It’s no secret that getting started with training is difficult.
It takes time, effort and courage.
Most beginners don’t have the slightest idea what to expect, how to train or even what they want to achieve.
Body recomposition is somewhat of a complicated subject, and there are some strong opinions out there.
You see, we are led to believe that to build a great body, you need to do something like this:
Bulk ⇒ Cut ⇒ Bulk ⇒ Cut ⇒ Bulk ⇒ Cut...
After each bulk-cut cycle is done, you should be a little bit bigger, leaner and stronger.
But imagine that you’ve managed to drastically improve your body composition by building muscle and losing fat at the same time. After all, don’t we all want that?
The problem is, most people see it as black or white. Possible or impossible. But as with every other aspect of fitness, context is crucial here.
Today, we’ll go over body recomposition, who can do it effectively, how to pull it off and what might be a better option for certain people.
At some point in your life, you probably experienced immense motivation to lose weight. What followed was nothing less than incredible excitement and determination to change for the better.
You started eating better, began exercising, and things were going great. You felt proud of yourself and for finally making positive changes in your everyday life.
But, after a while, you started losing the drive to eat healthier foods and exercise. Your motivation had waned.
Before you knew it, you were back to your old behaviors, frustrated and disappointed.
So what gives?
Motivation is a tricky beast, but today, we’ll tackle it and see how we can use it to our advantage.
Note: This guide is mainly going to focus on the training aspect of muscle growth. But since nutrition is SO important, I’ve also written an entire guide on how to EAT for muscle growth. You can read it here (or download the PDF for offline reading).
A few years ago, I was in a fat loss phase, trying to get lean for the summer. One day, I came across a forum thread with a dumbass title in the lines of “Why you should have cheat days.”
I clicked on it, read through and was convinced that, while dieting down, I should (nay, must) include cheat days two to three times per month to ‘propel’ fat-burning and improve diet adherence.
(A part of me knew that it wasn’t the case, but my hedonistic side told me to shut up and enjoy the moment. I reasoned that one day of overeating couldn’t do any harm.)
Then, on Friday after work, I hit up the local grocery store, picked up all the crap I could lay my eyes on with the intent of having my first cheat day on the following Saturday. I was so excited; I could barely fall asleep that night. I felt like a kid before Christmas.
Next morning, got up bright and early, and began my ‘reward day.’ As expected, I ate so much food that I had to lie down on three or four different occasions. I didn’t count the calories, but I reckon it was in the 10,000-15,000 range.
I had a few more cheat days during that cut before realizing that they completely negated my fat loss efforts. I knew it from the start; I just didn’t want to believe it.