Recomp Question

New_Heavens_Earth

I started Crossfit about 2 months ago to get over my excessive cardio tendencies. I take a one hour class 2 to 3 times per week. I'm still eating at a deficit but increased my protein. I want to lose another 20 lbs to get back to my lowest weight (155, 5'3").

My question is if I reach goal, continue my current Crossfit schedule and eat at maintenance, is that enough to recomp? I feel soft and have loose skin issues.

AJ_G

Best way to build muscle is to lift heavy and eat at a surplus. The most efficient way to increase muscle and lose fat is to go through a bulk and cut cycle. Recomping is a slow process and is much less efficient, but is a better option for those who don't have the right mindset needed to deliberately gain weight in order to build muscle after spending so much time losing weight.

New_Heavens_Earth

AJ_G wrote: »

Best way to build muscle is to lift heavy and eat at a surplus. The most efficient way to increase muscle and lose fat is to go through a bulk and cut cycle. Recomping is a slow process and is much less efficient, but is a better option for those who don't have the right mindset needed to deliberately gain weight in order to build muscle after spending so much time losing weight.

Thanks for your response.
I know I don't have the mindset to do cut and bulk cycles. I don't mind a slow recomp, as I've had to adjust to a slow weight loss to avoid another crash and burn.

Thanks again!

AJ_G

New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »

AJ_G wrote: »

Best way to build muscle is to lift heavy and eat at a surplus. The most efficient way to increase muscle and lose fat is to go through a bulk and cut cycle. Recomping is a slow process and is much less efficient, but is a better option for those who don't have the right mindset needed to deliberately gain weight in order to build muscle after spending so much time losing weight.

Thanks for your response.
I know I don't have the mindset to do cut and bulk cycles. I don't mind a slow recomp, as I've had to adjust to a slow weight loss to avoid another crash and burn.

Thanks again!

Well it's a great thing that you know yourself, your preferences, and your limits, many people don't. In that case if you are going to do a recomp, you should work in a lifting program that utilizes progressive overload. If you love crossfit, that's great, but it is ideal for building muscle. I know people who do crossfit for high intensity training, but also lift weights a few days a week as well for building muscle. You should strongly consider that.

New_Heavens_Earth

AJ_G wrote: »

New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »

AJ_G wrote: »

Best way to build muscle is to lift heavy and eat at a surplus. The most efficient way to increase muscle and lose fat is to go through a bulk and cut cycle. Recomping is a slow process and is much less efficient, but is a better option for those who don't have the right mindset needed to deliberately gain weight in order to build muscle after spending so much time losing weight.

Thanks for your response.
I know I don't have the mindset to do cut and bulk cycles. I don't mind a slow recomp, as I've had to adjust to a slow weight loss to avoid another crash and burn.

Thanks again!

Well it's a great thing that you know yourself, your preferences, and your limits, many people don't. In that case if you are going to do a recomp, you should work in a lifting program that utilizes progressive overload. If you love crossfit, that's great, but it is ideal for building muscle. I know people who do crossfit for high intensity training, but also lift weights a few days a week as well for building muscle. You should strongly consider that.

I will consider adding in weights only days. I'm looking to try Stronglifts 5x5 or something similar.

Thanks so much.

Dan2668

AJ_G wrote: »

Best way to build muscle is to lift heavy and eat at a surplus. The most efficient way to increase muscle and lose fat is to go through a bulk and cut cycle. Recomping is a slow process and is much less efficient, but is a better option for those who don't have the right mindset needed to deliberately gain weight in order to build muscle after spending so much time losing weight.

Just to hijack this thread if you don't mind:

Any idea, how slow 'slow' is? I guess it's hard to give numbers.

Only reason I ask is I've been in caloric deficit plus cardio and weights for over a year. I've lost 40lbs, I've gained some strength and whilst not expecting to gain muscle in deficit, my arms and chest have definitely firmed up.

That said, I still have a gut. It's driving me crazy, my BMI is low (I'm 6ft 2 and 175) and whilst I've lost a lot of fat since I begun, that belly of mine just makes me reluctant to bulk.

The temptation is to keep lifting, running and cutting, but of course, I could end up super skinny by the time the gut is gone.

No idea what to do next.

sijomial

@Dan2668

The slow thing is unfortunately thrown around without context and outside of young, undertrained males muscle building is slow whatever your calorie balance.

The speed of gaining muscle is situational depending on your gender/age/training years but also personal depending on how well you personally respond to training which is very varied. If your personal potential rate of muscle growth is slow then a calorie surplus may help a little but you are still talking degrees of slowness!

With your height I would imagine though that your long term goal would include gaining some weight. Short term it has to be a personal choice between getting leaner to lose your "gut" but also getting smaller. After a year of being in a deficit at least a spell at maintenance would probably be a good idea.

Unknown

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Dan2668

sijomial wrote: »

@Dan2668

The slow thing is unfortunately thrown around without context and outside of young, undertrained males muscle building is slow whatever your calorie balance.

The speed of gaining muscle is situational depending on your gender/age/training years but also personal depending on how well you personally respond to training which is very varied. If your personal potential rate of muscle growth is slow then a calorie surplus may help a little but you are still talking degrees of slowness!

With your height I would imagine though that your long term goal would include gaining some weight. Short term it has to be a personal choice between getting leaner to lose your "gut" but also getting smaller. After a year of being in a deficit at least a spell at maintenance would probably be a good idea.

