I need all the help l can get so plesea pick me, lm 49 and in ok shape but need the next level to drop another 10 pounds without losing muscle size. Thanks for all the great info.
3 Reasons YOU Want Muscle
By Joel Marion & Vince Del Monte
It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, 22 or 62, attempting to lose fat or “get buff”, you WANT muscle. In fact, we’ll venture to say that virtually everyone wants muscle (whether they know it or not), and here’s why:
1. Building Muscle = Faster Fat Loss
Even if you’re primary goal is fat loss, you’d be extremely wise to build specific periods of time in to your training schedule in which you primarily concentrate on building muscle.
Why?
Muscle is metabolically expensive.
You see, for every pound of muscle you manage to add to your frame, you’ll burn an additional 40-50 cals per day. So, let’s say you gain 10 lbs; that means your body now REQUIRES 400-500 more calories to simply maintain its weight, posing several benefits:
- You get to eat the same amount and lose fat faster OR
- You get to eat more and lose fat just as quickly
Either way you look at it, that’s a pretty solid deal, only possible through the addition of calorie-burning lean muscle.
2. Building Muscle = Easier Weight Maintenance
Let’s say you lose 30 lbs, which is awesome, but you fail to put on any appreciable amount muscle, or even worse, you lose muscle mass in the process (which is extremely common).
In either case, metabolism will in fact be slower after you’ve lost the 30 lbs than it was when you first started your fat loss journey…NOT what you want if your goal is to actually keep the weight off.
With the addition of lean muscle mass, your metabolism won’t be slower, it will be faster, making maintaining your new body incredibly easy.
Muscle is the difference between losing 30 lbs once and for all, and struggling to losing 30 lbs over and over and over again for the rest of your life.
Wouldn’t you love to just lose the weight once and never have to worry about “gaining it back”…again?
3. Building Muscle = A Hotter, Sexier Body
Being thin is one thing, being hot is another. And the latter is something only lean muscle can provide.
I think we’d all agree that while being thin is certainly better than being fat, what we truly want our bodies to look like goes far beyond simply being skinny.
For example, take a look at the photos below; these are both “size 2” bodies:
The difference: one looks “okay” and the other is smokin’ hot. The REAL difference: Muscle. While the same exact “size”, the physique on the right is comprised mostly of dense, shapely, tone muscle, while the image on the left…isn’t.
And for the guys, when it comes to taking your shirt off or being comfortable on the beach, we’d probably all agree that simply being “thin” or “skinny” isn’t where it’s at. Muscle makes a dramatic difference in the way we look. Just look at the before/after pics from these two clowns:
While the “before” photos were thin, there’s a world of difference in the confidence and general appearance of a physique possessing significantly more muscle.
How would your life change if YOU were to gain 5, 10, or even 20 lbs of lean muscle?
Both Vince and I can tell you that since our transformation, our entire lives have benefited massively because of one thing: muscle. It really can and does affect your entire life.
Comment Time:
How many pounds of lean, sexy muscle would you like to gain? Respond in the comments section below along with any muscle building questions you might have. Vince and I will be checking in throughout the day to answer your questions, and we’ll also select 2 “commentors” at random to receive a free muscle building “gift” ($97 value).
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel and Vince
P.S. If you have never commented on the blog, today is the day. You might win something cool, and besides, when you take action and comment, it just reinforces your goals and pushes you even more toward achieving them. We’re looking forward to YOUR comment below!
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506 comments - add yours
@Joel Marion –
Ok Thanks a lot!!! This really helps!!!
I am currently 150 lbs and would like to gain 20 lbs+ in the next 3 months so I look great right when summer begins.
Originally Posted By Jude PachamuthuHey Vince & Joel,
Thanks for the article on building muscle and losing fat. If only I knew this fact before, I would have started building muscle a long time ago. I am 45 years old this year, and my goal this year is to pack more lean muscle and get that 6 packs I always wanted. Following your blogs and emails, I have gained more lean muscle in my arms, upper core and legs. I look forward to your new program and body transformation challenge.
Remember this ONE saying: It’s NEVER too late to start doing what’s right!
Originally Posted By GraceI only have one question….. How do i avoid losing my bust? because everytime I attempt to lose weight, i always lose my bust first… Are there any excercises you recommend/avoid???
