Should I lose weight before building muscle?
Build then cut, or cut then build?
If you come from the hard gainer’s universe like me, you’ll understand the frustrations that come with wanting to build lean body mass. Eat in a surplus and oh hello 187653637 pounds of body fat! Eat in a deficit and buh-bye muscles!
Yeah it sucks.
Good news is, even though you can’t change your genes, you can do a few things to minimise muscle loss during a ‘cut’ and fat gain during a bulk.
The benefits to bulking
I’m a huge supporter of the bulk-life, even if it means you’ll have to accept some fat gain, just hear me out.
Bulking, or eating in a surplus for muscle gain is crucial if you are naturally small built. This can be really emotionally hard for many people since it can sometimes seem counterintuitive.
Gaining weight even though you’re trying to lose fat can be a challenge for many people, but maybe after reading this article I can convince you otherwise.
If you are lifting weights but not seeing any muscle growth, remember that building muscle requires excess energy. What do I mean by this? The way physics works is that, you can’t create energy and you can’t destroy it, you can only transfer it across right?
Well if you don’t have a lot of excess energy in your body AKA body fat, you’ll need to get that reserve in from somewhere, so in comes food.
If you don’t eat, you don’t have the energy it requires to physically build body mass (in this case, muscle).
Does everyone have to eat in a surplus to build muscle?
No.
If you already have a good amount of body fat, this is actually great news. You can focus on just lifting, no need to increase food intake.
You might even be able to enter a deficit and be able to build some muscle but this is really dependent on so many factors like your current body composition (how much body fat you’re currently carrying), your genes, your diet, your training methods etc.
For those individuals, a successful cutting phase can mean you retain a lot of muscle that gets revealed at the end of the cut, giving them the appearance of muscle gain.
What if I’m skinny-fat?
If you’re like me, genetically small but carry a lot of body fat around the belly, you’re going to need to decide what to prioritise first and no one can give you that answer but you.
Decide on what is most important to you, but in my personal opinion, if you’re small, always build before you lose.
Otherwise, you’ll end up like me.
Here’s a picture of me after my first cut.
Just a head.
Some collar bone thrown in there as well. Yikes!
Had I known this would be the result, I would have entered a bulking phase first. I have since entered many bulking cycles to continue to build muscle.
Every time I bulk, I’m reminded that the majority of what I gain, will always be fat. It’s a sacrifice I have to make.
On the other hand, training always feels amazing because I have so much energy!
How do you build muscle without gaining fat?
Ah, the million dollar question!
There is an art to bulking, and it’s not just about eating whatever you want in whatever amounts you want.
Before we talk about the magic macronutrient that will help you build muscle let’s first talk about having a clear strategy that includes maintenance, deficit, and reverse. I’m of course referring to diet periodisation.
When you plan out each cycle with a clear exit strategy, you’ll get the most out of your diet.
If you want to learn more about diet periodisation, read this blog here.
So, what’s the secret to bulking successfully?
Focus on carbohydrates!
Yup, if you love your carbs, now is the time to enjoy them! Carbs will give you the energy you need to lift heavy, recover better and most importantly, encourage nutrient storage, growth, and repair.
If you read that as “helps you build muscle”, you’re absolutely right!
Most people are under the impression that building muscle requires an increase in protein, but this isn’t necessarily true. Retaining muscle requires an increase in protein, but as long as you are increasing your overall energy intake, focusing on carbs, and doing some sort of resistance training like hypertrophy, you’re good during a bulking phase.
This leads us nicely into the next question…
How do you do lose fat without losing muscle?
Focus on your protein!
Since decreasing your food intake makes you at risk of losing muscle mass, protein is going to be even more important during a fat loss phase. For this reason you’ll want to make sure that you focus on hitting your protein macros as much as you can.
Because I know that most people reading this will want something a little more tangible than that, here’s what I recommend:
If you’re not losing fat within the realistic parameters, keep your protein high but drop about 250 calories in fats and/or carbs
If you’re losing too much lean mass during a cut, increase your protein even more by 25g per day
If you are entering a pretty deep deficit, you’re food intake should be made up of mostly protein and vegetables. Don’t go fitting whatever macros you want but keeping the calories low.
In other words, don’t keep your macro split the same whilst dropping calories!
This is a HUGE no-no.
Cutting quality weight means you have to focus on those quality macronutrients. So the lower your calories go, the higher your macro split should be in favour of proteins.
Is there a body fat percent to aim for before cutting or bulking?
This is almost impossible to answer without understanding each individual’s body type, genetic make up and preferences, but as a starting point, here is what you can aim for:
*Image source: Precision Nutrition
Men with a body fat of 13% or more can focus on cutting weight
Men with body fat of 10% or less can focus on bulking
Women with 23% or above body fat can cut weight
Women with 20% or less might benefit from bulking
Conclusion
While exercise alone isn’t enough to change your body composition, when it comes to building muscle, diet alone won’t cut it either.
You need both.
Now that you understand this, we revisit the question…
Cut first or bulk first?
The only person that can really decide which way to go is you, but I would strongly encourage that you consider the ramifications of leaning out to extreme measures if you have a healthy amount of body fat.
If you feel like you are carrying more body fat than you are comfortable with, the good news is that you are in a really good position to retain a lot of muscle, should you decide to enter a deficit.
As always, I’ll end this week’s blog by reminding you to practice some self compassion whatever you decide to do.
If you need my help, you know where to find me.
S
