Sport Catabolism?

[Aetom]

Can anyone explain catabolism and how to prevent it? I know that it's when your body uses muscle tissue for energy, but when does it set in?

I'm 15, and I'm working on a big muscle building workout for the last 3 or so weeks. I've increased my caloric intake a lot (around 2600-3100/day) and I've noticed a little more flab around my mid-section. And that doesn't really bother me, it's just that I want to gain my muscle and then run off the extra fat until I can see my abs. My only fear is that when I'm done building, and focus on my running and fat loss, I might lose some of the muscles that I worked so hard to get. I will probably decrease my calories gradually until I'm eating about 500 less, then do some good cardio to burn another 500 cals, that with some minor endurance strength training, I should some some pretty good fat.

Am I worrying over nothing or should I take a more gradual step to decrease my calories?

After I'm done gaining, I plan on hitting the fruits (apples, bananas, etc.) and vegetables, meats, and small ammounts of carbs as a diet. All-in-all I won't be eating like a horse like I am now while trying to build.

 

[MarkMyWords]

I will probably decrease my calories gradually until I'm eating about 500 less, then do some good cardio to burn another 500 cals, that with some minor endurance strength training, I should some some pretty good fat.

I can tell by your post that you know a lot about what you are doing, and that is excellent, I commend you! Gradually decreasing your calories is a nice way to ease into the different eating habits you will have. Cardio is your friend when losing fat, and make sure you do some HIIT too, it is a serious fat burner. The one thing I wonder about though is what you said about strength training. Minor endurance strength training as you put it, will not cut it! Catabolism can be controlled with proper nutrition all you want, but at the same time, you need to stress those muscles out so your body has a reason to keep them around. Forget the endurance idea, rather, lift HEAVY, with lower rep ranges. I was doing 4 X 6 when I lost a bunch of fat, and I never ever went down on any lifts, not a shred of muscle was lost from my body because I was constantly putting my whole body to the test.

Soooo, get yourself started on a 3 times a week full body routine, with heavy weights and eat properly, add cardio and HIIT, and you will shed fat without losing any muscle. Good luck buddy.

 

[Aetom]

Forget the endurance idea, rather, lift HEAVY, with lower rep ranges.

So, would you recommend doing whole body lifts like the bench press and pull-ups along with the cardio? Also, am I to do 4 sets of 5 reps or just 1 set of 5 reps then go to the next exercise?
I heard that your body only required about 15 seconds of VERY HEAVY weight resistance in order to retain muscle, is that true?

Incidently, what is the HIIT?:yelrotflmao:

 

[matt182]

really, you shouldnt really be refering to muscle breakdown as catabolism.

Anabolism and catabolism occurs all the time in our body and of different things, not just simply muscle breakdown.