Muscle with fat

[sandah]

Hi

I am 36 and am overweight. I weighed 210 pounds before going to the gym and have lost more than 20 pounds since. I am not a fan of cardio exercises but love weightlifting. I happen to gain muscles pretty quickly (at age 36, I find that to be surprising).

Now to my question. A lot of gym trainers in my country have the opinion that having muscles alongside fat is a dangerous thing, especially for pecs and muscles on the arm. Their reasons for worrying vary but the one I hear most often is that fat can hinder muscle growth. I find that to be unreasonable. Does anyone here have experienced such a thing?

[Junsuiakai]

Hi

I am 36 and am overweight. I weighed 210 pounds before going to the gym and have lost more than 20 pounds since. I am not a fan of cardio exercises but love weightlifting. I happen to gain muscles pretty quickly (at age 36, I find that to be surprising).

Now to my question. A lot of gym trainers in my country have the opinion that having muscles alongside fat is a dangerous thing, especially for pecs and muscles on the arm. Their reasons for worrying vary but the one I hear most often is that fat can hinder muscle growth. I find that to be unreasonable. Does anyone here have experienced such a thing?

I'm 30 years old, started lifting around age 28, I was roughly 210lb+ 174cm(5'8'1/2) and I never did any cardio, I did weight lifting from the beginning and I don't regret it one single bit. A personal trainer is normally only looking to protect themselves from a law-suit, by making sure you have no possibility to hurt yourself. I can tell you from personal experience that weight-training for weight loss is superior compared to not weight training. When you lose your fat, do you want to look terrible, or like a beast? I'm currently cutting down from 82kg to 73-74kg, I'm at 77kg at the moment and I look great (in my opinion) of course, but that is because I ALWAYS did weight training while losing weight. Heavy compounds, with accessory work afterwards, but for a newbie. I highly recommend finding a full-body program 3x a week, for at least 6 months till you develop a mind-muscle connection and an understanding of yourself. The most important thing that I neglected while losing weight however was my diet, so before you decide on weight-lifting, you need to get your diet in check. I hate the word "diet" but I mean find your maintenance calories and eat that much every day. You are a newbie so you can focus on body recomp and put on a good amount of muscle and lose weight at the same time, but be very consistent with your diet. Cut out your sodas, and fatty foods, ect, till you learn how to balance them appropriately. Right now you might not even be aware of what you put down your throat, so keep a mindful eye.

[sandah]

Hi Junsuiakai,

Thank you very much for your reply. Your post was really encouraging for me.

I'm 30 years old, started lifting around age 28, I was roughly 210lb+ 174cm(5'8'1/2) and I never did any cardio, I did weight lifting from the beginning and I don't regret it one single bit. A personal trainer is normally only looking to protect themselves from a law-suit, by making sure you have no possibility to hurt yourself. I can tell you from personal experience that weight-training for weight loss is superior compared to not weight training. When you lose your fat, do you want to look terrible, or like a beast? I'm currently cutting down from 82kg to 73-74kg, I'm at 77kg at the moment and I look great (in my opinion) of course, but that is because I ALWAYS did weight training while losing weight. Heavy compounds, with accessory work afterwards, but for a newbie. I highly recommend finding a full-body program 3x a week, for at least 6 months till you develop a mind-muscle connection and an understanding of yourself. The most important thing that I neglected while losing weight however was my diet, so before you decide on weight-lifting, you need to get your diet in check. I hate the word "diet" but I mean find your maintenance calories and eat that much every day. You are a newbie so you can focus on body recomp and put on a good amount of muscle and lose weight at the same time, but be very consistent with your diet. Cut out your sodas, and fatty foods, ect, till you learn how to balance them appropriately. Right now you might not even be aware of what you put down your throat, so keep a mindful eye.

[CestareBorgia]

Fat doesn't hinder muscle growth. Some of the strongest guys are fat.