How to Lean Bulk: The Ultimate Guide

By ​Philip Stefanov​ ​(Edit)​ Last updated March 16, 2018

A bulk is a period of time that is dedicated to ​muscle growth​ and strength gain.
It also includes some sort of a caloric surplus that facilitates these anabolic
adaptations.

This period, depending on the aggressiveness of the surplus also results in

some fat gain. This is a necessary and, for most people, an unavoidable “side
effect” of trying to build muscle mass.

In terms of training, this period of time is less restrictive. More training volume
and a higher training frequency can (and in most cases should) be used. And
progress on a weekly and monthly basis is much more noticeable.
During a ​fat loss period​, your goal is to cut out the “fluff” from your body and
training while focusing on maintaining performance on a few key lifts. During a
bulk, you get to expand your training and include much more accessory work.

Some people get things mixed up, so let me clear something up:

A bulk is NOT a period of time where you stuff yourself with everything you
can get your hands on. That is an eating disorder.

The #1 Requirement You Should Meet Before

Going on a Bulk
A favorable body composition.

By that I mean at or around 10-12% body fat. If you’re over 15-20%+ body fat,
I recommend taking some time to get down to 10-12% and then starting your
bulk. There are a few reasons why:

1)A higher body fat percentage is generally ​associated with higher estrogen
and lower testosterone​. Fat contains the enzyme aromatase, which converts
testosterone to estrogen. Also, lower testosterone makes it easier for you to
gain fat and more fat further reduces your testosterone. It is an ongoing cycle.

2)A higher body fat percentage is ​associated with poor insulin sensitivity​. This
influences how much of the weight you gain will be muscle and how much will
be fat. Lower insulin sensitivity means that more of the energy you consume is
stored as fat.

3)Lower-grade inflammation, associated with obesity has been shown to

decrease anabolic and increase catabolic signaling​. How these signals
change with lower levels of body fat (say, around 20%) remains to be studied.

4)Starting a bulk when you’re leaner generally allows you to bulk for longer
and look better in the process. It’s much better (physiologically and physically)
to bulk from 12% to 20% body fat than to do so from 18% to 27%.

5)If you decide to stop bulking at 15-16% body fat instead of 20%+, you’ll
have much less fat to lose. If you want to get lean for the summer, you can
start cutting later. If you need to get lean for a photoshoot, you can bulk for a
few extra weeks and put on a bit more muscle mass. You also risk less
muscle loss with a shorter fat loss period.

Put in simpler terms, starting off leaner will allow you to train harder, recover
better, build more muscle mass, and look better in the process. The way I see
it, there’s no debate.

How Quickly Can We Expect to Build Muscle,

Realistically​?

Before we can get into specifics on bulking, we first need to know what is a
realistic rate of muscle growth. As we pile on year after year of proper training
behind our backs, the rate of muscle growth decreases.

By taking a moment to see how far you’ve come with your training, you can
more accurately predict how much muscle mass you can gain on a month to
month. Provided, of course, you train well and eat enough calories.
Training experience can be categorized in a few different ways, with the ​most
popular one​ developed by Lyle McDonald. His method is based on years of
proper training:

Credits:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/

Alan Aragon has his own model, as well:

Credits: Alan Aragon https://alanaragon.com/

Martin Berkhan puts lifters in one of three categories: beginners,

intermediates or advanced trainees. His categories are based on strength
levels.

If you focus on getting better at the core barbell lifts (deadlift, bench press,
and squat), you can check ​Martin’s guidelines​ and where you stand. Or, you
can refer to Lyle’s graph.
Now, based on where you put yourself, you can roughly estimate how much
muscle mass you can gain on a monthly basis.

Beginner (less than a year in the gym): 2-3 lbs. / 0.9-1.2kg.

Intermediate (1 to 4 years of proper training): 1-2 lbs. / 0.45-0.9kg.

Advanced (4+ years of proper training): 0.5lbs / 0.22kg.

Some thoughts:

● Gauging exactly how many years of proper training you have behind
your back can be difficult. For example, you might have been lifting
for 5 years, but only started training properly 3 years ago. For most
people, categorizing yourself should be a combination of Lyle and
Martin’s models.
● Taller guys should strive to gain weight at the upper end of the
ranges from above.
● Beginner lifters with more muscular development (due to previous
history in sports or a ​physically demanding job​) and more strength
can benefit better from gaining as an intermediate lifter.
● More “advanced” lifters who can’t tell how many years of proper
training they have and are weaker than what Martin’s guidelines
suggest can benefit from gaining as an intermediate lifter.

How to Calculate Your Caloric and Macronutrient

Needs for Bulking (Step-by-Step)

We’ll be tossing the term TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) below quite a
bit, so let’s go over how to calculate it:
First off, calculate your BMR using this formula:

Credits: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/bmr-formula.php

I’ve found it to be one of the more accurate methods out there. I don’t
recommend most online calculators because they underestimate your calorie
needs.

Now that you’ve calculated your BMR, calculate your TDEE using this
multiplier:

Credits: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

Now that you know how much energy your body needs, you’re already ahead
of most regular gym goers.

From here, add the needed calorie surplus to that number (to ensure that
you’re feeding your body with enough energy to build muscle).
 Going Deeper: How to Calculate Macronutrients
Now it’s time to split your calories between carbs, fats, and protein. For those
of you who don’t know what macros are, they are the components that make
up food. Also, read ​this​.

Each macronutrient has a certain number of calories per gram. Protein and
carbs have 4 calories and fats have 9 calories per gram.

Protein is First

Protein is of great importance for us lifters. It helps ​maintain muscle mass​, as

well as build more of it.

Protein is also ​very satiating​. If you’re the type of person who struggles with
hunger, even when bulking, eating a bit more protein could help blunt your
hunger.

As far as intake goes, 1 gram per pound of body weight is enough to

maximize its effects. If you weigh 180 pounds, aim for 180 grams of protein.
Simple.

Same for you ladies. If you weigh 125 pounds, eat 125 grams of protein daily.

Carbs and Fats are Second

Splitting up your remaining calories between carbs and fats should be based
on your personal taste, but there are two rules to keep in mind:

Get between 0.3 and 0.6 grams of fats per pound of body weight. If you weigh
180 pounds, aim for 54 to 108 grams of fat/day (180*0.3=54, 180*0.6=108). At
the very least, 15% of your calories should come from fats.
If you’re eating around 3300 calories per day, 15% is 495 calories (3300 *
0.15 = 495), which is 55 grams of fat (405 / 9 = 55).

