WORKOUTS FOR FAT LOSS AND MUSCLE GAIN
- josephplatt1979
- Sep 14, 2022
- 11 min read
workouts for fat loss and muscle gain
When you think about the best type of workouts for fat loss and muscle gain, your mind might jump to weight training or jogging. While it’s definitely true that cardio workouts help your body burn calories and weight training will help build muscle, there are many types of other training that will help get those same results. The following types of workouts can be used to both build muscle and to lose fat.
WEIGHT TRAINING
The number one way to build muscle is with weight training, so get the maximum amount of muscle potential for your body will require some kind of weight training. To stimulate muscle growth, or hypertrophy, a stimulus must be placed on the muscle. Lifting weights and working your muscles is the best way to grow your muscles.
Many people think weight training is only for developing muscles and does not allow you to burn fat, but weight training is amazing at burning fat too.
Weight training will build muscle mass, increases base metabolism and therefore helps eliminate fat in the long term. Having more muscle will burn off more calories than fat does when the body is at rest, therefore having more muscle tone can help you to burn off more fat.
Anyone who does a weight training regime will find when they start out, they will build muscle and burn fat at the same time. As muscles are heavier than fat, you may slightly put on weight but at the same time get leaner.
The best weight training exercises are going to be compound lifts as these lifts will require you to use more muscles. Compound exercises are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time.
The best compound exercises to stick to will be:
Squats – Focuses on Thighs, Hamstrings and Glutes
Chest Press – focuses on the Chest, anterior Deltoids and Triceps
Deadlift – Focuses on the Thighs, Hamstrings, Lower Back, Traps and Forearms
Dip – Focuses on Chest, Anterior Deltoids and Triceps
Overhead Press – focuses on Delts, Triceps and traps
Seated Cable Row – focuses on lats, rhomboids and lower trapezius
Bent over Row – Focus on Lats, Traps, Rhomboids and Lower Back
HIIT (High intensity interval Training)
HIIT training is a technique in which you give all-out, one hundred percent effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods.
This type of training gets and keeps your heart rate up and burns more fat in less time.
A HIIT workout session involves you doing intervals of exercise that range from between 10 to 20 minutes in duration, with you working at around 80-90% of your maximum heart rate for that period of time.
A great quality of HIIT is its an all over body workout and you’ll lose weight, build muscle, boost your metabolism and all in a short workout time. Plus, your body will burn calories for about 2 hours after you exercise.
HIIT workouts are more exhaustive than any steady state endurance workouts and a longer recovery period is needed for the body. Start with one or two HIIT training workouts a week and add another HIIT workout when you feel you are improving and are recovering better. HIIT exercises are a great workouts for fat loss and muscle gain
Example of a beginner HIIT workout
This workout can be performed at home or at the gym using just a mat and a stopwatch.
The speed of each exercise can be faster or slower, depending on your fitness level but you want to push yourself to get the best out of you. A warm-up of walking or marching in place should be performed along with stretches before training.
60 seconds of squats
20 second rest
60 seconds of side lunges, alternating right to left
20 second rest
60 seconds of jumping jacks
20 second rest
40 seconds of triceps dips using a sturdy chair or bed
20 second rest
40 seconds of alternating high knees
20 second rest
40 seconds of sit-ups
20 second rest
Repeat 1 or 2 more times depending on fitness level
BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
People who believe that you have to lift heavy weights to build muscles have simply never used their body in the right way. Bodyweight exercises can be incredibly challenging and beneficial workouts for fat loss and muscle gain. You can get fitter, stronger, leaner and bulk up without ever having to touch a dumbbell.
Weight training can take a toll on your body and in particular, your joints. With bodyweight training, the stress on your joints is lower, so you're less likely to pick up an injury that could hamper your long term.
Bodyweight training can be proof that you can pack on size and strength without a gym membership and you don't need a spotter to help you work out. You'll recruit a vast variety of stabilizing muscles, making for a more effective workout. Bodyweight exercises are great workouts for fat loss and muscle gain.
The advantages of working with just your bodyweight include being able to train anywhere without lugging equipment around. You’ll never have to worry about queues for the bench press or squat rack again either.
Examples of bodyweight exercises include:
Push up - Is essential for building a big chest, delts, and triceps. Master this move and have the same benefits as the bench press. You can use many variations including normal grip, close grip and wide grip.
Pullup - hits a lot of muscle of the body and is underrated. Pull Ups use your lats and biceps primarily, while also recruiting your deltoids, rhomboids, and core.
Chair Dip – These work the triceps, pecs and front delts. Besides these three muscles, dips also involve your serratus anterior, abs, transverse abdominis, back, and glutes. These muscles work to keep you in position, but they also offer some active role in supporting and stabilizing your body going up and down.
