Can I Burn Fat and Build Muscle at the Same Time?

Check out my client Mare’s transformation where he put on a whole bunch of muscle

This is every guy and girls dream to burn fat and build muscle at the same time. There are a lot of differing opinions out there,

and right off the bat, I want to make it clear that all these opinions are based on individual experiences. Based on my experience the answer is a little more complicated than a simple yes or no.

When I first started working out I lost a bunch of body fat just from doing weight training and cardio workouts on a consistent basis for a year and a half.

I also simultaneously built some muscle mass. So does that mean that I discovered a groundbreaking method to build muscle and burn fat at the same time?

Could it be that I found the secret that everyone looking to get more lean muscle is looking for? No Way! And let me explain why.

When I started working, when you or anyone for that matter starts working out there’s a little something known as beginner gains.

When you first start lifting weights and you’ve never done it before, your body is very quick to put on muscle mass.

Even if you are doing everything wrong: your nutrition may be off, and your form during exercises is awful, regardless you can still get away with a decent amount of gains as a beginner.

Unfortunately, once you get past those beginning stages and adapt to lifting heavy weights. You will plateau and get stuck.

The only way through this plateau requires you to start focusing in on the specifics of your nutrition and exercise program.

My first step for bulking up further was eating more of anything. But after eating this way, I put on some excess body fat, which pushed me to do my first major cutting phase.

This was where I started to see a ton of results. By doing a carb cycling diet, while still working out 6 days a week, I burned away a bunch of body fat.

Immediately after finishing my cutting phase I did a bulking phase. This bulking phase was extremely effective because I went from being very depleted on calories to have a huge influx of calories.

By doing this my body was like a sponge I got stronger, bigger muscles, and also got fatter even though my diet was very clean. So after that, I went back to cutting.

I continued doing the same thing over and over again because I realized that the ideal time to do a cutting phase is directly after a bulking phase and the best time to do a bulking phase is directly after my cutting phase.

I built muscle and burned fat by going back and forth between the phases, but even when I was doing a clean bulk, I still never lost a substantial amount of fat while bulking.

And you have to understand the reason why. If I was losing fat at any point that would mean that I wasn’t eating enough calories to maintain my mass let alone to gain mass.

When you’re trying to build muscle your body demands for you to have a calorie surplus. Unless you are in the very beginning stages

and getting your beginner gains your body is going to demand an influx of calories to make your bicep or chest grow even one more inch.

How are you ever going to build one more inch on any of your muscles while losing body fat? When trying to lose body fat you are required to make your body draw from fat stores by not giving it enough calories from your diet.

If a surplus of calories is required to build muscle, and a calorie deficit is required to burn fat how can you ever do both at the same time?

Over the course of years of bulking and cutting yes, I did reduce my body fat and gained muscle. However, that didn’t happen all at once.

It took a lot of time switching back and forth between cutting and bulking. The problem that I see many people having with transforming their body is a lack of patience.

This causes newbies to abuse their bodies with crazy amounts of supplements, and even sometimes steroids to get the results that they want now.

That saying patience is a virtue, 100% applies to build muscle and burning fat. You have to have patience and tackle each of these goals individually.

The bottom line is unless your brand new to exercise you’re going to have a lot of trouble doing both at the same time.

Bulking in the advanced stages will take all of your effort, and all of your attention. The same goes for cutting.

If you’re eating a high-calorie diet trying to gain muscle, it won’t be mathematically conducive to burning fat and if it is then you energy expenditure won’t be conducive to building muscle.

From a general perspective these two goals serve each other, muscle helps you burn fat, but from a specific perspective, as goals, they couldn’t be more opposite.

 Take a look at any natural bodybuilder and you’ll see that their number one complaints about cutting are doing so without losing muscle mass.

And their number one complaints about gaining muscle is doing so without gaining fat. The best thing that

I found that could help you stay in a lean muscular state year-round has been to do short bulking and cutting phases. 6 weeks of one and then 6 weeks of the other, Back and forth.