Damn, I think you're right. When I started a year ago, I hadn't been involved in sports for a decade (I'm 34 now) and my LMM was lacking to say the least. I've had some spells of maintainance - in fact at Christmas I had two weeks of excess.

Since I'm reluctant to bulk right now (because I still have fat around my midsection) I'm guessing I have two options.

- Caloric maintainance, lift more, and recomp.
- Continue cut, lift, risk having a BMI of 20 by the time the fat is gone!

Would you say that's basically right?

New_Heavens_Earth

Mexicangreensalsa wrote: »

Just wondering, but why are you recomping at 155? Why not lose until you are at a healthy weight? That would make you a LOT leaner than being overweight at 155 with a "recomp". Most people wait until they are at a healthy weight before recomp.

I'm not starting now. I'm waiting until I lose another 20 lbs, seeing where I'm at, then recomping. Yes I know I would be a lot leaner then.

I'm also coming off of a cycle of binging/ exercise purging so I need to shift focus to weight training to preserve muscle instead of obsessive amounts of calorie cutting and cardio.

goldthistime

I read recently that cut/bulk cycles are no longer recommended, almost everyone should recomp only. The reasoning behind that was that it leads to more sustainable long term habits. Sorry, I don’t have a link, but I have to say I see the logic in that thinking for many people.

I also don’t understand waiting to recomp till you’ve lost weight. It might be just terminology, maybe it’s not considered to be recomp if you’re still losing. IMO, strength training belongs in everyone’s regimen, regardless of their %bf.

heybales

goldthistime wrote: »

I read recently that cut/bulk cycles are no longer recommended, almost everyone should recomp only. The reasoning behind that was that it leads to more sustainable long term habits. Sorry, I don’t have a link, but I have to say I see the logic in that thinking for many people.

I also don’t understand waiting to recomp till you’ve lost weight. It might be just terminology, maybe it’s not considered to be recomp if you’re still losing. IMO, strength training belongs in everyone’s regimen, regardless of their %bf.

It is not recomp if still losing weight.

You can certainly reach for keeping and adding to muscle you got with a strength training.

Indeed the idea cardio should be done for fat loss and lifting at the end is bad idea.

sijomial

Dan2668 wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

@Dan2668

The slow thing is unfortunately thrown around without context and outside of young, undertrained males muscle building is slow whatever your calorie balance.

The speed of gaining muscle is situational depending on your gender/age/training years but also personal depending on how well you personally respond to training which is very varied. If your personal potential rate of muscle growth is slow then a calorie surplus may help a little but you are still talking degrees of slowness!

With your height I would imagine though that your long term goal would include gaining some weight. Short term it has to be a personal choice between getting leaner to lose your "gut" but also getting smaller. After a year of being in a deficit at least a spell at maintenance would probably be a good idea.

Damn, I think you're right. When I started a year ago, I hadn't been involved in sports for a decade (I'm 34 now) and my LMM was lacking to say the least. I've had some spells of maintainance - in fact at Christmas I had two weeks of excess.

Since I'm reluctant to bulk right now (because I still have fat around my midsection) I'm guessing I have two options.

- Caloric maintainance, lift more, and recomp.
- Continue cut, lift, risk having a BMI of 20 by the time the fat is gone!

Would you say that's basically right?

Yep!
Very personal choice, if being lean is #1 priority then go for continuing to lose. If strength, muscle and size without adding fat is more important then maintain.

Very few people need to deliberately bulk. Some find it helpful (especially those that both bulk and cut well and easily), those with very advanced physique goals will probably benefit. For the "average person" with regular goals it's unnecessary and may be counter-productive.

Also remember what you do now doesn't commit you to not making different choices in the future.

KarenSmith2018

As a CrossFit fanatic my experience is you can loose weight and recomp with CrossFit. It’s about the only weight lifting I do and it’s totally changed my shape over 3 years. You don’t have to have a dedicated weight lifting regieme to recomp and get strong.

Sharon_C

goldthistime wrote: »

I read recently that cut/bulk cycles are no longer recommended, almost everyone should recomp only. The reasoning behind that was that it leads to more sustainable long term habits. Sorry, I don’t have a link, but I have to say I see the logic in that thinking for many people.

I also don’t understand waiting to recomp till you’ve lost weight. It might be just terminology, maybe it’s not considered to be recomp if you’re still losing. IMO, strength training belongs in everyone’s regimen, regardless of their %bf.

Bret Contreras is against cut/bulk cycles and recommends recomp for the average person. He has a lot of posts about it.

I'm currently recomping. I have more weight to lose (20lbs or so) but I am so TIRED of eating in a deficit so I decided to try recomp. I know its a long process. I started in January and plan to go to at least October. We'll see how it goes

sardelsa

goldthistime wrote: »

I read recently that cut/bulk cycles are no longer recommended, almost everyone should recomp only. The reasoning behind that was that it leads to more sustainable long term habits. Sorry, I don’t have a link, but I have to say I see the logic in that thinking for many people.

I also don’t understand waiting to recomp till you’ve lost weight. It might be just terminology, maybe it’s not considered to be recomp if you’re still losing. IMO, strength training belongs in everyone’s regimen, regardless of their %bf.

It really depends on the person and their goals. I personally would not benefit and be happy from recomp only, I don't know if I would consider myself not average, but there is only so much improvement I can achieve from staying the same weight at this point. I want to be heavier, bigger, more muscular. However I don't go overboard with my bulks, and I find it really easy to lose weight after.