In this video, we’re going dive into part two of a two-part series on building muscle without
gaining weight. And by the end of this video, you’ll know exactly how to achieve just that.
Hi I’m PictureFit, I make content on all things health
and fitness to help you with your goals and gains.
Now, before you watch this video, make sure you check out part one of this series so that
you can not only understand the physiological processes at play, but also help you decide if
building muscle without gaining weight, which we’ll refer to as body recomp moving forward,
is actually worth your time and effort, cause it’s not exactly for everyone.
Really important not to miss that. If you already watched part one,
then first, thank you for watching, and let’s get right to the meaty muscle of it.
I’m gonna divide the advice into three sections: first on training, second on
nutrition, which is the big one, and third on everything else along with some extra tips.
I’ll also break down training and nutrition to specific steps to make it easier to follow.
Let’s get right to it with the first step of training, and that is
simply to fit training into your schedule. Clearly, none of the training will work if
there’s no place to put it in your schedule. And I understand that scheduling exercise is
tough, but I would recommend you start thinking of your exercise as a priority
much like your work and family time, cause after all, your health and fitness should be.
Preferably, you want to target each of your muscle groups two to three times a week,
and for that, it’s best to have at least 3 days of training per week in your schedule.
Make some room for training if you haven’t already.
Step two is to train like you’re bulking. Training on a recomp isn’t actually
different from the usual muscle-focused programs. You should be doing plenty of compound exercises,
like barbell squats, pull-ups and bench presses, with some accessory exercises,
like bicep curls and knee extensions. Again, make sure you’re training
all of your muscles at least twice. Most importantly, you need to focus on
progressive overload, or the gradual progression of training parameters.
Training parameters can be many things, like the number of reps and sets you do,
the weight you lift, the amount of exercises you do, and among many others.
For beginners, you probably don’t want to tinker with parameters until you get
better at performing your exercises first. Stick to a more conventional 3 to 4 sets of
8 to 12 reps using a comfortable weight until you feel more acclimated with your exercises.
For everyone else, a simple and effective way to quantify progressive overload is using something
called volume, which is the product of reps times sets times weight for any given exercise.
The goal is to increase volume and other parameters over time to
consistently drive sufficient muscle stimuli. Ultimately, you should never be doing the same
exercises with the same parameters all the time. Step three, and the final step of training,
is to make sure you train close to failure. Training close to failure means pushing
your exercises close to your physical limits, a huge factor for muscle growth.
A popular way to subjectively quantify this is with RIR, or reps in reserve.
RIR tracks the amount of extra reps you could have done for a set before reaching failure.
An RIR of 0 means you actually reached failure for the set and anything more is
the amount of reps you held off from failure, or reps left in reserve.
You wanna make sure the weight you put on the bar is heavy enough to reach close to failure
for the number of reps you plan to do, and that means reaching an RIR between 1 and 3.
Occasionally, you do want to go all the way to failure,
particularly for the last sets of your exercises,
but don’t make a habit out of it since training to failure can be very taxing to the body.
In other words, be smart and train smart. So that’s three steps for training: first,
schedule in your training at least 3 times a week, second, train like
you’re bulking or doing any other muscle-based training, and three, train close to failure.
Now with training behind us, let’s get to the fun part, NUTRITION.
As we discussed in the first video, body recomp requires energy balance.
And you can only do so by first figuring out your energy expenditure, or the calories you burn.
So, for step one, we’re going to find a ROUGH daily estimate of your energy
expenditure by inputting some information into the energy calculator linked in the description.
Based on your input, it’ll spit out a rough figure of your daily estimated maintenance calories.
We’re going to take that number and then refine in step 2.
This is where some meticulous planning begins. First, get acquainted with one of the many
food-tracking apps out there so that you can measure the calories of everything you eat.
Once you got that down, on the day you start training regularly, you’ll also start eating
at that estimated maintenance calories you got from thecalculator for two weeks.
For example, if I calculated a maintenance of 2,000 calories, your goal would be to
eat 2,000 calories daily for 14 days. Weigh yourself in the morning each day
or at minimum the first and final days. If your weight remains similar from start
to finish, then your rough maintenance figure is likely accurate enough,
but you might want to throw in another week of testing just to make sure.
However, if the weight numbers are quite different, like a pound or more,
then you have to test for another week. This will help rule out natural weight
fluctuations caused by things like water weight or the natural process of the female sex.
