How to Build Muscle While Burning Fat

Almost every guy wants to build muscle while at the same time burning fat. We all want mass in the right places, while keeping away that layer of fat that removes the detail.

 

Problem is, doing both at the same time is pretty hard. In fact to be honest, doing either is pretty difficult. Doing both is darn near impossible!

 

If you ask the experts, they’ll tell you that you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight and a calorie surplus to build muscle. That’s not a good start. What’s more, while you use cardio to burn weight this has the unwanted effect of shredding away your muscle too! Oh dear.

 

But there is a way you can have your (protein) cake and eat it too. For starters, you need to maintain a calorie deficit to lose weight yes but you don’t actually need a calorie surplus for building muscle. All you need to build muscle is a protein surplus. You should also try not to lose weight too drastically but instead to gradually cut back on the fat while gradually building up the muscle. Go too quickly and you’ll end up losing both your fat and your muscle. The objective here is not to bulk and cut but rather to subtly alter your physique.

 

So keep your calories around what they are and then increase your exertion so that you’re burning slightly more than that. Meanwhile, skew your macros so that you are eating more protein compared with carbs or fat.

Strength Circuit

As for the training, the following strategy is something that you can do both burn fat and build muscle. This is basically resistance/weight training but performed at a higher pace. These long reps will flood your muscles with blood and oxygen to help stimulate sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (causing them to swell) while the high intensity and lengthy session will be enough to see your calorie burn climb through the roof. Better yet, because you’re burning calories with resistance work, this makes it protective of your muscle mass – i.e. it won’t be burned for fuel!

 

Leg Pulls

Pull Ups

Horizontal Back Extension

Bench Press

 

And at the same time, you’ll also be employing a circuit like routine where you will be using your 15 rep maximum (the highest weight you can perform fifteen reps on for each exercise). You’ll be going around in a circuit and resting for 45 seconds between each exercise. In total the aim is to perform 75 repetitions and you’ll keep going until you do. What you’ll find is that by the third time around, you’ll only be performing around 10 or even 5 repetitions. Still though, you’re going to keep the intensity up and never rest more than 45 seconds. You’ll really be able to feel what a workout you’re getting as you gasp for air and by the end it’s easily conceivable that you might burn 700+ calories in as little as 45 minutes. Give it a go and see for yourself!

 

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