How to cut fat and build muscle

bshedwick

So, I'm 1.5 from my goal weight, and now I really want to drop my body fat %. I'll good with 165, but I really want to be in the low teens for BF%.

Going to go to maintenance mode as far as calories go. I'm a runner, and training for a half marathon, so I'll be doing a lot of cardio with some strength training thrown in.

I'm not looking to bulk up, but I want more muscle definition. Besides doing what I just described, what else can I do to help drop BF% and not weight?

scapez

Bump

UsedToBeHusky

bump as well

firesoforion

I'm bumping this too. I guess what you're finding is that you've got a lot of people who would like the answer to your question, but fewer who have the answer to your question. :bigsmile:

UponThisRock

You need to start lifting heavy on a consistent program, not doing "some strength training thrown in."

Honestly, It's hard for me to give you much specific advice, because I'm not familiar enough with how to program strength training around a specific endurance training goal.

Sidesteal

what else can I do to help drop BF% and not weight?

Since you want to keep your weight the same your only real method would be to eat at maintenance (averaged out over the course of time whether that's daily maintenance or cyclical intake based on rest days/workout days) and consume adequate macronutrients (1g/lb LBM minimum protein). It would be in your best interest to increase your resistance training and lift heavy to assist the process.

This is typically referred to as recomping.

carlie_carl

Check out Elliott Hulse on Youtube, he goes into great detail for all people of different sizes about cutting fat and building muscle, he is a specialist, his methods and theorys have helped me alot this past 4 months, I wish I had come across him earlier, hes also a brilliant motivator.

engineman312

check out saint's story. http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/06/13/60-pounds-overweight-to-6-pack-abs/ his final result was 196lbs and 9.9% body fat.

Yanicka1

there is many here who are more knowledgeble than me. What is working for me is to do minimum cardio, heavy strenght training and eating at maintenance. I have been doing this for the last 5 months. My weight is stable but my body fat is going down. Also eating 30% protein.

Hmrjmr1

It's difficult to answer this without knowing more about you and what you have been doing, but in general terms continuing with your cardio training to run the half marathon will help but if you want to accelerate the BF% loss than you will need to incorporate strength training into you "ROUTINE' training progfile. Feel free to email me if you'd like I am an old Army Master Fitness trainer and would be happy to help if you like.

BerryH

When's your half marathon? If it's in the next couple of months I'd concentrate on strength training for injury prevention (squats, lunges etc) and core strength (planks etc) before lifting heavy. You're on a hiding to nothing if you try to do both at once.

bshedwick

When's your half marathon? If it's in the next couple of months I'd concentrate on strength training for injury prevention (squats, lunges etc) and core strength (planks etc) before lifting heavy. You're on a hiding to nothing if you try to do both at once.

My half marathon is in May, and I'm starting a pretty regimented training program (Hal Higdon) in a couple of weeks. I 'm not sure i want to do Heavy strength training, but I think i need to try to increase the number of lower body and core workouts.

scapez

check out saint's story. http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/06/13/60-pounds-overweight-to-6-pack-abs/ his final result was 196lbs and 9.9% body fat.

Great article, thanks.

engineman312

there is a saying in track. "you can only run as fast as you can swing your arms."

while this might best apply to sprinters, do not neglect your upper body.

maryjay51

you have to find what works for you.. google how to lower your body fat and read the vast amount of articles that pop up. if you go to a gym you might want to ask a trainer there too. for me , what has worked was a good healthy diet full of protein, good carbs and good fats.. omega 3s are great fats for you that help you actually lose body fat. my trainer told me to take flax seed oil pills that contain ALA and to take 1500mg of ALA a day so I take three pills. i have no clue if that works or not other than my body fat % is declining most likely due to everything i am doing and not because of one specific thing. LOTS of water.. i drink green tea and put lemon in my water because that was one of the suggestions from both a nutritionist and all the articles i read on it. i definitely do weight training . my body fat % dropped big time after a good solid year of weight training. mix that with cardios and you should be good to go. eat lean protein like fish and chicken. beef was always a first choice of mine. i had beef twice this year so far as a treat..im trying to limit beef to once a week if that.

doctor_mike

What has really helped me is early morning, empty stomach weight resistance interval training....you want to lose fat while maintaining muscle....my experience is that eating for maintenance with the macro breakdown of proteins 40-50%, carbs and fats 30%ish and doing High Intensity Resistance Training (for me, those are giant sets on MWF and boxing fitness training on T, Th) early morning on an empty stomach has been working....there is some research base out there that supports the early morning routines because of where your body needs to go for energy when the body is in a fasted state....the goal is to maintain muscle mass while stimulating fat burning....

Currently I'm at 15% bf at 175. Goal is to maintain weight and be at 8-10% bf......

bshedwick

you have to find what works for you.. google how to lower your body fat and read the vast amount of articles that pop up. if you go to a gym you might want to ask a trainer there too. for me , what has worked was a good healthy diet full of protein, good carbs and good fats.. omega 3s are great fats for you that help you actually lose body fat. my trainer told me to take flax seed oil pills that contain ALA and to take 1500mg of ALA a day so I take three pills. i have no clue if that works or not other than my body fat % is declining most likely due to everything i am doing and not because of one specific thing. LOTS of water.. i drink green tea and put lemon in my water because that was one of the suggestions from both a nutritionist and all the articles i read on it. i definitely do weight training . my body fat % dropped big time after a good solid year of weight training. mix that with cardios and you should be good to go. eat lean protein like fish and chicken. beef was always a first choice of mine. i had beef twice this year so far as a treat..im trying to limit beef to once a week if that.

Sounds like I'm already doing a lot of that. I eat pretty well, I may need to up my protein a bit.

As far as water, I drink a lot.

I will need to be patient, and just. I know it'll take some time. Won't happen over night.

bshedwick

doctor_mike, do you do a lot of cardio as well?

doctor_mike

doctor_mike, do you do a lot of cardio as well?

I used to, but a trainer friend of mine told me that may be why I wasn't seeing much muscle gain is that my steady state cardio was too much....calorie burn through the roof on many days, and steady state's adverse effect on muscle growth....so I reluctantly cut back on steady state activities, but kept all (and added) the intense interval activities....that was about 3 years ago and I went from 153 lbs to 175 lbs, all the while keeping my 15% bf....tells me the gains in weight were lean muscle mass and that's what I set out to accomplish....

I'm sold on high intensity interval training (HIIT) as a great way to lose fat while maintaining muscle....I've read too much that steady state stuff (running long distances as the primary weight loss routine) can lead to muscle loss as well.....the HIIT, if done correctly, is an incredible cardio workout in and of itself.....

bshedwick

Since I'm trying to be a distance runner again, I need to balance everything out. Mix in HIIT and distance runner-friendly strength training. It'll come.

Aperture_Science

I'm not looking to bulk up, but I want more muscle definition. Besides doing what I just described, what else can I do to help drop BF% and not weight?

You will find it more difficult to add much muscle as a distance runner than you will if you didn't run. When you run ;long distances you use muscle glycogen as a fuel source. This shrinks the muscle; which prevents significant growth and is why you don't see body builders crunching the miles or on the start line of many half marathons.

In fact if you think about the start line of full marathons you don't see much muscle at all!

Also, as a fat burner, long steady cardio (such as distance running) is not as effective as either strength based exercise or HITT.

So, you have your work cut out for you. You will need to be spot on with your food and work out hard to counteract muscle depletion from long training runs. I'd recommend you consider some form of Carb cycling eating plan which will give you the fuel you need to run but also the protein you need to maintain (or maybe even build) muscle.