Replace body fat with lean muscle

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hofi2010
hofi2010 Posts: 15
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
What is the best way to replace body fat with lean muscle?

I weigh 172 lbs and according to my scale my body fat is 23%, would like to reduce the body fat to 17% but maintain weight.

Any ideas or experience?

I am also training for an triathlon, so I do a lot of cardio and strength training.

Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    lift heavy and keep eating in a calorie deficit..

    when you get to sub 15% body fat you could do like a two month bulk…

    fyi - you can't replace fat with muscle….
  • brandonzeciri
    brandonzeciri Posts: 13
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    Cut and gain... That's the process I'm in right now.
    I tried maintaining and replacing... but it became too frustrating.

    So rather I'm cutting about 20 pounds and plan on putting on 15 pounds of muscle over the next 2 years.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Diet first. Get your body fat to low-teens. Then you can start the bulk-cut cycles.
  • 4ALongerLife
    4ALongerLife Posts: 26 Member
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    http://www.fitoverfat.com/guide-for-cutting-fat-while-keeping-muscle/

    Hope this might help guide you!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    What is the best way to replace body fat with lean muscle?

    What do you mean by best?
    My best is to do a recomp (slowly lose fat and gain muscle at maintenance) but if your best means "fastest" then cut/bulk cycles would be the way to go.

    Personally I'm happy with a slow and steady reduction in body fat because it's not at the top of my list of priorities.
    What is your priority - training for your triathlon or reducing body fat percentage?
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Bump
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
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    I advise getting this done before you start intense tri training. Which distance btw? Maybe you have a month or two. Being in a deficit and tri training is a recipe for injury and you won't reach your potential. Unless you are really careful and knock off 100 cals or so and eat high nutrition food for repair. Bulking (adding muscle AND fat-it's the way it is) isn't going to be good for your speed, and cardio will really mess with your muscle gains and repair from lifting days. It's best to separate the two, lift and bulk/cut in autumn winter, cardio train in spring summer. If you have to, do sprints and legs on the same day and let them recover (maybe swim on recovery days, and do upper body that day).
  • hofi2010
    hofi2010 Posts: 15
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    I advise getting this done before you start intense tri training. Which distance btw? Maybe you have a month or two. Being in a deficit and tri training is a recipe for injury and you won't reach your potential. Unless you are really careful and knock off 100 cals or so and eat high nutrition food for repair. Bulking (adding muscle AND fat-it's the way it is) isn't going to be good for your speed, and cardio will really mess with your muscle gains and repair from lifting days. It's best to separate the two, lift and bulk/cut in autumn winter, cardio train in spring summer. If you have to, do sprints and legs on the same day and let them recover (maybe swim on recovery days, and do upper body that day).
    Thanks makes sense, I am attempting half an iron man in september. So i have a little bit of time to prepare. I did a few olympic distances in the last few years.

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