If you’ve hung out with me at all on the podcast or the blog, you’ve heard me allude to bodybuilding principals a times. I talked about it in the progressive overload episode, and some others.
Today’s topic is all about a HUGE bodybuilding principal that has made the biggest impact in how my body looks and feels, when used in conjunction with progressive overload. It's helped me effectively and predictably lose fat and gain muscle.
Ok, so I get it, if you are reading this you probably aren’t wanting to be a bodybuilder. That brings up images of steroid-injected men and women who maybe have a little more muscle that you would want…well that’s not what we are going for here.
You can use bodybuilding principals just to make yourself look toned, trust me you are not going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Actually, just a fun fact, there are different divisions in the sport of body building, and some of them are called “natural” divisions which is where they test for steroids, so the participants are steroid-free.
Man, is there a HUGE difference between the steroid bodybuilders and the natural ones. Just Google natural bodybuilder vs steroid bodybuilder and see what you get.
I actually read a research study one time that looked at men who lifted weights with steroids vs men who lifted and didn’t’ use them, vs men who just did steroids and didn’t exercise at all, and y’all, the men who didn’t even exercise AT ALL but did the steroids gained more muscle than the ones who lifted weights and didn’t use steroids.
Don’t quote me on that because I read it a while ago, but I remember it was something like the steroid only group who didn’t exercise gained 7 lbs of muscle in a month or something. Its crazy.
So I tell you that so that you can see that if you lift weights, it’s not going to make you bulky. Not like a steroid bodybuilder. It just wont, especially as a woman.
Now, everyone’s definition of bulky is different, but this will give you a toned and strong look. If you are wanting to look really thin like a supermodel lifting heavy weights probably isn’t the approach for you, but I think most of us want to look fit and strong and toned. Besides we want to actually BE fit and toned and strong, am I right?
So back to the bodybuilding principle. Today I’m going to teach you about bulking and cutting. You may have heard of this before, maybe not, but basically it’s what bodybuilders do to get ready for competitions.
So here’s what they do.
They do a “bulking” phase to gain muscle during their off season. This is where they eat in a calorie surplus-over what you need. And they lift heavy. Yes, some fat is gained as well as the muscle, but it you keep it to a modest surplus then it isn’t too much.
Then, they sign up for a competition and switch to a "cutting phase" to lose the extra fat they gained. This is a calorie deficit, like we talked about in the nutrition for fat loss series. If you have no idea what I’m talking about here, go listen to episode 7,8 and 9 or read here.
They do all this while lifting heavy to keep their newly gained muscle. So they do this year after year and each year they come into their shows with more muscle than the previous year because of their bulking phase.
I was fascinated by this when I first learned about it. I didn’t realize there was so much you could do to literally gain muscle and change like the literal shape of your body.
The more I thought about it, the more the concept of phases of eating more or less appealed to me. I like to think of them as seasons, because we don’t have a set competition goal or anything and season is less “deadline” feeling to me than cutting phase and bulking phase, I don’t know why. It also gives me this sense of how life is, we have different seasons we go through all the time, and the seasons change.
So I started thinking about the cutting phase as a season of fat loss, and the bulking phase as a season of muscle gain, and then I wanted to include a season of maintenance, where I just focus on loving my body where it’s at. This can also be used if you have a LOT of fat to lose, to give your mind and body a break from being in a calorie deficit and giving you a change to let up a little.
So I just did a series on nutrition for fat loss, and if you got my free Simple Guide to Fat Loss, in there I talk about that being a season of fat loss. You won’t always be in a calorie deficit.
In a few weeks I’m going to do a series on the other side, a season of muscle gain. This is where you eat more than you need (slightly) to put your body into a mode where it is primed to gain a significant amount of muscle.
Yes, you will gain some fat too-and believe me, I was as freaked out about that as you are! I had NEVER EVER in my life TRIED to gain weight. It would just happen without trying😂.
But this method WORKS. My last season of muscle gain I was able to gain about 8 lbs of muscle by the end of it.
So I had gotten down to a certain amount of leanness, then I started my muscle gain season and I did that for about 6 months, then I did a season of fat loss while lifting really heavy still so I kept my muscle gains, and at the end of it when I was back to the same leanness level as before, but you can see on my body I’m more muscular, my legs are bigger and more toned (remember I struggle with having really thin legs and a pancake butt so I was really focused on gaining muscles in those areas) my hips are bigger and it’s incredible to me that you can alter your shape so much, like, without plastic surgery! Also-I weigh more, but that’s ok right? Because I know it’s muscle.
I also love love, love that I have the freedom now to have seasonal goals for my body and the freedom to eat more in a season. For so long in my life all I wanted was to lose weight. I thought there was nothing I could do about my shape so I needed to just get as thin as possible. I felt restricted all the time about food, and then I would just give up sometimes and go on a eating rampage the cycle would repeat over and over. Thinking of my eating habits as seasons attached to my fitness goals has changed that for me!
For example, we went on a cruise and on vacation for 2 weeks in the summer, and because I was in a muscle gain season I didn’t go crazy but I knew that I didn’t have to be super strict. I enjoyed myself. Yes, I probably put on a little more fat during my muscle gain season than I should have, but I knew I would lose it in my fat loss season, and I did. That’s what I love about this, it’s predictable. I know I can lose the fat, I’ve never felt like that before.
So currently I’m finishing up a season of fat loss, hoping to be done in the next couple of months. Then I’m going to just maintain over the summer before starting another muscle gain season in the fall. I’m timing it like that because we usually are eating more decadently in the fall and winter anyway, so why not use that for muscle gain?
So, if you are intrigued by this idea of seasons of fat loss and muscle gain, what do you do to get started?
You first need to figure out if you need to start with a fat loss or a muscle gain season. Most of us probably need to start with a fat loss season, but there will be some of us that struggle with weight gain or have a low muscle level that will need to start with a muscle gain season.
How do you decide this? Well, you can do whatever you want. I’ve heard the rule of get under 24% body fat first, I’ve heard get under 20% body fat, I’ve also heard you need to be able to see your top two abs.
I would say that it should be focused on your goals. If you feel like gaining muscle is more important to you, and you don’t mind some fat gained, then start a season of muscle gain. If you are like, no way! my priority is fat loss, or your doctor has told you to lose fat for health reasons, then start with a season of fat loss.
A third option is that you could start with a season of maintenance. This is where you focus on staying the same weight but you lift heavy, and you may even end up recomping, which is where you actually gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.
This is a special perk of being a beginner weightlifter. Your muscles are SO primed for muscle gain that your body will allow you to gain muscle while losing some fat, later on that usually isn't the case. This only lasts the first 6-12 months though, is what I’ve read, but it could be worth a try. The main downside I have read about thought is that both muscle gain and fat loss are going to be slower with a recomp than if you split up the seasons.
I did try to do a recomp but it was tricky for me to stay in that maintenance zone. It’s easier to stay under or over, like there’s more margin for error with being under or over than there is with maintenance.
So I tried for 3 months and then I wasn’t seeing much change so I switched to a fat loss season and immediately my body started changing. So it’s up to you to decide which route you choose.
So what I want you to do this week is think about where you want to start. If you are serious about changing your body in a real way, think about if you want to start in a fat loss season, or a muscle gain season, or maintenance.
And let me know! I’d love to hear from you.
You can email me at rachel@effecivefitnessforwomen.com, and tell me which route you plan to go.
But remember, above all take action!
Happy lifting!
-Rachel
Comentários