Single-leg squat - a squat movement that’s performed on only one leg. It adds a balance and stability challenge to the traditional squat. Single legged squats are great for working glutes, calves, thighs, hamstrings and abdominals.
Planks – This help stabilize the whole body and work the muscles of your upper body, such as the trapezius, rhomboid major and minor, latissimus dorsi, pectorals, serratus anterior, deltoids, biceps, and triceps, also work hard during a plank. A strong core can reduce stress on the joints and allow you to achieve better posture.
Single leg deadlift - These strengthen the posterior chain namely the glutes, hamstrings, lower back and core muscles. Your balance and movement skills will also be improved with this exercise.
One tip for you to continue to make gains with bodyweight exercises, is to continuously challenge your muscles by Increasing reps, decreasing your rest periods, performing more difficult variations and increasing your time under tension.
SWIMMING
Swimming is an excellent way to build a great physique and helps to burn fat. With low body fat and strong muscles, top swimmers possess a body that many of us dream of. Swimming provides a full-body workout with many muscle groups being worked, particularly, the shoulders, abs, back, legs and triceps get consistently worked while swimming.
Swimming is similar to weight lifting but doesn't place the same stress on your joints. Swimming is a more sustainable method of toning muscles without the potential negative side effects commonly incurred with the continual lifting of heavy weights.
Swimming can actually work as both a cardio and a strength activity. Swimming will pump your heart rate up and burn calories, while the different strokes and fighting through the water’s resistance will help strengthen your muscles. Depending on your weight and size, the average person will lose anywhere between 350 - 450 calories during a 30-minute swim. Since swimming is a full-body workout, it can definitely be classed as a workout for fat loss and muscle gain.
The type of stroke you use makes a huge difference with how you build muscle and burn fat. with studies showing that butterfly burns the most calories, closely followed by breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle. Try including a combination of all the different strokes in your workouts and aim to do your harder strokes for a minute or two at a time. Finish off with some freestyle for when you get completely exhausted as an active recovery. The different types of swimming exercises are great workouts for fat loss and muscle gain
BOXING
Very few activities compare to boxing when it comes to weight loss. An hour spent training boxing can burn up to 800 calories. That is more of a calorie burn than running, swimming, or lifting weights for the same amount of time.
While boxing is an excellent way to burn fat, it also helps you build muscle. Since boxing is a full-body workout, it helps build muscle all over your body. This is important because muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. So, the more muscle you have, the easier it will be to lose weight and keep it off. You just look at the ripped bodies of most boxers, you can see how fit, muscular and strong they are.
Boxing is an incredible full-body workout that can help you to build muscle in your legs, hips, core, arms, chest, and shoulders. It can also help with your strength, speed, hand-eye coordination, agility, endurance, and power. Boxing is also an excellent way to strengthen your cardiovascular system by keeping your heart rate up, which can give your heart and lungs a great workout.
Apart from building muscle and burning fat, boxing has many other benefits including:
Builds Strong Bones and Joints - building stronger bones protects you from degenerative diseases like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Most weight-bearing exercises are beneficial for building stronger bones and joints. Bouncing around and shifting your weight while training puts weight on your legs, knees, and feet, strengthening them in the process.
Improves Hand-Eye Coordination - Boxing requires strong visual-motor coordination on your part since you are often performing multiple motions at one. Constant drills and training sessions, your body starts getting sharper and more coordinated, with an increase in your reflexes and reaction time.
Boost confidence - boxing training helps you feel stronger and healthier than ever before since exercising makes you feel good about yourself. You will notice your body starts getting leaner and fitter, which increases your self-esteem.
Self defence - Boxing also teaches you how to defend yourself and you’ll feel more confident and secure as you interact with the world at large, knowing that should any danger arise.
Excellent Stress Reliever - Boxing training serves as therapy that lets you take out your anger and frustration on a punching bag. Boxing allows you to release all your negative emotions productively and this lowers your overall stress levels. You also get a release of feel-good hormones like serotonin after training, elevating your mood as you leave the gym.
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL
You first want to find out what your goal is? Do you want to burn fat or build muscle? Building muscle and losing fat are, by definition, opposing goals
If your goal is to lose weight then you will need to create a calorie deficit and burn more calories than you consume. This deficit forces your body to use pre-existing fat stores for fuel.
If your goal is to gain muscle, then your body needs to be in a caloric surplus. This surplus provides the energy your body requires to repair and build bigger muscles.
Whenever you start any exercise regime, you will probably build muscle and burn fat at the same time, but as you progress you may hit a plateau. You can drop body fat and gain muscle more easily when you’re new to training, but it gets more difficult as you progress.
BRING THE INTENSITY
Exercise intensity is one of the important components of your workout program. When you work out intensely, your body grows stronger and you'll see changes in your weight, body fat percentage, strength and muscle growth.
