Any of you had success losing fat while gaining muscle?

What's being neglected here is the importance of transition. If you move directly from a serious bulk into a cutting phase you will lose a lot of lean mass in addition to fat. So definitely add in the HIIT and clean up your diet before you even think of cutting. Even for a beginner, 25 lbs in 2 months means you're putting on some fat. A little fat is fine, but you don't want to be putting on more than necessary. See the thing is fat cells can shrink, but the only way to actually get rid of them is surgical removal, so you want to avoid making a bunch of new ones. Personally, I was already overweight when I started, so I'm happy to keep things in the confines of my former fatness. You may want to be a bit more careful (which I think you've realized).

A lot of people swear by the bulk/cut method, and some insist that it's better to gain muscle slowly and consistently while remaining lean. Well, both camps are right, depending on the situation. Let's face it, you're still tiny, and you can still take advantage of beginner gains. You should build a solid base before taking the slow and steady approach. So take the next couple months to slow things down until you feel like you're mostly gaining muscle. Add in a bit of cardio, make sure you're eating every three hours, swap out all carbs for fruits and vegetables and make sure you're getting a good balance of saturated and unsaturated fat. I would recommend you keep bulking until you hit 185. Then you'll want to maintain that mass for a few weeks or even longer. You can think of this as the body recomposition phase, where you can both lose fat and gain muscle while maintaining a constant weight. Just realize that this is far from ideal for either goal, but it's necessary to let your body adjust to your new muscle.

Finally you can up the cardio and lower the calories so you can get all sexy for the summer. Well, you probably won't get there in time for the summer if you're doing things right, but we're thinking long term here, right? Anyway, if you're dead set on burning lots of calories, you should not do long, low-intensity cardio. I mean, we're trying to ultimately put on muscle and keep it! Well, marathon bouts of steady-state cardio are a sure fire way to knock your body into a catabolic state and eat away all that precious lean mass. Yes, over a set period of time, steady-state, low intensity cardio will burn more calories than intervals. The thing is, after you're done with HIIT, you continue to burn calories. And whether you're doing steady-state or intervals, keep it under 30 minutes. Your diet is going to be the most important factor anyway. Think of cardio as a little shock to push your body to keep dropping fat against its will.

Oh, and as far as sources of information, I'll say that t-nation.com has been absolutely invaluable. I'm not gonna say bodybuilding.com is useless, but you need to take all that with a large grain of salt. Read a lot of articles and keep your mouth shut for a while. Authors to look into are Christian Thibaudeau, Charles Poliquin, Alwyn Cosgrove, Chris Shugart and Joel Marion. I'd be wary of the forums anywhere, honestly.

As far as your actual routine goes, you can pretty much do anything at this point and still grow. But that doesn't make it right. Stick to free weights mostly. Stay the hell away from that smith machine. Here are some good exercises (check out exrx.net if you aren't familiar with the technique, or just ask):

Quads: Front Squats, Zercher Squats, Back Squats
Hams, Glutes: Deadlifts, Reverse-Hypers, Good Mornings, Glute-Ham Raises, Squats
Chest, Front Delts: Dumbbell or Barbell Bench Press (flat or inclined), Dips
General Back: DB and BB Rows (various grips and angles), Inverted Rows, Deadlifts
Lats: Pull-ups, Chin-ups
Front and Side Delts: Military Press, Push Press
Rear Delt, Upper Back: External Rotation, Face Pulls, Hang Cleans
Biceps: Rows, Chins, Curls
Triceps: Any Press, Skull Crushers, Decline Triceps Extensions
Calves: Calf Raises (very heavy, lots of sets)
Abs: See Hams, Glutes and Quads

The most important thing is that you balance it all. You want to do as much horizontal pulling as pushing, as much vertical pulling as pushing, and as much lower body as upper body. As far as how to organize everything, you need to decide what you want to accomplish. Realize that your goals will evolve (I've done everything from full body to five-day split and from powerlifting to olympic lifting). What kind of physique are you looking for? Do you want to be as strong as you look? Are you concerned with general fitness? Flexibility?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'd rather see him clean up his diet and add in some energy systems work, and maybe switch to more of a strength-oriented program. At this stage he'll most likely be able to turn some of that fat into muscle, so to speak. And then he can up his cals and slowly gain muscle until he's happy. It really depends on how much mass he's looking to put on long-term.

Hey Maico, why don't you give us some idea of what your diet looks like at the moment?

How ya doing, buddy?

Some quick tips:

-Eat OFTEN (I noticed you planned on doing this)--every 3 hours.
-Carbs are fine at breakfast and in the post-workout window (about 90 minutes), otherwise keep them to a minimum.
-Carbs should mostly come from fruit and vegetables. Cut out the grains.
-Eat all the greens you want. They're basically just fiber, vitamins and minerals.
-Eat protein with every meal. Your daily protein intake in grams should at least match your bodyweight in pounds. Try to divide this evenly among five or six meals.
-Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! You were basically fasted all night, so your body needs protein immediately. Cereal and a banana ain't gonna cut it (13g is not high protein by any means).
-Avoid eating fat and carbs in the same meal. Every meal should be mostly carbs and protein or fat and protein. Again, you can stick green vegetables in every meal.

Don't worry about supplements at this point. I would consider whey to be food, so that doesn't count. Multi-vitamins generally suck. I would look for one without iron, for starters. I would also recommend buying some ZMA (zinc and magnesium, basically) and taking it away from anything containing calcium (like your multi).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yo Rat, what are your numbers looking like?


I stopped logging my diet and starting growing! But I'm on an all-out bulk. Anyway, here's what I had today:

-8.5g BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) immediately upon waking
-half a container of 4% cottage cheese and a third jar of natural peanut butter
-8 oz gatorade and a scoop of whey after workout, 10g creatine and 10g glutamine, 8.5g BCAAs
-packet of chocolate met-rx, blueberries, extra scoop of whey, 3 scoops of peanut butter
-worked out again, same stuff as before
-half a boboli with 10 oz 90% lean beef, a bit of tomato sauce and whole mozzarella
-more BCAAs
-giant can of tuna, mayo, low-carb tortilla
-more BCAAs
-another bowl of pb and cottage cheese before bed (haven't actually had this yet)

I'm not gonna pretend that this is "healthy", but it's clean insofar as it's mostly natural, whole foods, with carbs and fats largely separated. Unless you're really cutting, I wouldn't worry about the calories. Just make a note of the portions you're eating. Though if you're looking to swap one thing out for another, you'll need to work out the calories. Otherwise, once you've cleaned up your diet, if you're still gaining weight, just reduce the portions gradually until you stop. The cool thing is, because you're a beginner, you will most likely be able to lose a bit of fat and gain a bit of muscle before you really try to lean out. And even cooler, you'll still be able to improve your lifts. You see, there are two main components to strength: the number of muscle fibers you have and your ability to recruit them. Even if you're not gaining muscle, you can improve your central nervous system efficiency and make better use of the muscle you already have. The majority of a beginner's strength gains are actually because of this.

Green veggies are tricky. Spinach is great cold. Take some grilled chicken, some olive oil and vinegar, and make a chicken salad. Personally, I love broccoli. You can dress it up with fat (cheddar, oil, whatever), but then I'd pair it with a lean cut of meat, no carbs at all. Asparagus is a fine choice, since you apparently like that. Even celery and romaine lettuce are fine.

My first workout today was max effort incline bench (worked up to a heavy single repetition). A bit later I did DB bench press (3x8), bent-over barbell rows (4x10), and rear delt raises (3x12). Total time was about an hour. Just in case you were curious.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?