Why?

Dietary fat is an integral part of any balanced diet. Fats support metabolic
function, cell signaling, immune system function, hormone production, and the
absorption of important nutrients (such as vitamin D and A).

Fats also add texture and taste to meals and take longer for the body to break
down and absorb, which makes you feel full for longer.

There is much to be said about dietary fat, but it’s beyond the scope of this
guide. If you’re interested, read ​All About Healthy Fats​.

Finally, on to carbohydrates. Once you have your protein and fats numbers,
calculating carb needs is pretty straight-forward:

Leave the remainder of your calories for carbs.

Let me give you an example (warning: ​basic math ahead​):

You’re eating 3400 calories per day and weigh 180 pounds.

You’ll need 180 grams of protein (180 * 4 = 720 calories) and 54 to 108 grams
of fats (54 * 9 = 486 calories, 108 * 9 = 972 calories).

The remaining calories go to carbs. In our case:

3400 - 720 (protein calories) = 2680;

2680 - 486 (fat calories) = 2194 calories;

Now, split 2194 by 4 (number of calories per gram of carbs).

2194 / 4 = 548 grams of carbs;

Or, if you go with the high end of fats intake (0.6g/lb), the example would look
like this:

3400 - 720 = 2680;

2680 - 972 = 1708;

1708 / 4 = 427 grams of carbs per day;

The higher your fat intake, the lower your carbs need to be and vice-versa.
Don’t stress too much about it. Get enough protein, eat within your range of
fats and get the remaining from carbs.

Also, aim for 10-15 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories you eat.

Fiber provides many health benefits and keeps you regular. Fiber also fills you
up, which is a nice bonus, especially if you are one who struggles with hunger.

Foods that are high in fiber are generally high in volume and low in calories. If
you’re interested in learning more about fiber, read ​this​.

The 3 Main Ways to Bulk (and One Way to Get

Really Fat)

A caloric surplus is what it is, sure. But, depending on how big it is, there are 3
main ways to bulk (and one way to get really fat):
 #1: The Relaxed Bulk

#2: The Lean/Slow Bulk

#3: The Borderline Maintenance Bulk
#4: The.. um.. Eating Disorder Bulk?
Assuming that your end goal is reaching your maximum muscular potential
and not just turning into a fat ass, we’ll break down the 3 ways to bulk and
mostly ignore the 4th one.

1.The Relaxed Bulk

When doing the relaxed bulk, you don’t track calories or macronutrients. The
amount of fat you gain is higher compared to the other two methods, but you
don’t care as long as you get to build muscle mass.

You don’t have to worry that you might not be eating enough because you’ll
be gaining weight on a weekly basis. With that in mind, you’ll still keep the
realistic rates of muscle growth in mind. You won't kid yourself that the 5
pounds you gained in the last month are all muscle.

There is a principle in economics called “Diminishing returns”. In essence, this

principle states that in all productive processes, there comes a point at which
adding more of one factor of production (for example, hiring more people or
buying more equipment to assemble cars) while keeping everything else
constant (for example, the number of cars these people can work on at the
same time) starts yielding smaller marginal gains.

How does this relate to bulking?

There comes a point at which eating more calories will not further optimize
muscle growth as long as everything else is constant (training, recovery,
drug-free status). Some people are under the impression that if eating 3500
calories per day will make them gain muscle mass, then eating 4500 calories
per day will be even better.

The reality is, the latter option will just make them fat and not build muscle any
faster.

How to do it:

This is pretty simple: eat plenty of food. As long as you’re somewhat

conscious about your protein intake and are gaining weight, you’re in the
clear. Because you’ll most likely gain more fat, you’ll compromise ​calorie
partitioning​ to some degree.

Also, tracking progress during a relaxed bulk is going to be tricky. We all store
fat differently and taking body measurements is not going to do you much
good. I recommend tracking body weight.
Weigh yourself every morning after going to the bathroom and take weekly
and monthly averages.

You should aim to gain 0.75-1.25 lbs./0.3-0.5 kg. of weight per week or 3-5
lbs./ 1.3-2.2 kg. per month. If you’re gaining weight at a faster rate, consider
reducing your food intake a bit.

Now, some of you might be thinking:

“This is what I’m going to do!”

But before you do, read the 3 drawbacks to this approach:

Drawback #1: Gaining too much fat might not be good for you,
appearance-wise.

We all store fat differently and have different bone structures. Getting to a
higher body fat percentage might be bad for you.

Some people are genetically blessed with good proportions and favorable
body fat distribution. They usually have a pronounced v-taper even at higher
body fat percentages thanks to their wide shoulders and narrow waist.

They might also store fat mostly around their legs and butt and stay relatively
lean in the upper body.

Take for example Christian Guzman in ​this picture​.

He’s in the middle of his bulk and his abs are quite blurry. Arm vascularity is
not the best either. But, as you can see, his waist is narrow and he’s still got a
nice v-taper.
People like him can get away with higher body fat percentages and still look
very decent.

But, there are other people with narrow shoulders and wide hips that have a
pear-like shape that is exacerbated by higher levels of body fat. If your bone
structure is like this, then being at a higher body fat might not be good for you.

There’s also the issue of fat gains in the face. Some people have a relatively
chiseled face even at 18-20% body fat, where others aren’t so lucky. If you’re
not comfortable with that and feel self-conscious, then doing a relaxed bulk is
not worth the trade-off.

Drawback #2: Gaining too much fat will likely reduce your hunger and
make further gains much more difficult.

I’m referring to the ​body fat set point theory​ and the role of the hormone leptin.
The theory states that everyone has a certain body fat and weight range that
their body likes to stay in and does everything in its power to do so. It looks
like this:
For most guys, this range is between 12% and 20% body fat. Getting below or
above it either reduces your metabolic rate and increases your hunger or
increases your metabolic rate and reduces your hunger, respectively.

This is mainly thanks to the hormone leptin. This hormone is ​the main
regulator of body weight​, metabolism, and hunger, among other things.

Leptin is synthesized in the fat cells and the more fat you have, the higher
your leptin levels will be. This usually results in a reduction in appetite and an
increase in your metabolic rate.

But, the leaner you get, the lower your leptin levels go. This results in a
decrease in metabolic rate and an increase in hunger. An exception to this are
naturally lean guys who didn't have to diet to get there.

Bottom line?
This usually results in you staying within a certain body fat and body weight
range where you feel good and have a normal appetite.

