Build Muscle or Lose The Belly: Which One Should I Do First?

In the case of losing weight or building muscle, two things have to change; your eating and exercise habits. Just as the diet and physical activity level has to change for someone wanting to lose weight, it changes also for those who want more muscle. If you are overweight, focus on changing your behavior so that you lose the weight first and then change your diet and routine accordingly to build muscle.

If you don't have the right mental attitude and drive to lose the extra weight, it will be close to impossible for you to gain muscle.

It's important for you to know that the upcoming methods I will describe are natural and don't require anything but your own effort and your current body weight.

How To Burn Fat Storage Efficiently

Interval training is a burst of intense cardiovascular exercises with intervals of moderate exercises - great method for losing weight. If you take running for example, you would sprint with all your might for a period of time and then switch to walking or jogging for a shorter period of time.

There are no breaks in interval training and the time of the entire routine is shorter than standard routines.

The exercises are intense and the breaks in between are supplemented with short medium intense exercise. So you could sprint hard for 20 seconds and then switch to walking or jogging for 10 seconds. Follow this for about 10 to 15 minutes minimum on a daily basis. If you can only follow this for a few minutes for now then by all means do it. If you are currently out of shape, I would not recommend you push yourself this hard at the beginning. Take time to get used to average everyday exercises like walking or jogging before attempting this.

Your diet plan could consist of just chicken, fish, vegetables and fruits. Don't eliminate carbohydrates completely - you can use them for energy. And the more intense your exercise program, the more energy you can use in your daily diet. If you don't eat enough carbs, you could possibly break down both the fat and muscle in your body. You don't want that.

Drink water to keep your body hydrated and prevent it from overheating. Always keep a bottle of water handy. Pushing yourself too hard and overheating will knock you out - literally.

Rest is important. The more intense your exercises, the more rest you require. Your muscles go into repair mode when you sleep and your body refreshes itself, too. People may tell you to do no more one hour a day for five or six days a week and then take one or two days off. It's complete nonsense.

Do we have to take a day off walking because we do it every day? No we do not have to take a day off - if you manage your training right. If it was necessary then we would have to go one or two days without walking period but our leg muscles are always fine. When you lift heavy weight, then yes, you definitely need to give your muscle groups a good 48 hour break, at the least. Otherwise you risk overtraining the body and won't gain anything.

The example of sprinting and then light jogging or walking in-between is only one example. Instead of going out to run and walk, you can also do this at home by running on the spot for 20 seconds then changing to jogging on the spot for 10 seconds and then jumping jacks for 20 seconds - then repeat.

You can also look into plyometric exercises, mixing them up and doing these exercises at an increased rate. Doing so would give you a variety of interval training exercises instead of just walking and running. I urge you to keep it simple instead of making things unattractive and complicated. Changing your cardio exercises all the time because you get bored of it proves nothing and does nothing. Change too much and too often and you may find yourself a quitter.

The Conclusion: If you are over weight and want to build muscle then it may be a good thing to lose the initial weight that you want to lose. Once you have built the discipline from losing weight, you can then go on to your next goal; getting fit.


Carbs are required for the strengthening of muscle and to power the body -- but are grains bad for achieving a healthy and fit body -- or more specifically: is rice bad for dieting? ==> http://www.russnagamori.com/1/post/2014/02/is-rice-bad-for-weight-loss.html

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