It is sometimes said that burning fat and building muscle are mutually exclusive. In order to burn body fat, you have to eat less.
To build muscle, you have to eat more. In lieu of that, it seems quite impossible to achieve those two goals.
However, you can alternate between doing a week of low weights with high repetitions to burn fat and heavy weights with low repetitions, to build muscle.
This strategy increases your metabolism by conditioning your muscles such that they have both endurance and strength.
The combination of these efforts with an intelligent meal plan and other methods will expose your body to the variables required for you to achieve your seemingly contradictory goals and then hit your overall objective of feeling your complete best.
In this article, are effective ways by which you can burn fat and build muscle!
Best Ways to Burn Fat and Build Muscle
Keep Your Caloric Deficit Small
The smaller your caloric deficit is, the less muscle will be broken down as you burn fat and the greater your chances of being able to actively build muscle.
Meanwhile, ensure that you do not put yourself in too large of a deficit to avoid loss of muscle, energy, and mood crashes, including other problems.
Take in 25-plus Grams of Protein About Four Times a Day
You should follow a strict nutrition plan high in lean protein (as in fish, chicken, and turkey breast) while observing the right kind of exercise. It will help you to burn fat and build muscle concurrently. This is because your muscles use the protein you eat to grow bigger or stronger.
Furthermore, the protein intake should be evenly spaced out throughout the day. It will help keep your muscles fed with a consistent stream of building blocks.
Frequently Carry Out Compound Strength Exercises
The most effective exercises for both fat burning and muscle building are compounds.
This means they work multiple muscle groups simultaneously, such as chest presses, rows, and squats. Carry out compound strength exercises at least three times a week.
After focusing on making these moves the top priority of your weekly workout routine, then you can start thinking of adding the perfect cardio workouts to your routine.
Make Use of Cardio for Recovery
Cardio is a great technique to help you recover from your strength-training workouts so that eventually, you can achieve building the most muscle possible.
For muscle build-up and fat burn to occur, constant adequate recovery is very important.
Low-intensity cardio includes jogging, walking, and swimming. They help increase blood flow through the body to get oxygen and other nutrients to your muscle cells.
In addition, ensure you drink at least one gallon of water every day, as it will support your efforts for fat burning and muscle gaining.
Perform High-intensity Interval Exercises (HIIT) Sparingly
High-intensity interval exercises include repeated sprints on the treadmill, elliptical, or bike and could be the last add-in to your workout plan.
These workouts help burn fat/calories while also building muscle. Meanwhile, they should be performed occasionally, like once or twice a week.
Strength training should be your major workout focus, so overdoing HIIT on high-intensity cardio could overstress your muscles, making them less likely to build up.
You should carry out HIIT on non-consecutive days when you feel very well-rested. And after that, you should still get adequate rest and recovery.
Change Your Training Program Often
After a few weeks of doing the same type of exercise, your body may have adapted to the challenge.
So if you do not change the training program or schedule, your progress could reach a plateau, which may result in your loss of motivation.
Therefore, you need to surprise your body with new challenges and training regularly. Changes can occur every 3 to 6 weeks.
A new program every month also keeps things fresh and exciting for you, so you will less likely lose motivation for continued training.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is also a strategy that helps people preserve and gain muscle mass while burning their body fat.
Periodic fasting helps support metabolic rate, as well as metabolic flexibility (your body being able to switch between burning both fat and carbs efficiently).
The combination of intermittent fasting with weight training can help you activate the process of burning body fat and building muscle.
Variable Resistance
Variable Resistance typically puts in place a dynamic degree of force to the targeted muscle that mimics the natural curve of the body’s ability as it goes through a range of motion.
Variable resistance training aims to create increased resistance through the areas of a lift when muscles are working in the optimum range, which is where you produce more power.
Variable resistance summarily allows you to lift more where you are strongest instead of being limited by the maximal strength at the weakest part of the exercise.
Furthermore, variable resistance training is when equipment such as resistance bands, or chains are made use of to carry the resistance (force) through the range of motion of an exercise.
Benefits of variable resistance include increased strength and increased power. Variable resistance also improves neuromuscular coordination, adds variability, and helps weight lifters to break through plateaus.
Variable resistance training is a way your training can be taken to the next level, or even you can squeeze in a home workout in case you cannot make it to the gym.
Be Patient!
The burning of body fat and building muscle is admittedly not easy. Still, it requires hard work, determination, and commitment to achieve the goal, as the transformation will not occur overnight.
Being patient may be challenging, but it is essential to keep it in mind.
This is because while you may think you are doing more than enough to burn fat and build muscle, the change process may be slow over time.
But remember not to get discouraged. As time goes on, you will notice favorable changes in your fat and muscle levels.
Sandra is a health blogger based in San Diego, California. She is passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. She loves being outdoors and exploring new places with her husband. She is a mom of two awesome kids and a dog named Luna!