Now, what does this have to do with doing a relaxed bulk?

Getting yourself to the high end of your “functional range” too quickly can
compromise your bulk, because your appetite will drop and your metabolism
will increase. This often results in having a very difficult time eating enough
calories to further gain weight.

Here’s an example diagram of what this might look like:

You can counter that by doing a slower bulk and gaining much less fat for
every pound of muscle.

Drawback #3: Eating intuitively can be good for some people, and a
disaster for others.

While I do believe that everyone should at least try and adopt a “normal
human” way of eating while still making great progress in the gym and not
getting overly fat, there are drawbacks.

For some people, this style of eating doesn’t work the way it should. In my
mind, there are two types of people that struggle with ​intuitive eating​ and
rarely get anywhere:

● People with naturally big appetites. ​This type of person has always
struggled with their weight and cravings. They can’t eat one cookie
and stop. And if they try to eat intuitively, they will most likely get fat.
These people need a more structured approach to eating that
includes tracking calories and knowing when to stop.

● People with naturally small appetites.​ We all know at least one

person who ​“can’t seem to gain any weight”​ no matter what they do.

(Except, of course, to eat.)

This person, also known as a “hardgainer” usually has a faster

metabolism and a terrible appetite. If they don’t consciously remind
themselves, they can get by the whole day without eating.

These people also need structure and, at times, some force-feeding

to meet their calorie requirements for weight gain.

2.The Lean/Slow Bulk

The lean bulk is a much more structured approach to gaining weight. You
make systematic calorie increases based on your progress (or lack thereof)
with the goal of steadily building muscle mass with little fat.

The drawback of this approach is that, for extended periods of time, you might
not be eating in a caloric surplus and limiting the growth you can achieve.
Tracking minor body weight increases can be difficult especially when
considering things like:

● Your body’s ability to gain/drop pounds-worth of water and glycogen

weight;
● Constipation that could occur for one reason or the other;

These bodily functions can often swing your body weight up and down a few
pounds at a time and blur the picture.

How to do it:

Much like with the relaxed bulk, here you also need to establish a caloric
surplus, only a smaller one. To do that, you first need to calculate your
estimated total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and add a small, 150-200,
calorie surplus.

Once you have that, start tracking your body weight weekly averages and
adjust as needed. Let’s do an example calculation:

Say you’ve calculated your TDEE to be 3000 calories/day. This is the number
of calories you eat to maintain your body weight.

Now, we’ll add a 200 calorie surplus and end up with 3200 calories per day.
As you’re tracking your caloric intake (and protein, at least), track your body
weight in the morning, after going to the bathroom, at least 4 times per week
(ideally - 7). Take the weekly average number and compare week to week.

Example #1:

Week 1 average: 186.4lbs./84.5kg.

Week 2 average: 187lbs./84.8kg.

Week 3 average: 186.8lbs./84.7kg.

Although the physical activity and caloric intake are going to be consistent,
small fluctuations in weight are normal. In the above example, you would keep
the calories at 3200 for another week or two and then decide if you’ll increase
them.

Example #2:

Week 1 average: 186.4lbs./84.5kg.

Week 2 average: 187.4lbs./85kg.

Week 3 average: 188.5lbs./85.5kg.

In this example, we can see that the speed of weight gain is more than we’d
like. In this case, we scale back the caloric intake by 100/day for another two
weeks and see what happens.

Example #3:
Week 1 average: 186.4lbs./84.5kg.

Week 2 average: 185.6lbs./84.1kg.

Week 3 average: 185.2lbs./84kg.

In this example, not only is the average weight not going up, it’s actually going
down. This most likely means that you’ve either lost some water weight or
actual fat.

Whatever it is, bumping the caloric intake by 100/day is the way to go. Track
your body weight at 3300 calories/day for two weeks and see how it changes.

This is the whole premise of a lean bulk:

Track ​->​ Gaining weight and making progress in the gym? ​->​ Keep things the
same

Track ​->​ Not gaining weight and stagnating in the gym? ​->​ Bump calories a bit

Track ​->​ Gaining weight too fast?​ ->​ Decrease calories a bit.

How to do this after a fat loss period:

These examples are all well and good, but things are a bit different if you try to
do this after a fat loss period. Mainly, raising your calories back to
maintenance improves your hormonal profile, ​increases your metabolic rate
and ​non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)​.

Metabolic rate is somewhat easier to predict as it usually improves gradually.

But, NEAT is individual and some people experience severe changes in their
TDEE during and after dieting.
Let me give you two examples to illustrate:

Example #1:

Person 1 has dieted for 13 weeks and has lost a fair amount of fat. His
metabolic rate has downregulated a bit, which is normal. But, during the diet
period, his NEAT has gone down a lot.

He felt sluggish most of the time and generally kept his activity low, aside from
lifting and doing some cardio.

Now that his diet is over, he’s feeling much more energetic throughout the day
and his TDEE is going up at a fast rate. He’s also much more active
throughout the day.

After the initial 400 calorie/day increase, he starts raising his calories from
week to week. But, he realizes that even after 6 weeks of increasing his
calories, he’s still nowhere near a caloric surplus for weight gain.

Week 1 average(2700 calories/day): 181.2lbs./ 82.1kg. (still in a caloric

deficit)

Week 2 average(2850 calories/day): 181.0lbs./ 82.1kg. (still in a caloric

deficit)

Week 3 average(3000 calories/day): 181.1lbs./82.1kg. (still in a caloric

deficit)

Week 4 average(3100 calories/day): 181.2lbs./82.1kg. (possibly still in a

caloric deficit)
Week 5 average(3250 calories/day): 181.0lbs./82.1kg. (possibly still in a
caloric deficit)

Week 6 average(3400 calories/day): 181.1lbs./82.1kg. (likely around

maintenance at this point)

Week 7 average(3500 calories/day): 181.3lbs./82.2kg. (starting to get

somewhere)

Week 8 average(3600 calories/day: 181.5 lbs./82.3kg. (definitely getting

somewhere)

Example #2:

Person 2 also dieted for 13 weeks and lost a fair amount of fat. His metabolic
rate went down a bit, which is normal. But, unlike Person 1, Person 2 didn’t
experience such big drops in his NEAT.

He remained energetic despite the deficit and didn’t reduce his daily activity.
Thanks to that, he also managed to diet on more calories compared to Person
1.

Now that his diet is over, after the initial 400 calorie/day increase, he begins
raising his calories from week to week to find his maintenance.

