“I want to gain muscle and lose fat Will” is a common statement I hear or get the “how do I gain muscle and lose fat?” question, and sellers of supplements and designers of magical programs and diets are all to happy to feed into those wishes as if it was easy to do with their particular program or supplement.
Can you gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously? I answer that Q in this vid. If interested in my general approach to gaining strength and muscle mass, see the BBR program.
The Essentials:
Basic facts #1: Losing bodyfat requires you to be in a sustained caloric deficit,
Basic fact #2: Gaining muscle mass requires you to be in a sustained caloric surplus.
One can’t serve two masters, nor defy basic physiology and laws of thermodynamics.
One can train for a power lifting meet and an ultra marathon at the same time, but they won’t be terribly successful at either for a reason…
Pick a specific goal, eat and train for it, vs attempting multiple goals that may be opposed to each other giving sub par results.
Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 30 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.
His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors.
He’s also been published in peer reviewed journals.
Will is the author of the popular e-books, both accompanied by private members forum access , Bodybuilding Revealed & Fat Loss Revealed.
You can also buy Will’s other books on Amazon, Apple iBook, and Barnes and Noble.
So Will, does this tie into the whole “bulk, then cut” routine that so many young people have gotten so wrong? And, is it necessary? I know you literally wrote a book on the subject. For me though, an admirer of the old school BBers, I always been a fan of Frank Zane, who among those much bigger, never strayed too far away from his target weight & conditioning.
Thanks in advance!
All of the old school bbers had an “off season” phase where they focused on gaining LBM and ate plenty of cals to gain that LBM, and a “on season” phase where they focused on losing BF and maintaining LBM. Two, you have to take into account the drug use, which although not as pervasive in types and doses used in modern times, were still the norm among the well known names of the time.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT THEIR WAS ON AND OFF SEASON. NOW IT IS ALWAYS ON .
NO TIME TO BULK UP OFF CAMERA.
You are a legend.
Thanks for all the info
Good video Will!
So what am I if i am plateauing in muscle gain and gaining belly fat? I walk about 1.4 miles to the gym and back and spend 20 minutes there. Something isn’t right.
I can’t “diagnose” the cause from a simple blog post like that, but the usual suspects likely apply, such as nutrition, etc. If you really have all the usual variables followed correctly, then I tend to look to hormonal issues if the person is (seemingly) doing everything right and not making some progress. There’s a ton of info on this site with hormone related info if that applies to you.
you have a ton of topics, which ones deal specifically with the hormones that have to do with muscle gain or fat loss. I’d like to do the fat loss first since I have recently gained belly fat. thyroid, Pituitary and what other hormones could b e out of balance at age 72? Thanks