gaining muscle mass and losing fat simultaneously?

dezki

im 19 years old,6'4, 92kg, 14% body fat, i play number 8 in rugby.
I'm looking to bulk up but also lose fat aswell. I cant really do any cardio work as it would be detrimental to my rugby which is really power based.
Could anybody recommend any particular gym exercises and foods i should be eating/avoiding? thanks.

Khannie

dezki wrote: »

I cant really do any cardio work as it would be detrimental to my rugby which is really power based.

That's not really true. Now I'm not saying go running every day (I think that would be detrimental)....but a bit of running or cycling or swimming here and there when you're trying to lose fat wont do you any harm.

As for gaining muscle / losing fat at the same time: I have limited understanding (I've never looked into it 'cos I've never had to do it) but I think it's at least partly down to genetics. The limited amount I've read indicates that most people find it significantly easier to do one then the other (usually add muscle, then cut fat).

Others will be along with more knowledge shortly....

Lantus

For someone who's just starting out and generally unfit the body can burn fat and build muscle at the same time. As we tend towards a fitter healthier person already training it tends towards one OR the other. Genetics aside burning fat requires a slight calorie deficiet through food and then predominantly cardio exercise to 'burn the fat'

Building muscle requires a slight calorie excess through food to build muscle and add bulk.

Dont see how you can exist in both situations at once.

Typically people work down to the BF% they desire and then add muscle. Adding muscle will also add some BF but you can trim that off after reaching your goal.

g'em

dezki wrote: »

I cant really do any cardio work as it would be detrimental to my rugby which is really power based.

You can, just not long, boring (:p) steady-state stuff. Sprint intervals or conditioning programmes are your friend.

dezki wrote:

Could anybody recommend any particular gym exercises and foods i should be eating/avoiding? thanks.

If you want to bulk up and not get fat you eat all the good foods that are outlined int eh stickies, and plenty of them. Get used to making your own meals (unless you have a very compliant mum/dad who normally does the cooking and is willing to make 2 extra portions for you to eat the next day ). Lots of veg, meats, eggs, dairy, fruit, nuts & seeds, oats, wholemeal pasta and rice, keep the junk to a minimum and start swapping stuff like chocolate bars and crisps for grain bars and fruit, yoghurts, cheese, that kind of thing.

Khannie wrote: »

That's not really true. Now I'm not saying go running every day (I think that would be detrimental)....but a bit of running or cycling or swimming here and there when you're trying to lose fat wont do you any harm.

It really depends on what level of rugby he's at. If a rugby player is training twice a week, doing two s&c sessions a week and playing 1 or 2 games a week then running really won't do them much good. Swimming might do, but only as a relaxant, not for fat loss.

OP worry about getting stronger for your sport first - the fat loss can be worked on later. Figure out what your calorie needs are daily - @ 19yo, 92kg and training ~5 times a week you'll need around 3200 - 3500 cals a day (that's a VERY rough guesstimate), with that number of cals to eat each day you'll likely need to spread them out into 5 or six meals a day.

Does the team you play for have dedicated s&c sessions or are you left to your own devices?

Khannie

g'em wrote: »

It really depends on what level of rugby he's at. If a rugby player is training twice a week, doing two s&c sessions a week and playing 1 or 2 games a week then running really won't do them much good.

Why not? Calories is calories. When you're already fit, running 5K at a reasonable pace has a very low recovery cost. If you're 90KG though, it's gonna burn 450 calories or so. That's half a pizza! Om nom nom nom. (I'm only half joking...nom nom).

g'em

Khannie wrote: »

Why not? Calories is calories. When you're already fit, running 5K at a reasonable pace has a very low recovery cost. If you're 90KG though, it's gonna burn 450 calories or so. That's half a pizza! Om nom nom nom. (I'm only half joking...nom nom).

It's a low recovery cost for someone who's fit enough to do it It doesn't have a very appreciable effect on fat loss either though, and there are much more efficient ways of spending your time if you're exercising specifically for a sport. Given the choice of once a week doing a 5k run or spending 20 mins doing sprint intervals a rugby player would be better off doing the latter 9 times out of 10.

A 5k isn't bad (so I really shouldn't have said it won't do them good :pac:) it's just not optimal for that sport.

Khannie

g'em wrote: »

It's a low recovery cost for someone who's fit enough to do it It doesn't have a very appreciable effect on fat loss either though, and there are much more efficient ways of spending your time if you're exercising specifically for a sport. Given the choice of once a week doing a 5k run or spending 20 mins doing sprint intervals a rugby player would be better off doing the latter 9 times out of 10.

This I agree strongly with....however, sprint intervals have a horrible recovery time associated with them. You can only do so many of them in a given week. If your goal is fat loss I think adding two or three x 5K runs a week on top of what you normally do wont do any harm (unless you're very close to overtraining). 1400 calories is 1400 calories. 200g of fat!

Hell...you could even walk it.

g'em

Yes... but he's a rugby player so his primary goal is his sport Training for his sport will take up 2 hours 5 times a week, which won't leave a lot of time for 3 x 5k runs if you add on college and socialising - hence I said between a run *or* intervals once a week the intervals would be better

Get stronger an bigger for rugby first, the weight loss can wait a little bit.