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build muscle lose fat pick what well
what if I want to do both at the same
time known as body recomposition many
people believe this is impossible or
only reserved for a small percentage of
people but that's not entirely true most
people definitely can build muscle and
lose fat at the same time in fact it
happens all the time in research and not
just in beginners this study found
positive body recomposition in pro
football players already squatting over
382 pounds and benching over 289 pounds
and even some women at extreme levels of
leanness preparing for a bodybuilding
show have been found to gain a bit of
muscle during this process so what's the
secret well the major problem with
trying to build muscle and lose fat at
the same time is their two opposing
goals to typically you need to be in a
calorie deficit to lose fat but because
muscle building is such an energy
demanding process this usually prevents
you from building muscle however the
energy your muscles need to grow doesn't
just have to come from your diet with
the right nutrition and training plan
you can actually signal your body to use
its existing fat stores as energy
towards building muscle and as a result
build muscle and lose fat simultaneously
so how do we do it well there's three
steps to this starting with nutrition
now the most important part of your
nutrition is your calorie intake and
although you want to be in a calorie
deficit to stimulate fat loss it
shouldn't be as aggressive as it is
during a typical diet and phase as for
what that sweet spot is let's take a
look at this 2021 meta-analysis
researchers pull together 59 fat loss
studies to try to find at what point a
calorie deficit becomes too low for
building muscle to be possible here is
the graph of the results notice how many
people were able able to build muscle
when the deficit was small but as soon
as it surpassed a deficit of around 300
calories muscle growth came to a halt
and even began to decrease as soon as
the deficit grew larger than 500
calories now keep in mind this data is
from subjects following standard fitness
programs employed in research studies
which usually aren't the most ideal
programs for building muscle so with the
optimized training plan I'll show you
later on in this video it's very
possible you'll still be able to build
muscle even in a 500 calorie deficit and
Beyond however based on this data if you
want to maximize your odds of being able
to recop it's likely that a slight
deficit of around 200 to 300 calories is
best and if you do want some help
calculating this you can head over to
billtoscience.com calculator okay so we
have calories figured out but what seems
to be just as important is your protein
intake you see a calorie deficit reduces
your rates of muscle protein synthesis
so less of the protein you eat will be
used as a building block for building
muscle E2 little protein and your body
will start to look for it elsewhere such
as your existing muscle mass as for how
much to eat to counteract this let's
take a look at three studies each of
them had subjects eat in a calorie
deficit but assigned them to either a
low or high daily protein intake of
different amounts every single study
found Superior muscle growth in the high
protein group and since subjects were
still in a calorie deficit they managed
to lose fat at the same time now
unfortunately we don't yet have a study
that compares protein intakes that are
both relatively High during a calorie
deficit such as 0.8 versus 1.2 grams per
pound of body weight however I think
it's pretty safe to say that you'll be
pretty much close to maximizing your
growth at about 0.8 grams per pound and
if you really want to be on the safe
side bump it up to one gram per pound so
the next step is to pair your nutrition
plan with a training plan designed to
force your muscles to grow and there's a
few relevant studies that can help us
determine what the best approach might
be one of them is a study published just
last year where research just took 130
subjects with at least six months
trading experience and compared the
effects of having them trained with
heavy weights versus lighter weights
while in a calorie deficit a common
belief is that lighter waste for High
Reps is better for fat loss whereas
heavier weights for Less reps is best
for building muscle but in this case
both approaches resulted in a similar
amount of fat loss as well as a little
bit of muscle gain but this does heavily
depend on one factor effort and this is
honestly where I believe most of you
guys are falling short you see in order
to maximize growth you need to take each
of your sets at least within three reps
short of failure and in fact based on
the new pre-print study it might be
advantageous to take each set even
closer to failure than this thing is
most people don't train anywhere close
to hard enough to reach this no you got
more come on come on come on you have at
least three more go and this brings me
to an important point I want to make
there really isn't a special body
composition position training plan it's
about doing the basics but doing the
well polish hard enough during your sets
train with enough volume work each
muscle at least twice per week and most
importantly stay consistent even if
you're an experienced lifter fixing any
one of these variables can very well be
the stimulus your body needs to continue
building muscle despite being in a
deficit but before I cover who exactly
body recomposition is best suited for
there is one more variable you need to
make sure you don't overlook sleep okay
so the most relevant study we have
