Despite our best efforts, it is still impossible to turn muscle into fat. You still can’t get a lean, hard body by building a soft, plump one first. But what about the other argument that is often heard? Does muscle burn fat? We commonly hear this question and here is your answer.
Exercise is ineffective for burning fat
It’s a good job too. If it wasn’t for early humans, they wouldn’t have survived, as finding food was much more difficult than going to the supermarket. The energy required to get food would have literally killed us!
A great example of the inefficiency of exercise is if you look around the gym at all the people pounding non-stop on cardio machines. Not everyone is skinny, because not everyone has their diet set, and no amount of blood, sweat, and tears can change that. So you can use your muscle to burn fat, it’s just not particularly effective, like shoveling snow with an axe.
Burn fat… or lose fat? Does muscle burn fat better than the right nutrition plan?
You can already guess the answer. It’s not the exercise that makes the magic happen.
If the goal is to burn fat, the focus should be on the right nutrition plan. Many people get in shape without spending hours doing traditional fat-burning exercises. No one on earth will get in shape if they don’t eat according to their lean goals.
Once you have this in place and you are in an energy deficit, then all the exercise you do is a fat burning bonus. So what you need to do is put yourself in a position to take advantage of this first. When you do, you can use muscle to burn fat as a bonus.
Tips for using muscle to burn fat
1) Do intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is a great tool for getting to an energy deficit without the clunky complications of the typical diet and its never-ending rules. There are a host of benefits, but number one is that you’ll eat less and probably won’t even notice it. That’s a definite plus, and there aren’t many of those in the dieting world.
2) Train in a fast state
If you start your workout fasted, your levels of fat-melting growth hormone will skyrocket and you’ll get leaner. Try not to eat anything for at least 2-3 hours before exercising. Yes, it goes against the constant feeds of the bulky bodybuilders approach, and that’s why it’s perfect.
3) Use strategic cardio at the right time to burn fat
After an intense workout, your bloodstream is full of free fatty acids that are crying out to be burned. You won’t have a better chance, so if you can engage in some low-intensity exercise like walking or light jogging for an extra 30 minutes, you’re right in the fat-burning zone, and you can really make the most of your fat-burning opportunity to using your muscles not only to burn fat, but to remove it from your body with a blowtorch.
These tips will help you make the most of your ability to use muscle to burn fat. Just remember to eat right first!
