Is it not as simple as I thought?

marrrisa · February 2017

I'm quite thin and have some muscle tone (5'3 and 113 lbs) as I have an athletic build. I've always ate basically maintenance calories, usually anywhere between 1400-2000 probably (I didn't track much unless I was trying to drop a couple pounds a few years ago)

Anyway, I'm fine with my body/body weight. I carry some fat around my hips and inner thighs that I'm trying to reduce while trying to build the booty and legs!

I thought just eating maintenance calories 1800-2000/ day and I've upped my protein intake to an average of 80g (working on increasing a bit every couple weeks). Plus I lift weights 5-6x a week, with some HIIT here and there.

I thought it was that simple, that my body would put on muscle weight using the calories/protein, but I could also decrease body fat percentage because my body would be using the food for gainzzzz not just fat gains.

I don't really want to eat a surplus, because I don't want to be adding fat along with the muscle.

But now I'm hearing how imperative cutting/bulking are, lean gains, or recomping, etc. that make it all sound so much more complicated!

Now I don't even know what to do/if I am doing anything right? Any advice?

psuLemon · February 2017

Well what you want to do is called a recomp. Where you eat a maintenance and follow a good progressive overload lifting program. So your calories and nutrition sounds like you are in a good place, but what does your program look like?

marrrisa · February 2017

I'm doing a program I really enjoy. It's set up for 6 days a week (sometimes I just do 5) 80% lower body with one upper body day. Lots of squats/deadlifts/hiit on bike or stair master/tabata squat workouts/super sets etc.

It's definitely the hardest I've worked! I'm always sore and now trying to lift heavier. At first I was just doing endurance lifting since I hadn't worked out hard in a loooong time.

So is it still possible to build muscle while eating maintenance? Some people seem to suggest your body will only grow if you're eating surplus

psuLemon · February 2017

marrrisa wrote: »

I'm doing a program I really enjoy. It's set up for 6 days a week (sometimes I just do 5) 80% lower body with one upper body day. Lots of squats/deadlifts/hiit on bike or stair master/tabata squat workouts/super sets etc.

It's definitely the hardest I've worked! I'm always sore and now trying to lift heavier. At first I was just doing endurance lifting since I hadn't worked out hard in a loooong time.

So is it still possible to build muscle while eating maintenance? Some people seem to suggest your body will only grow if you're eating surplus

Well that is why I was asking about your program. It's not just about being sore. It's about progressive overload. That means, each week, weight set or reps should increase. Having a program that largely only focuses on lower body would be rather imbalanced and as you start to lift real heavy, might lead to recovery issues.

Without knowing details of your program, it looks like it's leaning towards endurance/general fitness. So if you want to lay out your program, then we can provide feedback.

usmcmp · February 2017

So you do a program that's basically 5 days of legs and one day of upper body? That's not very balanced and doesn't give your lower body rest time. Rest days are when the magic happens because that's when your body repairs itself, you shouldn't be always sore. Try looking for a more balanced program.

It is possible to build muscle at maintenance if the conditions are right. It's not fast, but it happens.

Gallowmere1984 · February 2017

usmcmp wrote: »

So you do a program that's basically 5 days of legs and one day of upper body? That's not very balanced and doesn't give your lower body rest time. Rest days are when the magic happens because that's when your body repairs itself, you shouldn't be always sore. Try looking for a more balanced program.

It is possible to build muscle at maintenance if the conditions are right. It's not fast, but it happens.

Compared to all of the brosplits that are 5 days of upper and one "leg day", I think I'd actually prefer this one. Heh.

marrrisa · February 2017

usmcmp wrote: »

So you do a program that's basically 5 days of legs and one day of upper body? That's not very balanced and doesn't give your lower body rest time. Rest days are when the magic happens because that's when your body repairs itself, you shouldn't be always sore. Try looking for a more balanced program.

It is possible to build muscle at maintenance if the conditions are right. It's not fast, but it happens.

No it's like a day of abs, a day of more hiit/tabata style, a day of hamstrings/glutes, quads, etc.

Not like I'm deadlifting 5 days in a row or anything.

Also the lack of progressive overload in the beginning was my choice to get my body ready for lifting heavier. Now that I'm a few weeks in, I'm starting to add more weights each time.

Is it not as simple as I thought?

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