Recomp guide (part.1): What it is & isn't
Вставка
- Опубліковано 26 лип 2024
- I'm doing a recomp right now and a lot of people seemed interested to hear about the method in more details. This is an introduction to the 5 episodes series I will be running on recomps, encompassing every aspects I can think of.
- Спорт
One of the comment I left somewhere got a lot of attention and irritated some people who decided to grace us of their presence (and dislikes). With the exposition this channel is getting this is going to be a common occurrence, pay it no mind.
There will always be trolls. More trolls means your channel is attracting more attention
Yeah. There's always be going to be those types walking around with a chip on their shoulders.
@@tpbulle I also bank on some of them sticking around
Do you have scoliosis?
@@johnjose4520 I also noticed a weird position to be sitting.
"You can't sell a re-comp." That makes a lot of sense as to why most people do the (slow) bulk or cuts (not that these methods are bad per se).
A few notes I took
Recomp:
Goal: Stay the same body weight, lose body fat gain muscle
How to do it: eat around maintenance (to keep the body weight stagnant); make sure you are progressively overloading (be it by upping the weight, doing more reps and sets, lower rest times etc.); check differences in the mirror, you should start to look better, not the same; be patient, it takes time (depending on body fat can take 1 year or more)
Additional note: don’t try to recomp at a low body fat, because you won’t have enough fat to “trade” for muscle, I would say 13% is to low to do a recomp, just lean bulk and then start a recomp at a higher body fat.
Easy
Man you've improved your physique a lot since you started bro! So inspiring as well! Hope to achieve something similar myself this year :)
I also used to believe in the bulk & cut system, but whenever I used to research on old-school bodybuilders, Silver Era, I rarely ever read about them doing a bulk or doing a cut. I'm also doing a recomp, trying to stay at around 225-230 with a bit of body fat. Although I'm planning to do a cut soon in between so I can kind of stay in the 200-210 range. I'm excited for the coming episodes.
Love this UA-cam channel, I'm 17 and i was an idiot and bulked up to 210 of pure fat from 140 over 3 years, thinking I was getting big. Im recomping and i feel 10x better, weight rn arouund 190, 22 percent body fat. Still have a long way to go but cant wait for small gains while getting leaner, getting close to that 300 pound bench as well, only 50 pounds to go
I personally think bulking and cutting takes a toll on your health and is maybe more effective for roiders. A slight surplus with clean foods (from the earth) is the way to go, adopting this lifestyle will make you jump out of the statistics. Year in year out, slowly making gains.
NattyNoWhey is a perfect example of this.
I was just thinking about doing a recomp starting tomorrow. Thank you for the video
Excited to go through this guide!
I'm trying really hard to be patient on this cut. I got back into fitness in February lost a lot of weight fast. From 218 to 190 alot was muscle(I had trained before and perform a pretty physical job). This left me weakened and depressed so I started what was supposed to be a lean bulk and went full dirty bulk. Back to 220 but with much much better mass according to the measuring tape. I am now trying to cut to 185 over a much longer period of time than my previous panic cut. It's a difficult process for me but following you is really inspiring to me.
Keep at it buddy, slow and steady wins the race
I feel like Jeff Cavalier unknowingly did a recomp over the course of 10 years when you look at his physique changes over time. Also you’re looking like Geralt from the Witcher my man
Thanks bro! Geralt is physique goals. Also you're back in business man, apparently YT thought you were spamming the channel (probably because we're both fitness channels) but it should be all good now
Im currently “cutting” with alternate day fasting. Im 17 and around 25% bodyfat. Trying to get down to 15-18%
Best of luck bro
updates?
@@goro2867 Lol 19 now and in decent shape. Not fasting anymore but it did its purpose in the grand scheme. Other factors changed my physique and health more
@@c.s.9427 Nice dude. Im currently 17 around 18% bodyfat skinnyfat and im trying to recomp. I was in shape but sadly 12th grade ruined everything
@@goro2867 do you have a job?
I always discover new based content you've posted like a year ago on this channel holy shit
Thank you so much NH for existing.
Ive been recomping ever since starting since i hate bulking and over-cutting isnt conducive typically. Validating its existence is appreciated. Everything is so shoved in your face, DRAMATIC changes. DRAMATIC LIFTS, EXPLOSIVE bipolar switches.
Nah, rome wasnt built in a day.
And stagnations takes too late to notice.
Recomps are metamorphis without overly disrupting your reality principle in the shorter timeframe. Preventing over-reactions of either side.
Took so much to cut through the digital crap of yt pulpslop fitness to even believe in recomping; even as I was slowly witnessing it, as if it was always like that. Slow.. Lots of time to be persuaded otherwise.