Grace. I won’t lie but it’s almost impossible unless you get implants. If someone tells you that there is a way to prevent losing your bust when you cut weight – please let me know.
It comes down to what’s more important to you? Your bust or your overall leanness.
I’m 18 and I would definitely appreciate a super good way to build muscle this summer! Thanks!
Originally Posted By VickiThanks guys! Yes, I laughed at the before pictures. But, then the after shots. HOT!!! Being a 50+ female with sciatica, I have to be very careful with weights, movements, etc. But if I pace myself, don’t jump and hold my core tight thru exercises, I can work up quite a sweat. I’m still trying to lose 20 pounds and
gain 10 of muscle. With your help….
See that Joel? Even the ladies over 50 are digging us? lol
Originally Posted By MirkoGreat post. Just wondering how you guys manipulate your workouts over a period of weeks- for instance lately I’ve doing doing more dynamic training using 3 or 4 exercises with little to no rest in between. It has helped with the fat loss but i also want to maintain and even gain some lean mass. Thanks.
Mirko… my new advanced workouts have my using new methods every 3-weeks and then I take a week off or go really easy. Then I repeat with a few different methods and go all out.
Helps produce muscle in spurts.
Sounds great, but motivation is a problem for me, what can i tell myself to get my butt up out of this chair and go work out?
I read that one cause of fatness is estrogen given to livestock to fetten them up, which also fattens US up when we eat the meat. Also, fruits and vegetables are sprayed with estrogen-like chemicals. I also read that there’s some herb or something that can flush excess estrogen out of our bodies. I’m trying to find that EMail.
I would like to lose 50 or 100 lbgs of fat and gain some amount of muscle. I lost 20 lbs but plateaued for some time.
Everything you’ve taught so far makes the world of sense. I have a debilitating muscle disease (Myasthenia Gravis) that makes my progress slower on your Cheat your Way Thin plan, but even making small adjustments to the way I go about it has already yielded great results. This week I have finally been able to wear something other than my 2 pairs of ‘fat’ jeans! Prednisone treatments and other meds make it harder for me to lose the roundness, but after only one week on this diet, I have hope for regaining my old body back! Adding in the muscle targeted training (again revised for me) just makes even more sense! Thanks for putting your plan out there. I will definitely spread the word.
Katherine
I want to gain 5-10 pounds of muscle while losing the 10+ pounds, especially around the midsection…but how?!?!? Still struggling to do that.
hello Joel and Vince ,very good job you do to informe people about being fit and healthy… I am going to compete for the second time in july ,I need to put on 2 kgs of lean muscle mass ,I have some probleme to eat enough calories (good one) to gain mass and keep some definition. I have no probleme losing weight ,last year comp.I was 69 kgs , to light for my categorie (athletic 74 kg max) I did finish third . This year I would like to go on stage at 73kg with lean muscle mass .I workout 5 days / week .I did introduce some Double edge exercices on alternet day .My session last 1 hour ~ . I am 172 cm for 71 kg 60 now . I want to win the first place this time … can you give me some direction please… Jacky
I will totally love to be like that girl. This is a nice blog! :)
I want to remove 15 to 20 lbs of fat and add about 10 lbs of lean muscle. As a woman it is a bit more difficult thanks to the abundance of that bitch of a hormone, estrogen. Everything on the subject can be so confusing. I lift heavy enough with fewer reps to challenge myself as long as I can hold good form utilizing compound multi-joint movements (I recently started adding aerobic activity between each stregnth exercise). I also do HIIT on my bicycle and when I run/walk. I just want to figure out how much I need to do a week or if I need to have my eating habits tweeked. I eat healty 90% of the time. Should I cut calories further and eat healthy 98% of the time?
I’m not sure how much lean muscle I want to gain, I really have no barometer to gauge what would be decent for me (5’9″ female with a generally athletic frame), so I’m just doing what I can with what I’ve got! ;)
But I do know one thing! Since I’ve been working to build lean muscle I’ve had significantly more energy! Being short on sleep sucks, and I try to avoid it. But when it does happen now, I’m not completely dead during the day. Just…tired and ready for bed a bit earlier than normal.
I’m enjoying the ease by which I’m hauling heavy groceries and similar mundane stuff around that before, my dad would previously insist on carrying for me so I didn’t pull anything or hurt my back. (We’re both old jocks these days and well on the lookout for such potential problems.)
