body. It's very difficult, biochemically, for protein to end up contributing to your fat stores.

Also, the chemical reaction that burns fat & protein in your body requires three parts fatty acids to one part amino acids. So as long as you don't eat a really huge amount of fat, in order to use the protein you eat as fuel, your body will be forced to draw from your fat stores.

The two keys are: not eating too many carbs, so you force your body to burn fat & protein instead; and eating plenty of protein.
This is a super-oversimplified example, but I just want to demonstrate how the biochemistry makes it possible to do both at once. A lot of people have trouble wrapping their head around this until they see the math.
Take a 2000 calorie diet. Let's say I will burn 2000 calories based my body type & activity level.
Let's say I eat 500 calories in carbs, 600 calories in fat, and 800 calories in protein. That's eating 1900 calories total.
OK, your body will probably burn the 500 calories in carbs first, 'cause it prefers to get its energy from carbs. Now it only needs 1500 more.
Now it will start burning fat & protein. Remember, it's three parts fat to one part protein. So burning that 600 calories of fat will mean also burning 200 calories of protein. Now your body only needs 700 more calories.
But here's where it gets interesting. Your body has protein available, but protein can't burn all by itself. To burn that protein, your body needs to draw on stored fat. To get that remaining 700 calories, your body will burn 175 of the protein calories you ate, and in the process also burn 525 calories of stored fat.
So we have burned all the calories we need for the day, we have no leftover carbs or fat that will add to our weight, in fact we've burned some stored fat. And what do we have left? We've only burned 375 calories from the protein we ate. The other 425 calories of protein can now be used to build up & repair your muscle mass.

Like I said, this is super-oversimplified and doesn't take into account hormones, the speed of your metabolism, your current muscle mass, the timeframe involved, all sorts of other variables. People have correctly pointed out that this is much easier to achieve for beginners and for people like me who were very obese to start with. But it is certainly possible to lose weight while also adding muscle.

Silverkittycat

rebekah, this might answer your question -

How do muscles grow?
Young sub Kwon, M.S. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.

Article Reviewed:
Charge, S. B. P., and Rudnicki, M.A. (2004). Cellular and molecular regulation of muscle regeneration. Physiological Reviews, Volume 84, 209-238.

Introduction
Personal trainers and fitness professionals often spend countless hours reading articles and research on new training programs and exercise ideas for developing muscular fitness. However, largely because of its physiological complexity, few fitness professionals are as well informed in how muscles actually adapt and grow to the progressively increasing overload demands of exercise. In fact, skeletal muscle is the most adaptable tissue in the human body and muscle hypertrophy (increase in size) is a vastly researched topic, yet still considered a fertile area of research. This column will provide a brief update on some of the intriguing cellular changes that occur leading to muscle growth, referred to as the satellite cell theory of hypertrophy.

Trauma to the Muscle: Activating The Satellite Cells
When muscles undergo intense exercise, as from a resistance training bout, there is trauma to the muscle fibers that is referred to as muscle injury or damage in scientific investigations. This disruption to muscle cell organelles activates satellite cells, which are located on the outside of the muscle fibers between the basal lamina (basement membrane) and the plasma membrane (sarcolemma) of muscles fibers to proliferate to the injury site (Charge and Rudnicki 2004). In essence, a biological effort to repair or replace damaged muscle fibers begins with the satellite cells fusing together and to the muscles fibers, often leading to increases in muscle fiber cross-sectional area or hypertrophy. The satellite cells have only one nucleus and can replicate by dividing. As the satellite cells multiply, some remain as organelles on the muscle fiber where as the majority differentiate (the process cells undergo as they mature into normal cells) and fuse to muscle fibers to form new muscle protein stands (or myofibrils) and/or repair damaged fibers. Thus, the muscle cells’ myofibrils will increase in thickness and number. After fusion with the muscle fiber, some satellite cells serve as a source of new nuclei to supplement the growing muscle fiber. With these additional nuclei, the muscle fiber can synthesize more proteins and create more contractile myofilaments, known as actin and myosin, in skeletal muscle cells. It is interesting to note that high numbers of satellite cells are found associated within slow-twitch muscle fibers as compared to fast-twitch muscle fibers within the same muscle, as they are regularly going through cell maintenance repair from daily activities.

Growth factors
Growth factors are hormones or hormone-like compounds that stimulate satellite cells to produce the gains in the muscle fiber size. These growth factors have been shown to affect muscle growth by regulating satellite cell activity. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a key regulator of satellite cell activity. It has been shown to be the active factor in damaged muscle and may also be responsible for causing satellite cells to migrate to the damaged muscle area (Charge and Rudnicki 2004).
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) is another important growth factor in muscle repair following exercise. The role of FGF may be in the revascularization (forming new blood capillaries) process during muscle regeneration (Charge and Rudnicki 2004).
A great deal of research has been focused on the role of insulin-like growth factor-I and –II (IGFs) in muscle growth. The IGFs play a primary role in regulating the amount of muscle mass growth, promoting changes occurring in the DNA for protein synthesis, and promoting muscle cell repair.
Insulin also stimulates muscle growth by enhancing protein synthesis and facilitating the entry of glucose into cells. The satellite cells use glucose as a fuel substrate, thus enabling their cell growth activities. And, glucose is also used for intramuscular energy needs.

