Hello Dr, there seems to be a lot of questions about gaining weight lately and I am a little confused (and maybe some others are as well).
So when a person decides they need to gain weight to reach their goal, (ex. Put on lots of muscle mass and strength) what do they do after the weight is gained? Should they do bulk and cut cycles, keeping their waist under 40"? Or just maintain their new non-underweight status?
To get a little more clarity I ask these questions:
Is it the actual process of gaining weight (being in a caloric surplus) that is making them stronger? Or is it just the fact that they are no longer underweight, allowing them to be stronger? Or a combination?
If it is the first case, would this mean that the most efficient way to build muscle and strength is to be forever in bulking and cutting cycles? And why wouldn’t someone want to do this?
If it is the second case, what about simply being underweight with a low body fat impears strength and muscle gain?
Thank you for your time! You guys are the bomb, and I try to recommend you whenever possible!
So when a person decides they need to gain weight to reach their goal, (ex. Put on lots of muscle mass and strength) what do they do after the weight is gained? Should they do bulk and cut cycles, keeping their waist under 40"? Or just maintain their new non-underweight status?
It depends on their goals, current status, and other particulars to determine what’s the next best move.
Is it the actual process of gaining weight (being in a caloric surplus) that is making them stronger? Or is it just the fact that they are no longer underweight, allowing them to be stronger? Or a combination?
Gaining LBM and training makes them stronger.
If it is the first case, would this mean that the most efficient way to build muscle and strength is to be forever in bulking and cutting cycles? And why wouldn’t someone want to do this?
How did you arrive at this conclusion?
If it is the second case, what about simply being underweight with a low body fat impears strength and muscle gain?
Not having enough lean body mass compromises strength, but nothing about having a low body weight or body fat impairs muscle gain (and strength gain) unless that person is unwilling to gain weight.
Assuming the goal is max strength and muscle gains
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If gaining LBM is what is making them stronger, and you can put on more LBM while gaining weight/bulking, then you would want to want to be in a bulk/weight gain period as much as possible, no? And this is limited by your comfortable levels of body fat or waist size so hence the need for a cut, so you can get back to bulking.
That is how I arrived at that conclusions. Let me know of any holes in my logic!
Gaining LBM is a major part of what makes people stronger, but we can’t just bulk/cut ad infinitum until we’re all 220lbs, 15% body fat with 35" waists. It just doesn’t happen universally for everyone.
The most efficient way to gain strength is driven by programming more than diet provided someone isn’t on either end of the bell curve weight wise.
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Long time lurker, occasionally poster. This hit home. Having read numerous threads where people ask questions about how to replace body fat with muscle, the biggest contributor to dissatisfaction with current programming is lack of alignment on what the probable outcome of proper strength training is for each individual.
We know, thanks to you and Austin, that with intelligent programming and diet planning it is possible for males of average heights to be “220lbs, 15% body fat with 35” waists,” aka the ideal physical specimen for a 20-40 year old male. But many of us don’t know what is probable for us to expect to achieve and how much it diverges from what is possible across all humans. And most of the anxiety about picking the correct program, diet, and deciding whether to gain, lose, or maintain weight comes from not having the right expectations regarding what’s probable. We really need a better way to segment ourselves and understand how to set our expectations in a way that results in continued psychological motivation that’s nonetheless realistic, which is likely the #1 aspect guiding program adherence and training consistency.
I think everyone at BBM has done a much better job at elaborating on this and helping people manage their expectations, much better than the SS crew seems to have done. But there is still a lot of room for improvement. It would be great if you could do a podcast on this topic. Maybe you don’t have an answer ready. And maybe there won’t be one for a long time. But the great work you’ve done has set many of us up with an (unreasonably high?) expectation that you are the ones who will help us figure this out.
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Thanks! We’re working on it, Beef.