Hi all,

I created this group, muscle-build, because I know many of us are "into" building our bodies and losing body fat. In that light, I'll
make relevant posts here along those lines.

I certainly hope that this becomes an active forum and that lots of you sign up. My goal here is not to post a lot (you can go to Muscle-Build.com  and The Muscle-Build.com Blog  for lots of info), but rather to build an active community of like-minded individuals who want to build muscle, lose body fat, and feel, look, and perform BETTER!

So, without further rambling, let's get right to it. Here are some links that you may find helpful, in addition to the ones above:

• The Hardgainer's Manifesto
• Bodybuilding System Reviews
• Bodybuilding.com
• About.com: Bodybuilding
• Wiki on Bodybuilding

Building muscle and losing body fat at the same time is nearly impossible. Generally speaking, you can add lean muscle without gaining much fat, but it's generally very hard to drop fat while adding muscle. In fact, you'll most likely lose muscle as you drop body fat.

So a lot of bodybuilders "bulk up" and then train down. However, this is not to be confused with "Eat what you want, get fat, then lose all the weight" as was the case decades ago.

It's simply safer, healthier, and more productive (i.e., "faster") to gain 2-5 pounds of muscle, and then "lean out" by reducing carbs and increasing cardio work (by the way, "cardio" does not necessarily mean "aerobics" any more -- look up interval training).

I call this the "StairStep" method, and it works amazingly well.
 
After all, if you truly "bulk up" and gain, say, 50 pounds, some of that weight gain will be fat. And once you have a fat cell, the only thing you can do to it, outside of surgery (liposuction), is to reduce its size -- those fat cells you add will NEVER go away!

So, it's best to train like Franco Columbu and put on 8-10 pounds of muscle a year (assuming you're an advanced bodybuilder) and very little - if any -- fat, rather than putting on 20-30 pounds and then having to "train it away."

Feel free to comment. Please join the group and the conversation!