Can you do recomposition without lifting heavy?

Faebert

I am 5ft 7 ish and around 119lbs and maintaining at the moment. I previously posted about issues with bingeing and purging and am getting help with this. I'm aware that I'm very lean at the moment and so have been looking into recomposition but not sure I completely understand it.

I do a hiit workout six days a week and hot yoga or Pilates five nights a week. But I don't lift heavy weights. My workout involves lots of body weight exercises (push ups, planks etc) as does the yoga. I have fairly good muscle definition and not much body fat that's visible but I have been told I'm looking skinny...

Do I need to hit the gym and lift heavy in order to do recomposition? What would you advise for someone in my position? My issues mean I am uncomfortable with gaining weight but I do realise that I could stand to gain some extra muscle...

Thanks in advance for any tips and advice

ninerbuff

Hypertrophy would involve gaining mass by surplus and a lifting program that encourages it. That would be progressive overload. Body weight exercises don't achieve this as well (with the exception of single leg/arm movements and leverage movements) because if you're body weight isn't going up, you're not increasing the resistance.

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sijomial

While it's possible to add muscle with bodyweight exercises it's far easier with weights.
You have to keep challenging and stressing your muscles to produce the overload that encourages growth.
So with planks you can make them progressively harder up to a point (forward hand plank with shoulder tap for example). One arm push ups, pistol squats etc.
Just doing the same exercises with increasing volume will only get you so far.

I sincerely hope you aren't actually doing a true HIIT workout 6 times a week! That would be awful, loads of fatigue for little benefit (at best).

I would advise eating at a surplus rather than maintenance if you are indeed lean and skinny. If you want to gain muscle and have no fat how do you envisage that working?

A properly structured lifting routine appropriate to your level of experience with a small calorie surplus would seem better for you than maintaining with a bodyweight routine.

LKArgh

If you have muscle definition and you are doing strength training and have low body fat, recomposition is a term that makes no sense for you, since you have no fat to lose. You can build more muscle, but not without gaining weight.

slaite1

Focus on the help that you are getting. Are you seeing a counselor? Are you following their advice? Maybe at least ease up on the cardio while you work out your food issues (at this point 6 days of "hiit" or any intense cardio is not helping your aesthetic goals.

Are you willing to try strength training? Weight lifting can help take the focus off of being skinny and put it on being strong I know I read articles about bodybuilding for eating disorders, I'll see if I can find them.

Awesome job getting help for the bulimia, and for recognizing that you may need to gain weight (even if that is difficult for you). You got this

Faebert

Thank you so much for the responses. I kind of suspected the answer might be to eat more and drop down the crazy workout schedule to something more targeted with weights.

If I'm realistic I'm not sure I'm ready to gain weight without it causing me some issues with my recovery from the bulimia. So I might just keep working on healthy maintenance (with a proper exercise rest day or two!) while I get mentally stronger and then return to this.

Rusty740

I just started lean bulking from my year long weight loss. I'm 5'6" and went from 175 lbs down to 129 lbs at my lowest. I'm attempting to gain about 3-4 lbs per month or so while lifting and a few cardio (hockey and running) times once each per week. This is my first go at this.

I've found it hard to gain the weight quickly, and even though I am scared of 'ballooning', I've found that my body has more muscle 'fullness'. My point is, when you decide to gain the weight, make sure you lift, lessen the cardio and your body will not magically turn to fat jelly over night

Just wanted to give you some encouragement.

Nony_Mouse

Faebert wrote: »

Thank you so much for the responses. I kind of suspected the answer might be to eat more and drop down the crazy workout schedule to something more targeted with weights.

If I'm realistic I'm not sure I'm ready to gain weight without it causing me some issues with my recovery from the bulimia. So I might just keep working on healthy maintenance (with a proper exercise rest day or two!) while I get mentally stronger and then return to this.

I think this is a good plan for you. Get well first The day will come where sensible brain can override ED brain on the matter of scale weight, and believe me, that's an awesome feeling!! Best of luck

sijomial

Faebert wrote: »

Thank you so much for the responses. I kind of suspected the answer might be to eat more and drop down the crazy workout schedule to something more targeted with weights.

If I'm realistic I'm not sure I'm ready to gain weight without it causing me some issues with my recovery from the bulimia. So I might just keep working on healthy maintenance (with a proper exercise rest day or two!) while I get mentally stronger and then return to this.

Good plan - best of luck.