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Makes sense. Do you have any practical experience to back up that any of these strategies really work?
Yesterday we began a series on losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously, and with that first post I posed the question:
Can it be done?
The answer? Yes. BUT, only with a VERY strategic approach.
Now, in order to understand how these seemingly mutually exclusive goals can be accomplished simultaneously, we need to understand a few things about achieving your goals in general.
First, your goals are a direct result of both your training and nutrition program.
Second, optimal training for fat loss and optimal training to gain muscle are different.
Third, optimal nutritional strategies for fat loss and optimal nutritional strategies for gaining muscle are different.
Let’s take a look at each.
From a caloric balance perspective, in order to gain muscle you need to be taking in surplus levels of calories – there is simply no way around it. Fact is, it’s nearly impossible to gain muscle mass while in a caloric deficit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Period.
Conversely, if your goal is to lose body fat, you need to create some sort of caloric deficit (i.e. you are eating less than you burn).
Now, those two situations may indeed seem mutually exclusive, but they’re not.
More on that in a minute.
On to training.
Optimal training for fat loss consists of very metabolically demanding resistance training (think circuit training) coupled with high intensity interval style cardio sessions.
Optimal training for gaining muscle is more a product of using heavier weights, more rest, while still performing a large number of repetitions per session (volume).
Those two things also seem mutually exclusive – but they’re not.
Here’s how:
TIMING.
What if you alternated the two types of workouts throughout the week?
Could you burn fat and gain muscle?
Perhaps, but not likely due to the nutrition issue.
But what if you were to feed your muscles with a surplus of calories on muscle building workout days, and remain in a caloric deficit on other days?
Or what if you were to feed your muscles with a MEGA surplus of calories for the several hours after your muscle building workout (when your muscles are most primed to suck up nutrients and much less likely to convert those extra calories to fat)?
Or what if you were to take small bursts of time to concentrate on building muscle – say, two weeks. And then follow it up with an intense one week fat loss phase? Essentially, over a twelve week period you’d be losing fat and gaining muscle “simultaneously,” unlike those who only do one or the other in that time frame.
Or what if you were to do exclusively muscle building workouts (with a caloric surplus on those days), and then burn excess calories via interval training (and not resistance training) combined with dieting on other days?
There are SO many different ways to do this.
Give me at least 300 comments and I’ll be back tomorrow with a number of different specific ways to approach the goal of building muscle and losing fat simultaneously.
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
P.S. Check out the below video from my buddy Kyle explaining one of the NEWEST methods we’re using for simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain:
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330 comments - add yours
Wow! It seems so simple, but makes a LOT of sense! Do all these ways work as well as each other? Or is there one that is better? Thanks for the info!
Lane
I would think that you could lose fat/gain muscle with the right workout program coupled with cheat your wat thin. I am waiting with antici….pation. sorry, a little rocky horror picture show humor there. :D
Makes sense to me…but it sounds like these may be less efficient in gaining muscle mass in exchange for gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.
After a week of high intensity cardio it seems that the muscle you just built up in the week previous will have started to deteriorate. However, if you alternate every other day with high intensity cardio and bulking, you may not give your be giving your body enough of the nutrition it needs to build muscle the day after your weight lifting day. So it would seem that a program something like weightlifting (calorie surplus) Monday and Tuesday then high intensity intervals (calorie deficit) Wednesday and Thursday with perhaps two more weight lifting days (calorie surplus again) Friday and Saturday would be the most efficient?
Looking forward to hearing more.
Good ideas Joel! Those ideas make complete sense. I actually was wondering if it would be possible to switch the calorie intake on opposite days, or switching off each week.
Here’s my question though, If someone switched their calorie intake for each day (switching from muscle building to fat loss) would it effect the length of time it takes for your body to recover? Thanks for these ideas and keep up the good work! I’ll integrate them into my program =).
~Travis
Please give us more info.
Well this all sounds amazing. You have got us where you want us, wanting more info!!!!!!!! Bring it on
keep writing,,,,, still unclear….
very excited to hear the details, thanks!
I have considered this in the past, but am currently trying to prepare my body for muscle building by reducing my fat levels to around 10% first. If there is an effective way to do both, I am all ears.
