@Steve – I agree with Steve. Being trained and a practicing trainer back in the 80’s and 90’s Joel’s way is not going to work. You need the recovery time between workouts. I don’t believe in the No Pain, No Gain theory. That is NOT the way to work out. I tried Joel’s way and it did not make sense to me either. I’d love to discuss sometime, because I believe the folks trying this method are not going to be successful.
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:
Related Posts
332 comments - add yours
Joel, do these principles apply to specific areas like the “beer gut” or the “muffin top” ? Even though we can lose weight, these are really difficult areas-to me anyway- that even with diet and exercise are hard to get rid of. Can we loose the fat there and build muscle in these difficult areas? Look forward to more info> thanks.
Is there any data (published results) with any of the regimens you suggest today?
If so, what do the studies show?
Thanks
I think you should also take into account that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day.
“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”
Does this mean we could follow a muscle building program such as Vince Delmonte’s No Nonsense Muscle gain for two weeks and then follow it up with cheat your way thin?
Tell us more on fat loss/muscle gain at the same time, O great one…
I think it would be a sin not to include Nick Nillson in this discussion :) no I’m not promoting him, but he really has this down. Joel if you can, get him on board here to give some quality input ;)
You must remember that your body builds muscles through the repair and recovery process AFTER your workout. The workout is what initializes and forces your body to begin the process in the first place. That said, it does not make sense to cut calories on your OFF days. Yes it is better to consume your carbs on training days because it will burn off faster, but you need to consume adequate protein and vegies EVERY day, in order for your muscles to repair and grow. If you do not consume proper nutrition, your body will feed off the reserves in the mucsles themselves — NOT what you want!
Most finess experts and professional body builders will tell youy that you must PICK ONE GOAL: either muscle building or fat burning. If you would look better losing fat, go for that first, if you are skinny or even a “skinny-fat” and have little muscle, then the choice is obvious.
If Fat Loss is your goal, incorporate resistance training in all your workouts so you will prevent muscle loss. Implement a fat burning cardio program (be it HIIT or whatever works for you personally), and a sound nutritional program AND sufficient recovery time, for optimal results. Bottom Line, focus on only ONE goal: Fat Burning or Muscle Building (you will naturally build some muscle with a fat burning program that includes proper resistance training, just don’t expect to bulk up).
Wow, really interesting topic and very interesting comments and conversation going on. In my own experience and in people I know it seems it is possible to drop fat and increase muscle as a beginner, but the more trained you are, it becomes a game of either building muscle or losing fat at any given time. However, this line of thought of not giving up on either but working on them in a structured way at the same time intrigues me. If I lift heavy for very long and neglect the calorie deficit or conditioning I feel heavy and slow. If I condition too much I’m dying to lift heavy, so mixing it up sounds like the best of both worlds. My husband is an amateur, natural bodybuilder and he has worked to keep his body fat in single digits all year long and has been able to add muscle. Neither of us believe the bulking mentality that typically goes along with bodybuilding is actually good for the body! I’ve been thinking quite a while that being able to lift heavy at least one day a week is what keeps me sane even when I’m focusing on a conditioning program. Thanks for this post and I’m looking forward to hearing more.
I’m guessing your answer will have something to do with eating the right types of calories!? There are many studies that show that eating the right types of calories (like lowering carb intake/increasing protein) can increase (and speed up) fat loss, so it’s not just a calorie deficit.
Tell me everything you know…..:)
hi joel,
i agree with much of what you posted on this subject except where you said that the training for building muscle requires “heavy weights and a large number of reps”. the heavy weights are the intensity and the number of reps are the volume.
INTENSITY, yes, is what builds muscle—that force applied to the muscles becomes the stimulus to grow stronger and bigger. then the muscles respond to the stimulus by adapting. that adaptation is strength and size. it’s not the VOLUME that brings that on.
when you increase the VOLUME, you must lower the intensity and therefore the stimulus for growth. volume and intensity are inversely proportional. the higher the intensity, the lower the duration should be.
for muscles to continue to grow, 2 things must happen; one is several days of rest between workouts (muscles grow during recovery and the higher the intensity, the longer the rest between workouts should be), and the workouts need to be PROGRESSIVE. the body quickly adapts to the weights lifted previously and they must be increased, or you’ll remain stagnant. the body will not build bigger/stronger muscles unless it is forced to do so.
a beginner will see results no matter how he lifts, but a seasoned lifter needs to know and apply the principles of muscle building.
i was also thinking, and this is my opinion, that when a person builds muscle, and he maintains the same caloric intake, he should lose fat because the increased muscle mass increases metabolism by 50 cal/lb of muscle, and those calories come from fat while the person is at rest. what do you think, joel?
I wonder if feeding your muscles (w/ caloric surplus) on muscle-building days, then burning calories via interval training (w/caloric deficit) IS the answer? Always keeping the body “confused?” I dunno. Now I’m keeping by BRAIN confused!
wouldn’t focusing on building muscle yield the same end result because muscle requires energy and would burn fat off? thanks.
Can i have some more hahahaha
Sounds like just what I need!
Its simple. Xtreme Fat loss diet. I lost 40 lbs and didn’t lose any lift strength at all. When I was done, I went back to my workouts and had gained strengh and mobility while losing the fat! I surprised everyone around me, and have everyone asking how a 50 year old could do so well. Thanks Joel. I can’t wait to hear more!
I have actually done those things, and had some success. It is a very slow demanding process for me. At the end of the day, it’s always nutrition first. I am looking forward to seeing what else there might be to it.
Waiting to hear more…. plz n tq!
The whole “calorie deficit” idea is only approximate and then only in the context of other macro nutrient intake. Atkins showed that you could eat tons of “calories” and loose fat/weight. In other words, a calorie is not a calorie.
I myself use this way of dieting. I do 5 days of weight traning with a calorie surplus and the other 2 days i do cardio with calorie deficit.
Kurt Russell
Ok – give us the drill. we are all waiting.
i personally think 2 weeks heavy and muscle building and one week fat burning makes the most sense.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
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...