How Do I Gain Muscle and Lose Body Fat?

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mikejwilkinson11
mikejwilkinson11 Posts: 3 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I am "Skinny Fat" and I am looking for a way to gain muscle effectively, while also losing weight. I am not "new" to lifting but have only been lifting for around 6 months and haven't seen great results. I have looked on the internet but everyone is trying to lure me into buying their plan. Due to the new pandemic I am unable to go to the gym but have weights at home so I am still able to train. I would appreciate it a lot if you could please give me dieting and workout tips.

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  • mikejwilkinson11
    mikejwilkinson11 Posts: 3 Member
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    It would. be much appreciated
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
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    Best resource I've found is the wiki on the r/fitness subreddit.
  • mikejwilkinson11
    mikejwilkinson11 Posts: 3 Member
    edited March 2020
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    Hey guys. I am looking to bulk up. I am stuck between eating clean and possibly not hitting my macros, or eating whatever and hitting them. What should I do?
  • jenspadafora
    jenspadafora Posts: 13 Member
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    I have the same body type. I'm 5'3 and 150lbs, which is considered overweight but no one thinks I am just by looking at me. I was doing lesmills body pump classes about two (sometimes three) times a week for 2 months prior to the gyms closing. Over the 2 months, I noticed I was stronger and was able to lift heavier during the classes. If you have weights at home, you can modify some exercises that require the use of the bar and do them here!
    https://watch.lesmillsondemand.com/at-home-workouts

    They recommend mixing this with cardio for best results.
  • CeeBeeSlim
    CeeBeeSlim Posts: 1,255 Member
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    @jenspadafora Oh my oh my oh my! Thanks so much for posting the link. I was looking for feedback on other les mills classes and had only done combat! Just finished up a class on the link you provided and love it!

    I will give body pump a try. I’m stuck at home with 2, 5, 8, 25 and 35 lb pair of dumbells! A 6kg and 14kg kettlebell. Think I can do ok with these? I’d like to increase my weight as i go along but i don’t have anything in the mid weight range.
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    CeeBeeSlim wrote: »
    @jenspadafora Oh my oh my oh my! Thanks so much for posting the link. I was looking for feedback on other les mills classes and had only done combat! Just finished up a class on the link you provided and love it!

    I will give body pump a try. I’m stuck at home with 2, 5, 8, 25 and 35 lb pair of dumbells! A 6kg and 14kg kettlebell. Think I can do ok with these? I’d like to increase my weight as i go along but i don’t have anything in the mid weight range.

    i am a pump instructor. you will def be fine working with those weights for pump
  • CeeBeeSlim
    CeeBeeSlim Posts: 1,255 Member
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    @alexmose. Thank you for the feedback. I will
    be finishing a 12 week progressive overload program in about two weeks and looking for something different when I’m done. My goal is to get leaner - about 5 lbs to go. Would you call this a progressive program or just a fun lifting program with weights. Just wondering if I may need to find pairs of dumbbells between 8 and 25?
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    CeeBeeSlim wrote: »
    @alexmose. Thank you for the feedback. I will
    be finishing a 12 week progressive overload program in about two weeks and looking for something different when I’m done. My goal is to get leaner - about 5 lbs to go. Would you call this a progressive program or just a fun lifting program with weights. Just wondering if I may need to find pairs of dumbbells between 8 and 25?

    Fun group class. Altho u could go heavier, they move pretty quickly. You’ll see. I find this more of a cardio w some weights class Good to introduce weightlifting to those who don’t want to go heavy on the floor at the gym.
  • SherryRueter
    SherryRueter Posts: 2,834 Member
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    Youtube has a bunch of things,
    Search Les Mills body combat or Les Mills invincible. Both free.

    Jessica smith also on you tube has several.
    Tony Horton too.

    All of the sample workouts from Beachbody seem to be on Vimeo.