This whole scheme reminds me of the old ABCDE diet and exercise scheme. Basically you have a bulking week, followed by a cutting week.
I tried it, and it worked well for about a year. (Over that year I gained about 10 kg while losing 3% BF.
Then the results tapered off.
But that could be because I lost motivation. And the use of one lung. But that’s another story…
My most successful program was basically a lower carb version of Body-For-Life. 6 small means a day, 15 cups of water a day, interval sprint cardio 3 days a week first thing in the AM on an empty stomach, weight training 3 days a week. Post workout protein shake, eat everything and anything I want one day a week, keep meticulous track of everything. I did the same thing every week for 12 weeks and lost over 50 lbs of fat while gaining 12 lbs of muscle. Considering fat loss was my ONLY goal, The added muscle was a nice bonus.
dont understand that much. keep explaining it
Looks to me like I’m following a good path between your Cheat Your Way Thin program and TT from your buddy Craig Ballantyne. I’ve noticed a dramatic improvement over the last 6 weeks for both muscle mass (I’m a LOT stronger & have more tone) AND fat loss – I’m 6kg lighter. There’s science behind everything, which is why I love you two guys so much! Keep up the good work Joel!
yeah i would very much like to hear about this because im currently at about 7% body fat and im looking to gain muscle but i would still like to be able to keep my percent body fat low if not lower than what it is now
This post has not been very well thought out – in fact it is quite wrong.
The term ‘caloric defecit’ has been thrown around without understanding what that term actually means.
If more calories are eaten than ‘burnt’ ( or rather ‘metabolised’), then you are of course in calory surplus and excess calories will be put on as fat.
Calory defecit is where the intake of food is less than the calories metabolised.
BUT if weight training is in progress which causes muscle to be broken down as a result, it is very costly from a metabolic perspective to rebuild that muscle. In other words, the muscle building calories are required to rebuild that muscle directly from the intake of food. In this case, more caloires are metablosied. Thus the calory defecit can still be maintained whilst eating more food (of course in a controlled way) because those calories are being used to rebuild the muscle.
After the regrowth and growth of bigger muscle tissue, if insuficient calories have been taken in to continue to fuel the body, the defecit in energy will be metabolised from the fat (fuel reserves) and thus it is perfectly possible to gain muscle and lose weight by being in a calory defecit at the same time.
In other words the need to regrow muscle factors in to the formula of being in a calory defecit and in fact can helf establish the defecit in the first place if insufficient aerobic exercise is pursued.
Seems like the best solution is to go through a fat loss workout program and then switch over to a muscle gaining program.
awesome ideas
i already do the 1 bout a lot of calories for weight lifting & lower calorie for cardio
Please, tell us!
Joel,
Okay, I have been wondering about this because I think that your Cheat Your Way Thin program causes fat AND muscle loss. I tried your program for two weeks and in the end, I honestly felt horrible. Before I started your plan I had been working out for two months straight, so I had a some reserve muscle. After 2 weeks on your priming phase I was barely able to push through my 35-minute workouts. I had zero energy, and I felt as if I was becoming weaker. After all that sacrifice, I only lost 2 lbs.
So, I am really interested how you can lose fat and gain muscle with a combination of diet and exercise, without feeling so lethargic. My current workout consists of “boot camp” with your buddy Curtis Ludlow, along with intermittent yoga. The problem I had with your plan was the “low-carb” days. If I am not working out, I feel fine on this plan. As soon as I start exercising, I feel like I have no fuel to get me through it. I almost returned your plan because I was really disappointed…I wanted it to work!!
Please offer me some sound guidance so I can finally achieve the results I’ve been desiring!!
Sincerely,
Rachel in Fullerton, CA
This idea occurred to me as well, the idea of strength training with high calories for a couple weeks, then a week of HIIT/circuit training with a calorie deficit, but I haven’t tried it yet. I’d be interested in knowing if anyone has figured out the optimal timing on this. So, during your weight gain weeks, what would your nutritional intake be like? Would you still follow the Cheat Your Way Thin regimen? It seems like it would be hard to gain weight if you did that because you would have that one day without the insulin needed to shuttle protein to the muscles.
Please do explain in more detail!
Please make it simple as it sounds confusing.