Sometimes, it’s the small victories in life that help keep us moving forward! :D
@JULIA –
I don’t know. Thus far I haven’t seen a reduction in my boobs, though I’ve seen a reduction in my arms, legs and buttock. Small stuff really, but clothing doesn’t lie! :D
I’ve seen a reduction in the fat *behind* the boobs. Since I don’t care for that fat anyway I’m happy to see it go. (The way the fat sits it makes them look like triangular flat man boobs instead of nice round lady boobs.)
Now the bonus is that doing the chest exercises has given me larger pec muscles and the boobs sitting/hanging on this new dense muscle look pretty darn good!
But so far, nadda on the actual boobs, and I’ve been pretty jazzed about that. (about 1.5 months into my workouts.)
It’s crossed my mind though that I may start losing significant fat around them though, but so far I have no idea when that will occur (ie: what priority is boob fat to the body?). However, I’ve had a child so the boobs have at least developed the milk ducts and all and seem to be less fat than they used to be (although fat is certainly a significant component of them!)
I have jokingly told my husband that if I did start to loose them, we could always grab another automatic breast pump and work them regularly to stimulate the tissues! Not sure if that’s a good idea or not, but knowing me, I’d try it anyway, lol!
great post. sure i think muscle is great but do you also know what determines your veins to pop out as well? like u know how you have that pump in and your muscle looks huge but then it also looks awesome when a bit of your vein shows up naturally as well. i think this is a pretty big thing as i think it makes you look even bigger if u have veins show through as well. not bulging out but nicely shown.
This is the first time I am commenting on a blog so here goes..I am currently training for the South African Iron Man event so am losing weight from running and cycling but need to build muscle to maintain strength
We all know that muscle burns fat, right?? But in ratios of what is to what , now that is the question is it not, That is why we have you guys, you have the expertise so please share with us lay people!!
One of the most difficult places to shed unwanted fat is your BELLY, right but one can try as much as possible but if you are clueless as to what will actually work then it is a no WIN situation, that is where I am now and have been for WAY too long so are you guys in or are you out,heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp pleasssssssssssssssssssssse!!
Thanks
Great blog and get me really pumped to read the rest of the blog this week (and every single other one). Seeing i am hoping to put a couple pounds of lean muscle on for the summer i am hoping that i can learn alot form this.
Hey Guys,
First off – I’d seriously like to build 20lbs of quality lean muscle to my frame. I started working out in January of 2007. I weighed 140lbs at 5’8″ and had a beer gut! by mid-summer I wieighed about 170lbs! I was thrilled ’cause I’d never weighed that much in my life. I’d always been the skinny kid. Vince, I know you can relate! I graduated from high school weighing 116lbs.! Anyway, I gained roughly 30lbs but unfortunately, I was starting to plateau in both size and strength, didn’t have a real plan to follow, and I sitll had the gut! Now I’m 41 and after not working out since Sept. of 2008 (life happened in the way of adding my now 22 month old son to the family – best thing ever!) I am finally getting back to the gym! I will do anything to reach my goals of getting to 175/180lbs and having a high single digit body fat percentage ( I currently weigh about 158-160lbs with low/mid teens for bodyfat). You guys are a great inspiration to me and I value your advice. My GF and I have the CYWT program and I am going to purchase NNMB very soon. We also have Mike Geary’s FBK book and try to follow it prettty closely. Any advice on how I can reach my goals by the end of summer or sooner?
Dana in Denver
I have always been the Skinny Vinny. I have tried the gym thing with little results. I need to find the way to do this and do it easily. I have a great home gym that gathers dust because i do not know how to use it to gain the best results. I guess that is why i am looking. There are so many stories out there you do not know which ones to believe. Vince and Joel, you both seem to be on the right track..
I like what you have to say in this blog. It is really that simple on paper. The more muscle you have the easier it is to maintain weight.
Now the trick is to overcome bad eating habits, sleep habits and how we spend our idle time (if we have it). Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the discipline it takes to buld a consistant habit of working out, or any other habit of virtue for that matter. This happens to be the more difficult thread that courses its way through all the things I mentioned. If we all can get past that monster called ‘instant gratification’ we can do so much more to improve ourselves.
I can’t wait to read your next blog and look forward to the information.
Arthur
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...