Over-fat and Muscle Conditioning

One aspect of getting fit (and healthy) is 2 separate issues to consider: (i) excess fat (ii) muscle toning/conditioning. These two are related though separate issues. There are people who looks like they have excess fat but whose muscles are in good condition. I have personal experience with a karate black belt with a sizeable paunch but who can tear you apart during sparring especially with his fast kicks. And of course there are a lot of people who look lean/thin but whose muscles are not particularly conditioned.

For the general population who are overly-fat who wants to get a little fitter and leaner, I would recommend that first they focus on getting rid of the excess fat before focusing on muscle conditioning i.e. focus on exercises that get rid of fat (e.g. long, slow distance walk or jog) before attempting muscle-conditioning exercises (e.g. fast jog or push-ups). Why?

Firstly, excess fat is directly proportionate to “modern day diseases” like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and of course heart attacks. The more excess fat you have, the more chances of “catching” these “diseases”. Thus reducing the excess fat will have a positive effect of reducing the chances of these diseases.

Second, excess fat puts a strain on the body since its dead weight i.e. weight that you have to “carry” without contributing anything to your movement. For example, it especially puts that extra stress on the joints especially the knee joints. Trying to run fast while you are over-fat may leads to injury of the knee joints as they withstand excessive g-force from the extra fat each time the foot hits the ground. Thus getting rid of any excess dead weight will benefit your joints etc.

Thirdly, also in relations to being a dead weight, the excess fat does not contribute anything to your blood circulation. For example, the contracting and relaxing movement of the muscles actually helps in blood circulation. After a fast run, for example, if you immediately stop still, the heart has to work overtime to keep blood circulating at the same rate as when you were running since the leg muscles are no longer helping to circulate the blood up from the legs back to the heart. That’s why you are recommended to walk around for a while because the walking motion is helping the heart to circulate the blood until it drops back to the normal rate.

But, as mentioned, being dead weight, the excess fat only puts extra demands on your body systems but does not contribute anything positive back to your bodily functions. Thus, doing rigorous muscle-conditioning exercises while you are over-fat may put a dangerous demand on your cardio-vascular system.

Fourthly, in the process of getting rid of the excess fat, your muscles will also be slowly conditioned. Thus by the time your fat have “normalised”, your muscles should have been conditioned enough and ready for the more intensive demands of muscle conditioning exercises.

Please note that the reverse may not necessarily be true i.e. some muscle conditioning exercises may not have a fat-burning effect. Push ups, for example, primarily work the small muscles of the triceps which gets exhausted too soon for any fat to be burn as fuel.

Thus it’s important to give attention to losing excess fat first before focusing on muscle strengthening or conditioning.