What's up guys?
Sean Nalewanyj.
SeanNal.com.
RealScienceAthletics.com with a Q&A video here ... something I haven't done in quite
a long time where I'll be answering some of your fitness questions from over on my Instagram.
If you're not following me on Instagram yet, it's at Sean_Nalewanyj.
I post there pretty much every single day with a variety of different tips and updates
that I think you'll find really useful.
And if you do have any questions, you can go ahead and post them there and I'll do my
best to help out in a future Q&A video.
So let's get into it.
There are 10 questions here.
I'll timestamp them in the description box.
This Q&A will just be part one.
And I'll do a part two, and hopefully a part three, and so on in the coming weeks and months.
All right.
So, question number one.
"I've been hearing a lot lately about how a calorie surplus isn't actually necessary
for building muscle as long as you're consuming enough protein.
What are your thoughts on this?
Can I eat at maintenance and still make gains?"
So I think the important distinction to make here is that just because you can gain muscle
without eating a surplus doesn't necessarily mean that you can gain muscle optimally.
So if you're a complete beginner, or you're overweight, or both, then you can definitely
make decent muscle gains eating at maintenance or even in a deficit throughout the initial
stages of your program.
But if your primary goal is to fully maximize muscle growth with a focus bulking phase,
and you're within a healthy body fat range right now as is ... so around the mid teens
or lower, then you need to be eating in a calorie surplus if you want to achieve the
very best results.
You'll make more significant size and strength gains.
You'll recover more effectively in between workouts.
And about 200 to 300 calories above maintenance per day is a good figure to shoot for.
Next question.
"What do you consider to be the ideal weekly training split for someone whose primary goal
is hypertrophy?"
So this is kind of a tricky question to answer because there isn't really one absolute best
workout split across the board.
It really depends on the individual based on their experience level, their goals, their
genetics, their personal preferences, things like that.
I'd say by far the most important thing beyond the exact training split that you use is just
that your total weekly volume and frequency is landing within the right range for each
individual muscle group.
And I'd put that at somewhere between about eight to 15 total working sets per week for
large muscle groups, and around four to eight sets for smaller muscle groups.
You'll hear differing volume recommendations depending on who you talk to, but that's a
pretty solid range to aim for in most cases.
And then when it comes to frequency, it could be anywhere between one to three times per
week in terms of directly hitting each muscle.
And I think the middle area of that range will be best in most cases, so about one and
a half to two times per week.
Okay?
As long as you're landing within those volume and frequency ranges, you're training within
a couple of reps of failure on the bulk of your sets, and your achieving progressive
overload over time, then the specific split that you use is definitely still a factor
but it's going to be less important overall.
And as a basic default recommendation and what I lay out in my body transformation blueprint
program is either a full body routine done three days per week, an upper/lower split
three to four days per week, or legs/push/pull four to five days per week.
There are a lot of different ways that you can go about this, but it's pretty hard to
go wrong with any one of those three approaches.
All right.
"I'm 165 pounds at 5 foot 10 and wanting to put on some mass.
What's the best way to calculate my daily maintenance calories?
Every calculator that I use seems to give me a different figure."
Yeah, that's normal and it's because all calorie calculators are really just rough estimations.
There's no way to know for sure at the outset what any one given person's true maintenance
calories are because they're just too many different factors that are involved.
So you basically just go with an educated guess at the start, you implement it, you
see how your body weight changes, and then you adjust your calories from there until
you're falling into the proper weight gain or weight loss range for bulking or cutting
depending on what your goal is.
One really simple method that you can use for estimating maintenance calories, assuming
that your weight has been relatively stable in the last few weeks, is to just manually
add up all the calories that you normally eat over the course of a few days or a week.
And then find the daily average and use that to start.
If that's not practical, then you can use a preset calculator, and I'll list a few methods
in the description box that you can choose from.
Okay.
Question number four.
"What are your thoughts on strict form focusing mainly on the mind-muscle connection versus
looser, more explosive form and just getting the weight from point A to point B?"
I would say that for the most part, the best approach falls somewhere in between the two
extremes.
So not lifting like a robot and trying to be 100% perfect with every tiny little movement,
but also not ego lifting and swinging the weight around using a bunch of momentum and
sloppy form.
I'd say to choose a way that still feels decently heavy for you relative to the reference that
you're using, and training with good solid form and technique but while still allowing
yourself to move naturally throughout the exercise and not being overly rigid.
My general advice would be to perform the concentric portion of the reps.
So the lifting phase ... do that portion with maximum force and maximum speed, but while
still staying in complete control of the weight and actively thinking about the muscle that
you're trying to target during the set.
And then for the negative, lower the weight for anywhere from a two to four second count.
You don't need to perform super slow negatives, but I do think there is some value in actively
resisting the weight on the way down rather than just letting gravity do all the work.
Going with a middle ground approach like this will still give you the muscle building benefits
of using a reasonably heavy weight, but while also allowing you to fully activate the targeted
muscle you're trying to train, and also minimizing your risk for injury at the same time.