    Hope this maybe helps a little.
  • knightmagic
    knightmagic Posts: 100 Member
    edited May 2020
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    do you know your body fat %? Usually with Skinny Fat your better off choosing either losing fat or gaining muscle because the lower body fat (and lower skeletal muscle) makes it difficult to adjust your calories to stimulate muscle growth and body fat reduction. I'm a big man so it's easier for me however you can get visual results faster than I can on the muscle adding portion. I'd say start with a great starting weight training program like stronglifts 5x5 and add around 25% more calories (try to eat around 1.4g of protein per 1lb of lean mass. Ex. You weigh 150lbs and your lean mass is 120lbs you would want to eat around 168-190g of protein per day. This will tell your body to add muscle instead of fat. you gain fat by eating more calories and not stimulating muscle growth. also in this scenario you will lose body fat % even though your body fat isn't going away. keeping with this example of 150lbs, 120lb lean mass 30lbs of fat mass. Your body fat % is 20% if you stick to the program for 1 year and add the most muscle you can on average (2lbs per month) that's 24lbs now your #'s look like this:
    weight 174lbs
    fat mass 30lbs
    lean mass 144lbs
    body fat 17.24%

    Thats a 2.76% reduction in your body fat %. Have you seen someone who has added 24lbs of lean muscle to their body in a year? they look absolutely amazing! You got this!
  • jjsavoh
    jjsavoh Posts: 135 Member
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    I’ve looked at a lot of info for this. And the answer, as with so much else, is that it depends.

    I’ll try and give general tips based off my own searching, but I’d encourage you to visit some YouTube channels like AthleanX (look for stuff about Jesse’s progress. He was a beanpole, but has filled out well) and Built with Science (check for stuff on lean bulking). Jeff Nippard and Gravity Transformation are good too.

    - You don’t eat enough: I tracked my calories and workout yesterday...I hit macros, exercise was great, but it was tough to hit calories. Eating enough while eating right can be one of the hardest parts and something I saw echoed a lot in my searches

    - Big, compound movements are your friend: Athlean X has a good home workout to check out. If you have a table and a couple chairs, you can sub for virtually every primary exercise. When you can get back to a gym, I’ve seen a lot that steered me towards a 3x a week, full-body routine and a lot to steer me towards the reddit PPL. Check them out.

    - Cardio is not your friend, but it still needs to be an acquaintance: Walking and biking are two forms that are shown best to maintain and even support muscle growth when part of a weight lifting routine. DO IT LAST during a session where you’re lifting. Do it sparingly otherwise. Too many calories burned without enough food will keep you skinny fat.

    - Rest! I’ve noticed good things after a week long break. And if you’re cursed with a skinny frame, you may be more susceptible to overuse injuries. Missing a workout in favor of safety and muscle recovery for the muscle group or groups that you intend to work that day may be in your best interest. Even a minor injury will keep you away for what seems like an eternity (happened to me and my shoulder). Lift with your brain and your body, not your pride.

    Hope that helps and good luck!
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
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    You will gain some strength by taking BodyPump, initially. If your body is unaccustomed to strength training, doing any type of resistance training consistently will cause your body to adapt and add some muscle. That's called newbie gains and it's a wonderful thing. However, after approximately 3 to 6 months of doing a class like BodyPump consistently you will stop gaining muscle. At that point it will turn into a cardio class for you. Nothing wrong with that, doing cardio with weights can be fun, but don't expect gains in muscle mass over a long period from BodyPump. It's just too fast paced and doesn't focus on progressive overload, which is something you need to apply in order to gain muscle mass over time.

    How to gain muscle, at least as a non-pro, isn't hard to understand. You just need to do three things,
    1. You need to consistently perform resistance training using a well structured program that applies progressive overload. Take a look at the following thread for a list of programs https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
    2. You need to eat sufficient protein, generally in the vicinity of 0.8-1.0 grams per pound of body weight per day.
    3. You need to allow your body sufficient time to recover and build between training sessions. Generally this means not working the same muscle on consecutive days, getting a good amount of quality sleep, not doing excessive cardio, and listening to your body so that you know when you need to back off on lifting a bit to let yourself recover.

    The concepts are simple to understand but not necessarily simple to implement unless you're motivated.

    As to losing fat while gaining muscle, that's certainly doable, especially if you're new to resistance training. It's called body recomposition, using fat to fuel muscle growth. It can be a bit slow but if you're patient lots of people here have been successful applying it. Search this forum for "recomp" or "recomposition" and I'm sure you'll find some great information.

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