Alright nation this topic has been getting under my skin for a while now
misinformation and clickbait titles are the keys to your
Downfall and I don't want to see that happen to my subscribers
But it seems like all that's required the trick most people is a
muscled up picture and a cute title and because people
Want to believe things so badly
Common sense just goes out the window
Especially when it comes to the topic of building muscle and losing fat at the same time
and I can understand why guys it's a loaded question that highly depends on many factors such as
How much body fat you have how long you've been training?
Are you manipulating your calories daily with things like carb cycling, or added cardio and my favorite
Are you cycling low doses of steroids but claiming natty while making unnatural gains?
And I know that that's gonna rub a lot of you guys the wrong way
But I'm not here to lie to you guys alright
I'm not here to give you false and expectation and
false information as to what's achievable and you know it's funny.
I finally had a chance to meet a fellow OG YouTuber you guys might know him his name is Omar
Funny story we randomly met it in a Chipotle at the Arnold Classic
like we just both happened to be there cuz Chipotle obviously is
The place to be but you know we talked to each other for quite a while about all the BS
that's been going around on YouTube lately, and we saw eye to eye on a lot of things this being one of them
but for today
we're just going to stick to the topic of how a
positive nitrogen balance can impact your muscle gaining
Potential now a lot of you are convinced that as long as you remain in a positive nitrogen balance
You can build muscle and lose fat at the same time
Regardless of where you are in your fitness journey
But guys how can you forget the fundamentals of fitness
to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit to gain muscle
You need to be in a caloric surplus. They are literally
Opposing actions so to clear things up let's first talk about what a positive nitrogen balance
Actually is well I'm not going to go all scientific on you guys
But here are the basics you need to know there to processes that are going on in your body
24/7 365 days a year and they are
Protein synthesis and protein breakdown now in general when protein is synthesized more
nitrogen is
Accumulated because protein is comprised
Comprised of amino acids which are rich
in nitrogen on the other hand when protein is broken down you end up with nitrogen loss
because nitrogen escapes from the muscles
Here's the kicker though your muscle building potential is the
result of the following equation muscle growth equals protein
Synthesis minus protein breakdown so what that means is that when this number is positive
You have what is called a positive nitrogen balance and when it's negative you have what is called a negative
nitrogen balance
So it should go without saying that you can't build a muscle without being in a positive nitrogen balance
And this is where people get their logic screwed up
Therefore they think that this is the only requirement for building muscle
And they will try to convince you that even if you're in a caloric
Deficit as long as you are still able to have a positive nitrogen balance you can keep on building muscle while losing
Fat now wouldn't that just be great right well if we dive deeper into this logic guys these people
Support the premise that you can positively affect your nitrogen balance by doing specific things like this
Having more dietary protein such as whole foods and supplements
sleeping more to help maximize recovery
avoiding overtraining avoiding stress and anxiety
Hydrating properly and supplementing with recovery aiding supplements like creatine
Beta-alanine BCAAs, etc and of course by not doing all of these things properly
You will be negatively affecting your nitrogen balance
favoring protein breakdown
instead of
synthesis and end up not building muscle mass or even
Losing muscle mass now all these points are actually true guys ok
Let me just make that clear but with all these things in mind
Can you build muscle and lose fat?
At the same time and that's what the question is can you build muscle and lose fat at the same time?
while in a positive nitrogen balance or
Do you have to go on a bulking phase to see muscle growth then cut for muscle definition?
Well the answer
Will surprise you and it's actually no to both
the problem with the theory of positive nitrogen balance is that it's simply not realistic nor
Factual guys the truth is that you cannot
and I will repeat you cannot build muscle if you are not in a calorie surplus as a
natural lifter
Your body just cannot synthesize new tissue if it's busy trying to retain what it already has or is in the process
Of burning it now. It doesn't have to be an extreme surplus
Where you end up gaining or storing more fat than muscle as you guys know
I'm an advocate for lean gains and all you really need is a slight
250 to 500 calorie surplus to build muscle and keep the fat gain minimal never assume
gaining more fat equals more muscle
We've talked about this, but what if you're relatively slim
But still retain a lot of body fat or our skinny fat as I'd like to say
Do you need to go on a cutting phase first lose all that fat and
then begin your muscle building phase guys absolutely
Not we talked about this in my skin fat video
What nobody will tell you is that you cannot build muscle and lose fat at the same time
But you don't have to do that anyways and here's why
Let's say you're a hundred and fifty pounds now standing at about 20 percent body fat
That's pretty skinny if you ask me
But at the same time you do have a lot of body fat on your body how much fat well
20 percent of 150 pounds is exactly 30 pounds of fat
So here's what you want to do you go on a strict lean bulk phase
indefinitely so that 250 to 500 calories
Surplus over what your is now you won't ever need to cut if you do this
but why
well after a year or so you'll probably have put on 20 to 25 pounds of muscle which is to be expected for a
natural lifter
In their first year of training obviously as long as you're eating correctly
Hydrating getting enough sleep and training hard enough those obviously have to come into play here
Therefore after a year you could be a hundred and seventy pounds
And if you stuck to your meal plan you
Wouldn't have put on any additional fat if any if anything it would be it would be very minimal guys
So you'll still have thirty pounds of fat on you, but if you crunch those numbers you'll discover
You're now automatically at seventeen point five percent body fat, and it's not magic guys. It's just math you
Don't actually lose fat
But you appear as if you have lost fat because you have gained more muscle
and with all this new muscle on your frame
The fat you had seems less
And you look more
Proportionate and aesthetic and that's just your first year
of training guys now if you keep doing that for three or four years
You'll eventually probably be had 190 pounds and ten percent body fat
Without ever having to go on a cut
There is however an exception to this rule if you're a complete beginner you can
Theoretically build muscle and lose fat at the same time because your body has never been trained before
These are called newbie gains, and it's a term tossed around quite often in the fitness industry in fact
This is why a lot of you guys who hit a plateau in your training
Can't seem to figure out what the problem is and what I mean by that is
No matter what training program you use good or bad
You will see those newbie gains
But if the program is complete trash you will gain 10 20 pounds of newbie muscle
But then plateaus super quickly
But the reason why you gained that muscle and lost some fat was because all that happened is a new
Stimulus was introduced to your body and that stimulus was a powerful one your body had no choice
But to lose some fat and build some muscle at the same time to adapt to the new stimulus which was your training
But after a few months this in fact will eventually start to fade
simply because the stimulus isn't intense enough anymore and your body
Sensitivity to it has gradually decreased
That's when you'll have to switch things into high gear and
start eating more protein in calories in general in order to facilitate
New growth, but I do want to say one more thing before we end the video
I know you guys are going to ask about some of the major
Transformations, you might see on Facebook or Instagram
where someone loses a lot of weight and looks ripped and huge
But did they lose fat and build muscle at the same time well again guys
It's kind of like a mirage if someone is very big. Let's say the 35% body fat, and they end up losing
15% of that fat without building really any more muscle
Maybe they just improve what they already had they will appear as though
they have built muscle because their frame will be much tighter and proportionate with all that lost fat or
They jumped on a cycle of steroids
Which unfortunately happens a lot
in these transformation photos and builds false expectations
Which is the reason why this video was made to begin with just
Use your head guys the information is clear and my team and I
will be more than happy to help you on my website
muscularstrength.com you can use my custom meal plan app to create the perfect
meal plan for your goals and choose from my
variety of programs designed for muscle gain or fat loss
Be sure to smash that like button if you haven't already and as always guys more good stuff coming soon
See ya