fat in to muscle?

mcrowe1016

Lift heavy and do moderate cardio.

If nothing else, lifting heavy is much more time efficient and you see results faster.

This last part needs all caps: YOU WILL NOT GET BULKY BY LIFTING HEAVY UNLESS YOU ARE EATING A CALORIE SURPLUS

ninerbuff

i would do cardio and weight train, light weight a lot of reps

Absolutely! Light weights with multiple reps will tone, heavy weights will build muscle.

Again, misconception. Calorie surplus along with "progressive overload training" builds muscle. And it's a LONG PROCESS.
Lifting "heavy" on calorie deficit DOESN'T produce muscle gain.

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ninerbuff

Light weights & high reps, alternatively try Circuit Training.

Incorrect.

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erickirb

i would do cardio and weight train, light weight a lot of reps

Absolutely! Light weights with multiple reps will tone, heavy weights will build muscle.

No no no, you are a woman and don't have enough testosterone to get bulky arms, especially in a caloric deficit. doing light weight for multiple reps will only increase insurance, not strength, and will not help retain the muscle you already have under the fat.

OP: fat does not turn into muscle, they are a different type of tissue. I suggest lifting as heavy as you can for 5-10 reps depending on preference. You will not get bulky as that takes years, a caloric surplus, and as a woman possibly drugs (steroids).

ninerbuff

Your husband is mistaken, and from what I've read lately you should be lifting as heavy as possible for about 8 reps rather than doing endless sets of 12 reps with light-medium weights. Bulk requires testosterone, so unless you take steroids you'll stay lady-shaped. I just started the whole lift heavy thing so I can only really handle 15-18lb dumbbells but I'm getting smaller rather than bigger as remaining body fat falls off and muscle shows up.

Personally I'm a fan of compound exercises, things that hit more than a single muscle group. Try stuff like push-ups (arms closer together works triceps more), even girlie style on your knees will work those arms.

This is good advice.

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maab_connor

unless you have testicles, a steroid addiction, or a serious petuitary problem, it is not possible for you to get "bulky". estrogen will keep you looking like a lady, even if you lift like a lunber jack.

fat cannot turn into anything but energy and waste.

muscle builds by ripping during strenuous activity and rebuilding bigger and stronger.

muscle is EXTREMELY hard to build up. eating at a deficit and working out hard will burn fat faster than it can build muscle. this is why you need to make sure your macros (protien and good fats) are right to keep your muscles building and not damage them.

men, who are full of testosterone, have to eat at a surplus of the right foods and work HARD to build even an inch of muscle. take that word "bulky" and throw it out the window.

go out and pick up New Rules of Lifting for Women. or go to stronglifts.com to learn how to do it right. you'll look like a goddess in no time.

erickirb

I do Tricep Extensions EVERY day regardless of whether I exercise or not and I only use a 5 pound weight, 3 sets of 10!

Easy stuff and it seems to be working!

You should not be working the same muscle group everyday. Muscles need time to recover to rebuild, working them too much will can to the loss of muscle due to insufficient recovery.

epmck11

Hello all,

I need some help, so I want my arms to get toned, not bulky....My husband says I need to do cardio to burn off the fat and then start doing light weight lifting to tone, but he say's if I start weight lifting now that the fat will turn into muscle and I could look bulky.

People at work say to start weight lifting now, less weight/more repetitions...?

My arms do jiggle, and I just want them to get toned, not bulky...so I'm not really sure what the proper way is.

THANKS for your help!

If only it were that easy to get "bulky..." Guys with natural testosterone work hard in the gym and eat a ton for years to try to get bulky, and yet girls think if they touch something heavy they'll immediately get bulky.

Lift heavy weights and ignore the "lift light weights for a lot of reps" crap. Do cardio to help lose fat. Try to become as strong and fit of a person as you can be. You won't get "bulky." You'll get fit looking. To get bulky, as a girl, you'd need steroids.

ninerbuff

Light to medium weight, but higher reps. You won't bulk up

You won't bulk up on heavy weights either and will be twice as strong. Cracks me up when females say "I have no upper body strength". It's because training with light weights with higher reps doesn't build strength.

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Articeluvsmemphis

"tone?" it's either muscle or fat. high weight.low rep. high weight meaning what you can do for about 8-12reps with failure, sometimes 15 I think depending on the exercise

alisahaggard

i would do cardio and weight train, light weight a lot of reps

Absolutely! Light weights with multiple reps will tone, heavy weights will build muscle.

No no no, you are a woman and don't have enough testosterone to get bulky arms, especially in a caloric deficit. doing light weight for multiple reps will only increase insurance, not strength, and will not help retain the muscle you already have under the fat.

