Best Exercise to burn fat and gain muscle

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  • mjlong
    mjlong Posts: 73 Member
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    Thanks Everyone! I am eating at a deflict doing the TDEE-20% so around 1700 daily and not eating back an exercise calories. But I don't really have weight to loose, fat yes. I'm 23 5'6 and at 132, I just want a hott bod for the summer ;)
  • gerbies
    gerbies Posts: 444 Member
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    As you can see, there are several schools of thought. From what I've learned (and experienced) after losing and gaining weight throughout my life, there are a number of components to how you should work out.

    What are your goals? Are you trying to tone up and lose those last 10-15 lbs.? Are you trying to lose a significant amount of weight (over 50 lbs.)?

    When a person is significantly overweight (obese category), being more balanced with cardio and weight training offers the best opportunity to burn enough calories to create a strong calorie deficit while trying to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. When a person has a lot to lose the focus should not be on "building muscle". In fact, when a person has more than 50 lbs. to lose (like 100 lbs), it's virtually impossible not to lose muscle along with fat. The body naturally has more muscle as you have more weight, since it requires more to move a heavier body around . The goal would be to lose as little muscle as possible while losing weight, but to lose weight more quickly (for health reasons...quickly being 2 lbs. a week). Ultimately, the average person should have a bit less muscle "weight" when they hit goal than when they were at their heaviest. The proportion of muscle and fat should be much different, however.

    If you are closer to goal (within 10-15 lbs.), the goal should be to lose "body fat" while maintaining muscle mass and toning. In this case, it makes more sense to do shorter, intense cardio sessions with more weight training. You build muscle/maintain muscle mass and lose weight more slowly. Muscles require calories to be maintained or to grow. When you are this close to goal, it's important to lose slowly to protect muscle (versus when you are much, much heavier).
  • Anthonydaman
    Anthonydaman Posts: 854 Member
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    Both of you are right, a good combination of both will do you well.
  • goldfinger88
    goldfinger88 Posts: 686 Member
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    I have to agree with your boyfriend. What he says is true and proven in many studies.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    Definitely heavy lifting and light (or no cardio) and a modest calorie deficit. You usually do not simultaneously burn fat and gain muscle though.
    What? Thats not true at all. Cardio burns more calories than lifting but when you have more muscle mass you burn more calories while resting. And yes you can if you are a beginner/intermediate. Just get enough nutrients

    Which part is "not true at all?"

    Calorie deficit, whether through diet or exercise or a combo of both = weight loss
    Lifting maintains muscle mass while on a deficit--therefore you should do strength training while on a calorie deficit
    So if you HAD to choose one or the other--lift, cardio is optional if you can create your deficit through diet.

    ^ This. I think lifting (main focus) + some cardio (if you enjoy it) + diet (creating a deficit that is required to lose weight) = success.
  • MinimalistShoeAddict
    MinimalistShoeAddict Posts: 1,946 Member
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    Yep, do both. Cardio will yield a bigger burn than lifting but lifting weights will help preserve muscle while eating at a deficit. Actually, you can gain some muscle at a deficit in the beginning.

    I agree
  • william622
    william622 Posts: 606 Member
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    hill sprints
  • JonathanBB
    JonathanBB Posts: 252 Member
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    I think it is great you are bith focused on being healthy. Hopefully you and fiance are learning to disagree and discuss in a healthy way as well. I don't see any reason why, as previously suggested, you can't do both cardio and weights. If he wants to put more weight on weights and you want to put more sweat into cardio that should be cool with both of you. And Congrats on your engagement. :drinker:
  • don3rd1981
    don3rd1981 Posts: 8 Member
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    Thanks Everyone! I am eating at a deflict doing the TDEE-20% so around 1700 daily and not eating back an exercise calories. But I don't really have weight to loose, fat yes. I'm 23 5'6 and at 132, I just want a hott bod for the summer ;)

    If you're fine with your weight but want to lose some fat you want to do what is a recomp. That's where you eat at maintenance and lift weights. This builds your muscle up and reduces your body fat. You'll look thinner and toner but have the same body weight.
  • FitPhysique
    FitPhysique Posts: 284 Member
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    Thanks Everyone! I am eating at a deflict doing the TDEE-20% so around 1700 daily and not eating back an exercise calories. But I don't really have weight to loose, fat yes. I'm 23 5'6 and at 132, I just want a hott bod for the summer ;)

    Then weightlifting would be better for you than Cardio. If you are a newbie to WL. Try one of those classes or at home ones i.e Les Mills Pump. I finished my first round of LMP and lost 8 lbs in 12 weeks but the the inches lost were just phenomenal.

    P.S. I am not a coach and/or do not work for Beachbody.
  • ruggedBear
    ruggedBear Posts: 295
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    if your doing only cardio you wont gain muscle, probably loose a bit

    I think they are both important though, the most in shape people on the planet are fighters who have to worry about both strength and cardio find your happy middle ground

    ^This. Happy middle ground. I've tried both and it boils down to what mix makes you feel your best overall.

    I lift 3x/week and run 5x/week. I actually run a mile to warm up on lifting days (and sometimes another 2 miles after lifting when I feel invincible) - my other running days are 3-5 miles each. I also bike/hike/you name it on the weekends.

    All cardio = :grumble:
    All lifting = :indifferent: meh
    Both = :bigsmile:
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
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    If I had to select 1 exercise (since thats what the topic says) it would be very hard to pick between Clean & Presses or Squats.

