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Wombat468
Wombat468 Posts: 191 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
If you can't build any significant muscle while in a deficit, and lifting doesn't really help your CV health, what's the point of lifting while you're trying to lose weight? I don't really understand....

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  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    To preserve as much of your existing muscle as possible. Preserving mass is easier than building it, so when you get to your goal weight and wish to continue building you would have an already decent base to start from.
  • Wombat468
    Wombat468 Posts: 191 Member
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    That makes sense - thanks!
  • julyrunner
    julyrunner Posts: 79 Member
    edited April 2016
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    You absolutely can build muscle while losing weight, if, by "building muscle" you mean "getting stronger." If you are getting stronger, that means you are building muscle, not just preserving existing muscle.

    If your goals are more bodybuilding-oriented (about adding muscle and size for its own sake) I'm not the person to answer that question. But I find it frustrating to see it suggested so often here that you can't build muscle (i.e. get stronger) while losing weight; it simply isn't true.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    julyrunner wrote: »
    You absolutely can build muscle while losing weight, if, by "building muscle" you mean "getting stronger." If you are getting stronger, that means you are building muscle, not just preserving existing muscle.

    If your goals are more bodybuilding-oriented (about adding muscle and size for its own sake) I'm not the person to answer that question. But I find it frustrating to see it suggested so often here that you can't build muscle (i.e. get stronger) while losing weight; it simply isn't true.

    @julyrunner - most people who say "building muscle" are referring to the fact that you can't add muscle when at a deficit ("building muscle" is the term a lot of people use for adding muscle mass). They aren't saying you can't get stronger.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    CiaraCatch wrote: »
    If you can't build any significant muscle while in a deficit, and lifting doesn't really help your CV health, what's the point of lifting while you're trying to lose weight? I don't really understand....

    To preserve existing muscle mass (like has already been said) and depending on the training you do, you can even get stronger (although from what I've read it's much slower than you would if you were at maintenance or bulking).
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    julyrunner wrote: »
    You absolutely can build muscle while losing weight, if, by "building muscle" you mean "getting stronger." If you are getting stronger, that means you are building muscle, not just preserving existing muscle.

    If your goals are more bodybuilding-oriented (about adding muscle and size for its own sake) I'm not the person to answer that question. But I find it frustrating to see it suggested so often here that you can't build muscle (i.e. get stronger) while losing weight; it simply isn't true.

    "Getting stronger" and "building muscle" aren't synonymous. You can become stronger through neuromuscular adaptation, technique, etc. without building muscle (i.e. hypertrophy).
  • julyrunner
    julyrunner Posts: 79 Member
    edited April 2016
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    But getting stronger IS adding muscle (you can't get stronger without building muscle). You are, actually, adding muscle mass whenever you make gains in strength.

    I think it's misleading for those new to exercise to be told "you can't add muscle in deficit." Often the person responding this way is talking about "bulking" or whatever when the person asking the question is just talking about getting fit, and in that context, it is incorrect information.
  • BroScience83
    BroScience83 Posts: 1,689 Member
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    The 650 skeletal muscles in the human body contract when they receive signals from motor neurons, which are triggered from a part of the cell called the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Motor neurons tell your muscles to contract and the better you become at having those signals tell your muscles to contract, the stronger you can get.
  • BroScience83
    BroScience83 Posts: 1,689 Member
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    After you workout, your body repairs or replaces damaged muscle fibers through a cellular process where it fuses muscle fibers together to form new muscle protein strands or myofibrils. These repaired myofibrils increase in thickness and number to create muscle hypertrophy (growth).
  • BroScience83
    BroScience83 Posts: 1,689 Member
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    or just workout til you cant move then do it all over again in 48 hours :)
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    julyrunner wrote: »
    But getting stronger IS adding muscle (you can't get stronger without building muscle). You are, actually, adding muscle mass whenever you make gains in strength.

    Sorry, that's simply not true.
  • julyrunner
    julyrunner Posts: 79 Member
    edited April 2016
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    kwtilbury wrote: »
    julyrunner wrote: »
    But getting stronger IS adding muscle (you can't get stronger without building muscle). You are, actually, adding muscle mass whenever you make gains in strength.

    Sorry, that's simply not true.

    Sure, there are components of strength other than muscle mass. But that's beside the point; it does not mean that you can't gain muscle while losing weight.

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