Okay, next question ... a supplementation one.
"Why doesn't your PureForm pre-workout contain beta alanine?
I thought beta alanine was a standard ingredient in most pre-workouts."
There's a couple of reasons for this.
First off, beta alanine is not actually a true pre-workout ingredient because it doesn't
have any direct immediate effects on performance when you take it right before training.
Instead, beta alanine is what you would consider a daily ingredient.
So it's something that you take on a consistent basis.
And that gradually builds up the levels of carnosine within your muscles, and then from
there the performance benefit is always going to be available anytime you go to train.
The specific timing really doesn't matter.
And this same thing applies to creatine as well even though most pre-workouts out there
also contain creatine.
Beta alanine does give you that tingling sensation on your skin after you consume it, but this
is just from nerve endings firing beneath your skin.
Even though some people do enjoy the feeling, it doesn't actually give you any added performance
benefit.
And then aside from this, the effects of beta alanine just aren't that impressive to begin
with.
It's only gonna benefit you and improve your strength during longer duration sets that
lasts 60 seconds or more ... which if you go ahead and time it out, that would be a
pretty high rep set.
Probably a minimum of 15 reps up to about 30 reps per set depending on how fast you're
going.
And even then, it's only gonna boost your performance by a few percent.
So with PureForm, I wanted to create a true pre-workout with ingredients that give you
an immediate boost, and strength, and focus right after you take them.
And to just focus on a few core research backed ingredients that give you the most bang for
your buck rather than watering it down with a huge list of ingredients that you don't
even need to be paying for.
We've been getting a lot of positive feedback on this formula.
And you can check it out by clicking up here or by using the link in the description box
if you're interested.
Okay, next question.
"How to improve willpower?
I sometimes have issues with skipping workouts or falling off track with my diet here and
there and I feel like I just need to be more disciplined sometimes."
Yeah.
I mean, the simple and obvious answer here is to just go ahead and do what needs to be
done regardless of whether you feel like it or not.
You're not always going to feel motivated.
Sometimes you'll feel demotivated.
But if you are always relying purely on motivation to get you through things, then ultimately
you're going to fall off track in the long run.
And a lot of the time, even if you don't feel like training or you don't feel like staying
on course with your nutrition on a given day, but you just push forward and start taking
right action anyway ... a lot of the time that little initial action will automatically
cause your motivation levels to rise and then the actual task itself becomes a lot easier
once you get into it.
That's kind of the easy answer.
But the other thing I'd say as well is that you can only really force yourself to do things
for so long before you eventually start burning out.
The other thing to look at is how you've structured your actual program, and to make sure that
you're using a reasonable practical approach that you can actually sustain over the long
term.
A lot of people out there end up falling for bad fitness advice, and they're forcing themselves
on to some overly restrictive diet with a bunch of weird rules that have to be followed
every single day, or some excessively high volume workout plan where they're in the gym
six days a week doing both weights and cardio every single session.
If your program essentially feels like torture all the time, then you're ultimately doing
it wrong because it really shouldn't feel that way.
You're not going to be able to maintain it over the long term if it does feel that way.
I'm not saying that things are going to be easy all the time, but it is perfectly possible
to set up an effective training and an effective nutrition plan that gets you to where you
want to go and that is enjoyable overall once you've settled into it.
Or at least that you feel fairly neutral toward.
A moderate calorie surplus or deficit, a good balanced diet that doesn't heavily restrict
anything and that still includes some of your favorite treat foods in moderation, three
to four weight training workouts per week for an hour or so, two to three cardio sessions
mixed in.
Fitness doesn't have to be an all-consuming process.
And I've got tons of videos on this channel, content on my Instagram, articles on my blog
that discuss how to do this properly.
And one final point to keep in mind is that the longer you've been at this, the more and
more routine it becomes.
So if you're still a beginner, sometimes you just need to really buckle down and put in
the initial work.
And trust that over time it's going to get easier, and that it is going to become more
automatic, and a more ingrained habit that you don't have to think too much about.
Okay.
Moving on.
"In your experience, has building a good physique helped when it comes to attracting women?"
There are actually a lot of different angles to this specific question, so I'll just try
my best to sum it up.
I would say that all in all, yes.
Being in what would be considered impressive shape will improve your success with women
in the overall scheme.
But a lot of it does depend on the specific girl.
Okay?
The truth is that some women out there really don't care that much about how aesthetic your
physique is, or they potentially don't care at all.
And then on the other hand there are other girls who are really into it, and who are
attracted to guys who train seriously, and who are in really good physical shape.
Usually those girls are also the ones who are really into fitness themselves.
It does depend on the person.
And then also keep in mind that different women have different body type preferences,
too.
For example, if you have that really thick muscular bodybuilder look, some will actually
be turned off by it whereas others will be really into it.
And then if you have the lean aesthetic look, some will also be more or less into that specific
look.
You can't please everybody.
But I would say that yeah, if you do have a physique that stands out in some way, then
for the group of women who are specifically attracted to that look ... it is gonna help
out with them.