Well, looking more like a tart and still thinking like a politician.
I’ve done some aggressive “mini-cuts” before, losing 2-4% of total bodyweight in 3-4 weeks. The theory is you get the weight loss done fast so can return to maintenance faster, which is meant to be healthier.
In theory it works both both times the strength loss took 2-4 months to get back to base line. It’s just too depleting. I’m keen to try and slow and steady recomp approach when I get to my goal bodyweight (I’m moving from 75 to 85kg over time, no set timeframe).
I’m definitely going to give this a try at somepoint with a year or two. I just need to put some needed size on my upper body and a little on my calves to catchup with my legs which are already 25 inches after my first year of lifting lol. Then I’ll give the recomp a shot and see how far it takes me within a year or so. Luckily for me I noticed that I can gain muscle with relatively low macros so alot of the information you preach is definitely correct.
Recomp is definitely possible . When lifts stall then you know you gotta change it up a little but if you’re adding reps each week/10days while eating maintenance I don’t see the reason to be in a surplus or deficit . Great info
Your traps gave gotten wayyy bigger since you I first subbed bro lol
Hehe, the nucleus overload cycle & training protocol I'm running on them is working great :)
@@NaturalHypertrophy More detail about this please, I have been wanting to improve my trap routine
@@tpbulle ua-cam.com/video/IgxJijW3MSQ/v-deo.html&ab_channel=NaturalHypertrophy
@@tpbulle I'll discuss weighted stretch for muscle hypertrophy and nucleus overload in more details as well
bruhhh, your traps are looking huge
i just did the exact same thing that happened to you, i cut way too fast from 220 to 185 lbs in less than 3 months and lost a lot of muscle. hopefully i can do a successful recomp
Dude you look insane! Huge and decently lean
Thanks man, appreciate it
i feel this is "Greg Vs Dr.Mike" all over again :D :
U & greg : breaching the (maingain) way of things
Dr.Mike saying : it's not the best approach (unless u'r novice or over weight) otherwise u should (Small Cut & Very Small Bulk) for cycles cause it's the best weapons we got .
Hit the nail on the head here
Bulked too hard to 196, cut 20lbs and gonna try recomping for a few months. Hoping it'll work out
Hi Natty, could you please make a video on what an ideal "powerbuilding" programme would look like for someone on a recomp, maybe something on a full body 3x a week. It would come in handy once some of us can go back to gym
Hey Mike, check out the Natural Hypertrophy playlist, there's a 3x a week fullbody routine in there. If it's not what you're looking for let me know in another comment here the specs you'd like to see and I'll work on something
@@NaturalHypertrophy thanks Man, let check it out
I had the same experience with the presses lowering my bw, not so much the horizontal pressing tho.
Lockdown has been good for you. You're looking good. 👍
Thanks man
For me to recomp it is. Eating around maintenance, 150+ grams of protein a day, progressive overload in the gym.
Wishing the best man
what do you think of mini cuts bro?
Do you have any take or advice on gyno, or even better is a video coming?
my plan is to, over the next couple o' years slow bulk to 90 kg (from 83), then recomp
True, you're getting more muscle and with muscle gains its easier to lose fat even at maintaince calories
nice vid nh. you should make a recomp transformation video when you finish recomp
Not a bad idea at all, maybe in a year or so
@@NaturalHypertrophy awesome looking forward to it my dude
Hey man, what’s more effective for recomp; maintenance calories everyday or cutting for 3 days for example with a 4th day refeed that equals maintenance overall? Thanks
I'll answer that question in part.4 (the Q&A) if you don't mind! That can trigger good discussion
Natural Hypertrophy great man!
What types of exercises do you do for your abs?
Hey Isaac, check out the Road to Bigger abs playlist, I detail them all
I am fat is it possible to gain muscle while being on a deficit
👍
Hey what would you recommend for myself. I'm 5'6 229
15 months of training. Should I just stick with maintenance. Or cut
Definitely cut (I know I'm ignoring the assumed sarcasm), but unless you are a Mr Olympia figure just slim down and you will be so much happier. That is a lot of weight for your frame and even if it's all muscle it's unhealthy.
@@noahmarietta7346 right on I’ve been on track so far I’m at 210. I guess what I was meaning was a slow cut or a faster one of maybe 2 pounds a week
@@DisgustedJerimahas gotcha man. I would say slower the better. You keep more muscle and recomp as opposed to just getting lean quickly. It's easier to lose muscle than it is to gain it especially if your lean.
I'm doing a very similar approach to Yours.
Basically I eat about 1900- 2000 kcal a day. I know thats it's not a lot, but for me It's plenty, also because I eat about 160- 190 grams of protein per day.
