[Altephor]

Of course you will put on some fat, but you will be gaining muscle too. Like you said, you can either lose fat, or gain muscle. So most people who weight train do bulking and cutting. When bulking you are eating above your maintenance (avg. calories). Once you're satisfied with your strength increases or you've reached your target bulking weight (it's an arbitrary stopping point), you decrease to below your maintenance, continuing to LIFT HEAVY and KEEPING PROTEIN UP. Those are the two most important factors during a cut. The lifting and protein intake will maintain muscle mass and the decrease in calories (and perhaps a little cardio) will burn the fat.

If you're worried about gaining fat, do not go too far over your maintenance calories, and keep all of the food clean. You will gain weight and muscle more slowly, but a lot more will be lean body mass.

[Ifight4Beer]

Originally Posted by Mikey Triangles

strength training is much more important than most BJJers make it out to be... or maybe would like to believe it is.


The thing is you have to strength train the right way. "Normal" weight lifting isn't going to do shit for you. Strength and conditioning the correct way will turn you into a different person, and hel;p your BJJ dramatically.

he hit the nail on the head

[rarmonio8920]

Don't forget the appropriate diet! That's half the battle in putting on muscle.

[comquest]

I would say outside of BJJ hit the gym for some circuit traning at least 5 times a week for a minimum of 45 minutes. Try muscle milk to gain mass. Doing BJJ should help you build functional strength and doing circuit training should help you build a good core strength.

[Green Monkey]

Originally Posted by supdudexxx

Thanks for the great advice guys! I actually dropped down to 117 because I wanted to lose all that unnecessary body fat. I read somewhere that if you want to lose fat or gain muscle it's best to do each one separately (since losing fat = eating less and gaining muscle = eating more). I'd rather be back at 150 with that 33 lbs extra being functional muscle.

Right.....that's why body builders stay ripped all year round and then work to add on muscle right before show time.

Seriously, it's much, much easier to lose fat than to gain muscle.

Keep your diet as clean as you can and you shouldn't even have to worry about fat.

If you can, make most of your extra calories protein - it's harder to convert to fat than sugars.

[JDV5811]

yeah i hear man. you do seem pretty small. if i were you i would start a lifting program. i would work on main muscle groups you would use doing bjj. such as your back, and chest and tris. and your legs. you want those big muscle groups so you can have that explosive power to pull or push outta those bad situations

[jasond]

I don't get losing 33 lbs of fat if you were 150. That's insane. Had you just started lifting at 150, you should have been able to see a body comp change in around a month or so, easily; without the need to starve yourself down to 117. You should have never done that.

Especially if you are 5'7". I can't see how you were so "fat" at 150 and 5'7". Sure, you might have been a little soft and pudgy, but there's no way you were fat enough to consider starving yourself down like that.

[animalboy]

make sure to have a lean diet, try avoiding bad fat (such as saturated fat and trans fat)

drink plenty of fluids, make sure to get a decent ammount of protein intake during the day (buy a protein shake or whatever)

try to eat more whole foods, switch to whole grain breads, try to eat more fibers.

i wouldnt worry too much about getting fat... i mean, if you got a decent diet, without too much bad fats, and you exercise a lot (bjj) you shouldnt store too much fat.

do pushups and pullups... of course, if you want to lift weights, you only have to gain from that....

[supdudexxx]

Originally Posted by jasond

I don't get losing 33 lbs of fat if you were 150. That's insane. Had you just started lifting at 150, you should have been able to see a body comp change in around a month or so, easily; without the need to starve yourself down to 117. You should have never done that.

Especially if you are 5'7". I can't see how you were so "fat" at 150 and 5'7". Sure, you might have been a little soft and pudgy, but there's no way you were fat enough to consider starving yourself down like that.

Yeah looking back on it in retrospect I'd rather have worked out first and worked off the body fat percentage after. I was just chubby and wanted to drop some pounds and kept going till I *looked* better but even now I have some man breasts and a rice belly (God only knows how).

I did however still eat pretty well. Just cut out fast foods and took in lean meats, egg whites, ate whole wheats, lots more vegetables, etc. The main thing that helped was I'd do intense cardio for up to 3 hours a day.

[christ0ph]

Originally Posted by animalboy

make sure to have a lean diet, try avoiding bad fat (such as saturated fat and trans fat)

You don't have to avoid saturated fats completely; they help boost testosterone levels

TESTOSTERONE NATION - Saturated Fat: Killer or Testosterone Booster?

Do stay away from trans fat though.