Workout Misconseptions

[Seaver]

Ok I take working out seriously. I dont do it daily but I make sure I do it right when I do. Back in High School I was serious in Football and Wrestling, football I was a lineman so shere strength and quickness in the short term was huge. Immediately after football season I went into Wrestling, which is strength, quickness, and long-term endurance all at once.

Ok enough backstory no one cares about. I did lots of research on how to get what I wanted as fast as possible so I didnt waste the beginning of the seasons.

There are two types of muscles. Forgive me because I dont recall their names, but one is short and stocky cell, and the other is long and slender. It is EXTREAMLY difficult to build both. Your body reconfigures itself on a daily basis. Working one will cause your body to digest the other.

Stocky/Short - This is where your power comes from. Lifting weights for 5-8 reps per set increase this. These build bulk, make you bigger, and give you the strength.

Long/Slender - These are the endurance muscles. Lifting for 10-50 reps per set, or any type of cardio increases these. These are the ones that make you "cut".

Ok, so those are the muscle types. Now to the different workouts. You should pick/choose your workout depending on what you want. If you are small and wish to bulk up do more lifting, if you are large and wish to lose fat do more cardio, if you want both alternate the workouts daily.

Cardio - To effectively lose fat, instead of just burn calories you have to go past 30 min straight. Up until the 30min mark you're only burning what you had eaten that day, and as we all know we get hungry after a workout so you're not doing much. Past the 30min you're burning your reserves (fat). A gague on whether you're working yourself out hard enough is if you're not sweating or panting after 5 min you're not pushing yourself. If you find you're worn out before the 30min mark switch to something else, go from running to biking to stair climbing if you have to. But you need to keep your temerature up and heartrate high.

Cardio will slim you down, but as stated it leads to a reduction in your bulk muscles if you dont work them occasionally. Doing cardio will also make it more difficult to build the bulk muscles because

Warning: If you are working on Cardio do NOT do the Atkins diet. You will kill your liver by doing this and your body will digest your muscle tissue, not fat. For Cardio you need carbs more than anything, and protien in second. You will turn into a metabolism machine.

Lifting - This will cause you to (obviously) bulk up. If you want mass use reps of 5-8, 3 times. Use the percentage, starting at 60% of your max, and increasing 10% each set. You will notice slimming around your waist, but you wont be losing fat. Your body will redeposit the fat inside your muscles. So from the getgo you will notice a instant increase in bulk (though it wont be muscles).

For this you need lots of protien, and carbs second. Your muscles will need all the protien it can get, Whey is good if you want to substitute, but I just made sure to eat lots of meats.

Now for eating habits. If you wish to lose weight (using either style) you do NOT starve yourself. This, as said above will only make your body think you're in desolate times and will conserve fat and burn your muscle tissue. Instead carry around small meals during the day. Instead of 3 large meals, eat 5-6 small meals. Fruits, sandwitches, etc are great for this because they're easy to carry and quick to eat. If you only eat 2 meals a day lets face it, you'll end up eating at an all you can eat grease house (I know, I've been there).

Anyways that's my research compiled over the last 5 years. I'm sure there's been other posts on this but there is a lot of mis-information and mis-understandings out there that need to be cleared up.

[coash]

some comments if I may. most of the stuff I agree with

Originally posted by Seaver


There are two types of muscles. Forgive me because I dont recall their names, but one is short and stocky cell, and the other is long and slender.

you mean slow and fast twitch, I and IIa, IIb

These are the ones that make you "cut".

the cut look is to do with amount of lean mass and bodyfat not the type of fibre.

Cardio - To effectively lose fat, instead of just burn calories you have to go past 30 min straight. Up until the 30min mark you're only burning what you had eaten that day, and as we all know we get hungry after a workout so you're not doing much. Past the 30min you're burning your reserves (fat).

This is the good thing about HIIT. You don't have to do up to 30 minutes and it's more effective than prolonged cardio, in the fact that the effect keeps going for the rest of the day long after you finish.

Lifting - This will cause you to (obviously) bulk up...You will notice slimming around your waist, but you wont be losing fat. Your body will redeposit the fat inside your muscles. So from the getgo you will notice a instant increase in bulk (though it wont be muscles).

so you are saying lifting will make you bulk up with fat.

[Seaver]

so you are saying lifting will make you bulk up with fat.

No, after about 3 workouts you will notice a size increase in your muscles. This is caused by the redistribution of fat, not due to muscle mass increase. After the redistribution your muscles start to use that fat for instant energy, you will not notice size change because your body will replace that missing space with muscle growth. So while you seem to plateau in size increase for a while you're actually getting stronger.

[coash]

so you get 'size increase in your muscles' because of the 'redistribution of fat' and 'redeposit the fat' in the muscles? what do you mean missing space?
also, why is it instant energy? beta oxidation takes a while, like you said for the cardio.