I'm slowly gaining strengh in both compund and isolation exercises... I was able to perform good mornings with 50 kg for 5×20, ring dips with 27 kg for 4 sets of six and 20 reps with 22 kg pullover, just to say some. This is a slow game.
Our macros and calories actually look fairly similar. As long as it's enough to maintain bodymass it's all good
I’m 236 bw and 28-29% bf and I’m cutting and I’m also 17 years old, should I eat at maitnence or slight defecit cause I’m still growing
You can stay on a slow cut for the next few years
@@NaturalHypertrophy like 100-200 below maitnence or 50
@@JLxavyo 5-10% of total cal should do the trick
When recomping we should be eating maintainence calories, right?
yes
Yup. You're going to have to do micro-adjustments in calories depending on your training split, I'll cover that as well
@@NaturalHypertrophy Thank you for the response!
So if I slow bulk can I lose fat in that process? Likewise if I slow cut can I gain muscle? Basically a novice lifter here.
You're unlikely to lose fat, but you'll look less fat because of the added lean mass. Yes to your second question, although slower
wait... are you french? this is the first time i'm recognising where (i think) the accent is from
yes sir
LMAOOOOO NO HES JAPANESE
Great video, can I dm you in some capacity about a recomp question? I don’t have Instagram and couldn’t find an option to on UA-cam.
You can post your question here or under the nutrition Q a
@@NaturalHypertrophy ok, I was hoping to send you a picture of my body to get your opinion on what I should do diet wise but no worries if that’s too weird lol
@@Don_Aman eh, if you truly want to do that youll have to create a burner IG
@@NaturalHypertrophy sent you a message on there when you get a chance
If strength is stalled on a lift, how does increasing tonnage compensate for that for muscle growth?
Since we know a bigger muscle is stronger due to increased cross sectional area, if someone increases their tonnage, and strength still doesn't increase, then cant we also reliably say they havent grown either?
If that increase in tonnage actually stimulated more growth, there should be some improvement in performance. Just because we can handle more sets doesnt mean we've grown more muscle. We may just be recovering back to baseline, but not actually adapting/growing.
What are your thoughts on this?
Very interesting question. When I speak about tonnage I (by default) speak about quality tonnage which is volume that falls inside the appropriate intensity window.
Increases in tonnage doesn't immediately result in an increase in strength (as you describe slapping an extra set or two at the end of the workout would automatically boost tonnage but not necessarily result in any additional muscle growth.) Tonnage can actually increase *a lot*, but if the increase isn't taking place within a smartly crafted program it will be all for nothing: this is what most people call junk volume.
The simple fix is to make sure that tonnage increases *as a result of strength growing up* instead of artificially raising the number by doing a few extra easy sets.
Example: You do 4 sets of close grip bench. You do 6 to 10 reps. These are restrictions you assign to the lift which will ensure that if any increase in tonnage occurs it will result as a result of an increase in performance. You select 185lbs as your weight. First time you try this set you get 8/7/7/6. Second time you get 9/8/7/7 etc etc. Eventually you get 10/10/9/9. You increase the weight to 195lbs, rinse and repeat. You eventually get to 225lbs. In this context, I do believe that the increase in tonnage coming from the sets of close grip bench press will result in muscle hypertrophy for the triceps, chest and shoulders.
Now take the same example, but instead of pushing performance on the lift you slap an extra set. You get 8/7/7/6, then 8/7/7/6/6, then 8/7/7/6/6/6 etc etc. Tonnage go up slightly faster than with the first method but I do think that this method will not results in as good a muscle hypertrophy as the first one because it is not focusing on the right method of progressive overload: we're entering the realm of junk volume with these extra sets.
When I spoke about my lifts stalling but my overall tonnage making sure that my muscle size wasn't regressing and even *progressing", I was speaking about that type of tonnage increase. Right now for example I have been stuck at the same weight for my conventional bench. Tonnage hasn't gone up at all. But the horizontal press tonnage has gone up overall because of the bench variations I perform as a follow up which have all progressed in the fashion I describe before. So my absolute strength and ability to produce max rep strength is stagnating but my muscular endurance and rep work is improving overall which imo either certifies muscle stagnation (taking into consideration that I might just be becoming more proficient at the horizontal presses which would be surprising as a non-novice who has never de-trained on them) or that my muscles are actually growing and getting stronger.
