Archives January 2015

Does Fat Turn into Muscle?

So, does fat turn into muscle or not?

If you take a peek into some of the advertising copy of “miracle” supplements, you may actually begin to believe that diet and exercise are no longer necessary if you want to become healthy and ripped. You just need to pop a pill, and your fat will magically turn into muscle.

But regardless of whether you believe the hype or not, you have to ask, does fat turn into muscle?

This is a good question, because turning fat into muscle has always been a standard claim in the fitness industry.

But if that’s the case…

Exactly how does fat turn into muscle?

The answer: it depends.

Fat vs. Muscle

If you mean literally turning fat into muscle, then the answer to the question is no. Fat does not turn into muscle, because they’re made from different types of cells. It is physiologically impossible to turn fat into muscle because fat doesn’t have nitrogen which is needed so it can turn into muscle and there’s no way to turn fatty tissue into amino acids.

It’s sort of like trying to turn straw into gold. It can only happen in fairy tales.

Less Fat, More Muscle

Now if we are talking about turning fat into muscle in a less literal sense, then it’s possible. It’s a figure of speech, just like when some advertising copy promises to turn you into Hercules. You don’t actually become the demigod son of Zeus—you just turn into a muscular dude.

But why do some chubby people turn into impressively muscled men in some pictures? You’ve probably seen them too. And then again, some people don’t seem to lose weight at all. They just become more fit and muscular while their flab disappears.

That’s because when you stick to eating right, supplementing with whole food nutrients (Zeal for Life recommended) and a good weightlifting routine, two things can happen:

You will lose weight. When you don’t consume enough calories for your weightlifting activities, your body is then forced to lose burn the fat stored in your body for energy. Exercise burns calories, and combined with a diet your calorie intake can become less than the number of calories you use up.

You will gain muscle. When you lift weights, what you really do is to stress and tear your muscles. Your body then responds to this by rebuilding the muscles, and because you have lots of protein in your diet you have the necessary raw material to build more massive muscle.

You can’t turn straw into gold, but in the real world you can sell straw and then use the money to buy gold. And when we put it this way, we did turn straw into gold.

It’s the same thing for turning fat into muscle. You have two separate results—muscle gain and fat loss—but both are the results of your diet and weightlifting regimen. And they happen generally at the same time.

So does fat turn into muscle? In a way it does, from a certain POV.

How to Start Bodybuilding

How to start bodybuilding and build muscles.

It’s natural to want to have bigger muscles and if that’s you, this is the perfect time to start bodybuilding and begin taking those first steps. Not only does it look good especially for guys, but it also makes us stronger, more confident and more powerful.

Through body building, overweight men can turn fat into muscle, while skinny guys can bulk up. Either way, you improve your physique when you start bodybuilding.

Learning How to Start Bodybuilding

Making the decision to learn how to start bodybuilding is a good first step, but what comes next? Here are the things you need to know about how to start bodybuilding:

  1. Find a good gym. The gym should be near enough to your home or office/school so that you won’t have another convenient excuse not to go regularly. It should also be affordable, and the gym should have complete bodybuilding machines and equipment.
  2. Find experts you can trust. Your gym should have professional trainers ready to help you achieve your goals because you won’t be able to learn what you need to know quickly. With a fitness trainer, you can get sound advice instead of having to wade through the massive amount of bodybuilding information online. You will need the help of a nutritionist to assist in planning your diet, while a trainer can help you with your workouts. The advantage of getting a pro to help you is that the diet and workout plans can be customized to suit your needs. You don’t have to follow a generic plan.
  3. Stop eating junk. You don’t need a nutritionist to tell you to stop eating fast food, processed food, and junk food. Avoid desserts and greasy burgers, and start making more sensible food choices like supplementing with high quality whole food products like the ones provided by Zurvita.
  4. Monitor your actions and results. You need to have a record of everything you do and every food you take. With today’s smartphones, you can easily find an app for that. You can also take full body pictures of yourself so that you can track your progress. By jotting down your activities in a journal, you can make accurate tweaks that can bring you better results. This is important especially if your progress has stalled.
  5. Get enough rest. While some people exert too little effort and easily lose patience, others also try too hard and over-train. You need to rest in between workouts. The muscles you stress during a workout should get about 72 hours of rest so that they can have the opportunity to recover and grow. You also need to get enough sleep very night. That means getting 7 hours of sleep minimum.

Once you know how to start bodybuilding, you don’t really stop. It takes quite a bit of time to get the muscles you want, so you need to think long term. Every few months or so, you can re-evaluate your program and make changes so that you can improve your results.

Bodybuilding is about developing good habits so that you can become healthier and stronger. Once you start bodybuilding and developing muscles, you’ll still need to workout so you can keep them; it’s not a one-time deal.