Body recomposition

jaylencofer
jaylencofer Posts: 3 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Do you guys find it easier to focus on one task(for example gaining weight first) then cutting the fat or to focus on gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time?

Replies

  • NunyaWest
    NunyaWest Posts: 87 Member
    Some say you can only do one or the other at a time.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    There's no question that gaining weight in a slow and controlled manner while doing plenty of weight bearing stuff is the best way to add muscle. You can bulk up for a while and then do a cut. So long as you don't over-do it by whacking out your diet, it works well. It requires patience!
  • LGreenfield7
    LGreenfield7 Posts: 75 Member
    Your muscle gain looks a lot more rewarding when you start at a lower body fat %. Cutting first is beneficial for a few reasons. Aside from more obvious muscle gain, you will also develop discipline and knowledge that will improve your health for the rest of your life. Increasing muscle mass doesn't really improve your health at all. Recomp is very effective, but can be challenging when it comes to diet. If you have a very good knowledge base or someone who can guide you I would say go for it.
  • serapel
    serapel Posts: 502 Member
    I prefer recomps but you have to eat clean. I have just begun a program with a PT once a week for squatting strength and I’ve been gaining muscle so it’s normal to be a couple of lbs heavier at first. If you eat clean, you won’t feel like you’re getting fat. The most I ever gained was 7 lbs over 6 months and then I did a cut. I didn’t like that. I hate dieting
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,984 Member
    Being a natural bodybuilder, I've always preferred the bulk then cut. Because I've tried the clean eating and small surplus and my strength didn't increase much. When I bulked, I moved much more poundages which intern lead to faster muscle gain. And when I cut, I did as much as I could NOT to reduce the amount of resistance I was doing to keep my strength up. Now again, I did compete (7 contests), but now after dropping 40lbs during COVID, I'm just planning to lose a little more and maintain since I have no desire to compete at my age (57 tomorrow) and not looking to do any increase in strength or gain any more muscle. But I have put muscle on many a client by way of bulk depending on how much they wanted to gain.

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    serapel wrote: »
    I prefer recomps but you have to eat clean. I have just begun a program with a PT once a week for squatting strength and I’ve been gaining muscle so it’s normal to be a couple of lbs heavier at first. If you eat clean, you won’t feel like you’re getting fat. The most I ever gained was 7 lbs over 6 months and then I did a cut. I didn’t like that. I hate dieting

    Apart from eating clean being a pretty meaningless phrase (or perhaps a phrase with a thousand meanings!) there is absolutely no need for any kind of special diet to recomp. It's training that drives muscle gain.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited January 2021
    jaylencofer wrote: »
    Do you guys find it easier to focus on one task(for example gaining weight first) then cutting the fat or to focus on gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time?

    I far prefer recomp as it suits my varied goals.
    I'm very happy with the weight I am at and have no desire to gain weight which would hurt my cycling performance or to cut weight as dieting is a miserable restriction.

    I also don't see it as a changing focus, my training is consistent (when the damn gyms are open!).

    However, your situation and your goals could be completely different to mine. Pick the method that suits you. If unsure, experiment.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    What is your waist measurement and gender?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    serapel wrote: »
    I prefer recomps but you have to eat clean.

    no you don't ..eat in a small deficit, meet your macros, use a structured lifting regimen with progressivity built in..

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