regarding sleep and body recomposition
was published back in 2020 researchers
took untrained men and randomly assigned
them to either a worker program
consisting of two full body workouts per
week or that same workout program plus a
sleep education program designed to
improve both the quantity and the
quality of their sleep after 10 weeks
both groups had similar increases of
muscle with a trend favorite in the
Sleep group when it came to Fat Loss
however the Sleep group actually he
ended up losing a significant amount of
fat while the workout only group ended
up gaining a little bit of fat other
Studies have shown similar effects as
well where sleep deprivation negatively
affects both muscle gains and fat loss
so to make sure you don't sabotage all
the work you put into your nutrition and
training try to get at least seven hours
of sleep per night alright so now that
we've covered how to recap let's discuss
the most important part who body
recomposition is best suited for and
whether or not it's actually worth your
time pursuing so first off the higher
your potential for growth the more
likely you'll be able to recall and
there's three main groups of people who
satisfy this criteria the first group
are beginners who can basically touch a
weight and end up growing the second
group has to do with the fact that
muscle regrows far easier than it took
to initially grow it Lawrence one of our
bill of science members is a good
example of this he took some time off
training and in his first two months
back although his body weight didn't
change very much he was able to build
some muscle while losing a good amount
of fat but the third group is where I
think most people fall under and Nick
another one of our build science members
is a perfect example of this although he
had been training for several years he
was pretty much just going through the
motions he never properly applied
Progressive overload and had plenty of
other areas where his training could
improve I also just didn't know how to
approach his nutrition after we helped
optimize his plan he quickly saw results
and experienced incredible body
recomposition over the course of several
months although his actual body weight
didn't change too much he clearly built
a good amount of muscle while losing a
ton of fat in the process that said even
if they do fall into one of these three
groups there's still one more condition
you should satisfy and the importance of
this is highlighted in a recent 2023
case study researchers analyzed a group
of professional bodybuilders during the
contest prep and found that as they got
leaner building muscle became far less
likely and eventually muscle loss became
inevitable once they surpassed a certain
level of leanness it is interesting
however that a few of the female
subjects were still able to build a
little bit of muscle and another study
has actually shown similar results it
suggests that body recomposition may be
more likely to occur in females even
when relatively but we definitely need
more research but overall although the
exact minimum level of body fat required
to recomb isn't entirely clear yet I'd
say around 15 body fat for males and at
least 22 percent for females is a good
minimum but now it's time for the
million dollar question is body
recomposition even worth your time well
first off if you're someone who's pretty
lean or has been trained both hard and
consistently for at least six months
then you're probably gonna have a hard
time trying to recall secondly even if
you are likely to recall you should also
consider what your main goal is right
now I know you want to do both but
what's truly more important to you right
now building muscle or losing fat for
example while you might end up building
a little bit of muscle during a recomp
most research suggests that a surplus or
lean ball book is likely Superior
whereas if your main goal is to lose fat
then a slightly more aggressive deficit
would definitely lead to more fat loss
with the possibility that you'll still
be able to gain a little bit of muscle
it's also likely no coincidence that no
bodybuilder on the planet at least that
I'm aware of natural or enhanced tries
to recomp their way to muscle growth
they use Balkan and cutting cycles and
end up looking better year after year
and perhaps just as important we as
humans like to see things go in the
right direction during a recomp results
can be slow and your body weight doesn't
really help indicate whether things are
going in the right direction so you have
to rely on other metrics like small
differences in progress photos
strengthen the gym have your clothes are
fitting and tracking your waist
circumference over time without proper
guidance this can be a lot more
difficult to navigate than a traditional
bulker cut where the scale and quicker
body changes can lead the way that said
I do think for some people it is worth a
shot and at the very least it's helpful
to be mindful of when dieting in the
event that your weight is stuck and you
think you're not making progress but
you're really just building muscle and
losing fat simultaneously and as a recap
here's who is best suited for here's how
to execute it and here's what to expect
and how long it typically lasts and if
you need some help optimizing your plan
then head to buildtoothscience.com and
take our 30 second quiz to find the best
step-by-step training and nutrition plan
for you and your body I highly recommend
that you give this video watch next for
some new science-based training
techniques you can start applying today
to speed up growth thanks for watching
I'll see you next time
