You want to burn fat, but also bulk up - packing on lean muscle mass. The problem is that these two goals compete with each other. In order to pack on the muscle, you need to eat more calories. Of course, that is not good for fat burning. Is there any hope?

First - before you begin any diet or exercise plan please check with your doctor (my lawyer told me I had to write that part).

The goal of this workout plan is to pack on some lean muscle mass and burn fat. In order to acheive that goal we're going to focus on compound movements and alot of them.

The Exercises

Compound exercises are those that use more than one major muscle group. So, we're talking about the classic bodybuilding moves here:

• Deadlift
• Squat
• Bench press
• Shoulder press

If you're not certain how to perform some of these exercises check out Easy Muscle Gain.

Since we're shooting for fat burning, we want to go for high reps on these exercises. How many is high? Shoot for about 15-20 per set. You probably don't want to go more than 20 as you risk injury. When you can do 20, just increase the weight.

The problem with most diet plans is, that in the end they catabolize muscle. In order to avoid this fate, we need a plan that you can customize to maintain and even gain muscle mass.

Protein Is The Key

You already know that your body needs protein in order to build muscle. What most people don't know is just how much protein your body needs. In general you should shoot for about 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight every day. That means if you weight 175 pounds, you should shoot for 175 grams of protein per day. The remainder of your calories can be divided just about evenly between good fats and good carbohydrates.

Not only do you need protein to build muscle. The other great thing about protein is it's thermic effect. To put it simply, your body burns more calories digesting protein than it does digesting fat or carbohydrates. Eat more protein = burn more fat.

Don't Forget About Calories

Unfortunately, we cannot forget about calories. If you really want to burn major fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. In order to burn 1 pound of fat per week you need to be in a 500 calorie deficit per day. Two pounds of fat per week means a 1,000 calorie per day deficit.

That means, you need to know how many calories your body needs just to perform basic functions on a daily basis. In order to accomplish this we can use the following equations to calculate Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR):

Men: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5

Women: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) - 161

Where:

w = weight in kg (pounds/2.2)

h = height in cm (inches X 2.54)

a = age

We then multipy your RMR by an activity factor as follows:

1.2 - Sedentary - desk job with little or no exercise

1.375 - Light Activity - sports or exercise 1-3 days per week

1.55 - Moderate Activity - sports or exercise 3-5 days per week

1.725 - Hard Activity - sports or exercise 6-7 days per week

1.9 - Extreme Activity - daily sports or exercise and a physical job

A Quick Example

Let's assume that you are a 30 year old man, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall (70 inches or 177.8cm), and weighs 180 pounds (81.8kg). You RMR would be 1784. If you were sedentary your body would need 2141 calories per day.

Now the problem with this is if you wanted to lose a pound a week you would have to drop your calorie intake to about 1600 calories per day. If you did this, there is a good chance your metabolism would slow down and you would not achieve your results.

So, the solution is a combination of diet and exercise. If you begin working out 3 days per week you become lightly active on the chart above. Your body now needs 2453 calories per day. Now you only need to drop your calorie intake down to about 1900 per day in order to lose a pound a week.

For more information on muscle gain & weight loss check out the following sites:

Easy Muscle Gain

Provides muscle gain & weight loss articles. Reviews of popular weight loss & muscle gain programs.

Turbulence Training

Absolutely the BEST fat loss and muscle gain system out there. The author is one of the top trainers in the world. You need to pick up a copy of this program right now.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle

If your serious about getting in shape you owe it to yourself to check out this great program.

Workout Pass

This site gives you access to over 40 workout sites. Each site is specifically targeted - you might want to start out with the Fast Weight Loss for Men or Quick Weight Loss for Women sites and then move on to more advanced sites as you progress. You'll definately want this in order to keep your routine fresh.