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Sure it is POSSIBLE to gain muscle while losing fat. Not just in theory, but in practice. It is not so much to do with training experience as it has to do with how close an individual is to there "set point' of bodyfat. As an example you can take an Olympic heavyweight powerlifter who is, say, 25%BF. She is 25%bf because all that matters to her is strength, so she eats all she wants (plus a bit more for good measure) and trains like a mofo. If you put her on a moderate, well planned diet that is 5% below her AMR, there is a good chance that she can continue to increase in strength and muscle mass while losing fat. This has a lot to do with leptin levels/leptin sensitivity and varies hugely from one person to the next. So this chick diets for a while, and reaches her own 'set point' for bodyfat. She actually drops a couple percent below her setpoint before leptin levels drop and her body realizes that there is a calorie deficit. At this point muscle gains stop, though fatloss may continue at a reduced rate. If she continues dieting below this point then she risks losing some muscle mass, even with anabolics….
Which leads me to my next comment on this very excellent thread. Many terms are used very loosely on these boards. Anabolic and catabolic are prolly the two most misused IMHO. We also need to think of muscle growth/loss in terms of ANTI catabolic or ANTI anabolic, and many other shades of gray in between. Technically speaking Vageta is correct to view muscle gain while dieting as two steps forward and one step back. This is because in normal folks not taking AS, muscle growth absolutely requires catabolic processes. This is otherwise known as the Calpain/Calpistatin system of protein turnover and is hugely important for muscle growth. To put it another way you have to catabolize muscle in order to remodel and build new muscle. The known exceptions to this include the now infamous Myocin D mutants of double-muscled Belgian Blue cattle and the rare human genetic freaks such as Flex Wheeler (and many more I'll bet). It also includes many folks on anabolic steroids since it appears that anabolic steroid's main anti-catabolic effects are through the calpain/calpistatin system. An irrelevant side note is that (so far) all attempts to increase LBM in cattle and sheep have shown that you inevitably get tougher meat whether or not they are genetic mutants of MyoD, or you give them anabolic steroids (euphomistically called growth promoters in the meat industry). So the take home message is that it would be tough to eat the likes of Flex.
Coming back to the original question, you can gain muscle while losing fat to a certain extent without too much difficulty. Beyond that point you need some clever dietary and training manipulation. The more "in touch" with your body the easier this is. This thread is already too long to even begin with the details. But I assure you it has a lot to do with manipulating calories, macronutrient ratios, training intensity and frequency blah blah blah and it also varies from person to person. If you choose not to use ergogenic supplements then you really have to dial it in very precisely.
OH one last thought for jeus…… There is no doubt that strength can increase without an increase in muscle mass as Vageta said. This is yet another reason why all those tiny folks in Olympic powerlifting can move such huge weights in proportion to their bodyweight. It had a lot to do with the neurological ability to recruit maximal muscle fiber for a single lift (ie increase strength by working the brain).
Which leads me to my next comment on this very excellent thread. Many terms are used very loosely on these boards. Anabolic and catabolic are prolly the two most misused IMHO. We also need to think of muscle growth/loss in terms of ANTI catabolic or ANTI anabolic, and many other shades of gray in between. Technically speaking Vageta is correct to view muscle gain while dieting as two steps forward and one step back. This is because in normal folks not taking AS, muscle growth absolutely requires catabolic processes. This is otherwise known as the Calpain/Calpistatin system of protein turnover and is hugely important for muscle growth. To put it another way you have to catabolize muscle in order to remodel and build new muscle. The known exceptions to this include the now infamous Myocin D mutants of double-muscled Belgian Blue cattle and the rare human genetic freaks such as Flex Wheeler (and many more I'll bet). It also includes many folks on anabolic steroids since it appears that anabolic steroid's main anti-catabolic effects are through the calpain/calpistatin system. An irrelevant side note is that (so far) all attempts to increase LBM in cattle and sheep have shown that you inevitably get tougher meat whether or not they are genetic mutants of MyoD, or you give them anabolic steroids (euphomistically called growth promoters in the meat industry). So the take home message is that it would be tough to eat the likes of Flex.
Coming back to the original question, you can gain muscle while losing fat to a certain extent without too much difficulty. Beyond that point you need some clever dietary and training manipulation. The more "in touch" with your body the easier this is. This thread is already too long to even begin with the details. But I assure you it has a lot to do with manipulating calories, macronutrient ratios, training intensity and frequency blah blah blah and it also varies from person to person. If you choose not to use ergogenic supplements then you really have to dial it in very precisely.
OH one last thought for jeus…… There is no doubt that strength can increase without an increase in muscle mass as Vageta said. This is yet another reason why all those tiny folks in Olympic powerlifting can move such huge weights in proportion to their bodyweight. It had a lot to do with the neurological ability to recruit maximal muscle fiber for a single lift (ie increase strength by working the brain).