And I only say help out because there are so many other factors that are involved in
attraction.
You know, facial features, personality, height, status, et cetera.
So your physique is really just one factor.
All in all, I'd honestly say that it's probably one of the less important factors.
It still counts, but it's just one small piece of the overall equation.
The most important thing physique-wise is to just make sure that you're at a healthy
body fat level.
That's the most basic, most fundamental thing to take care of.
If you're overweight and then you get yourself down into a leaner range, that is the one
thing that's going to have the biggest impact percentage-wise on improving your success
with women on the physical side of things.
Because your facial attractiveness will improve, and you'll just look fitter, and be perceived
as healthier in general.
Bottom line, yes.
Work on all aspects of yourself.
Your physique is one of those things, but don't expect to get jacked and then just have
women falling all over you because it really doesn't work that way in reality.
Okay, next question.
A pretty simple one.
"What's the best time of day to take protein powder?"
Keep in mind that protein powder is ultimately just a food product.
It's convenient because of the powdered form that it's in and because it has a lot of protein
packed into a small volume.
But it doesn't have any special muscle building benefits beyond a chicken breast or a piece
of fish.
You can just take it at any time of day when it's most convenient for you.
It's entirely a matter of personal preference.
Morning, pre-workout, post-workout, in the evening ... whatever you want.
And a lot of people have been asking me about it.
And yes, Real Science Athletics will have a protein powder available down the line but
probably not until later this year or early next year.
Question number nine.
"Do you have any tips for improving vascularity?
I noticed in your pictures you have very prominent veins and I want to achieve a similar look."
Honestly, a big component of vascularity really is genetic.
I've always just been a really veiny person in general, even as a young kid before I started
lifting.
You can definitely improve your vascularity, but I would say only up to a certain point.
Really, it just comes down to building more muscle so that there's more tightness between
the veins and the skin, lowering your body fat percentage down so that the veins are
more visible, and also minimizing subcutaneous water retention because that will make your
veins show more clearly.
And a few tips for that are increasing your water intake throughout the day so that your
body flushes out the excess water retention that it's holding.
Keeping your sodium intake consistent.
And also increasing your consumption of potassium rich foods, so that your sodium and potassium
intake are roughly equal.
Those things will all increase your vascularity to some extent.
But again, a big part of it does just come down to genetics.
Okay, last question for today.
"I've been cutting for 12 weeks now.
Went from 190 pounds down to 172 at roughly 16% body fat.
I want to lean down a bit further, but I've been stuck at this weight for almost three
weeks and I can't seem to push through.
Any ideas?"
Yeah.
The answer here is pretty simple, and it's just that you're no longer in a calorie deficit.
Keep in mind that the same calorie intake that gets you from, say, 22% body fat down
to 16% is not going to be the same intake that gets you from 16% down to 12%.
And that's because as you stay in a calorie deficit over time, your resting metabolic
rate decreases from certain hormonal changes that are made to conserve energy.
And you also burn fewer calories through net because your body naturally reduces its movement
throughout the day, again, to conserve calories.
If your body weight was consistently going down but now it's clearly plateaued, then
it's usually just a matter of lowering your calorie intake slightly ... about 100 to 150
calories less per day.
That's a good start.
Or the other thing you can do is increase your activity level, either through regular
traditional cardio or by just making a conscious effort to get more movement in throughout
the day.
For example, incorporating regular walks.
That's one good option that can help out with this.
The other thing you can do is a combination of both.
So reducing your calorie intake slightly, and then also increasing your activity level
slightly.
There are some situations where for some people who have been really aggressively dieting
over a prolonged period where actually increasing calories can be helpful in order to kind of
reset things and re-elevate their metabolism before going back into a deficit.
But those situations are pretty rare, and for most people ... in most cases where they're
just doing a standard cutting phase and who are still within a healthy body fat range,
it's really just a matter of eating a bit less and/or moving a bit more in order to
make sure that they're staying in a net deficit to promote further fat loss.
And also keep in mind that fat loss does get more difficult the leaner you're trying to
get.
Once you get down to a body fat percentage around the mid teens for men and the mid twenties
or so for women, getting those last few percent off to reach that lower range does require
more discipline and it does require stricter tracking overall.
There you have it, guys.
Ten of your questions answered.
Thanks for watching the video.
If you did find this Q&A helpful and you enjoy this straight ahead, no-nonsense approach
to fitness and you want to learn the exact step-by-step methods that I recommend using
in order to build muscle and lose fat as efficiently as possible, then make sure to take my physique
quiz over at Quiz.SeanNal.com because that'll get you started on the proper training and
the proper nutrition plan that you need based on your individual goals of body type and
experience level.
You can click up here to get started with that or use the link in the description box
below.
When it comes to proper supplementation, you can also visit RealScienceAthletics.com to
check out my no BS science based formulas that I personally created to help improve
the convenience of your program and fully optimize your overall results.
Link is also in the description.
As always, make sure to hit that like button, leave a comment down below, and subscribe
if you haven't already in order to stay up to date on future videos.
Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you in the next one.