Can you really build muscle and burn fat at the same time? Or is that just reserved for the drug boys and girls? I know, I know, all those amazing before and after pics in the ads, right? But how real are they?

In a study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (58:561-565), "Muscle Hypertrophy With Large Scale Weight Loss and Resistance Training," subjects took off fat while gaining muscle.

Fourteen women followed an 800 calorie, high protein diet (80 grams of protein, 97 grams of carbs and 10 grams of fat) - with seven of the women lifting weights for 30 to 40 minutes three days a week and the other seven women simply following the diet without exercise.

The study lasted for 90 days and the workout consisted of bench presses, pulldowns, military presses, pullovers, curls, tricep extensions, knee extensions, and knee flexion.

The two groups lost the same amount of weight - approximately 33 pounds. The lifting group, however, actually increased muscle mass by 21 to 27 percent, while the non-lifting group lost muscle, along with fat.

"These results indicate that weight training can elicit muscle fiber hypertrophy during periods of severe energy restriction," said the researchers. "Strength declined in the sedentary group during the weight reduction but increased in the weight-trained group."

The key to successful weight loss is weigh training - not walking, or any other low intensity cardio program - and a high protein diet. In the study, 40 percent of calories came from protein, as opposed to most fat loss diets that call for only 15 to 20 percent protein.

Now, let's get a few things straight. This is not an endorsement of severe calorie restriction. Even if you get results initially, eventually your body will rebel with a lower metabolism, muscle loss and fat gain.

However, it does show you that when you properly apply the fundamentals of proper weight training and nutrition, you can build muscle while you burn fat, and completely reshape your body.

If you really want to ramp up your results so you can dramtically transform your body and do it fast, consider adding high intensity interval training, or what I call power cardio, to your weight training program.

This type of training, along with intense weight training, is one of the best things you can do to build power, muscle mass, speed, strength, endurance, and lose fat! Proper power cardio can give you the best of all worlds.

A brief explanation of this training is that you do just that - train in intervals, by alternating a brief period of exercise with a brief period of rest.

And the overall length of your workout are much briefer in duration than your typical aerobic sessions.

Power Cardio will -

1 - Burn more calories by elevating your metabolism so you lose fat faster

2 - Increase your power

3 - Increase your speed

4 - Increase your endurance

No matter what your fitness goals, power cardio is one of the best ways of helping you achieve them. And the variations are endless. You can vary the training parameters (exercise to rest ratio, number of intervals) to make the workouts harder or easier, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

You can also use any number of exrecises for your training, such as cycling, sprinting, treadmill, elliptical trainers, jump rope, rope climbing, hill sprints, and more.

Don't continue doing endless hours of aerobics that aren't helping you reach your goals anyway. Get more out of your cardio workouts by performing interval training.

If you want to build muscle, lose fat and get fit fast, you need to add power cardio to a program of intense weight training. These two forms of exercise, combined with a proper nutrition program, will quickly and radically change your body from a before into an after. By training intensely in short workout sessions, you can spend less time training, allow your body to recover from your workouts, and more quickly see muscle building, fat burning results!