@@NaturalHypertrophy Makes sense thank you
@@ck3125 Your questions are amazing and help me sharpen my thoughts, this is really helpful for the episodes of the hypertrophy series where I synthesize principles for muscle growth promotion, please keep them coming
@Dan Lee Hey Dan! Point by point:
The issue with waiting to reach 10x4 to increase the weight is that to reach it you will have to sandbag performance; if you can get 10 reps on the 1 set then repeat that same performance on the 4th set, it is a clear indication that you did not push that first set to failure. It is fine to do so for set number 1 and 2 (as the 10th rep on set 2 is sure to be a little slow) because to fulfill the full potential that this rep/set scheme combo can over we have to keep a rep in the tank on set 1. So not only do you slow progression down because you delay the increase in weight, but you are also getting nothing from the extra sessions you will be doing using that lower weight. It is better to go up and maybe cut rep 4 by getting 7/6/6 than staying at the same weight.
Well, linear periodization IS periodization. It is very popular with beginners because of how simple it is; the issue is that many fitness UA-camrs conflate this simplicity with a lack of effectiveness past the novice phase. I personally still run linear periodization with great success. However, I do believe that this system only works when integrated within a specific type of program that is written specifically to sustain it (which ultimately makes up for its simplicity). I will explain how my program works in details in future videos.
As for adding the extra set, I do believe you would be better off upping the weight at that point. There are multiple ways in which you could integrate this progressive overload without inducing failure in the set: boost the weight on the first set then lower it to baseline, cut one set off of the scheme (which would lower tonnage but boost intensity which in the context of pushing performance within a lift is not damaging as long as the decrease in tonnage doesn't become symptomatic) etc etc... Basically, we want tonnage to go up by virtue of performance going up because we now that it doesn't really work well to go about it the other way around
@@NaturalHypertrophy Can the rep goals method be a good compromise to keep good volume while doing a "good" progressive overload.
If I took your exemple of close grip bench with 185 lbs and a goal of 4x10 so 40 reps.
week 1 : 6/6/6/6 rather than stopping at 4 sets I do 3 more 6/6/4 to get 40 reps
week 2 : 7/7/7/7 and 6/6
week 3 : 9/8/7/7 and 5/4
etc.
Also, it is a good way to keep tonnage when you add weight imho cause when you complete 4x10 @ 185lbs and jump to 195lbs you will start at 4x8 for instance so you come from 7.400lbs to 6.240 so you have progress in weight but the first session you have decrease the tonnage while with the rep goals since you always go for the 40 reps you will go from 7.000lbs to 7.800.
Dunno if it makes sense but I often train like that for my first movement sqt/dead/bench/OHP
Could you talk about what to do if you're skinny fat?
Yep I'll be going over that, there will be 1 guide a week for a total of 5 episodes
How long is a long time here? 8 months, 5 years, or 10 years?
I'd says 16 months minimum
Guys, i am 265pounds right now and 6.6ft tall. Been training for 2 years - Bro splits and PPL. 2 yeara ago i was 300+ pounds, with no muscle and a big belly. Managed to drop to 250, but i was looking skinny fat. Had a bit of muscle, but also had a bit of belly. Now im 265 i have a decent amount of muscle mass, but i still have bit of belly and love handles. I am probably 25% bodyfat, maybe more. My question is, recomp still should work for me right? I switched to full body workouts 3x a week. I’ll be eating on a surplus on training days, and deficit on rest days. I hope it will give me
The body i want. ✌️ sorry for the long comment.
Recomps can work for anyone but it is more suitable in certain cases. I'll go over that next week
Why did you put your brain in mantainance . Brain staying stuck at 11. On a serious note nippard has a decent video on this
I traded dexterity and brain power for raw strength and pure size, in an effort to piss Darwin off
But you got neither .. just reverse evolution 😉
@@adil89amin11 still bigger than you tho
Are you french?
LOLLLLL
Is it just me or did your traps look way bigger in this old video than now? Idk if it has to do with posture or clothes or whatever, but here they look crazy. In recent uploads they look good but not like this from the front at least.
Camera angle. Here the video is shot from a downward angle. Nowadays at shoot at chin or eye level.
Mmmm but correct me if i am wrong , isn't the problem here that back then u didn't Bulk & Cut properly ?
u basically Dirty Bulked & Panicked aggressive Cut , right ? .. but if u did Clean small Bulk & Small Cut phases wouldn't that be better ?
Check the video called should natural lifters bulk and cut, it answers that question
@@NaturalHypertrophy Ah i see , ye i Agree Very Small Bulk and then very slow cutting cycle .. or re-comp !
Btw u'r AWESOME man i tried your Novice program and it's stunningly AMAZING that's the 1st time i feel my chest & lats sore .
but i have a few questions that are not clear to me .. can i ask u here ?
boss... you are DEFINITELY more like 14.5-15% in this vid. if you were 18% your abs wouldnt look as defined as yours
Not how muscularity works chief, a big muscle, even if covered with fat, will show
Pp
You look so angry in the thumbnail lmfao
Recomps are serious business