Body recomposition is difficult, however now no longer impossible.In this article you will learn a few tips to help you simultaneously and successfully build muscle and lose fat.
Gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is the holy grail for most gym-goers. In the industry, this is called recomposition.
Recomposition is not impossible, but it is extremely difficult. That’s why the vast majority of people trying to do it fail. In fact, most people who strive to gain muscle mass and lose fat end up achieving neither goal. They don’t lose a significant amount of fat and they don’t build a noticeable amount of muscle. They’re just spinning their wheels by working out hard in the gym, but they never look any different. This is why I so often caution people against trying to recompose.
That doesn’t mean you have to give up recomposition completely. Just know that you have to meet certain criteria, be attentive to detail, and have a heroic work ethic to succeed.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. After all, isn’t everything worth pursuing in life extremely challenging?
Difficult vs. impossible:
I first saw the following quote in my high school career counselor’s office, “The hard things we do right away, but the impossible things take a little longer.
” Whether they were trying to motivate or making a comment about the impossibility of helping me have a successful career, I don’t know for sure. Regardless, Regardless, recomposition is frequently called impossible.
This is incorrect and regrettable. It is definitely difficult, but not impossible. I know this because I’ve seen it and achieved it with many clients.
I’ll take my share of the blame:
I probably played a role in popularizing the view that recomposition is impossible. Not because I said it was impossible, but because I identified the difficulties associated with it, highlighted the specific circumstances necessary for it, and voiced the need for excess calories for skinny guys to gain size (all true).
Unfortunately, the black and white world we live in means we look for absolutes. And the assumption that something is difficult is often called impossible.
Good coaches reflect and adapt:
On reflection, I think I may have been wrong. In the past, I would have told you that recomposition is only possible under one of 5 conditions:
1-As an absolute beginner.
2-After a long break in training.
3- “When you finally start training “right.
4-If you’ve been training right, but your diet has been bad, and you drastically improve it.
5-If you are taking performance enhancing drugs.
Now I think it’s possible outside of these circumstances. Instead of those five circumstances, I suppose maximum human beings can get a recomposition effect.. The magnitude of that effect is determined by where they fall on the sliding factor scale.
Read also:
Best Way to Preserve Muscle Mass When Dieting
The sliding scale of recomposition:
Even with this information, I can still tell you that recomposition is not the choice you want.
After talking with Chris Barakat, author of a study on recomposition, I believe that the odds of significant recomposition depend on three factors. These are:
age of training-1
2-training status
3-% body fat.
Training age simply describes how long you’ve been training. Training status determines how developed you are. A good metric of training status is how strong you are. This basically indicates how effective your training has been (this can of course be affected by genetic potential). Body fat percentage is self-explanatory. Based on these three factors, you can determine exactly how likely recomposition is for you.
What the Science Says:
In the near future, I will talk in detail about how to give yourself the best chance of successful recomposition, but first let’s look at some interesting scientific research on recomposition. The scientific literature provides compelling evidence for the possibility of achieving a recomposition effect. Anecdotally, I have also seen it in many clients and in myself. Moreover, Chris Barakat claims that in his scientific career this is the norm, not the exception.
Here are a few examples:
A study by Alcaraz et al. found that participants who followed a specific exercise protocol gained 1.5 kg of lean mass and lost 1.5% of fat in 8 weeks.2 In another study, participants were able to gain 1.4 kg of lean mass and lose 2.4 kg of fat in just 6 weeks. While a recent study by Colquhoun et al. found that subjects who exercised 6 times a week were able to gain 2.6 kg of lean mass and lose 0.1 kg of fat.4
The most interesting thing about all of these studies is that the participants did not adjust their diet. They were all told to stick to their normal eating habits. If such results are possible without the intervention of a nutritionist to optimize results, then imagine what is possible if you provide a synergy of exercise and diet.
Numerous nutritional studies have shown a recomposition effect. These studies show that body composition changes are a more complex process than simply matching calories to calories. Studies have shown that different eating strategies (e.g., high-protein diets, post-workout eating, hypothesis
diets, etc.) can contribute to body composition.
Dr. Bill Campbell’s study provides an excellent example of what is possible when dietary considerations are taken into account. This study examined the difference in protein intake (high 1.14 g pro/lb. vs.
low .41 g pro/lb.) on the body composition of women competing in figure competitions. The high-protein group gained 4.62 pounds (2.1 kg) of fat-free mass while losing 2.42 pounds (1.1 kg) of fat mass, despite consuming an average of 423 calories per day more than the low-protein group.
Both groups went through the same training protocol, so this clearly demonstrates the power of nutrition!
It also proves that not all calories are equal! If you eat too little or too much, you are likely to lose or gain more weight than you want, but other factors are important. The next most important factor after calories are macronutrients and the ratio of each.