    I can only thing of those 2 exercises as giving you the most bang for your buck so to speak when it comes to working your entire body in terms of both building muscle and burning fat. Now how you choose to do them is up to you.

    (500lbs for 3 reps or 50lbs for 30 minutes of non stop death) Different approaches to performing the same exercises should yield different results. For example, guys who compete in the Worlds Strongest Man do not generally perform weight lifting like it was a Les Mills Pump class.
  • cschiff
    cschiff Posts: 209 Member
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    Between the two it would be hands down lifting. Cardio doesn't build muscle but weightlifting does or on a calorie deficit it can maintain it. Cardio is not even needed to lose fat. Sure it helps but if you eat a deficit you can still lose fat without cardio.


    Yes. this. ^^

    That said, cardio is great for you and will probably help you reach your goals for fat loss but building muscle means picking up heavy things. :flowerforyou:
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    My Fiance and I are fighting about this, I believe more cardio is better because we do still have more fat to lose. He thinks lifting and light cardio is better, because you still burn when your muscles are repairing themself. Thoughts?

    Boyfriend.

    While you have a lot of fat to use, you can actually get newbie muscle gains even with a deficit if lifting right and reasonable deficit.

    That ability will NOT exist later, now is it.
  • loseslarge
    loseslarge Posts: 9 Member
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    My Thoughts:

    Weightlifing/HIIT/LISS - Caloric Deficit/Surplus

    Weightloss requires a Caloric deficit
    Muscle building requires a caloric surplus (growing so you don't rely on your body's fat/muscle stores)


    Weightlifting - mass building requires surplus / preservation when in deficit

    HIIT - High intensity interval training - maximum fat lass, minimal muscle loss (why sprinters are always shredded..... and the steroids)

    LISS - Low intensity steady state cardio - will burn fat, but muscle sacrificed.....


    Utilize a combination that minimizes muscle loss (likely requires all three for best results --- last thing you want to do is end up skinny fat. People lose 50lbs, but half is muscle if they aren't truly paying attention to all the factors affecting them.
  • Siege_Tank
    Siege_Tank Posts: 781 Member
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    The question you pose is diametrically opposed goals.

    Losing fat required high levels of caloric expenditure, forcing your body to dip into fat stores. Fat loss can also be achieved through caloric restriction, or a combination of both.

    Gaining muscle is achieved through lifting weights, as heavy as you can, in a low rep range. Lower weights at higher reps aren't going to cut it. You also cannot see much muscle gain in a strict cut.

    You will be able to see marked improvement in muscle strength and "hardness" while lifting in a cut (IE, I lost 40 pounds in my cut, but my bench press went from 60 pounds to 135 pounds), or overall feel of the muscle, but you won't gain any size (like, if you're trying to round out certain areas of your body.. think squats & glutes)

    Cut, then bulk. And by bulk we mean lift. Heavy. While eating at maintenance.

    Weights give muscle growth. Any cardio style workout video or "plan" that tells you that you'll gain muscle.. is lying.

    Yes, yes it is. I'm talking to you Jillian.

    =)

    Your boyfriend is right though. We cardio when we cut to keep our metabolism elevated, keep our BMR from dropping, Doing extra cardio shows diminishing returns on fat loss, IE, a half hour of running a day is good enough, if you cardio for hours on end, you're just going to get hungrier and hungrier the more you cardio, which is harder and harder to fight off.

    Weight training DOES elevate your metabolism, repairing muscle is metabolically expensive, and you can cut back on the cardio, add weights, and start to see gains all around. You don't have to cardio till you die.
  • CassandraBurgos83
    CassandraBurgos83 Posts: 544 Member
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    I literally burn twice the calories lifting weights( Squats, lunges, deadlifts etc etc) I burn an average of 700-1000 calories within 60-90 mins and zero cardio involved) The best part is i'm losing fat and gaining a curvier more toned physique. Get yourself a HRM it also gives you a truer since of your gym time pay off! :)
  • Gusman14
    Gusman14 Posts: 94
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    Swimming.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I literally burn twice the calories lifting weights( Squats, lunges, deadlifts etc etc) I burn an average of 700-1000 calories within 60-90 mins and zero cardio involved) The best part is i'm losing fat and gaining a curvier more toned physique. Get yourself a HRM it also gives you a truer since of your gym time pay off! :)

    Totally inflated calorie burn values using HRM on anything anaerobic like lifting or intervals, and non-steady state.

    The formula's in HRM for estimating calorie burn are totally tied to steady-state HR the same for 2-5 min, and aerobic activity.

    Higher or lower than that range - inflated values.

    You don't burn that much in lifting, probably 1/4, at most 1/3 perhaps.

    MFP estimate of calorie burn in strength training is small and much more correct.

    Don't waste money on HRM for purpose of calorie burn in lifting.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    I literally burn twice the calories lifting weights( Squats, lunges, deadlifts etc etc) I burn an average of 700-1000 calories within 60-90 mins and zero cardio involved) The best part is i'm losing fat and gaining a curvier more toned physique. Get yourself a HRM it also gives you a truer since of your gym time pay off! :)

    Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the HRM does not accurately calculate strength training calories burned. It will hugely overestimate. I do 90 minute sessions and it typically shows 1200-1500 calories burned. Through trial and error I've found it to be more like 400-450. This seems consistent with what other people post, you only burn about 1/3 of what the HRM says. So in other words, I hope you aren't eating back those 700-1000 calorie "burns" that your HRM is recording ;)

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