Yip, I would really like to know the different ways it can be done. Exactly what I’m wanting to do.
This sounds interesting; would love to know more!
Sounds interesting, but I’m confused. Can’t wait to read pt 3!
please make it more simple. think of muscles and loosing weight 101 . thanks alot
Using your cheat your way thin menus so am looking forward to see how I can gain more lean muscle while trying to lose fat. Hope my results will pick up because I am at a standstill after three weeks.
Some way I think you are going to tell us there is more to it than what you just memtioned. That would be too simple. So, OK, tell us the rest of the story. Us senior citizen stuggle to do either of these things separately, much less both at the same time.
These sound to easy to work, or every guy and girl would be huge
Joel, what do you think of an HST routine. It is supposed to be amazing for building muscle, yet alot of people lose fat from it as well
Hmmm… I wanna hear more…. :P
Great concepts. I want to hear more of your ideas. I’ve been trying this approach with my workouts, and I want to hear about altering the diet to match my days of routines effectively.
Thanks Joel!
So the obvious next question is, which of the approaches you described is the BEST at building muscle while losing fat?
I’m having trouble understanding how this will work exactly. I want to incorporate muscle gain in my routine but its hard to see how it’ll work for i think without a specific way of going about things. thank you! please post more:)
Thanks Joel,
Looking forward to more ideas!
Intrigued, for sure – looking forward to your next post
I heard that
Nick Nilson’s “28 Day Muscle Explosion” program does this
you should check it out Joel
its crazy hard
XD
it would be awesome if you do
your own program
thank you
:D
i love all your tips man! keep the, coming. Though my question is, how effective is gaining muscle and loosing fat simultaneously? Is it more or less effective to concentrate on one, and then do the other?
I’m really looking forward to your next post!
I do hope to be losing a lot of fat, and gaining some muscle too! I must say again that I’m always stuck in between trying to do both, and needless to say, I’m here because I’m failing terribly.
Do share with us so we all can work our bodies into a better shape!
Hmmm interesting but if u had specific days you could only do so much mass workouts thus the net gain in size wouldnt be as impressive
This is valuable info for my situation/goals! I appreciate further info!
pretty much what I said before.. what you eat and when you eat it. coupled with the right training program. I do it all the time.
wow that was a lot to absorb at once
Good info, but definately need more specifics. I’m nursing a 15 month old baby, any tips for loosing fat, building muscle and nursing at the same time? No one seems to talk much about how to do this when nursing. It seems while doing the diet plan and exercising my body wants to go into starvation mode very quickly because of nursing.
You’re totally wrong. When you need to lose body fat, you have to be in a calorie defecit, but you still have body fat to convert to energy for workouts so that your intense weight training will build muscle. I have had many people work out, get stronger (which means that have to be building muscle), and lose fat. Ellington Darden, of Nautilus fame, studied and proved this way back in the 80′s (I guess that was before your time . . . very possibly before you were even born).
Hi Joel,
I would like to know more about gaining muscle whilst losing fat.
This is what most people are trying to accomplish, but as you said, it is very difficult, so I can’t wait to hear what you have to offer.
Body fat has GOT TO GO!!!!! Muscle burns energy at rest. I need to build muscle to help burn body fat. That is stuff I do know. The rest sounds confusing to me. I like the fat loss/body building 101 idea. What you have said so far sounds advanced to me.
Very interesting Joel,
I like the idea of training one way one week and another way the following week and keep alternating between the two workouts. As an example on week working full body andthe following week working volume one bodypart each workout. Adding to that some intervals.
However, I am anxious to see what you will propose.
Nyrton
Hi Joel,
I’m thinking it may not be possible to do both on your CYWT program, because when I listened to the Q&A session you had a week or so ago, you mentioned NOT exercising on the cheat day (maybe go for a walk). But this is the only calorie surplus day all week. So I guess what I want to know is, do I forget about trying to build muscle with CYWT….OR, even on a calorie restricted day, if protein intake is high, including a post workout shake, will a workout then encourage both muscle growth & fat loss ?
Or are high GI days better than low GI & low carb days ?
Or is some tweaking of CYWT required ?
Love to hear some answers, thanks.
Harman Toor on 
Doina on 
Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...