This study shows that you may find that you can consume more total calories to maintain your weight if you increase your protein intake. An added bonus is that if everything else is at
One reason for this is that protein is not only the most satiating, but it also has the highest thermal effect… This means that when protein is consumed, more energy is required to digest it than when carbohydrates or fats are consumed. Thus, 100 calories of protein requires more energy to break down than 100 calories of carbohydrates or fat.
The authors of the recomposition study offered the following practical recommendations based on their findings:
- Implement a progressive resistance training regimen with a minimum of 3 sessions per week.
- Tracking the rate of progress and paying attention to performance and recovery can be important tools for properly adjusting workouts over time.
- Consuming 2.6-3.5 grams of protein per kilogram of fat-free mass can increase the likelihood or magnitude of recomposition.
- Protein supplements (such as whey and casein) can be used as a means to increase daily protein intake as well as a tool to maximize muscle protein synthesis. This may be of greater importance post-workout as a means of maximizing the effects of recomposition.
- Prioritizing the quality and quantity of sleep can be an additional variable that can significantly affect changes in performance, recovery and body composition.
To maximize your chances of success, I will add 6 key tips that I believe are vital to achieving recomposition:
1-Time frame (this should be a short-term goal)
2-Hyper-focusing on a specific goal (e.g., a photo shoot, a fashion show, a celebration, an event)
3-Evaluate, re-evaluate, and course corrections
4-Tightly control calories
5-Adopt an anabolic window (pay attention to post-workout nutrition)
6-Lift and do cardio for maximum recomposition results
Tip #1: Time Frame:
You can’t just do recomposition indefinitely in hopes of eventually becoming 20 pounds heavier and slimmer than you are now. To achieve effective recomposition, you have to be focused on the details. Even for the most dedicated bodybuilders, there is a limit to how long you can maintain the discipline to accomplish all the items necessary for recomposition.
Even if you could go completely into robot mode and continue to follow your intended course, it wouldn’t work because the body adapts. You need a reliable signal to make it keep adapting.
As you’ll soon discover, effective recomposition depends on whether you’re moderating your calorie intake and exercise enough to ensure slow (and so) fat loss. If you lose too fast, the chances of gaining muscle will evaporate.
Because the recomposition approach is moderate in terms of calorie restriction, it is not a strong or powerful enough stimulus to overcome adaptive resistance.
There will come a point when you have to either cut calories to get slimmer or increase them to gain muscle. Consequently, I suggest a 6-12 week window to re-compensate. In my experience, in most cases 10-12 weeks is the optimal time frame.
This is enough time for you to lose a noticeable amount of fat slowly enough to give yourself a chance to gain muscle mass. It is also the length of time during which most highly motivated people seem to be able to follow the plan perfectly.
To achieve the nearly impossible, you need a great plan and to follow it flawlessly.
Can some people last longer than that? Yes. Do I think you should try it? No.
I would commit to squeezing the most out of myself, my workouts, and my diet for 12 weeks and then give up recomposition for a while.
Tip #2: Choose a goal that will keep you hyper-focused:
:
In the previous paragraph, I emphasized how important it is to be focused and motivated to achieve re-compact as an accomplished athlete. In fact, I believe you need to be hyper-focused.
You need to develop a tunnel-like vision with your eyes on the prize to get what you want. The best way I’ve found to achieve this with my clients is to tie it to a well-defined event or outcome.
Booking a photo shoot, entering a physical development competition, a lifelong vacation diet, or preparing for an important event such as a wedding or a milestone birthday have all proven to be powerful motivators for my clients.
When a goal and additional accountability are on the horizon, people often gain a new level of commitment, dedication and drive. They look at the goal and do whatever it takes to achieve it.
This hyper-focused approach is great for relatively short-term goals, but it can lead to burnout if you try to work your way through life. Pick a time when you need to push yourself. Make sure you have a powerful “why” that will keep you motivated, a strong desire to follow through, because you can’t afford to slip up if you want to achieve a worthy scale of re-comp.
Tip #3: Evaluate, re-evaluate, and course-correct:
Making results-oriented decisions will guide the entire process. The result is clear. Drop the fat and gain the muscle. How you proceed depends on your starting position and results. If you’re a skinny fat person, eating right and exercising right is a good choice because you want to fill out your arms.
You don’t want to just get skinny. If you start out as someone who is a little overweight, you probably have a decent amount of muscle mass underneath the fat. You just need to lose enough fat to uncover it and get the added bonus of some more muscle at the end.
As the authors of the study advise, keep a close eye on your progress and monitor your performance in the gym. When you recompose, your energy level should be high enough for your performance in the gym to improve. Tracking your performance in the gym is easy enough. Tracking your body weight on the scale is also a simple and useful metric. Depending on your starting point, the change (or lack of change) you should aim for on the scale during recomposition may be different. There are two main types of clients with whom I see excellent recomposition effects:
- Skinny fat guys.
- Guys who are 10 to 20 pounds over their ideal weight.
