Lifting Weights for Body Re-Composition

Many people are making new year's resolutions for 2020. As usual, one of the most popular is to lose weight.

Unfortunately, most people confuse losing fat with weight. You might have heard that it is possible to lose weight just by eating McDonald's. This is true: so long as you are in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

The issue here is that you will also be losing muscle mass. Eating junk food and losing weight at the same time is the worst of both worlds.

By incorporating weight training and a mild calorie deficit, you can actually build muscle while losing fat.

The great thing about this is that you don't have to starve yourself.

The trickiest part about body re-composition is this: getting your head around the fact that weight loss will be slow.

In order to efficiently re-composition, you need to cycle your calories while keeping your deficit modest. You'll eat about 10% below maintenance on rest days, and about 10% more of workout days.

Don't fall into the trap of measuring yourself daily. It will take about 8 weeks to lose 3 - 5 cm from your waist. These measurements will also fluctuate. As you can image, even measuring just once per week can be misleading.

Aim to take measurements once every two weeks. If done properly, you can expect to see about a centimetre to half an inch reduction in your waist during this time.

To add muscle, you must be lifting weights. Four times per week is the optimum amount. This stimulates muscles enough for growth while leaving enough time to repair. It also means you will have 3 days per week in a calorie deficit which is essential for the fat-loss part of the re-comp.

A simple upper/lower body split is perfect. Train each twice per week - once for strength and once for hypertrophy (muscle growth)

Regarding the re-comp diet, you should aim for 40% of your daily calories to come from carbs. Roughly 0.75 grams per pound of bodyweight is a good rule of thumb for protein intake.

The rest of your calories should then come from carbohydrates.

The most important aspect for body re-composition is lifting weights. Without resistance exercise, you will not build muscle. In fact, it is difficult enough to build muscle in a calorie surplus when training regularly, so you can imagine how much muscle mass you would lose when dieting if you simply stick to cardio.

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