Thu, May-12-05, 03:27
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Senior Member
Posts: 165
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Plan: carbohydrate addicts
Stats: 257.5/235.4/138
BF:
Progress: 18%
Location: New Zealand
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its not a case of one or the other or both. it is widely accepted and common knowledge that the more muscle you have the more fat you burn.
In other words you will burn fat by building muscle - its not one or the other. Cardio helps burn calories and can create weight loss by creating a calorific deficit (if you don't overeat to counteract your exercise) however, once those calories have been used up the weight loss benefit is gone (apart from getting fitter) Which means that every time you wanted to burn some more calories you would have to go and do some more cardio. cardio does not accumulate for ongoing weight loss, and fat just sits there, not using energy and not increasing your metabolism.
however, muscle uses energy (burns calories) with every move it makes, so the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you're just sitting there. As you can see, building muscle means you will be a calorie burning engine, reaping the benefits of higher metabolism and more calories burned all day every day on an ongoing basis.
Any trainer worth their salt will tell you that building muscle is imperitive for ongoing successful long term weight loss and body re-shaping. (unless you want to eat like a sparrow to maintain your goal weight)
I agree that bodyweight exercises are great, however I also like to lift the iron, so that choice is yours to make.
balance is always the key, so get a good programme which has a nice mix of cardio to increase fitness and burn some calories, and weight training to reshape your body, and build calorie burning muscles. all the best!
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