Growth hormone is also highly recognized for its role in muscle growth. Resistance exercise stimulates the release of growth hormone from the anterior pituitary gland, with released levels being very dependent on exercise intensity. Growth hormone helps to trigger fat metabolism for energy use in the muscle growth process. As well, growth hormone stimulates the uptake and incorporation of amino acids into protein in skeletal muscle.
Lastly, testosterone also affects muscle hypertrophy. This hormone can stimulate growth hormone responses in the pituitary, which enhances cellular amino acid uptake and protein synthesis in skeletal muscle. In addition, testosterone can increase the presence of neurotransmitters at the fiber site, which can help to activate tissue growth. As a steroid hormone, testosterone can interact with nuclear receptors on the DNA, resulting in protein synthesis. Testosterone may also have some type of regulatory effect on satellite cells.

Muscle Growth: The ‘Bigger’ Picture
The previous discussion clearly shows that muscle growth is a complex molecular biology cell process involving the interplay of numerous cellular organelles and growth factors, occurring as a result of resistance exercise. However, for client education some important applications need to be summarized. Muscle growth occurs whenever the rate of muscle protein synthesis is greater than the rate of muscle protein breakdown. Both, the synthesis and breakdown of proteins are controlled by complimentary cellular mechanisms. Resistance exercise can profoundly stimulate muscle cell hypertrophy and the resultant gain in strength. However, the time course for this hypertrophy is relatively slow, generally taking several weeks or months to be apparent (Rasmussen and Phillips, 2003). Interestingly, a single bout of exercise stimulates protein synthesis within 2-4 hours after the workout which may remain elevated for up to 24 hours (Rasmussen and Phillips, 2003). Some specific factors that influence these adaptations are helpful to highlight to your clients.

All studies show that men and women respond to a resistance training stimulus very similarly. However, due to gender differences in body size, body composition and hormone levels, gender will have a varying effect on the extent of hypertrophy one may possibly attain. As well, greater changes in muscle mass will occur in individuals with more muscle mass at the start of a training program.

Aging also mediates cellular changes in muscle decreasing the actual muscle mass. This loss of muscle mass is referred to as sarcopenia. Happily, the detrimental effects of aging on muscle have been shown be restrained or even reversed with regular resistance exercise. Importantly, resistance exercise also improves the connective tissue harness surrounding muscle, thus being most beneficial for injury prevention and in physical rehabilitation therapy.

Heredity differentiates the percentage and amount of the two markedly different fiber types. In humans the cardiovascular-type fibers have at different times been called red, tonic, Type I, slow-twitch (ST), or slow-oxidative (SO) fibers. Contrariwise, the anaerobic-type fibers have been called the white, phasic, Type II, fast-twitch (FT), or fast-glycolytic (FG) fibers. A further subdivision of Type II fibers is the IIa (fast-oxidative-glycolytic) and IIb (fast-glycolytic) fibers. It is worthy of note to mention that the soleus, a muscle involved in standing posture and gait, generally contains 25% to 40% more Type I fibers, while the triceps has 10% to 30% more Type II fibers than the other arm muscles (Foss and Ketyian, 1998). The proportions and types of muscle fibers vary greatly between adults. It is suggested that the new, popular periodization models of exercise training, which include light, moderate and high intensity training phases, satisfactorily overload the different muscle fiber types of the body while also providing sufficient rest for protein synthesis to occur.

Muscle Hypertrophy Summary
Resistance training leads to trauma or injury of the cellular proteins in muscle. This prompts cell-signaling messages to activate satellite cells to begin a cascade of events leading to muscle repair and growth. Several growth factors are involved that regulate the mechanisms of change in protein number and size within the muscle. The adaptation of muscle to the overload stress of resistance exercise begins immediately after each exercise bout, but often takes weeks or months for it to physically manifest itself. The most adaptable tissue in the human body is skeletal muscle, and it is remarkably remodeled after continuous, and carefully designed, resistance exercise training programs.

Additional References:
Foss, M.L. and Keteyian, S.J. (1998). Fox’s Physiological Basis for Exercise and Sport. WCB McGraw-Hill.
Rasmussen, R.B., and Phillips, S.M. (2003). Contractile and Nutritional Regulation of Human Muscle Growth. Exercise and Sport Science Reviews. 31(3):127-131.

If not, message me and I'll dig up a textbook - I'm rusty on this, and lack actual experience.

