By Vince DelMonte

Today I’m going to share some key points you must understand about how to build muscle and lose fat at the same time

Key Point #1: Building Muscle and Losing Fat At The Same Time Is The Exception and Not The Rule

I believe it’s far easier to focus on building ten pounds of muscle in one training phase and then losing ten pounds of fat in the next training phase.  You always get better results separating your goals into different phases, and chasing one goal at once.

Anybody who gains ten pounds of muscle and loses ten pounds of fat at the same time is very lucky and either got extremely lucky, is a complete beginner, has incredible genetics or took a recent visit to a pharmaceutical lab (if you know what I mean).

Key Point #2: Building Muscle and Losing Fat Have Opposing Caloric Demands On Your Body

To pack on slabs of new muscle tissue, your body demands energy. Simply put, your muscles grow on calories so they need to be overfeed.  The opposite applies for fat loss, you need to be underfeed which means you take in less energy than you expend.

If you’re goal is to build muscle than your body will command around 20-25 calories per pound of bodyweight during a overfeeding phase.  If your goal is to lose fat then you should underfeed your body with 10-13 calories per pound of bodyweight.

So a 200 pound male would need about 4000-5000 calories to grow muscle and only 2000-2600 calories to lose fat.  Can you see how building muscle and losing fat at the same time becomes a challenge?

Key Point #3: Building Muscle and Losing Fat Have Contradicting Training Requirements… Kind Of…

To build muscle your training program is going to require longer rest periods, heavier weights, less volume and lower rep ranges.

To lose fat your training program is going to to require shorter rest periods, moderately heavy weights, more volume and moderate-to-high rep ranges.

Both these training programs appear from different planets but here’s the twist…

…they are not. If you understand key point #4.

Key Point #4: Building Muscle and Losing Fat At The Same Time Is All About Strategic Timing

Now it’s my turn to get your brain spinning:

1. What if you did a muscle building workout on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and a fat loss workout on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday?

2. What if you apply the training program above and overfeed on your muscle building workouts and underfeed on your fat loss workouts?

3. What if you only overfeed right before and after your muscle building workouts and underfeed the rest of the day?

4.  What if you only overfeed on your muscle building days and stayed underfeed on your off days?

I could easily compile a top ten list but my point is that with strategic timing many of these options above are possible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

The question is: which method above is the most effective?

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About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at MuscleGrowthTips.com.

He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.  You can read my review of his product in my post here.

© 2006-2010, Vince DelMonte Fitness. All rights in all media reserved. You may reprint this article so long as the article and author bio are reprinted intake and all links are made live. This article may never be sold individually or as part of a package.