Joel,
You definitely have given great tips to adding muscle with minimal fat. I do like the idea of eating more on workout days and less on rest days. That seems to be a great strategy no matter what the goal.
Look forward to your next post,
Rusty
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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332 comments - add yours
Wise words, yet again! and as you mentioned the variations are endless and that is what keeps us coming back for more, if we spent every day doing the same routines in the same order, we would get bored an. I love a new program, I can barely wait to get in the gym and try it out. The same goes with my eating, I like to mix it up in accordance, just because it is a routine doesn’t mean it has to feel that way.
How could these concepts/methods be incorporated into your “Cheat Your Way Thin” way of living?
Joel, in your opinion which is the most effective method?
all sounds good so far, hard work but nothing worth having is easy.
Still interested…
I’m new to all of this- please tell me more!
Sounds interesting, but confusing. Interested to learn more as I have a lot of fat to loose but also want to be toned as well. Whats the point (other than health) to loose fat but then have saggy skin. At 67 and a woman this is of real interest to me.
Yvonne UK
Like this forum, seeing that others have found things similar to my experience.
@ztrekus –
@Rachel –
@Drew –
Cheers guys! (aka gal, Rachel :) )
I’ve not used and am certainly not criticising Joel’s cyclic methods in any way here.
Definitely everything expressed by these three matches my training experience. I set out just to keep in shape for occasional kitesurfing and similar crazy outdoor idiocy to prevent injuries and keep adequate base fitness. I’ve accidentally gained loads of strength, vast amounts of power, had cardio anyway and it is still in place, was lean but dropped to 5% BF, visible and measurable lean muscle gain.
I use high quality lean protein, lots of veggies (including fermented veggies), quality fats (first pressing oils, roughly equal mix of mono, polyunsats and sats), See no reason to avoid carbs (unprocessed) in any way but only after (and within a few hours of) heavyweight training. (If you are vegan, then check out Mike Mahler’s site).
My workouts are short 5 day/pw strength sessions plus the occasional HIIT type session.
As Rachel has expressed, if you are not getting the right balance of nutrition then even the thought of a workout gets depressing and the results are worse than demoralising (I find strength falls away within a couple of days as the first indicator.)
seems intresting if u can put it into effective practical approach. I my self have been trying to do this for months.But it doesnt seem to work for me (there is a problem with my way of doing it)!, looking forward to hear more
This way of training to build muscle and lose fat makes so much sense. I have been training like this for a while and it does work. Can’t wait for the next blog post Joel.
@bsenka –
Thats sounds like exactly what I would have suggested :)
and Make sure you get a little protein with every meal… plant or animal
@Rachel –
I found it difficult too… and I already had a rather polished nutritional plan. What I decided to do was to co-ordinate having carbs on my workout days.
Will this be a compromise on both muscle buiding and fat loss and you achieve nothing end of the day?
It makes sense I’ll give it a try an see how it works out.
Two weeks of building muscle followed by one week of fat loss with appropriate nutrition seems the most effective if the comparative priority is the former.
Alternate weeks of each are also likely to work effectively if the comparative priority is fat loss.
Nick Nilsson has developed a similar strategy called ‘Metabolic Surge’
This program takes the approach of Fat burning workouts/nutrition adjustments for one week then Muscle building workouts/nutrition adjustments the next
over a 36 week cycle
Reports have been encouraging
Check it out!
:O)
yeah. that souds great joel! give us mooooorreeee!
i’m very interrested
Excellent; come back more specifics please. Liz
Awesome stuff.
I would like to learn more about this.
so obvious i missed it completely!!!
im on the same boat as lane there, i know it all depends on the specific routines you go through, but are these methods as effective as each other, or are there dicrepencies between them in terms of efectivesness???
cheers for the info Joel!!
Can you tell us how to do this so that we can get started without having to wait until the next intallment. I have just qualified as a gym instructor and the stuff you say flies in the face of the stuff that I have been taught. Maybe there needs to be an overhaul in the training of instructors so that when you go to the gym you do not get a one size fits all program of cardio followed by weights.
I have heard about some of these different strategies. It is basically alternating between feed days with heavy lifting and fast days (fasting being relative to feeding, I mean… not total fasting) with HIIT and MRT…? Is that about right. Man!!! I just started a routine that has me lifting for growth for a month and then for leaning out for a month. Is that ok too? You just about need a PhD to do this right. I am very very dedicated to finding the right balance and gaining muscle while losing fat. I know it can be done.
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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...