13 Questions You’ve Always Wanted To Ask Your Trainer

Got Questions? We Have the Answers

A lot of people get confused when it comes to the very basic facts and concepts of body-building. So, we have listed the most frequently asked questions and answered them for you below:

1. How long will it take until I start seeing results?

It really depends on each individual, his/her training level and nutrition. But if you are doing everything properly, you will start seeing noticeable results in as little as 3–4 weeks.

But to get an impressive body it takes YEARS of dedication and hard work. You need to understand that muscle does not grow overnight, you have to be patient and consistent.

2. Do I have to take gym memberships to see results?

Absolutely NOT. You should workout for no more than an hour 3–4 times a week and that should be more than enough.

However, if you are very serious about your muscle gain then working out more might be a good idea.

3. How can I lose my stubborn “Love Handles”?

Well, you can’t just get rid of a certain spot. Many people think that doing ab crunches will reduce abdomen fat when in reality there is no such thing as ‘spot fat removal’.

You have to do ‘cardio’ and eat less calories (caloric deficit) to lose fat and your body will decide from where it is going to take the fat.

Also, ab crunches don’t burn a lot of calories.

4. How can I get my abs to show?

First of all, everybody has a six pack, it’s just buried under fat. So more than doing endless ab crunches you need to lose fat.

So cardio and diet is the way to go. Not that crunches are not good, you really need them to prevent back problems among other things but just doing crunches will not get you a six pack by themselves.

5. How can I get muscle definition?

A lot of people think doing more reps is the way to go but in reality you need a low body fat percentage.

6. If I stop training, will my muscles become fat?

Of course NOT. There are two different kinds of tissues to begin with. The point here, is that when you stop training you start getting some fat and your muscle gets “softer”.

7. What exercise should I do to burn fat from a specific body part?

Although this has already been answered in the third question (Love Handles), people ask this a lot, so here it goes:

There is NO such thing as ‘spot fat removal’. You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat and your body will decide where it will take it from.

8. How much protein should I consume?

The typical recommendation is taking about 1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight. Check out “The Unconventional Guide To Whey Protein For Beginners” for more info.

9. Do I need supplements in order to build muscle?

Absolutely NOT, supplementation is not necessary to build muscle. However, it can be very beneficial.

For example, you can opt for though not necessarily taking 5 grams of creatine a day. If you are not supplementing, you would have to eat about 5 kilograms of steak.

So the bottom line is supplements are good but not obligatory.

10. Will lifting weights while being young stunt my growth?

NO, lifting weights will NOT stunt your growth. That’s just a myth.

11. Which are better dumbbells, barbells or machines?

Actually, they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

• Dumbbells: They are great for isolating your muscles more instead of barbells and you don’t favor one side with dumbbells but you can’t lift as much weight.
• Barbells: You can lift more weight with a barbell but you can’t favor one side.
• Machines: This is better for isolating your muscles but recruit less muscles and muscle fibers because you don’t have to stabilize.

The bottom line is you can’t just do one or the other. You have to use every tool you have at your disposal.

12. Can I gain muscle while losing body fat?

You can…. If you are on juice (steroids).

Fact of the matter is that, you can only gain muscle while losing fat if either you are a beginner or on drugs.

That’s why people do the whole bulking-cutting thing.

So, here’s the question comes…

13. Should I bulk or cut first?

Now that you have your maintenance calories, you can move into a cut or a bulk.

Note: To know more about maintenance calories, check out the post “The Three Macronutrients Guide”

Bulking

Basically a ‘bulk’ means eating in a caloric surplus (eating more calories than you burn) which will help you get the size.

The thing about the ‘bulk’ is that many people seem to think that bulking just gives you the freedom to eat whatever you want and they end up consuming just fat and by the time they try to cut they lose all the fat and realize that they gained no muscle.

The trick about bulking is to eat in surplus but not with a lot of calories. It is good to consume about 10–15 percent more calories than maintenance.

Bulking should be a slow process and a good ‘bulk’ should be for at least 8 months.

You should ‘bulk’ when you are low on body fat percentage or until you have about 18 to 20 percent body fat.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, you should be doing cardio at least 3 times a week for about 20 minutes, this is not really a must but you should just do it so that you don’t lose your condition.

A smart thing for you to do, is to take it on a weekly basis, this strategy is particularly helpful during the festive season.

Because if you know on certain occasions you’re going to eat more, you can do it, provided you hit your weekly calories then.

Cutting

This one is a little trickier because when you get to low body fat percentages, it starts becoming harder and harder.

Unlike bulking you need to take it slow as it works the opposite way. You need to have a caloric deficit (eating less calories).

You should be eating about 90–95% of your maintenance calories. For that veggies are a must, as also lean food in order to eat more because if you end up eating just junk food, you would hit your calories very fast but will soon suffer from hunger pangs.

Another thing that is very important while cutting are the cheat meals or days in which you are able to consume more calories. This helps you keep your sanity. Just remember that weekly calories thing.

You should get a very low fat percentage before you consider bulking again. It should be around 8% unless you are competing, in that case you should go even lower. Hiring a coach to train you in such cases helps tremendously.

Originally published at https://www.musclesandfights.com.