# How to turn fat into muscle?



## phatxtiger (Jul 28, 2004)

hello guys, im 18 and im not too fat and I have some muscle.

I have pretty good abs but they are covered by tiny bit of fat and i hope they could be removed. I jogged, but didnt work too well.

The question is, how do I lose fat without losing any of my muscle, and how do i turn that into muscle?

please answer with details if necessary such as how i should stretch, work out, eat, jog, etc. and when I should do these.

Thank you.


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## Hardrive (Apr 28, 2004)

Hi there

I might be wrong but no doubt the more knowlagable on here will give you a better rundown as im fairly new to this my self.

Here goes Muscle mass and fat are different Muscle is active tissue that burns calories all the time even watching the tv, Fat on the other hand is just a storage of excess energy. The trouble is it can be hard to build muscle and burn off fat at the same time as muscles need nutrions to grow and to loose fat includes a low fat diet and high cardio to burn the fat off.

What you could try is to cut your calories by 500 and go on a tredmill or bike to burn calories whilst trying to maintain a healthy protien intake 1g to 1lb body weight.

Abs are the coolest of muscles the only trouble with them is that they can by shy and try to hide behind fat.

Hope this helps.


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

yeah, its like turning lead into gold. 2 differant substances.

by increasing muscle mass, you use more cals throughout the day. meaning you burn more fat.

eat more protein, (eggs,chicken,tuna,beef) that will provide the building blocks for the muscle. and its alot harder for protein to be broken down and stored as fat. bonus

cardio is a bit of a bugger. cookie has suggested doing very high rep/low weight. very good alternative IMO. first thing in the morning before breakfast.


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

1) Eat low GI carbs all the time, except after a workout where u can take a PWO drink with some High GI carbs in it

2) At least 1g of protein for every 1lb of bodyweight

3) a 500 cal deficency a day is a good idea

4) Keep to unsaturated fats

5) Do cardio first thing in the morn, i'd suggest MAX-OT style - 16 mins, v. hard cardio and try to beat ur time each time u do it - the 16 mins cardio limits catabolism and doing it 1st thing in the morning boosts ur resting metabolic rate for the rest of the day

6) Its up to u but plz don't do the high rep thing! Basic compound movements to make up most of ur routine and keep in the 6-10 rep range, hypertrophy is only caused by over load!

7) Don't measure your progress on the scales - only in the mirror and with body composition tests


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## balzak (Jul 22, 2004)

Here's a bit of advice that I am learning as a beginner myself. Don't expect to lose that fat all in one week or so quickly (unless you're on the atkins diet). I think the number you should aim for is about 2 lb's a week (correct me if I'm wrong) of fat loss, and 1 lb gain for muscle.


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

cacti. sorry that was missunderstanding.

when i say high rep stuff, i mean in place of cardio.

say 100 squats before breakfast. or 100 burpies, etc etc. of course compond moves to keep muscle mass


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## balzak (Jul 22, 2004)

What's a burpie? and would it be save to do squats even if I worked out my legs yesterday?


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

burpie,

start off in pressup position.

bring your knees to your chest (in a mini hopping motion)

from that position, standup and jump

and if it was legs yesterday i wouldnt be doin any cardio lol!!! id be fecked


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

Thats alright big man - got u - think buying an exercise bike (or if u live nr the gym even better) would be better - but nothing wrong with that - sood idea i think

After a leg day i don't think i could be bothered to get of the sofa to make a protein shake, well not 'can't be bothered' - more like sometimes actually can't! Dislocated my knee a couple of weeks ago though so no leg days for me for quite a while!


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

ouch, that had to hurt!!!

guessing that wasnt in the gym?

rugby? car accident?


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

did it about a year and a half ago playing rugby - was in scrum and 'pop' - play prop u see! - This time was in the gym - i'm not sure about squats ever again tbh! The knee is always going to be dodgy i reckon


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## big pete (Mar 23, 2004)

ouch. i dislocated my leg from my hip in school, and that smarted. that was rugby too!!

knees are barstewards, fcuk them and its ****ed


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

crazycacti said:


> The knee is always going to be dodgy i reckon


 Yeah, that's the trouble, each time a joint dislocates the more likely it is going to happen again I'm afraid. I was playing badminton with a guy once who dislocated his shoulder just hitting a high overhead shot; no real force involved there, but he'd just dislocated it so often the joint was pretty weak.


