So, I've been lifting weights for like 1 year and a half.

I was previously skinny with a belly. I started working out and I gained some muscle, but I still have the belly, although the belly is smaller.
I don't really count calories, by I try to eat healthy with lots of fibers, veggies and low fat meat. I also drink protein shakes.

My goal is get ripped like a Abercrombie model. But I don't really know how to do it. My instructor says I need to do 30min of cardio together with weight lifting every day. I train 5 days a week.

My questions:
1) Will the cardio be beneficial for my goal? I'm afraid of losing muscle instead of fat.
2) Could I reach my goal only by having enough muscle that the fat will start to burn automatically with the increased metabolism? If yes, how to do it?

Thanks

_________________


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'Does she grab your hand?' F*ck you! I want to grab her mind. If I can
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1. not really
2. maybe test your body fat % the calipers, scales and other affordable devices unfortunatly are inaccutrate try a Bod Pod )it will cost you though), try improving your posture and deep contractions of your abs.

First, it's not true that cardio 'burns muscle'. Cardio, like any exercise, burns calories (which are a measure of energy). Your muscles, as with any part of your body, require energy for maintenance. If you do not have enough energy to maintain your muscles, they will waste away. The problem is therefore not the cardio, but how much you eat. If, after you have done cardio, you still have had enough calories to maintain your muscle mass, that's exactly what you will do.

Cardio is considered useful for losing fat for exactly the same reason - it burns calories that may be needed to maintain your fat levels. Don't think of cardio as burning either muscle or fat; merely think of it as using up your energy. What your remaining energy does depends on the quality of your diet and how much muscle your body thinks it needs (ie through a weights program). Those two facets are FAR more important to get under control.

This guy does cardio: http://www.crossoverentertainment.com/i ... %20Out.jpg
This guy doesn't do cardio: http://file001.esportsea.com/images/teams/44487.jpg

Whether or not you need cardio will depend on your metabolism, your diet, your weights program and your body fat levels. I won't pretend to be knowledgeable enough to tell you if you should do cardio or not; what I will say is that before considering adding it to your workout, you should be fixing up your diet and calorie intake, because that's the issue you're really trying to address (calorie usage) in an indirect way.

Your metabolism will never be good enough to get ripped without a fairly strict diet and a good gym regimen, I'm afraid to say. You will get a metabolism boost, but it won't be nearly enough.

Yes do cardio.

I am gonna use fake numbers to try to show you how the body works.

Lets say you burn 2000 calories in a day. Ok now if you eat 2500 calories in a day you will gain 500 a day 3500 a week. Now 1 lb of fat is 3500 calories. When you eat any un used food/energy is turned into fat. Your fat is just a sum of unused calories that the body is saving incase you can't eat so you don't die.
Now your muscles get destroyed as you work out, then the a rebuilt bigger/stronger. In order to repair/rebuild muscle your body needs energy/calories. So lets say it takes 500 calories a day to repair those muscles and feed them energy to live.
Your at 2500 calories a day, now if you eat 2000 calories your body will burn fat to make up the diffrence. You would then lose 1 lb in a week.

As for losing muscle, that will only happen if your body is starving which case it would choose which body functions are most important and which are not. Then your muscles would fail to get the calories you need. Also you would lose muscle if you didn't get the right amount of protien and other nutriants your muscles need. So as long as you don't starve yourself and you eat healthy there is no reason not to do cardio.

This is untrue. Unused calories are turned into things besides fat, the most relevant of which is muscle. The proportion in which they are distributed depends on the diet and exercise; obviously, lots of weights will mean muscle growth receives more excess calories.

Most of what you say, however, is sound advice.

your trainer has a good plan for you ,you need to keep that cardio in there to get a lean look,dont worry to much about muscles size the type of body you want comes from being cut and having shape which has the same illusion of being much bigger than they were before.
Your trainer has probably taken into account your current body type and the fasterst way to get what you want.
Go hard!