What can I do to lean out and maintain muscle?

[Perugini]

Let me outline my past dieting and cardio before we begin. I used to eat whatever I wanted and no vegetables or fruits. I never did cardio before.

What I want to do is loose as much fat as possible without having to sacrafice muscle. I powerlift and want to maintain as much strength as possible. I don't want to be your stereotypical powerlifter with the fat insulation of seal. I want to be able to go to the beach and proudly take my shirt off.

What should I do as far as meals go (how many, how much, etc)? What should I do for cardio to maintain as much muscle as possible? I have been doing more bursts of cardio (ex: laps at the track-jog curves sprint straights, pulling cars, etc)

I weigh 195 right now and aprox. 15% body fat. I would like to get up to around 205-215 by then end of the summer and around 10-12% body fat.

Any other information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


Chris

[Perugini]

I know I have heard it is impossible to build muscle and loose fat at the same time but due to the fact that I never did cardio before or ate healthy leads me to believe that it is possible to achieve my goal.

[IIcovski]

You wont gain muscle and lose fat sorry to break it to you, its like trying to run forward but backwards at the same time, pick one.

[obesebeast]

**** he's only 20, he can recompose...where you basically do both at the same time...its more along the lines of you don't lose any fat and just gain muscle, slower mass gains than someone bulking, as they're taking in more calories. If you eat at maintenance/slightly above and continue to lift with some intermittent cardio, you'll slowly gain mass and recompose the body. If you're 200lbs @ 20% bf and gain 10lbs of pure muscle in 10 months and lose 0lbs of fat, you're now 210lbs @ 19% bf, you lost % body fat via recomposing and not eating less calories. When I was 24, I went from 205lbs @ 20% body fat to 205lbs @ 17% body fat in 4 months of strict clean dieting and performing intermittent cardio. Not as much cardio as one would perform while cutting, maybe 2-3 days of cardio and 4-5 days of lifting. It is a delicate balance but once you get it down, its really no different than any other plan. The fundamentals of dieting are all the same be it recomposing, gaining muscle, losing fat. Energy in = energy out.

[obesebeast]

I weigh 195 right now and aprox. 15% body fat. I would like to get up to around 205-215 by then end of the summer and around 10-12% body fat.

giving you a 3 month window for the end of summer, that would be gaining 15-25lbs of muscle and losing 5lbs of body fat to achieve those stats. Its going to be a much slower process than that. The only way you could do that is either be 14 years old or taking hundreds of dollars of illegal anabolic steroids. At 20, you're probably producing as much natural testosterone as possible. No need for any real supplements to bulk up. Creatine or more red beef in the diet is all I'd recommend.

Eat at or slightly above maintenance, perform a few days of cardio. Work in a bodypart split, preferably setup a hypertrophy program for lifting. Hypertrophy tends to be a better mass builder than lower rep heavy weights. Get plenty of sleep and stretch. Do your part in creating the most anabolic environment you can and your body will reward you.

[Perugini]

As of right now I do 15 minutes of cardio everyday. As explained earlier it is more of short bursts however. Is this the wrong way to loose fat? Should I break it down into just 3-4 days of cardio instead of 7 @ 15 mins/day?

[obesebeast]

7 days of HIIT(I believe is what you're referring to?) is more than enough. I'd say 4-5 while cutting is plenty. Too much cardio tends to be catabolic if you're hypocaloric dieting for long periods of time.

Since you're a big lifter, google "barbell complex routines" and use that for cardio. Cardio equipment is for women! :P

[Perugini]

Cardio equipment is for women! :P

Is that why I felt like a woman while riding the bike?

[obesebeast]

hah i kid, just do some cardio, was just giving you a recommendation, most big guys don't like to run and its hard on the body. Swimming is probably the best form of cardio for a serious weight lifter. Easy on the joints, great ab workout as well. Muscular guys sink like bricks too...I can't even hold a lung of air and float anymore.

5 minute tread water warm-up
10x 25m front crawl sprints, rest for 20 breaths or 30 seconds after each 25m "lap"
5 minute tread water cool-down

[Perugini]

hah i kid, just do some cardio, was just giving you a recommendation, most big guys don't like to run and its hard on the body. Swimming is probably the best form of cardio for a serious weight lifter. Easy on the joints, great ab workout as well. Muscular guys sink like bricks too...I can't even hold a lung of air and float anymore.

5 minute tread water warm-up
10x 25m front crawl sprints, rest for 20 breaths or 30 seconds after each 25m "lap"
5 minute tread water cool-down

Thanks. I plan on doing some cardio in the pool this summer as well.

[Hampusface]

Yes, it is possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time by doing intermittent fasting. Look up www.leangains.com and you'll see proof. Just a tip.

[chad625]

While its impossible to lose fat and gain muscle, you can maintain muscle while you cut and gain strength. I lost 40 lbs cutting, and my squat increased 30 lbs over the course of 7 months.


Edit: Forgot to mention, and that wasn't as a newb to lifting. I had been lifting for 2 1/2 years previous to this.

[Deviance5]

If I was you and based on my experience I would:

1 ~ Carb cycle, this will give you the opportunity to be occassionally anabolic (maybe more than occassionally depending on how the cycle breaks down)

2 ~ Standard macros around 45,35,20. That's a good amount of protein and keeps you energetic with the carbs. Refeed macros as high as you want on carbs but low fat and within high carb cycle calorie limit

3 ~ As you get towards the final few weeks you can drop carbs a bit more and keep protein high, I think you can get away with this for a limited amount of time without sacrificing muscle

Have done similar to myself above and achieved some good recomp and significant strength gains all in a deficit 75% of the time.

[Perugini]

thanks for the advice guys