running + muscle buidling?

[superman88]

"running builds lean muscle tissue and reduces body fat; lean tissue contains more water than fat tissue does"

i've been steadly losing weight (about the same number of pounds) every week for the past year, and just the past week i have increased my running speed so i can work my lungs harder. and no extra pounds have been lost as a result of the past week... so with that, does that mean i am actually building muscles now? if so, does "lean tissue contains more water than fat tissue does" mean that is the reason why the scale did not drop any weight?

yes i know sometimes you may only be losing "water weight" and you shouldn't rely on the scale much for losing actual fat blah blah, but i have been losing "weight" steadly every week, for the past year or so, and this week just has me worried a bit.

 

[superman88]

also, i've read somewhere that if you increase your cardio workouts (running faster) that would make your body turn to burning carbs instead of burning fat off? so it would actually be better for me to run at a slower pace (jogging), if i want to burn fat, than trying to run faster?

 

[tyciol]

No, that's completely wrong. Running will make you burn more fat, and more carbs. It needs to do both, since it consumes energy at a much higher rate than slow running.

It does burn a lower % of fat, true, but that's a % of a higher number. For example, if you were burning 25% fat of 100 calories, it would be more than burning 50% fat of 40 calories.

Plus, what occurs is that since your glycogen stores are empty from higher-strength things like running versus walking, more energy will be taken from fat stores instead of glycogen until they are refilled. It evens out.

 

[djrell]

i've been steadly losing weight (about the same number of pounds) every week for the past year, and just the past week i have increased my running speed so i can work my lungs harder. and no extra pounds have been lost as a result of the past week... so with that, does that mean i am actually building muscles now?

the harder you run, the more you are using your type IIa and type IIb muscles as opposed to your type I muscles. type II muscles rely mostly on anaerobic energy, whereas type I rely on aerobic energy. fat is an aerobic type of energy. understand now?

also, i've read somewhere that if you increase your cardio workouts (running faster) that would make your body turn to burning carbs instead of burning fat off? so it would actually be better for me to run at a slower pace (jogging), if i want to burn fat, than trying to run faster?

when you run hard, your body uses energy derived from carbohydrates. first it uses stored muscle glycogen (lasts for a second or so); next, it uses creatine phosphate (lasts for about 5 seconds); then, it uses anaerobic blood glucose (lasts for a few minutes). after that, the body slowly turns to aerobic energy (blood glucose and fat stores).

and yes, slow your pace down after about 15-20 minutes of cardio to increase fat burn.

keep in mind that your body uses both blood glucose and fat at the same time which is why it can get stubborn trying to rid your body of fat.