If your weight continues to trend in one direction,
then your maintenance figure needs adjustment. Depending on the direction of the scale,
try increasing or decreasing your calorie intake by one to two hundred and test for
another week or until things balance out. Now, the goal isn’t necessarily to dial down
your exact maintenance calories, but get close enough to maintain a reasonable weight range
over time. In the long run, if you’re staying within 1 to 5 pounds of your goal weight,
then you should be good to go. Also, you’ll learn a lot about
your food during this process. Eventually, you’ll learn so much that you won’t even
need to use your food tracking apps anymore. Now, once your maintenance estimate is more
refined, in step 3 and to no surprise to those following this channel,
you need to GET YOUR PROTEIN. Protein and muscle go hand in
hand and it’s really important we get enough. My recommendation is to shoot for about 1.6 grams
of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day, or about .8 grams per pound.
A bit more or less is okay, but the closer you get to this figure the better.
And finally, step 4, the biggest step of nutrition, is to plan out your actual intake.
Technically, we can take our refined maintenance calories and just use that every
single day. But I wouldn’t recommend that. In my opinion, it’s better to make small
adjustments depending on the day. To explain why, let me first walk you through what MY weekly
calorie breakdown would look like during a recomp: On days one through five, or Monday through
Friday, each day I’ll eat 200 calories above my estimated maintenance. On days 6 and 7,
or Saturday and Sunday, each day I eat 500 calories below my maintenance.
Days 1 through 5 are my training days and days 6 and 7 are my off days.
As you can see, I have more calories, a thousand in total, on my training
days and then I balance that out by eating a thousand total calories fewer on my off days.
Essentially, my goal is to ensure that I have sufficient nutrients at times
of elevated muscle protein synthesis, the physiological process driving muscle growth.
And, muscle protein synthesis is at its highest immediately following exercise.
It also remains slightly elevated long after, as much as 48 hours
later before returning to baseline. For that reason, it’s important that we keep
our protein intake high regardless of whether we’re eating more or less for any given day.
But specifically for our training days, giving ourselves a bit of cushion with a calorie surplus
ensures that we do provide sufficient nutrients when our muscles need it most,
which is something we can’t guarantee if we ate just maintenance each day.
In essence, we’re still performing the cut-bulk cycle we discussed in part one
but at much MUCH smaller scales. Based on your training schedule,
you might want to do the same. More on your training days and
less on your off days. It doesn’t have to be
like mine. You can have higher or lower surpluses, vary them on a day-to-day basis,
or even have surpluses on your off days. I do recommend, however, to keep surpluses within
a reasonable range. Larger surpluses consequently means larger deficits. If your deficit days
are reaching a thousand calories or more, then that’s a sign to pull your surpluses back a bit.
But, as long as your total calorie allocation over time remains close to maintenance,
you can get pretty creative with this strategy. Give it a shot.
So to recap. First, calculate a rough maintenance estimate. Second, take that
estimate and refine it. Third, get your protein. And fourth, plan out your calorie intakes.
To wrap things up, let’s talk tips and some basic things to do.
First, the obvious one, make sure you get enough sleep. Recovery is absolutely
essential in any case, body recomp no exception. Same for scheduling in recovery days and deloads.
Allow enough recovery time for your training, both short and long term, especially when
your training starts to get intense. Also, continue to occasionally weigh
yourself. Your maintenance calories are always changing and more so with your changing body
composition and/or changes to your training. Make the proper adjustments whenever you start
drifting from your weight range. Getting protein powder supplements
can also be a good idea, especially if you have trouble reaching your protein goals.
I also definitely recommend adding some CARDIO. Cardio increases your calorie expenditure,
which is especially helpful if you’re struggling with your deficits. Cardio also has that whole
heart health whatever going for it. This next tip is a big one,
and that is be patient and self-forgiving. As great as it is to stay the same weight while
building muscle, the process can feel very slow. But remember, this is a long and patient-rewarding
process and the ultimate goal is building a lifestyle rather than just being on another diet.
It’s okay to feel overwhelmed at times so be easy on yourself.
Mistakes will happen on the way. Just acknowledge it, learn from it, and keep moving forward.
And the final tip, if you still need a bit extra help, then come join the PictureFit
discord community. At 30,000 members strong and counting, a lot of our community members actually
tried body recomp themselves with good success. Don’t be afraid to reach out with your question,
like picking a program that works for you, ‘cause we’re more than willing to help.
*whisper* Link is down below. And that’s it, Congrats! You made it to the
end! I really do hope this video helps you out. Before you leave, just remember again to be
patient, be forgiving, be diligent, and most of all, be subscribing. Hah, gotcha! No but
really, subscribe for more. If you enjoyed this video,
please give it a patient thumbs up and share it with your diligently loving friends.
As always, thank you for watching and don’t forget to get your PROTEIN, same amount everyday.