Week 1 average(3000 calories/day): 181.2lbs./ 82.1kg. (still in a caloric

deficit)

Week 2 average(3200 calories/day): 181.2lbs./82.1kg. (likely around

maintenance at this point)

Week 3 average(3350 calories/day): 181.3lbs./82.2kg. (starting to get

somewhere)
Week 4 average(3500 calories/day): 181.5 lbs./82.3kg. (definitely getting
somewhere)

As you can see, these are two examples of how NEAT can influence your
caloric needs, especially after fat loss.

Bottom line?

If you’ve been in a caloric deficit for an extended period of time, you’ll need a
few extra weeks to find your true maintenance. After that, you can add a
surplus to that number.

Where do these numbers come from?

We covered a lot of info and I gave you some examples of what it could look
like. But you might be wondering ​“Where do these numbers come from?”​. And
that’s a valid question.

● It takes roughly 2500 kCals to synthesize a pound of muscle (or

roughly 5500 kCals for a kilo).
● It takes roughly 3500 kCals to burn or store a pound of fat (or roughly
7700 kCals for a kilo)

If we assume a generous 1:1 ratio of muscle to fat gain (on a slow bulk, not on
a relaxed one), we should aim to gain 2 pounds of ​body weight​ per month
and hope that half of it is ​muscle​. To do that, we’ll need roughly 6000 kCals
(2500 for the pound of muscle, 3500 for the pound of fat) over maintenance
for the month, or roughly 200 calories/day (6000/30=200).

You might be thinking, ​"Why don't I eat in a 2500 monthly surplus? Won't that
lead to more muscle and less fat gain?"
I'll show you why you need this caloric "buffer" for muscle growth in the next
section.

3.The borderline maintenance bulk

In theory, doing a bulk like this brings the best of both worlds:

● You get to build muscle mass over time;

● You get to stay lean;

Up until a few years ago, if you were to ask most people how to bulk, they’d
tell you to eat a lot. The idea, as stupid as it is, is that if you want to build
muscle mass, you need to eat enormous amounts of food. The fat gain is not
only expected but necessary.

Today, there’s a tendency among most people to go to the other extreme,

where this borderline maintenance bulk takes place.

The supposed idea is that you’ll gain muscle while putting on no fat in the
process, as long as you take this very slowly.

The theory sounds promising. But in reality, there are a few major issues with
this approach:

Issue #1:

As we already discussed above, it takes roughly 2500 calories for your body
to synthesize a pound of muscle. But, the body doesn’t use calories for the
sole purpose of muscle growth. There are also other needs:
 Credits to: bodyrecomposition.com

When you’re eating in a very small caloric surplus, your body will put very little
calories towards actual muscle growth and more to other important things
like.. you know.. keeping you alive.

For that reason, creating this “buffer” of calories ensures that you build actual
muscle over time and don’t plateau.

Issue #2:​​

If we assume that building a pound of muscle mass takes roughly 2500

calories, gaining a pound of fat takes 3500 calories, and calculate a monthly
surplus of roughly 2400-3000 calories (or 80-100/day), you can see how you’d
be limiting your muscle-building potential.
Assuming a generous 1:1 ratio of muscle to fat gain, you’d realistically gain
somewhere between 0.5 and 0.7 pounds of body weight and 0.25 and 0.35
lbs. of actual muscle each month. The remaining would go to water, glycogen
and, of course, fat.

Issue #3:​​

Tracking your progress on such a “bulk” is very difficult when you’re lean and
downright impossible if you’re over 12-13% body fat. The gains would be so
small that noticing changes would be very difficult.

Issue #4:

Most people cannot (and should not) commit to such a slow way of bulking as
there are other, much more efficient ways to go about it. Trying to stay too
lean during the gaining phase will most likely make you spin your wheels and
not get anywhere.

How to do it:

Much like the slow bulk, here you also need to calculate your TDEE and add a
very small surplus of 80-100 calories/day.

Taking the same example from the slow bulk section, let’s use a TDEE of
3000 calories/day. To that, we add 100 calories and end up with 3100/day.

Bodyweight changes will be minimal here but you need to be very strict with
your tracking. If you start gaining weight faster than the estimated ~0.7lbs. per
month, reduce your caloric intake a bit.
Track your body weight in the morning, after going to the bathroom every day.
Take the weekly average number, compare week to week and calculate the
gains every 4 weeks.

Here are 3 examples:

Example #1:

Week 1 average: 186.4lbs./84.5kg.

Week 2 average: 186lbs./84.3kg.

Week 3 average: 186.2lbs./84.4kg.

Week 4 average: 186.1lbs./84.4kg.

As you can see, the weekly averages are fairly consistent. In this case, we
can bump the calories by 100/day and track for another 4 weeks.

Example #2:

Week 1 average: 186.4lbs./84.5kg.

Week 2 average: 186.7lbs./84.6kg.

Week 3 average: 187lbs./84.8kg.

Week 4 average: 187.3lbs/84.9kg.

In this example, the weight gain is more than what we’re aiming for. But, it
depends on the individual. They can either keep intake the same for another
week or two or decrease caloric intake by about ~50/day.

Yes, I know what I said. 50 calories. But you want “lean gains”, right?

Example #3:

Week 1 average: 186.4lbs./84.5kg.

Week 2 average: 186lbs./84.3kg.

Week 3 average: 185.7lbs./84.2kg.

Week 4 average: 185.5lbs./84.1kg.

In this example, the lifter is losing weight which would indicate that they are in
a very small caloric deficit. We can do a bigger bump in calories of about
200-250/day and track for another 4 weeks.

Bottom line?

This option is much like the slow bulk one. You need to track your calories,
macronutrients, and bodyweight and make adjustments as needed. The only
difference being the “promise” of gaining muscle with no fat in the process.

I do believe that this method also leads to some fat gains, but at a slower rate.
If you were to gain ~0.7lbs. of fat per month on a slow bulk, you’d gain
~0.25-0.35lbs. on this one but also less muscle mass.​!
 Which Option is Best and What You Need to
Consider

Now that we’ve looked at the 3 ways to bulk, let’s see which one is optimal for
most people and where you can use the other 2 methods.

1.Pros and Cons of Relaxed Bulking

Pros:

● You won’t have to worry whether you’re eating enough calories to

build muscle.
● You get to eat more freely and not obsess over calories and
macronutrients.
● You’ll likely gain strength at a faster rate compared to the other two
methods.

