Weight training - getting my facts straight!

mmapags

read this

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

The link is a very good starting place.

You should attack fat loss and muscle gain as two separate things. Your body can't do both at the same time. .

Actually you can. The results just may not be as dramatic.

How is this possible (newbie gains and for very overweight people aside)?

When you stress a muscle you cause micro tears. Your body repairs those tears and available leaves a slightly larger muscle. Almost like a scar. Nutrition, rest, age, sex, genes and the condition you are in to begin with are variables in the amount of muscle gained. This process occurs both when you are burning fat and when you are already lean and not burning fat. If the muscle is still surrounded by fat, the larger muscle is not readily apparent. If you have a low bmi--20s for men, any increase in muscle size is apparent to the observer. However, unless you have put your body in crisis by starving yourself, or you are ill, you will gain muscle by stressing the muscle (lifting weights) and resting for a proper interval. You will probably gain even without the rest day or two, but not as rapidly.

What you are explaining is neuromuscular adaptation - not new muscle growth.

Correct!