Muscle

Posts Tagged ‘muscle’

Is lifting weights on an empty stomach better for burning fat / building muscle? How long since last meal?

April 27th, 2010

My Health

Under a body-building and supplement program I followed a number of years ago (Cybergenics), I learned not to eat at least 12 to 14 hours before my workout under the theory that it would be the food currently in my stomach and circulating through my blood stream that would be burned off first versus the fat stored in my body when I lifted weights. Therefore, if the goal is to burn body fat and replace it with muscle, one should exercise on an empty stomach, according to this program’s theory.

But waiting 12 to 14 hours usually meant having my last meal of the day at 4 pm and then getting up to hit the gym at 6 am. It was a tough regimine to follow, particularly later in the evening or early in the morning when the hunger pangs would start to tug away. But it did produce results and I am considering following it again.

But that was 15 years ago and so much more has been learned in the field of exercise, physical fitness, and diet, I’m wondering if this theory should be updated.

Is working out on an empty stomach (for 12 to 14 hours) the right idea? I’m not suggesting chowing down before hitting the weight room, but others say that small meals spread out through the day is a better way to go. So would a small meal 3 hours before a workout still impede progress even a little in terms of burning fat / building muscle? What are the new guidelines (if any updates on what we knew 15 years ago is warranted)?

Posted in Fitness

Tags: better, Building, Burning, empty, last, Lifting, long, meal, muscle, Since, stomach, Weights

3 Comments »

At what rate does muscle mass grow?

April 27th, 2010

My Health

Recently I started a concerted fitness program involving a TON of cardio (walking/jogging/running on a treadmill at the gym), and within the past couple of weeks also added a strength training component to that. BEFORE strength training was added my weight dropped steadily but after it seemed to stall, holding at about the same weight.

My cardio calories consumed is typically around 700-800 calories per day, daily, with few exceptions. My weight training is about 30 minutes per day of various machine and free weight exercises concentrating on my upper body.

Here’s what I’m wondering: is my muscle mass growth somehow countermanding the weight loss I *must* be experiencing from fat reduction? Is this happening at a sufficient rate to compensate for my cardio?
Further details:

Duration of my program thus far:
I’ve been working out *almost* daily for a month now, and cutting back on junkfood/walking during lunch for weeks previous to this.

My diet:
I’ve been eating at or below my basal metabolic level for the last month, carefully policing and logging my intake during this time. As such, my calorific intake is far below my expenditures, at all time. My weight-loss plateau therefore can’t be from over-eating, can it?

Weight:
When I started seriously working out a month ago I was at about 195 lbs, now I’m *almost* at 190 lbs–it fell steadily until I started strength training. One thing that’s led me to this question in the first place is that the amount of working-out I’ve done should probably constitute a lot more weight loss.

One note: I haven’t worked out or strength trained for a couple of years at least.

Posted in Fitness

Tags: Grow, mass, muscle, Rate

3 Comments »

If muscle weighs more than fat and when exercising, we gain muscles, how can that be losing weight?

April 20th, 2010

My Health

I want to lose weight…right now I’m 6’3-6’4 and 115-120 pounds and I want to lose my weight so that I’m 100 pounds. But I don’t know what to do…should I run, jog, swim, cycle, do weight training or order a fitness program? But even if I do these things, will I actually lose weight? I mean, the fat will be burnt but since it’s replaced but muscles how would that make my weight go down?