Cons:

● You’ll gain much more fat during your bulk and need a longer fat loss
phase.
● Your calorie partitioning is going to tip in favor of more fat gains
compared to muscle gain.
● Depending on your bone structure and fat distribution, you might not
be all too happy with the way you look at a higher body fat
percentage. (Narrow shoulders and love handles don’t make for a
great v-taper.)
● Gaining too much fat will likely reduce your hunger and make eating
enough calories difficult. This will impact the length and quality of
your gaining phase.
● If you have a bigger appetite, having the freedom to eat ad libitum
can make you really fat really quickly. And seeing as muscle growth
 is limited, I don’t see the need to gain 40 pounds of weight in a few
months.
● You can form a bad relationship with food and lose the ability to eat in
moderation. I don’t need to explain why this is bad.

Who is it for?

If I’m being honest, I don’t recommend this type of bulking to anyone who is
natural. Seeing as muscle growth is limited, I don’t think it’s wise to put on
weight fast. You'll then have to diet down for 4+ months to reach a
respectable body fat percentage.

To be clear to those who think that they are the exception to the rule:

No, Billy. You didn’t gain 30 pounds of muscle in the last 6 months. And you’re
not ~18% body fat. What happened is you pushed your bulk way too fast and
gained too much fat. These “30 pounds of muscle” are more like 4-5 and the
“~18% body fat” is 25%+.

If you gain any extra muscle mass with this method, you’ll most likely have to
sacrifice it once you start cutting down. Not to mention the psychological drag
of having to eat in a caloric deficit for months on end.

2.Pros and Cons of Lean Bulking

Pros:

● You still get to eat a lot of food when compared to the relaxed bulk.
You’ll need to track your calories and know when to stop.
● You’ll make steady progress in the gym and enjoy the benefits of
being lean even months into the gaining phase.
● More of the weight you gain will be actual muscle thanks to the better
calorie partitioning.
● You’ll get to bulk for longer periods and build more muscle mass. If it
takes you a year to go from 10% to 17-18% body fat, you’ll likely build
 much more muscle than if you were to go from 10% to 17-18% body
fat in a matter of 3-4 months with the relaxed bulk.
● You won’t have to diet down for months after you’re done bulking. If
you do things correctly, you’ll have less than 15 lbs. of fat to shed
before you’re lean.
● You build the habit of eating in moderation and knowing when to stop.
● You can see muscle gains more easily because you’ll have less fat
covering them.

Cons:

● You might waste some time eating at or below maintenance and not
really build muscle mass during that time.
● Tracking calories and macronutrients every day can get tedious.
● Tracking body weight 4-7 days/week can also get tedious.
● You won’t make dramatic visual changes from week to week. It will
take months before you can see more pronounced visual
improvements. That takes patience.
● You’ll have to make minor changes more often, which can also get
tedious.

Who is it for?

This is the best option for the majority of lifters out there. You build muscle
mass, you gain strength, you look like you lift, you get to eat quite a bit of
food, and you don’t have to spend much time losing fat after that.

The downsides, as I stated, are just a few.

3.Pros and Cons of Borderline Maintenance Bulking

Pros:

● You get to keep your precious six-pack year-round and still make
some progress in the gym.
 ● You rarely have to dip into a caloric deficit and if you do, it would be
only for the occasional mini-cut.
● More of the weight that you gain will be actual muscle thanks to the
better calorie partitioning.
● You build the habit of eating in moderation and knowing when to stop.
● You can see muscle gains more easily because you’ll have less fat
covering them.

Cons:

● Visual progress is very, very slow. Most people don’t have this kind of
patience.
● The progress you make in the gym will also be slow. You won’t notice
dramatic improvements in strength gains or work capacity.
● You might waste some time eating at or below maintenance and not
really build muscle mass during that time.
● Being meticulous with your calories and macronutrients every day
can get tedious.
● Tracking body weight 7 days/week can also get tedious.
● You’ll need to fine-tune your training and nutrition more often.

Who is it for?

This approach suits advanced lifters who put a great priority on staying lean
year-round. They also need to know very well what they’re doing with their
training and nutrition.

This approach also works great for people who depend on their visual
appearance to make money (sponsorships, photo shoots, modeling, etc.) and
have to be very lean almost at a moment’s notice. Also, they aren’t in a great
rush to build the last 5-6 pounds of muscle mass that they are capable of.
 Speed of Weight Gain: How it Influences Muscle
to Fat Gain Ratio

Muscle to fat ratio refers to the percentage of calories that your body uses for
muscle repair and growth as opposed to fat storage.

There are a few factors that influence the muscle to fat ratio, such as:

● Whether you’re training or not;

● What your body fat percentage is;
● How good/poor your insulin sensitivity is;

And very importantly for the context of this guide:

● How quickly you’re trying to gain weight;

This, perhaps, is the single most important factor that influences muscle to fat
gain ratio.

Simply put, with all other factors being equal, if we were to take two identical
twins and put one on a lean bulk and the other on a dirty bulk, the one doing
the lean bulk would gain as much muscle as his brother, but with less fat.

Let’s get into some more specific numbers (and speculations). Do keep in
mind that the examples below are more conceptual, rather than hard facts.
They should serve as a rough guideline rather than concrete evidence.

1.Borderline Maintenance Bulk Muscle to Fat Ratio Gain

With a very small surplus of 80-100 calories/day and an approximate gain of
~0.7lbs. of body weight per month, most people can expect to gain muscle
and fat at a 2:1 ratio in favor of muscle.
Meaning, for every 3 pounds of body weight that you gain, ~2 will be muscle
mass and 1 will be stored as fat. Keep in mind that some of the body weight
gains will be water and glycogen.

2.Lean Bulk Muscle to Fat Ratio Gain

With this approach to bulking, you’ll be using a slightly bigger caloric surplus
of around ~200-250/day. This would translate to roughly 2 pounds of body
weight increase per month. You can expect to gain muscle and fat at a 1:1
ratio.

Meaning, out of the 2 pounds you’d gain each month, half would be muscle
and half would go as fat.

3.Relaxed bulk muscle to fat ratio gain

This approach is a bit more difficult to predict as we don’t really have a set
number of our caloric surplus. Just for an example, we can put the surplus at
an average of 500/day for the duration of the gaining phase.

A 500 calorie surplus per day will result in a 15,000 surplus for the month. As
we stated above, it takes your body roughly 2500 kCals to build a pound of
muscle and 3500 kCals to build a pound of fat.

