Muscle building then fat blasting

[Madalyn212]

Hi Cathe,
I'm currently working at losing 20 more pounds (lost 10 so far using your begginer/intermediate DVDs and eating healthy). I was wondering whether it's better if I build muscle first for a month or so, then add cardio for fat loss. My thinking is that maybe I can burn more fat if I had some muscle. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for all your great videos and information!

 

[mrsprincess07]

Obviously not Cathe but I would recommend a routine of both muscle-building workouts and cardio for maximum results. For every pound that you lose without proper strength training, 30% of the weight lost comes from Muscle. Not a good thing! This is why it's important to do both and not one or the other unless you are closer to your goal or more specifically, trying for various competitions (Fitness & Figure for example). But even with those you never just do one or the other for a full month. Strength training will prevent further muscle loss and depending on your body type, you might build some too; it's hard to build muscle in a caloric deficit for most people. It will also boost your metabolism helping with fat loss.

Something I heard many years that rang true for myself and some ladies I knew working towards competitions was: Cardio/Aerobics burns calories, strength training burns fat. Basically while strength workouts typically don't torch calories as well as cardio does (although for me it I get high burns) by lifting weights, I always, ALWAYS see my body get smaller even when the scale never changes. I could barely drop 5 pounds and I'd be down a full jean size.

My advice: Go for both. Challenge yourself with strength and find some cardio that you enjoy, indoors or out for optimal results.