For skinny fat guys, the goal is to keep their weight at the same level throughout the process, while improving their results in the gym. If they train hard, eat enough to keep their weight at the same level, but increase their protein intake to about 1.2 g per pound (2.6 g per kg) of body weight, and control lifestyle factors such as sleep and stress levels, they can get great results.
For guys who are 10-20 pounds overweight, lifestyle factors, hard workouts and high protein are still vital. However, they should strive to lose weight. In my experience, the ideal weight loss rate in this scenario is 0.25-0.5% of weight per week. So, for a 200-pound guy, that’s 0.5-1 pounds per week.
In practice, the thinner you get, the greater the risk of muscle loss. For this reason, for the first few weeks I usually start at the higher end of my target loss rate (0.5%). Then I reset the pace and lower it to 0.25% per week. This approach has proven to be extremely effective.
Tip #4: Tight Calorie Control:
As a follow-up to my last point about the speed of weight loss, it’s important to understand that you will have to pay close attention to your caloric intake.
You can’t lose weight too fast or you risk losing muscle mass. You need to set aside the instant gratification of seeing the scale drop every day and learn to accept slower weight loss so you can maintain and gain muscle.
You must also stick to a plan every day. As the deadline gets closer, each day of backing off the plan has a more tangible effect. With only 12 weeks to go, you can’t afford to lose a single day.
To stay on track, you’ll likely need to track everything you eat on an app like MyFitnessPal. This will let you know how your body is responding to the calories and nutrients you are consuming. When making adjustments to your diet, it is important to have accurate data to work with. A detailed food diary provides this data.
If tracking your diet for 12 weeks seems like too much of a hassle for you, that’s great, but you also have to admit that the chances of you achieving a recomposition are very slim. As I said at the beginning, recomposition is not impossible, but it is extremely difficult. Achieving complex things requires extraordinary effort, consistency, and attention to detail.
Tip #5: Adopt an anabolic window:
Effective recomposition is all about attention to detail. The totality of minor gains. These minor gains can lead to significant effects. One such example is taking care of post-workout nutrition. Peri means “perimeter,” so I’m talking about paying special attention to your nutrition before, during and after a workout.
Recompense research shows that a post-workout carbohydrate and protein shake can improve your results. As a general rule, you should drink 25-40 grams of whey protein mixed with 30-50 grams of carbohydrates (such as maltodextrin) immediately after your workout.
This post-workout shake will not do the work for you. It simply uses the results of the work you’ve done in the gym. When consumed consistently, it creates an opportunity to increase your body’s response to the workout a bit. Over time, this can lead to an increase in muscle mass and a decrease in fat mass. It’s a pretty nice combination for a relatively simple habit of drinking a shake after a workout.
Tip #6: Get up and do cardio for maximum recomposition results:
I’ve seen the best reconditioning results when clients workout four days a week and strategically add cardio.
I prefer to train in a top/bottom pattern, which allows me to train each muscle group twice a week. This division and frequency of training allows for a balance of enough workouts, but not too much.
In the pursuit of a hyper-focused goal, it is tempting to do too much. I understand this temptation. I have been a victim of it myself in the past. Transforming your body is a very emotional process. When emotions take over, logic tends to disappear. It’s easy to convince yourself that more exercise means more muscle development and more calories burned. However, this does not take into account the big picture.
It is very important to remember that when you try to recompose, your calories will be relatively low. With fewer calories comes less energy and less tolerance for the overall workout. If you do too much, there will be negative consequences. They include the risk of losing muscle mass, overtraining, injury, and raising levels of stress hormones like cortisol to the point where muscle gain and fat loss are stunted.
Conclusion:
Slow and steady wins the race
Recomposition is possible, but it’s difficult. To determine if it’s right for you, first assess where you are on the spectrum of training age, status, and body fat. If you analyze these and decide that recomposition is right for you, take your time.
As with cardio, your approach to recomposition should be slow and steady. Trying to rush the process will lead to failure. Instead of looking for a quick fix, give yourself 12 weeks of relentless training and you can build muscle and lose fat. After that, the chances of further recomposition are negligible. Once you are past the hyper-focused recovery phase, I suggest you move on to either the muscle gain phase or the fat loss phase.
Keep it under control by working out four times a week on a press/pull pattern and incorporating reasonable cardio into your workouts. My favorite type of cardio is low intensity stability training (LISS).
I don’t mean endurance training. This is not the time to run a marathon! I mean exercising at a very low level that helps burn calories and relaxes you at the same time. With the right approach, this will really improve your recovery and burn calories.
Just getting outside and walking for 30-40 minutes every day is my favorite recipe for achieving this goal. I prefer to do this in the morning.
This will allow you to start the day with a win, get yourself in shape, and feel a sense of accomplishment, and cortisol should be higher at this time of day. Given that cortisol can help mobilize fat for fuel, this potentially makes walking early in the morning more effective for fat loss.