With a 15,000 calorie surplus per month, this would lead to ~3-5 lbs./ 1.3-2.2
kg. per month. Of that, you can hope that 1-1.5 pounds will be muscle. Some
will be water and glycogen and most will be pure fat.

Calorie Cycling: Theory vs. Reality

Calorie cycling is a method of raising and lowering daily calorie intake, usually
in coordination with training. There are many ways to cycle your calories and it
usually depends on your current goals and preferences.

For the context of this guide, we’ll discuss how it could help with your
muscle-gaining efforts.

Theory
Most people tend to burn more calories on training days and fewer on rest
days. Thus, cycling between days of higher caloric intake and days of lower
intake in coordination with training and rest days seems smart.

You support your body with more energy on training days and consume less
food on rest days. This sounds good on paper, but does it work in real life?

Reality
To build muscle at an optimal rate, you need a caloric surplus over an
extended time period. Whether you achieve that caloric surplus with 4
high-calorie days or 7 moderate calorie days likely won’t make a difference.

If you eat at maintenance on rest days and in a surplus on training days, you
likely won’t notice an improvement over a linear style of eating. Also, the
unnecessary complication could get tiresome.

Still, if you are interested in trying it for yourself and don’t mind a bit of
complication, let me give you an example:

Say that you’re training 4 days per week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday. You’ve calculated your caloric needs at 3200/day for muscle growth.
We’ll multiply the 3200 calories by 7 to get the weekly needs.
3200 * 7 = 22,400 weekly calories.

Now, we bump our training day calories to 3500, multiply that by the training
days (in our case, four) and divide the remaining calories by the number of
rest days (in our case, three).

22,400 - (3500 * 4) = 8400 calories.

8400 / 3 = 2800 calories.

So, training days: 3500 calories. Rest days: 2800 calories.

Monday Training / 3500 calories

Tuesday Training / 3500 calories

Wednesday Off / 2800 calories

Thursday Training / 3500 calories

Friday Training / 3500 calories

Saturday Off / 2800 calories

Sunday Off / 2800 calories

Is Intuitive Eating a Good Strategy?

If you’ve read so far, you might be asking yourself:

“Well, calculating calories and macronutrients seems like a lot of hassle. Can’t
I eat intuitively and make progress?”

And this is a valid question so allow me to elaborate.

You see, most people see the bulking phase as an “open season” on the
fridge. They reason that stuffing themselves with food will make them gain
more muscle. In reality, they get fat and need to spend a lot of time losing the
excess fat later.

In today’s obesogenic environment, it’s SO EASY to overeat every day. You

can go to your local grocery store, pick up some junk food for $10-15 and stuff
yourself with thousands of calories in a matter of hours.

Don’t believe me? Check out a few of the “10k calories challenge” videos
floating around Youtube.

What’s more, if you look at a few statistics, you’ll notice that we are a lot fatter
than people in the previous century.

Key facts

● Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.

● In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were
overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.
● 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and
13% were obese.
● Most of the world's population live in countries where overweight and
obesity kills more people than underweight.
● 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in
2016.
● Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were
overweight or obese in 2016.
 ● Obesity is preventable.

This is a direct quote from ​here​.

A great percentage of the total population eats intuitively (aside from the 2
weeks of rigid dieting some people undergo every spring to ​“get in shape for
the summer”​) and we are getting fatter and fatter.

In today’s overabundance of tasty food and social pressure to eat (come now,
I know you’re not going to McDonald’s with friends to get a green salad),
relying on intuitive eating is foolhardy and most people tend to eat way more
food than they need.

This is why I prefer a more structured approach to bulking and putting effort
into your tracking. That way, you get to build a decent amount of muscle mass
over time and not get fat in the process.

I’ll admit, tracking your food intake, training and body progress can be
tiresome at times. But, once you’ve established the habits, doing so won’t
seem like a chore and you’ll be much better off in the long term.

On the other end of the spectrum, people with a small appetite never seem to
eat enough to gain weight and spin their wheels for months, even years. They
think that they’re eating enough, often claiming that they are stuffing
themselves with food all day long.

But the truth is, you might need to eat a lot more food than you think and the
only way to get there is to track your intake every day and aim for a specific
number.

“I ate a lot today.”​ doesn’t sound as concrete as ​“I ate 3700 calories today.”
 What are Mini-cuts and When You Might Like to
Consider Doing One

Mini-cuts are short periods of calorie restriction with the main goal of losing
some of the excess fat that you’ve accumulated. The goal is to go in and out
quickly (usually within 2 to 6 weeks) and get right back into the gaining phase.

Unlike the actual fat loss phase, with mini-cutting, your goal is to be more
aggressive with the caloric restriction. Because it's only for a few weeks, you
don't need to change your training much.

You should jump right into the deficit and not waste any time by slowly
decreasing your calories (which is a good idea if you’re planning for a longer
fat loss phase). Keep your training relatively the same, at least during the first
3-4 weeks and push for further progress in the gym.

Let me give you an example of what it might look like:

Say you’ve been eating in a surplus for the last 14 week and you train 5 days
per week. Depending on how big your surplus is, you can go ahead and
reduce your caloric intake by 500 to 700/day for a week and see where it puts
you.

Keep in mind that you’ll likely drop a few pounds very quickly due to water and
glycogen depletion, not necessarily fat.

After the second week, you can reassess and either keep your calories the
same or decrease them again.

The goal is to jump in aggressively, lean down a bit and get right back on
track with building muscle mass.

Who is mini-cutting best suited for?

● If you’re planning to do a long gaining phase (6-8 months+) it’s a

good idea to fit a short mini-cut here and there.
● If you’re having trouble eating in a smaller caloric surplus and gain
weight faster than you’d like, you’ll benefit from a mini-cut every 3-4
months.

How and When to Make Changes to Your Diet for

Ongoing Progress

Setting up your diet for bulking is a great first step. The only problem is just
that - it’s the first step. And the first step is only going to get you so far.

In other words, the number of calories you’ll need to get from point A (for
example, 180 lbs.) to point B (185 lbs.), won’t be enough to go from point B
(185 lbs.) to point C (190 lbs.).
As you gain more weight and muscle mass, your caloric needs are going to
increase. If you’re not tracking your progress closely, you can spend a good
amount of time eating less than you should.

Because of that, I recommend tracking your body weight 4 to 7 times per

week, taking the weekly average and looking at the trend over time.

Say, for example, you’ve been gaining a steady 0.6-0.7 pounds of body
weight per week for the last two months. Now, over the last couple of weeks,
your weight has been stagnating and you’re at an average of 189.2 lbs.