Don’t be the person in the gym who checks your phone between every set, breaking any intensity you could have established. Instead, work in a focused, continuous manner that stimulates muscle growth and fat burning.
Have your workout planned before you train and give it your all. If you don’t challenge your body then you will not change it. You want to make your workouts count. You want workouts for fat loss and muscle gain.
MIX UP YOUR WORKOUTS
When you do the same activity all the time, your body gets used to it and becomes very efficient. Eventually, that adaptation will mean that you burn fewer calories even when you’re doing the same amount of exercise. That’s why it’s important to mix things up and change what you are doing.
If you’ve hit a plateau in your training and you want to take things to the next level or get back on track toward your goals, varying your workouts could be the key
Other good points for mixing up your activities, is you give those overused muscles, joints, and ligaments a chance to rest and recover before putting them into action again.
Adding variety to your workout routine not only avoids boredom in order to keep you motivated, but it also encourages your body to keep changing, progressing, and adapting.
Some of the best supplements for muscle growth are also the best supplements for fat loss. CLICK HERE to get your muscle build and fat burning supplements
NUTRITION
When it comes to either building muscle or burning fat, your Nutrition has to be good or you won’t see your best results. Trainers and diet gurus alike will tell you that getting into shape is more than 70% nutrition and I have to agree. The more serious you are about your nutrition, the more serious your gains will be.
In order to gain muscle mass or burn fat effectively, your body requires macronutrients of protein, carbohydrates and fats. These macronutrients provide calories or the energy that our bodies require to function.
Focus on Protein
Consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on a daily basis. Protein provides the amino acids that are used as the building blocks of muscle protein. Your protein choices should come mainly from lean animal proteins such as chicken, turkey, beef, fish, eggs, protein supplements and dairy. These are the most complete protein sources, meaning they provide your body with every essential amino acid, defined as those your body cannot manufacture on its own.
Getting in plenty of protein, spread fairly evenly throughout the day, helps protect your muscle tissue from breakdown. When amino acids are floating around in your system, your body senses that it doesn't need to break down muscle tissue to harvest them.
Carbohydrates
Eat about 2-3 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight each day. Carbs are stored in your muscles as glycogen and both keep your muscles full and large and fuel them during workouts.
Stick with slow-digesting carb sources such as whole grains, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, beans, fruit and vegetables.
Healthy fats
Dietary fats are essential for maintaining good overall health and Your body needs a regular intake of fat. Fat helps give your body energy, protects your organs, supports cell growth, keeps cholesterol and blood pressure under control, and helps your body absorb vital nutrients. When you focus too much on cutting out all fat, you can actually deprive your body of what it needs most.
CONTROL YOUR PORTIONS
Even when you eat healthy, there’s still the danger of gaining weight if you’re prone to overeating. Portion control is one of the biggest nutrients for sticking to a healthy lifestyle, losing weight, and for gaining muscle, not fat. The idea is to understand what your body needs and just eat to that level.
Portion control is the act of being aware of the actual amount of food you eat and adjusting it based on its nutritional value and the goals of your eating plan. Building good eating habits will increase your chances of achieving your health goals. Meal prep can be an excellent way to control portion size.
Some of the best supplements for muscle growth are also the best supplements for fat loss. CLICK HERE to get your muscle build and fat burning supplements
SLEEP FOR RECOVERY
It’s difficult to build muscle and burn fat without adequate sleep. You should be getting around 8 hours a night. Sleep is when most of your hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, are released. Fatigue, on the other hand, undermines your ability to eat right and train hard, thus raising your level of body fat. When you’re exhausted, your brain doesn’t know whether it’s sleep-deprived or starving for glucose, so it naturally craves sugar, which is what causes late-night cravings when you’re tired. Not getting enough sleep will be sabotaging your efforts to build muscle and burn fat.
HYDRATION
Keeping hydrated is just as important as nutrition and training as it affects your health, performance, body composition, sleep, recovery, mental focus, and even joint health. Drinking enough water each day is crucial for many reasons including to regulate body temperature, keep joints lubricated, prevent infections, deliver nutrients to cells, and keep organs functioning properly.
You need to drink fluid during exercise to replace the fluids you lose when you sweat. That way, you'll maintain normal body function, and maintain performance levels.
You want to consume around 8 glasses per day which is about 2 litres. That amount will be more on days that you train.
BOTTOM LINE
There are lots of workouts for fat loss and muscle gain. The only thing as important as consistency is change. If your body gets used to the program that you’re using, that’s when you might reach a plateau.
You must make sure your nutrition is on point for building muscle or brining fat. You must make sure your nutrition plan has enough protein, carbs and fats to fuel your body and help with repair.
Make sure to get enough quality sleep per night to ensure you can recover well in between workouts – shoot for 7-8 hours per night.
Drink plenty of water spaced throughout the day
Comments