* forgot to credit Mr. Kravitz. Look around - some great info is gathered here. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/musclesgrowLK.html

UponThisRock

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

Yes!
A: it burns calories.
B: it strengthens the muscle you have
C: it helps preserves it as you lose
it's fun
E: it's good for your health in other way, stronger women live longer, are independent longer, I think it increases bone density which is always a good thing for women...

Just to add what Rachel said, gaining strength without adding muscle happens because your central nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers.

AdAstra47

Thank you! You sound exactly like me. I have been working with a personal trainer 3 times a week and have only lost 8 or 9 pounds in 5 months. But I see my body shape changing and other people think I have lost much more than 8 or 9 pounds. I was starting to wonder if I needed to literally stop the weight lifting 3 days a week and just do cardio to burn fat, cut down on the personal training sessions, etc. So I guess I am doing the right thing???

Yes, sounds to me like you're doing exactly the right thing. You want to lose the weight gradually, without losing muscle, preferably while gaining muscle. That makes your change sustainable in the long run. When resting, even while sound asleep, your body burns calories just to keep itself alive. That's your BMR, your resting metabolic rate. But muscle tissues burn more calories than other kinds of tissues (even while resting). Muscles are the engines that really drive your fat loss. So the last thing you want to do is lose both fat and muscle at the same time. That's what causes people to gain the weight right back again; they lose a percentage of their fat-burning engines, then when they stop dieting they wind up fatter than they started, with a lower BMR, and it's even harder to lose the next time they try.

So if you're losing slowly & steadily, and you see your measurements improving and your body firming up, you are doing *exactly* what you should.

LabRat529

rebekah, this might answer your question -

Thank you!!!

Jeff92se

Just to add what Rachel said, gaining strength without adding muscle happens because your central nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers.

How long can a regular lifter do that?

Silverkittycat

Sorry, didn't mean to threadjack - was just trying to answer a question that got lost and went unanswered. Here's a bump for more views.

infamousmk

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

Yes!
A: it burns calories.
B: it strengthens the muscle you have
C: it helps preserves it as you lose
it's fun
E: it's good for your health in other way, stronger women live longer, are independent longer, I think it increases bone density which is always a good thing for women...

Just to add what Rachel said, gaining strength without adding muscle happens because your central nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers.

Am I supposed to maintain my calorie deficit for this? That's where this all gets a little foggy for me .. I thought I needed plenty of protein to build muscle, and that you can't build in a deficit ... but I need to lose fat at the same time.

I'm not scientist, either, so please if you can, explain in very layman's terms. Otherwise, I'll make Rachel explain it after a few beers and it'll never get sorted out.

LabRat529

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

Yes!
A: it burns calories.
B: it strengthens the muscle you have
C: it helps preserves it as you lose
it's fun
E: it's good for your health in other way, stronger women live longer, are independent longer, I think it increases bone density which is always a good thing for women...

Just to add what Rachel said, gaining strength without adding muscle happens because your central nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers.

Am I supposed to maintain my calorie deficit for this? That's where this all gets a little foggy for me .. I thought I needed plenty of protein to build muscle, and that you can't build in a deficit ... but I need to lose fat at the same time.

I'm not scientist, either, so please if you can, explain in very layman's terms. Otherwise, I'll make Rachel explain it after a few beers and it'll never get sorted out.

I'll take a stab at it and then you muscle peeps can tell me if I'm right or wrong

You can't grow new neurons (actually... there's a caveat to this, but I don't wanna confuse the issue. For the most part, you can't grow new neurons). But you CAN make new connections with the old neurons and you CAN strengthen the connections that already exist. The technical terms for this are long-term-potentiation and synaptic plasticity- but you don't need to know that . Practice helps make those connections stronger and more abundant. In the brain, you "practice" by using a specific neuronal circuit again and again. Frequent use of any given circuit will convince the neurons to start making more signaling molecules and receptors (there's a caveat to this too- why can't anything be simple in biology?!). Those neurons will also reach out and form more synaptic connections neuron-to-neuron or neuron-to-endocrine organ or neuron-to-muscle.

I don't know my muscle physiology very well But I'll bet money that "gaining strength without adding muscle happens because your central nervous system becomes more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers" means the neurons in the CNS "learn" to create more and stronger connections with the muscles when you practice lifting heavy things.

So you can gain strength without gaining muscle mass because you're neurons are talking more effectively to your muscles.

Silverkittycat

Nice thinking, rebekah! You've probably already read a textbook on neural adaptation by the time I post this, but for the rest of us novices, this isn't bad -

SkinnyBulkUp.com
Advice for skinny guys who want to bulk up

Neural Adaptations During Strength Training

Most novices try to stimulate hypertrophy – an increase in the cross-sectional size of a muscle. They want to get big, but have only vague ideas about how this relates to increases in their levels of strength. When they work out for a while without noticeable results in the mirror, they think something’s wrong.