At this point, it’s time to bump your calories by 100-150 per day and track for
another two weeks.

If, at that point, your body weight starts going up again, keep it up. If, however,
you’re still not gaining any weight and your average is still at 189 lbs., then
bump calories by another 100-150 per day.

Food Sources: ​As Long As They Fit Your Macros,

They Don’t Matter...​ Or Do They?

I don’t like the if it fits your macros (IIFYM) approach and mentality.

The term IIFYM has this incorrect connotation and most people fall into the
trap that ​“As long as I hit my macronutrient numbers, the foods don’t matter.”

While hitting your caloric numbers and macronutrients is very important, it’s
one side of a coin. Calorie quality matters.

IIFYM is one extreme, but there’s another: “clean” eating.

Unlike IIFYM, where most people take it up as a challenge to shove as much
junk down their throats as they can, clean eating is the opposite. With it, the
goal is to eat only “clean” foods: veggies, lean meats, fish, dairy products,
fruits, etc.

This is all well and good but it makes people develop this black and white,
good and bad mentality towards food. Where a meal that consists of fish and
veggies is “good”, foods like chocolate and pizza are inherently “bad”.

And these people are the ones who avoid the “bad” foods that they love
because they think that pizza will go straight to their abs.

The solution?

Adopting a ​flexible dieting​ mindset.

But isn’t flexible dieting another word for IIFYM?

No, and here’s why:

Where IIFYM follows the rule of ​“hit your macros for the day, the foods don’t
matter”​, flexible dieting is different.

With flexible dieting, your goal is to hit your macros for the day but with a more
balanced and “adult” approach to nutrition. With it, you get 80-90% of your
calories from whole, nutritious foods and the rest are left for your treats.
 Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Track Your Bulking
Progress

Tracking your progress is very important:

● It keeps you accountable when your progress slows down or stops.

● It keeps you motivated to keep going when you see improvements.

Without decent tracking, you can’t be sure how well (or poorly) your bulk is
going and that could lead to a lot of wasted time. To track progress properly,
you need to set S.M.A.R.T. goals and couple them with proper tracking
techniques.

What are smart goals?

S​ - Specific

M​ - Measurable

A​ - Attainable/Achievable

R​ - Realistic

T​ - Time Bound

Specific:​ A specific goal is much more likely to be carried out compared to a

vague one. A specific goal includes details which makes it much easier to
break down into actionable steps.

A vague goal is: ​“Bulk up”​. A specific goal is: ​“Gain 12 pounds over the next 8
months.”
Measurable:​ Such a goal makes it easy for you to track progress and the
more specific the goal is, the easier it is to measure.

For example, going back to the specific goal, ​“Gain 12 pounds over the next 8
months."​ You can measure your progress by breaking it down on a
month-to-month basis.

On the other hand, there’s not much you can measure about ​“Bulk up.”

Attainable/Achievable:​ I’m all for ambition, but most people generally go

about goal setting the wrong way. They set goals too difficult to achieve and
after the motivation wanes, they usually give up.

This is why setting goals that are achievable will make it much more likely for
you to go through.

“But if the goal is achievable and easy, then I’m not progressing, am I?”​, I can
hear you thinking.

The solution is simple: achieve a goal, then set another, and another. Small
victories add up and build momentum.

Realistic:​ Again, this ties in with attainable goals and it’s important. It’s
realistic to set a goal to gain 12 pounds in the next 7 months. It’s not realistic
to set a goal to gain 50 pounds in the same time frame. (Well, you can do that,
but you’ll turn into a fat ass.)

Time Bound:​ Setting a time frame for your goal is crucial because it keeps
you accountable and makes the goal more specific and measurable.

If you set the goal to gain 2 pounds in the next 30 days, you are much more
likely to follow through and achieve it. Compare that to ​“Bulk up.”
The second goal is much vaguer and you’re more likely to get into a dirty bulk
mindset and get fat.

Alright, you need to set S.M.A.R.T. goals and you need to keep track of them.
When it comes to bulking, slow and steady wins the race.

Depending on your training age, you should aim to gain 1-3 pounds of body
weight per month.

If you’re at or above 20% body fat, I recommend taking some time to cut down
to 10-12% before going into a bulk.

Now that we’ve gone over goals, here are the most important things to keep
track of during a bulking phase:

#1: Body Weight

Changes (or lack thereof) in body weight are one of the best ways to track
your bulking progress. But to do things efficiently and to track accurately, you
need to be doing daily weigh-ins.

Why?

Let’s take two people as an example. Jim and Dwight. Dwight measures his
weight once a week or so, but Jim does it daily. Both of them have set a goal
to gain 2 pounds of weight per month.

Dwight measures his body weight on Sunday morning: 197.3lbs./89.4kg. Next

Sunday morning, he does the same. This time it shows 199.1lbs./90.3kg.

So:
 Sunday: ​197.3lbs./89.4kg.

Monday: N/A

Tuesday: N/A

Wednesday: N/A

Thursday: N/A

Friday: N/A

Saturday: N/A

Sunday: ​199.1lbs./90.3kg.

Whoa, Dwight is gaining weight way faster than he should. Or is he?

Not necessarily. Let’s now take Jim as an example.

He measures his body weight every morning and takes the weekly average:

Monday: 197.3lbs./89.4kg.

Tuesday: 197.4lbs./89.5kg.

Wednesday: 197lbs./89.3kg.

Thursday: 198lbs./89.8kg.

Friday: 197.6lbs./89.6kg.
 Saturday: 196.9lbs./89.3kg.

Sunday: 199.1lbs./90.3kg.

Average weekly weight: ​197.6lbs./89.6kg

Week two goes like this:

Monday: 197.5lbs./89.5kg.

Tuesday: 197.7lbs./89.6kg.

Wednesday: 197.3lbs./89.4kg.

Thursday: 198.2lbs./89.9kg.

Friday: 198lbs./89.8kg.

Saturday: 197.3lbs./89.4kg.

Sunday: 197.8lbs./89.7kg.

Average weekly weight: ​197.8lbs./89.7kg.

Jim is up 0.2lbs/0.1kg.

Because Jim is taking his daily weight, he can see the normal fluctuations and
the trend of his body weight.
Dwight, on the other hand, is sabotaging himself by measuring his weight only
once a week. If his weight fluctuates up on the exact day he takes his
measurement, he assumes that he is eating too much.
Track your weight daily, in the morning on an empty stomach and take the
weekly average. Compare week to week and see how your weight changes
over time.