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## powerU (Oct 22, 2003)

my shoulder's gone 3 times now


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

thx guys - ur putting a lot of good thoughts into the future of my leg workouts when i can do them again


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## Killerkeane (Nov 9, 2003)

poweru, do you warn them up as much as possible, i am scared about getting a shoulder injury as i hear they never really go away


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## Death_Kron (Jul 28, 2004)

Just a little bit of information: Muscle and Fat are entirely DIFFERENT! It is impossible to change one into the other. You could weigh 10 stone of fat and follow a cardio and weight plan and 3 months later still be 10 stone but without a ounce of fat on you.


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## Death_Kron (Jul 28, 2004)

> Just a little bit of information: Muscle and Fat are entirely DIFFERENT! It is impossible to change one into the other. You could weigh 10 stone of fat and follow a cardio and weight plan and 3 months later still be 10 stone but without a ounce of fat on you.


 In my last post what I was basically trying to say was that Muscle and Fat are entirely different types of tissues and it is a very common myth/belief that one can be changed into the other.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Here is the problem.

To gain muscle you have to eat more. This puts the body in a anabolic state.

Up till a point of about 2 weeks the body will grow.

Then the body realizes what you are doing and counters this by raising the bodys metabolism.

Another problem is Dieting puts the body in a catabolic state or the body is feeding on itself own tissue for fuel.

So the real question is when dieting what can you take to stay out of catabolism?

Steroids will keep you from going catabolic (just for a time).

OKG (over the counter).

L-Glutamine (OTC).

DONT OVERTRAIN WHEN DIETING!!!!!!

I cant prove it but there is a (OTC) product that blocks cortisol and when dieting would be a good thing as cortisol will store fat and keep you catabolic.

Frequent meals spaced out throughout the day.

Lots of water to remove toxins.

It takes time to build lean muscle mass and less time to lose bodyfat.

But bodyfat loss will amount to some lean muscle mass too.

So staying out of catabolism would be number one for fat loss and maintining lean muscle mass.


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## powerU (Oct 22, 2003)

Killerkeane said:


> poweru, do you warn them up as much as possible, i am scared about getting a shoulder injury as i hear they never really go away


I'm always really careful, I don't do dumbell shoulder presses coz that caused the dislocation 2nd time (owch). 1st time was playing football.

It takes a fair amount to dislocate the first time so you shouldn't worry too much, I got sandwiched in mid-air jumping for a header between 2 defenders, broke 3 ribs and got the dislocation.

At the gym Pec dec/flys i struggle with, only just able the do behind the neck presses again, wide grip pull ups are a bit dodgy too.

I'm resigned to the fact it's gonna happen again sooner or later so I don't get too hung up about it


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

1 question - it might finally get answered here 

When i do shoulder presses and sometime flat/incline bench with DB the shoulder just gets weak and i have to drop the DB and when i go to rugby training i can't hold tackle bags anymore since when i take contact it feels as though the shoulder has come out and gone back in again - and my arm goes dead and i cant raise it above my head without holding it with the other hand - this lasts about 30 mins - what could this be??


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## powerU (Oct 22, 2003)

the weakest position your shoulder can be in is as if you were throwing a ball and you're at the point where you snap your arm forwards.

Crazycacti, if you lie flat on your back with your arms out parallel and your elbows bent 90?, can you touch the floor by your ears with the top of your hands?


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

u mean flat on the floor with arms out so i look like a crucifix, then i bend mw elbows up - like midway through a BB bench press then just rotate backwards so i look like a trident?


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

PowerU I would not do behind the neck military presses. Those are a no no, even with no shoulder injury. Just bad machanics here.

Behind the neck pullups and pulldowns too not good.

Crazy, I would try and develop your rear delts more. If the shoulder is out of ballance then this can give you some problems.

Rotator problems can be cleared up 90% of the time with a layoff.

Sometimes guys get problems with the shoulder using flat bench going heavy too.


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## Brummie (Jul 23, 2004)

I have had a niggly shoulder joint problem for months in my right shoulder, it is a real pain in the ass because it only realy hurts if I do a flat bench press or dips. It seems to get a bit better then during a workout it will start again.

What bothers me is if you lay off for a while to rest the joint, do you loose the benefits youve worked hard for by staying off the weights, and are you best to keep eating protein to keep muscle ??


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## crazycacti (Jun 20, 2004)

advice taken hackskii - thx..... omg i hate bent over raises! well, i'll hit them hard and hit them first!


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Crazy use either cables, dumbells or peck deck (reversed).

Most people's rear delt is underveloped.

Tug of War is good therapy for the rear delt and legs!!!!!!


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