Ask Rocco: I Would Rather be Thin than Muscular and Fat

A reader asks Rocco how to get rid of an "extra layer" that occurred when weight lifting. Rocco suggests a few exercises that will help trim and tone.

Question: I'm tall and athletic, but I'm trying to change my body image. I lifted hard for a long time and ate all the calories so I could add muscle. I have never been able to lose or add weight, it just shifts from one portion of my body to the other. I have taken up running because I would rather be thin than muscular and fat, but I cannot get rid of the layer of skin/fat that I got while trying to add muscle. Any suggestions?

Answer: You haven’t told me where the layer of fat is. I’m going to presume that it is all over your body. If you are tall, then you have long muscles. And you know what they say about people with long muscles? That’s right, can’t get big muscles!

The reason it seemed like you weren’t gaining any size is due to the length of your muscles. The longer the muscles, the smaller they look. If your upper arm is 6 inches long compared to someone who has a 4 inch long upper arm, yours will look smaller even though it has the same meat on it. Think of it as a foot long hot dog compared to a 6 inch brat. They may weigh the same but, the brat looks bigger because it's thicker.

Although you can’t gain size like the rest of us midgets, you would still be better off putting together a program that works the muscles through compound movements. Compound movements are exercises that use two or more muscle groups to move a specific resistance. A Dumb Bell Bench Press would be considered a compound movement as would a leg press. This will insure that you maintain what muscle you have and it won’t melt away (atrophy) from all the running you’ll be doing. Keep doing something aerobic and the fat layer should come off and it would helpful if you stayed away from sugar, sugar substitutes and beer just as a precaution.

Rocco Castellano
		About the author:
		Rocco Castellano is a contributor for Cincy Chic as well as the co-founder of askROCCO Media, which provides boot camps, seminars, media content and online fitness services at askROCCO.com . He is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has written askROCCO Uncensored v1 available at bookstores everywhere. To submit your fitness question click here.

Last update: 27-08-2007 13:24

Published in : Magazine Items, Health