OP: fat does not turn into muscle, they are a different type of tissue. I suggest lifting as heavy as you can for 5-10 reps depending on preference. You will not get bulky as that takes years, a caloric surplus, and as a woman possibly drugs (steroids).

If this is so "incorrect" why does the 30 day shred work so well? I've been using lower weights so I can complete my sets and yet my arms are significantly more toned than before.

myofibril

The problem with high rep/low weights is she wont get strong.
Shes basically walking around with inflated arms till they run low again.
The pump....

OP.
Lift heavy and do it 3x a week.
And dont worry about the arms but do the whole body.
Reason is youll work the arms as a by product of compound lifting.
www.stronglifts.com

What this dude said.

Can you get a "toned" physique using a 12+ rep range. Of course you can. However, you won't be very strong with it and being strong has some great functional benefits for day to day life.

The problem with the higher rep ranges is the way they are performed ie: the last couple of reps are supposed to be challenging and hard to perform, not easy.

People choose a weight so light that their "weights" workout becomes essentially a cardio routine. What does that do? Creates an unsuitably large calorie deficit. What does an unsuitably large calorie deficit lead to in the absence of sufficient load on muscle? Preferential loss of lean body mass over fat...

holliph

Oy, the misconceptions around women lifting...it kills me!! First of all, women don't have enough testosterone to get "bulky". Second of all, fat doesn't turn into muscle. You gain "tone" by breaking down the muscle fibers, and rebuilding them. As you burn and shed fat, you can see your muscles better.

Lift heavy, low reps. Check out the book New Rules of Lifting for Women...it has some great info for people just starting out.

This is what you need to do, or you can also do push ups and pull ups...my favorites. I always do those along with moderate weights and reps.
I love my arms!!!

Hendrix7

Fat cannot turn into muscle any more that lead can turn into gold. They are two different substances.

This

ninerbuff

I do Tricep Extensions EVERY day regardless of whether I exercise or not and I only use a 5 pound weight, 3 sets of 10!

Easy stuff and it seems to be working!

A toddler weighs more than 5lbs. If this really worked, then mothers you consistently lift up that child should have great looking arms. Unfortunately that's not the case with many mothers here.

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NaomiDollar

Contrary to belief fat does not turn into muscle if you weight train. Also do not be afraid to lift heavy weights in reps of 12-15 per time. You will be astonished at the results.

ninerbuff

If this is so "incorrect" why does the 30 day shred work so well? I've been using lower weights so I can complete my sets and yet my arms are significantly more toned than before.

Any exercising will help to "condition" a muscle if you haven't been consistently doing it. What you're experiencing is less body fat and "visual" effect of see less arm fat.

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erickirb

i would do cardio and weight train, light weight a lot of reps

Absolutely! Light weights with multiple reps will tone, heavy weights will build muscle.

No no no, you are a woman and don't have enough testosterone to get bulky arms, especially in a caloric deficit. doing light weight for multiple reps will only increase insurance, not strength, and will not help retain the muscle you already have under the fat.

OP: fat does not turn into muscle, they are a different type of tissue. I suggest lifting as heavy as you can for 5-10 reps depending on preference. You will not get bulky as that takes years, a caloric surplus, and as a woman possibly drugs (steroids).

If this is so "incorrect" why does the 30 day shred work so well? I've been using lower weights so I can complete my sets and yet my arms are significantly more toned than before.

because it is a cardio workout that helps burn calories, so if you don't eat more than prior to the program you will lose fat.

_stephanie0

The problem with high rep/low weights is she wont get strong.
Shes basically walking around with inflated arms till they run low again.
The pump....

OP.
Lift heavy and do it 3x a week.
And dont worry about the arms but do the whole body.
Reason is youll work the arms as a by product of compound lifting.
www.stronglifts.com

YES!!
lift HEAVY!!

HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY!!

we dont have the amount of testosterone needed to get "bulky" google Jamie Eason. if you think that she's bulky, then yeah, stay away from heavy weights.

k2quiere

What is this "toned" all these women keep talking about? It seems like the clarifying word "muscle" gets separated for some obscure reason. It's called "muscle tone", which means you need to build or shape the muscles in order to have it and then burn the fat for them to show.

OP: I hate to say your husband's wrong, but seriously, I still have over 100lbs of fat to lose and I lift heavy. I've lost maybe 5lbs this month, but I've lost that many inches as well. Low weights/high reps are not as effective for shaping your body or developing/maintaining your curves as high weights/low reps are.