How do I build muscle, and also lose body fat?

Question

I am wondering, and serious here, how to build up muscle, and also lower my body fat percentage. I have been going to the gym for 2 years now, and been doing weight training for about 8 months. I have not gained any muscle, well, just a tiny tiny bit, but my friend who I go with have gotten massive. We do the same program, but he easts heaps of take away and junk food, where as I eat healthy, and follow a fairly good diet. I am also having trouble losing body fat, which I have been trying to do all year, and have not even moved half a kilo! I have also been on protein shakes for the past few months, with still no success. I weigh 72Kg, and 177cm tall, with a body fat percentage of 17%, which is pretty high for a guy. Any suggestions of what to do?

I go to the gym 4-5 times a week, and do approx. 30 minutes of cardio (running, bikes, rower) each time. I spend approx. 1 - 1 and a half hours at gym a day.

Answer 1

You gotta remember that everybody is different and that everybody reacts to weight training differently. This is the main problem people have when they want to gain muscle, lose weight, etc. First of all, it is impossible to lose body fat and gain muscle at the same time. If you want to gain muscle, you got to eat, eat, eat. 90% of gaining muscle is HOW MUCH you eat and 10% how much you train. If you want to lose body fat, it's 90% of WHAT you eat and 10% of training. Now, alot of people will say that you will get fat if you eat to much. Correct. You will gain some body fat, but the proprtion to how much body muscle you will gain will be noticable. Once you increase on strength (which means you have gained some muscle) lay off the food and increase your reps in the gym to cut back on the body fat. You will notice that if you rotate(cycle) doing this up to 2 times a year, you will get a hang of how your body reacts to different ecercises, foods, routines etc. and you will be able to adjust on what your body is doing. You will also notice that the more muscle you pack on, the fat that you gained during the bulk up phase will be easier to lose. As for your work out? Sounds like you are over-training. To long on the cardio if you want to gain muscle. 10 minutes is a good time to warm up your muscles before tackling the weights. Keep the focused on doing heavy sets (6-8 reps max), and do not rest more than 2 minutes between sets and exercises. If you keep this pace up, no more than 40 minutes is needed to pack on muscle. You might want to start off with a 3 day on, 1 day off routine. Remember, rest is also an important aspect of gaining muscle. You got to give your muscles time to repair themselves after blasting them in the gym. This is just the top of the iceberg. There is alot more to understand about gaining muscle, but I'm sure if you stick to these principles, everything else will come to you naturally in time. Lift Hard! Lift Right! Get Huge!!!!

Answer 2

Build Ripped Muscle Fast

Answer 3

First off, remember that your friend's metabolism will be different than yours, so the exact same workout and/or diet could produce different results.
Your best bet for losing and maintaining a healthy weight is cardiovascular excercise, especially swimming or distance running. If you run, try to do it 3-5 times a week. For swimming, do it a little less to give your muscles recovery time. Stretch afterwards for either.
For building muscle, remember that higher reps with lower weights will give you a better tone, but not make you as strong, while low reps and high weights will give you stronger, thicker muscle. Try to leave a day in between days you go to the gym.

Answer 4

well your height and weight seems to be balanced? and some people are geneticly aimed to make muscles,some arent,it is just the way your body works.i dont say you cant but it'll probably take much more time.if you are bond to be large,you become large easily,or not,that's all. And by the way having fat is good if you want to gain muscles cos it is the fat you have that turns into muscles.

other than that,sleeping is very important.you should sleep as much as you can.and try lowering the number of sets and raising the weights you use.always gives better results but not long lasting; this means when you give out gym , it'll not take long for your body to turn back normal. (some people are normally musclar. :))

Answer 5

You should really check out Kyle Leon’s Gain Muscle Program, it's the best muscle building program in the recent times. It's a MS Excel based application which utilises a lot of data related to the user’s specific body type, in order to help him/her create an ideal nutrition plan for his/her unique body type.

It also synchronises and customises every user’s individual training program, in line with his/her daily nutrition needs, thereby ensuring that he/she is able to develop muscle mass in a safe manner and free of fats.

I packed 20 lbs of lean muscle in one month and a half by doing his program. Check out his video at http://www.maxmusclefast.com to learn how it works. You will gain lean muscle mass as quickly as humanly possible. Good luck!

Answer 6

Train each body part only once per week allowing proper recovery.Techniques you can use are performing the negative very slowly(increasing microtrauma and leading to hypertrophy after recovery).Microtauma is actually what causes delayed onset muscle soreness not lactic acid.
The best form of protein for people who can consume dairy is whey(Designer whey is3 times better than regular whey).You have to eat as many as 6-8 meals a day (insulin will transport the nutrients to the mitochondria of the cells).Heavy weights and low reps with big compound movements(squat,bench,dead lift and barbell rows) are best for gaining size.
Creatine is a very good supplement that I've used for over ten years.Post work out supplementation of 70 grams simple carbs and 50 grams whey protein within a half hour of an intense work out has been clinically proven to increase testosterone and growth hormone secretion.
2 grams of glutamine taken orally has been proven to increase growth factors in athletes.That's why I use Designer Whey Protein.3 scoops has an additional 2.8 grams of glutamine and the protein is hydrolyzed for easier digestion.You need to consume 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight and get protein every 3 hours to retain a positive nitrogen balance thus remaining anabolic.
Do your cardio AFTER your weight training.This will cause you to burn even more fat because you've depleted your glycogen stores.Do your heaviest sets first after a proper warm up then work back in weight and up in reps.Machines should be done in the latter part of your weight training session for shaping and muscle flushing.
Cardio ALWAYS follows your weight training.
Train in cycles:Eat a surplus of calories and no cardio for gaining.Eat fewer carbs and calories for getting lean.You can't do both effectively at the same time.Do 30 days of one and then 30 of the other.
For gaining always train to failure with a spotter.I required as many as 7000 calories a day when I first started gaining.Just try to find healthy foods and eat all throughout the day.Read more here on the effects of diet on testosterone.
http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/incledon/diet-01.htm
Take your time,train hard,diet is at least 70% of your progress as is resting.And no you do not need 8 8 ounce glasses of water per day.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp
You also cannot reduce fat in a specific area by training it.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html

Answer 7

I would suggest doing some classes at the gym, I do body pump on monday, followed by circuits on tuesday and then spinning on friday and in between do you weight training as well. this way for three of the days you know you are burning fat at your maximum ability. It is to easy to go to the gym and do a work out with out actually pushing yourself like you should.

Answer 8

If you are having trouble losing body fat you could get checked out by your GP not that there are going to be any problems but he might be able to help. My brother has been working out and he has been taking protein shakes like yourself but also creatine(not sure how to spell it) which I believe you shouldn't take to much of, maybe you should ask your GP about that too.

Answer 9

It’s Friday brunch time and you simply can’t stop going back regarding seconds. But hang on! Stop to get a minute and suck on an additional strong mint. The flavour may put you off that finally plate of chicken korma/roast beef/sushi medley.

Answer 10

Try regular swimming.. it helps with fat, though very slow at muscle building, which can be supplemented with push ups , pull ups etc..