How does one build muscle while maintaining a low bodyfat percentage?

Question

I simply don't understand how individuals accomplish this outside of awesome genetics. I got my bodyfat down to 9% this past summer but I sacrificed muscle mass in the process. How can I build muscle while retaining a low bodyfat percentage?

Answer 1

It's your diet...
Eat 5 to 6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism going. Make sure they are high in protein and low in fat. Good carbs are ok.

Try confusing your muscles by mixing up your exercises each time you work a muscle group. i use the CORE program and it works great. I also have a trainer that is trained in CORE workouts.

The key is high protein. You should have a high protein meal no less than 30 minutes after you workout.



http://exercise.about.com/library/bltotalcore.htm

Good Luck.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Hate to break this to you, but . . .

There is NO way to build muscle without adding some bodyfat. Likewise, it is impossible to get your bodyfat in the single digits without compromising some muscle. Outside of awesome genetics -- and plenty of steroids -- this is impossible.

There is one big reason for this, one you probably already know. Building muscle requires excess calories -- a calorie surplus. Burning fat requires a caloric deficit -- burning more calories than you are taking in. Two entirely different strategies -- two that you CAN NOT do at once (not unless you are an absolute beginner, in which case your body is merely adapting to all the new work, and even the weight training itself will burn calories and fat).

"Cutting up," which many bodybuilders do right before a contest, always results in some lost muscle -- esp. at the pace that most bodybuilders do it. Now, what they don't tell you in the muscle mags is that these folks are always using tons of "stuff" to help achieve this while keeping most of their muscle mass in tact. And, what they don't tell you is that for the rest of us, this is just impossible.

To answer your question, you CAN build muscle while retaining a fairly low bodyfat percentage by: gradually adding more food to your diet and creating a small caloric surplus of 200 - 300 calories a day (above your required needs for maintainence) while training correctly and minimizing cardiovascular training (like 3 times a week for 20 - 30 minutes). When you are "bulking up," you need to conserve as many calories as possible for building muscle.

Now, does this mean you won't gain any fat? No - you WILL put on some fat. Excess calories will not all go to muscle -- though some of it will. The trick is -- not eating TOO MUCH so you won't gain too much fat. You want to eat ENOUGH and add a little bit of cardio so that the fat gain is minimal. Rule of thumb -- if you are gaining more than 2 - 3 lbs a week during your bulk-up phase, you are gaining too much fat (not possible to gain that much muscle a week -- without steroids). Also, check your body comp test every couple of weeks, and keep your bodyfat within reason (if you're at 9% now, don't let it go above 12%, so when you lean down again, it won't be so hard or take so long).

I've been doing this a long time. Good luck!

Answer 4

This is one of the hardest things and well kept "secrets" of the bodybuilding world.

1. Stay away from weight gaining powders - how much muscle do you think you can build from low quality protein a HUGE amount of sugar anyway?

2. Eat WHOLE food sources mostly. Tuna, chicken, beef (extra lean) etc are great. You can "fill in" some spots with some protein shakes if you need to though

3. Don't do so much cardio. Don't get me wrong, cardio helps. But when you eat 500 calories above your daily requirement so as to build muscle, then burn off 700 calories from cardio, you're not really ahead.

4. Train in the morning. I get up at 5:45 AM Monday-Friday so I can weight train for 45 mins-1 hour. Not only is your weight training out of the way for the day (so you're less likely to skip it) but this will keep your metabolism going all day long (did you know weight lifting makes you burn fat 2 or 3 times longer than cardio?)

5. If you are gaining, then do some cardio on your non weight days. High Intensity Interval Training works awesome. Just Google "HIIT" to see what I mean,

6. Be careful of your carbs! Did you know that Whole Wheat bread isn't much better than white? That's because the grain is finely ground up that your body absorbs it super quickly. If you can get "stone milled or stone ground" whole wheat bread that is great, because it isn't as finely ground. Your best option is wholemeal rye bread though if you can find it for carbs.

