Can you turn fat into muscle?
One of the most common questions we get asked here at New Body Plan is “can you turn fat into muscle?” Here’s what you need to know if you’re serious about getting into shape and want to strip away stubborn body fat and replace it with hard and lean muscles, says New Body Plan’s Joe Warner
Can you turn fat into muscle? Not exactly. The thing is, fat and muscle are two totally different types of tissue. So you can’t simply swap out man boobs, a beer belly or lower back fat for lean, hard and defined muscle.
But now the really good news. All you need to do is train smarter to strip away excess body fat fast and pack on lean muscle mass. That makes it seem like you have turned fat into muscle to swap a soft and tubby physique for a hard and defined one. Here’s what you need to do to make your better-body goal a reality!
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Don’t get us wrong, if you want to lose body fat and build muscle to totally transform your body shape you need to start working out. After all, nothing worth having ever comes easy!
But exercise isn’t just about training hard to make big changes to your body fast. You must also start to train smarter to make the biggest difference to your body in the fastest-possible time.
And the best bit about training smart is that more often than not it requires no extra effort or energy. Just the awareness and knowledge of how to do things better. Greater benefits for no extra work? Sounds too good to be true. But for once it isn’t!
Can you turn fat into muscle?
Here’s our three favourite instant tips to get more out of every single exercise so you can build the leaner and stronger body you want.
Rest less for faster fat loss
One of the quickest and easiest things you can do to add muscle faster is use your rest periods smarter. Instead of checking your phone for emails, social media, or any other app or activity that’s going to take you out of “The Zone”, instead spend that rest period flexing, stretching and tensing the muscle or muscles you’re working.
Why? It will keep pushing blood and nutrients into the muscle. It will keep your mind-to-muscle connection firing. And it will keep your head firmly in the zone, which is crucial for body-transformation success. It’s so easy to do yet the benefits are profound. Help yourself out by leaving your phone in your locker. Or, if you use it for music, turn on airplane mode to avoid the temptation to keep checking it.
Squeeze the bar for more muscle
Ahead of every set, whether you’re using dumbbells, barbells or machines, squeeze the bar or handles as hard as you can. Do so for a two-count, while taking a deep breath, then go into the first rep. It’s a super-simple yet incredibly effective tactic to really focus your mind on the set ahead. It will make you more aware of your major muscle groups that need to get tight and engaged to get your body working smoothly as a single unit. And it will set your central nervous system on high alert, which will allow more muscle fibres to be recruited and activated faster. That makes you stronger and more powerful.
Stop and squeeze your muscles for more size
For every single back or biceps exercise try this super-simple trick to massively increase the workload on your muscles and increase their time under tension to get bigger, stronger and more defined.
For all barbell, machine or dumbbell row exercises, as well as machine pulldown or dumbbell biceps curl moves, make sure you always have a good and controlled pause at the “bottom” of each rep. Try a one-count or two-count. It will force your muscles to contract harder to hold the weight in this position.
You may have to lift a lighter weight. But you’ll benefit big time from a greater muscular contraction and increased time under tension. Not to mention a greater focus on your form and range of motion! Quick word of warning. You’re really going to feel the effects deep in the working muscles, but the rewards are well worth the very short-term burn!
Find your perfect fat-loss plan!
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3 things I wish I’d known when trying to get lean and lose weight