Muscle gain, fat loss - check out this article

[fa_jing]

and tell me what you think

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/abcde/v58_abc1.asp

[rubthebuddha]

i've said it before and i'll say it again:

i advocate beating bill phillips on an empty stomach to burn fat.

rarely do i take something phillips says without the proverbial grain of salt. he's a fitness icon, but more importantly, he's a salesman. every year or two, he stumbles upon the newest fitness idea, or "A Revolutionary Scientific Discovery!" to use his terms. the merits of him personally don't rank very highly with me, if only because every couple years, he stops making money on one thing and needs a new fad to be the catalyst for his industry. but to promote his new idea, he pretty much abandons his old one. if said ideas were so special, then he wouldn't be so quick to shelf them for some scientist from stockholm who tickled phillips' marketing fancy.

enough tirade about bp. as to the nature of the program, i can't see how constantly shocking the body by eating too much, then eating much less, and cycling back and forth, could be a good thing. perhaps for a couple cycles, but over the course of time, constant shock doesn't make sense. maybe i'm a stickler for the tried and true of eat more for bigger, eat less for smaller, eat healthy no matter your size, work out lotsa and get plenty of rest.

[Ford Prefect]

My god. That was beautiful. I've never seen such an eclectic belnd of absolutely bunk and valid dieting strategies before. Bravo!

[IronFist]

In fact, researchers have shown this relatively simple muscle-building "secret" has allowed healthy test subjects, who didn't even train with weights, to put on over 4.38 lbs of lean body mass and 2 lbs of fat in only 12 days!

In his credit, at least he said healthy test subjects. Usually these studies they cite were done on people recovering in hospital beds or something.

Man, I love how the exercise industry plays off of each other:

This system is not based on any Eastern Block training secret or anything like that

Gee, I wonder who that was in reference to?

You overfeed the body for only two weeks and then diet for two weeks

Sounds like a long, drawn out Warrior Diet, where you under feed every morning and over eat every night (I think).

Torbjorn is not a small guy—he's 6'1", 225 lbs, 8% bodyfat, and he's definitely not on steroids; I guarantee it!

The Bill Phillips guarantee!!!

I'm bored, I'll finish the article later.

IronFist

[rubthebuddha]

don't bother. it's just more of the same, and if you follow the links, it just leads you into a sales page -- big surprise.

[Cheese Dog]

I remember reading about this "system" several years ago in Phillip's magazine. I'm kinda surprised he's still pushing it. Has anyone out there tried it?

[scotty1]

I vaguely remember some big myth about how its impossible to lose fat and put on muscle at the same time.

Sorry to drag up a dead horse, but could someone briefly explain why this is?

And why, if you do lots of cardio along with your weights etc. and take in minimal fat and lots of protein, why this wouldn't work. Surely you don't need an excess of calories to put on muscle, just protein?

Excuse my ignorance Apologies in advance

[TigerJaw]

Originally posted by scotty1
I vaguely remember some big myth about how its impossible to lose fat and put on muscle at the same time.

Sorry to drag up a dead horse, but could someone briefly explain why this is?

And why, if you do lots of cardio along with your weights etc. and take in minimal fat and lots of protein, why this wouldn't work. Surely you don't need an excess of calories to put on muscle, just protein?

Excuse my ignorance Apologies in advance

The story I've read a couple of times is that your body is basically in a catabolic or anabolic macrostate. That means you're either putting on weight or taking it off.

So, if you're in calorie deficit. You're body will use up muscle and fat to keep you alive. Under these circumstances, you can 'overide' you bodiy's muscle atrophic responce by weight training but your body is loathed to invest calories in muscle while you're in claorie deificit.

Whilst in calorie surplus. Your body will store excess energy as fat and muscle. Fat's easier for your body so it'll tend to store as fat. However, if you persuade your body that you need more strength, it'll use some of those calories to build muscle. Obviously it's dificult to get it exactly correct and use all the excess calories for muscle building with complete efficiency.

So, many people choose to cycle through weight gain, weight loss periods. Gaining more muscle than fat during gain and loosing more fat than muscle during loss.

Obviously, this is highly simplified, I'm sure Ford Prefect can give far more detail.

[scotty1]

Detailed enough mate, cheers.