7. Know your body fat and KEEP TRACK OF IT. You need to know if you've gained or lost fat, the mirror can be deceiving!

8. You hear everyone saying "eat 1g of protein per pounf of bodyweight". So would a 200 lbs guy with 34% bodyfat eat the same amount of protein as a 200 lbs guy with 6% bodyfat. The logical answer is no. Eat about 1.1-1.2 g per pound of LEAN bodyweight. In other words, find out your bodyfat percentage and subtract that from your total weight to get your lean weight.

9. And last, stay committed! Too many guys give up too easy when only a simple adjustment is needed.

These are just some basic guidelines. If you want a specific routine for your workout and your food needs, Try this program, it worked wonders for me (I'm 200lbs at 9% bodyfat and I was 220lbs at 21%).

www.shreddedandripped.com/musclehead

Answer 5

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Answer 6

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The only way you will shed fat is by having a small caloric deficit, and through this slight deficit you will slowly see the fat come off as you keep the muscle you have gained. I completely understand your worries, every fitness enthusiast goes through this at some point. But you have to understand that you will not lose muscle so long as you plan your diet right and do this gradually. Your job right now is to monitor how many calories you need each day to stay at your current weight. From this, immediately deduct around 300 calories, no more than 500 calories. This will be a good starting point. You should notice that around half a pound to a pound a week will slowly come off you. Do your cardio five days a week and continue exercising diligently, and you will lose that weight as fat weight. The way people lose muscle weight is by becoming obsessive and drastically lowering calories, which, in turn, tricks your body into thinking that it is starving, thus leading it to keep its fat stores while eating away at muscle tissue. Only by making a small caloric deficit will you trick your body into thinking that it is not starving, and it will slowly eat away at your bodyfat. Now, this will not happen quickly, so I do not want you to expect it to start falling off in sheets. That should not be your goal. But give if a few months, and you will see that the slow progressive fat loss will amount to a lower bodyfat percentage that will be quite noticeable. You need carbs to exercise. There is nothing wrong with carbs, so long as you exercise and get your cardio in to burn off any extra. Eat plenty of whole grains, your body will need these. Avoid all processed and refined carbs, such as white bread, enriched flour, simple sugars, etc. Stock up on fruits, vegetables, and plenty of oatmeal and other whole grains. I know there are diets out there that promise you fat loss while gaining muscle, but this is extremely hard to do, and you will save yourself a lot of time by just doing a simple bulking and cutting cycle that has been proven over and over. Bulking = slight caloric surplus. Cutting = slight caloric deficit with more cardio. Please do not make it harder than this, it really is not that complicated. Good luck, feel free to message me if you have any questions. EDIT: Oh, and remember that you tweak your diet to sustain very gradual weight loss of around 1 pound a week max. If you notice your weight not budging, then very slightly lower your caloric intake a step further. Do not do anything drastic. Do not remove carbs from your diet, this is a big mistake. Do not remove healthy fats, Keep protein intake high, but you do not need crazy amounts of protein as is suggested by some "experts" out there. Believe me, protein is absolutely essential to muscle growth, but you do not need to stuff yourself with it to suddenly gain muscle. That is a myth propagated by uneducated individuals. No more than 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. When you first start your new diet, please realize that you might notice a sudden fluctuation in your weight. This is likely water weight and perhaps glycogen loss out of your muscles. Your body WILL adjust, so long as you do not make any drastic changes aside from eating a bit less and more cardio. The weight fluctuation will be totally temporary, and you should notice things stabilizing very soon. It's just something I've noticed with some people I have trained. Not everyone has this happen, but it's just something to look out for.

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Answer 9

Keep this specific meal between 400 and 800 calories. Serve yourself a more compact portion, so if you like coming back again for seconds, you'll just turn out eating a normal-size portion.

Answer 10

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