If you’re gaining weight too quickly or not gaining any, you can make
adjustments to your diet.

#2: Progress Pics

Next to tracking your average weight on a week to week basis, taking the
occasional progress pictures is a great way to see changes.

We see ourselves in the mirror every day and changes can be difficult to
notice sometimes.

But to make progress pictures effective, you need to take them under the
same conditions every time and use the same poses.

Take progress pictures once every 3 or 4 weeks and compare.

#3: Performance in the Gym
Once you have a good idea of how your body is changing over time thanks to
body weight averages and progress pictures, the next most important thing to
track is your performance in the gym.

Whether you’re using a workout log, an app, or something else, it’s important
to write down your workouts and track them over time.

Ideally, you should be able to see some improvements every few weeks.

Here’s how I track my workouts:

I use an app called ​Evernote​. I’ve created separate notes that represent each
individual workout.
 On top of each note, I write the focus of my workout (eg. deadlift session,
squat session, etc.) and the date.

On workouts where I do bodyweight movements (such as pull-ups, dips, etc.) I

also write my morning weigh-in.

Below that, I have listed each exercise alongside with the number of sets and
reps that I do. On the compound lifts, I also record my rate of perceived
exertion (RPE) and whether I’m wearing a belt or not (for the squat and
deadlift).

Say for example, in week 1 I do 135kg./300lbs. on the squat for 2 sets of 8 reps
(with a belt) at an RPE of 9. If on week two I do the same weight for the same
reps, but with an RPE of 8, then I’m making progress.

Once the training week is done, I sit down for about 15 minutes and write down
each workout in my notebook.
Then, I revisit each note, change the date, change the weights I’ll be using for
certain exercises and I’m done.

Evernote is very handy because all I have to do is write my full workout once.
After that, all I have to change is the weight I’m using, the repetitions I’m
doing, and the RPEs.

I also add small side notes to some workouts. For example, if I don’t get a
good night’s sleep and my performance is down, I note it. Or if my grip starts
to fail me on the deadlift, I make a note and leave it for the upcoming week.

When I see it, I can either use chalk, a mixed grip or work on ​improving my
grip strength​.

Or, you can also get a ​Moleskine Notebook​ and write in each workout there as
it happens. The downside is, if you prefer to pre-populate your workout, it can
get messy to make changes later.

With Evernote, you can rewrite whatever you choose.

Some Final Thoughts and Anticipated Questions

Before we wrap up this guide, I’d like to write a few more thoughts and answer
some questions.

1.When should I stop the bulk and move to a cutting phase?

You can go about that in 2 main ways:
When you’ve reached an upper limit on your body fat percentage or stomach
measurements. If you set an upper limit of your body fat percentage at around
15-17%, you’ll look pretty decent as long as you have some muscle mass.

The only downside is, estimating your body fat percentage can be difficult.

You can also go with an upper limit of your stomach circumference. For
example, if at the end of your last bulk you felt that you were starting to get fat
at around 85-86 cm., you can put a cap at 87-88 cm. this time (to account for
lower back, oblique and ab muscle thickening).

Aside from that, you can also stop the bulk if you want to get lean for the
summer, a photoshoot, etc. But that would be individual.

2.Should I eat protein before bed?

It used to be common belief that you need to eat food every few hours to
prevent muscle loss, speed up metabolism, etc.

Today, we know better and there’s much more research at our disposal. As
long as you eat enough protein every day, whether you eat some of it before
bed or not won’t make much of a difference.

Eating protein before bed isn’t necessary and you won’t shrivel down if you
don’t consume that late-night cottage cheese bowl.

But, if you do want to eat some protein before bed to help with satiety and
possibly with muscle growth, eat a slower-digesting one, such as:

● Casein protein
● Eggs
● Cottage cheese
● Greek yogurt
3.Does meal frequency matter in the grand scheme of things?
How often you eat each meal will be individual and there’s no one answer. For
example, if you’re having trouble eating enough food, eating 2 gigantic meals
won’t do much good for you.

But, if you’re struggling with hunger, experimenting with 2 huge meals and
intermittent fasting can help. Also, if you work and can’t get an afternoon
snack in, eat 3 square meals per day and don’t think much of it.

Bottom line?

Eat as often as your schedule allows you and the frequency that allows you to
stay consistent with your calories and not over/undereat.

4.I’m skinny fat. Should I cut or bulk first?

Read ​this​.

5.Is eating 0.8-1g of protein per pound of weight healthy and safe?
As long as you have healthy kidneys, there’s no reason to worry. Read ​this​.

6.Should I do cardio during a bulk? I heard that it stops muscle

growth.
Yes, you should. Read ​this​.

7.Do you recommend any supplements for muscle growth?

Two are worth exploring in our context:

● Creatine monohydrate
 ● Protein powder​ - it is a convenient way to eat enough protein every
day.

8.Can I do a recomposition (build muscle and lose fat) instead of a

bulk?
Body recomposition definitely is possible, but there are limitations to it. For
you to be able to make a meaningful recomposition, you need to fall within
one of 4 categories:

● Beginner lifter. ​Because lifting weights is a novel stressor for

beginners, they can (and in most cases should) follow a
recomposition protocol. To do that, they need to be in a small caloric
deficit (of 200-400/day), eat a high protein diet (1g/lb. bodyweight)
and lift weights 3 to 4 days per week.

● Detrained lifter. ​Experienced lifters who haven’t trained for months

can also lose fat and build muscle simultaneously thanks to muscle
memory.

This is because training a given muscle accumulates myonuclei cells.

Once you stop training the muscle, it atrophies. But the myonuclei
cells stick around and make it much easier for the muscle to grow
back to its previous size once training is resumed.

During the regrowth phase, you can lose fat and build muscle
simultaneously.
 ● Very overweight or obese people. ​Having lots of energy stored as
fat will make it easier for you to follow a recomposition protocol. This
is mainly thanks to your body’s ability to use fat stores as energy to
help repair and grow muscle while you are eating in a caloric deficit.

● People on steroids.​ It’s no secret to anyone that steroids can speed

up muscle growth and fat loss. The case is no different for body
recomposition.

Steroids help the muscle accumulate myonuclei much quicker which

drives faster muscle growth. Being in a caloric deficit does slow down
the process, but it doesn’t stop it.

If you don’t fall in one of the 4 categories, a better way to gradually improve
your body composition is to focus on one goal at a time. Have dedicated
periods of muscle growth and fat loss separated in time.