However, even with a perfect diet and weight lifting program, it can take up to six weeks before a new lifter notices any real increase in the size of his muscles. The short-term “pump” that fades away an hour or two after exercise is a tantalizing, but fleeting, glimpse of things to come, but it isn’t true hypertrophy; the pump is caused by fluid retention and it goes away quickly.

This can be confusing, because despite the fact that hypertrophy is mostly absent, strength increases rapidly in the first few weeks of a lifting program.

This initial strength gain comes from various neuromuscular adaptations rather than from hypertrophy.

These neural adaptation phenomena mean one very important thing: on a bulking program, novices will get a lot stronger before they begin to add muscle mass.

Five main mechanisms of neural adaptation are of interest to weight lifters -

Motor Unit Synchronization is the most important neural adaptation for strength training. It is responsible for nearly all of the early strength gains experienced by a novice in the first few weeks of training. A motor unit consists of a neuron (motor nerve cell) and multiple muscle fibers. Each muscle fiber in a motor unit is functionally identical; that is, there is no mix of fast-twitch and slow-twitch fibers in a single motor unit. As a trainee makes progress, his ability to utilize multiple motor units increases markedly. This increased synchronization results in elevated levels of strength compared to those attainable in an untrained muscle.

Enhanced Motor unit activation is another neural adaptation to training that rapidly increases the strength of a novice who hasn’t yet experienced hypertrophy. Training increases the frequency of motor unit firing and also increases the total number of motor units that effect a muscular contraction. In other words, more motor units work together, and they all fire more rapidly. Novices can only recruit a fraction of the motor units in a muscle during a voluntary contraction. Those with a few weeks of strength training under their belts are capable of recruiting a much higher percentage of the total motor units that make up a muscle.
Skill acquisition and improved technique leads to increased strength. A novice unfamiliar with the weight lifting movements is unable to generate as much strength as a similarly-sized expert. This mechanism is especially important in movements that require the coordinated actions of several muscle groups.

Specificity plays a huge part in early strength gains. Training one type of movement does not lead to strength gains in a seemingly-related movement. For example, increased strength on a leg-extension machine will not lead to an increase in the vertical leap. What the specificity principle means for novice weight lifters is that isolation exercises should be discarded in favor of general-purpose compound movements that develop strength which carries over to other techniques.

Cross-education and increased involvement of the neural pathways contribute to strength gains too. For example, an untrained arm will gain significant strength in concert with a trained arm, because of interaction between the nerves of either arm at the spinal column. This cross-education is one of the clearest demonstrations of neural adaptation.


As strength increases, neural adaptation eventually gives way to hypertrophy

In the first six weeks of a strength training program, a novice will be able to increase the weight lifted. This steady rate of strength increase is almost wholly due to neural adaptation.

Later, after approximately six weeks, the novice’s neural adaptation markedly slows down and additional strength gains come mainly as a result of hypertrophy or increased muscle size. There is scientific evidence which shows that hypertrophy is only fully “switched on” when neural adaptations to strength training begin to tail off.


How does neural adaptation relate to strength training?

Novices have to pass through the neural adaptations stage before they experience significant hypertrophy. Until a novice learns the movements, significant hypertrophy won’t occur.

Isolation exercises violate the specificity principle which says that strength gains won’t transfer to other movements; use compound movements at least until neural adaptation seems to be complete and you feel like you’ve not only learned the movements, but your hypertrophy is slowing.

Don’t give up on a bulking program if hypertrophy doesn’t make itself apparent in a month. It takes longer than that for neural adaptation to reach its zenith.

Once again, I haven't studied these subjects in years, and never practiced. Those with experience please correct anything in the articles that is no longer "current".

getitamb

Ok, so help me out here -- I'm fat, and I need to get down to a healthy weight. I had been doing P90X, and losing about .5-1 pound a week... and I could tell I was getting stronger, but I had a really hard time with my calories, etc. with the high burns from the 'circuit training' .. you know what I mean... So, I started doing much lower impact (and burn) exercise, watched my diet, and started losing more like 1-1.5 pounds a week. (Now I'm not doing *kitten*, really, but I'm trying to get back on track..)

But is it going to benefit me at this weight to really strength train? I mean, I'm a strong person anyway, but I could really stand to get smaller here ... you know my struggle with calf-height boots ...

What do you recommend? I have weights and bands at home, I'm willing to swim or walk or elliptical a couple times a week... and I'd really like to be losing 1.5 pounds a week.

Strength training helped me break my plateau this week. But don't overdo it.

infamousmk

Thanks, Rebekah!! That was really helpful, actually.

firedragon064

Gain muscle 1st then lose fat. If I only can have one choice.
Since the more muscle you have you can burn more fat.