Think spending more time in the gym is how to look like you lift? Think again.
There's one surprising reason that most people are doing that prevents them looking like they want to and getting results from all that hard work in the gym, and we're going to talk about that on today's Quick Wits.
Ever feel like you're a hamster on a wheel, working out endlessly but your muscles are playing hide and seek? Let's reveal the culprit behind why your gym efforts aren't translating to that superhero silhouette you're after. Today, I am tearing down the misconceptions that keep your gains under wraps.
We're not just lifting weights; we're lifting the veil on creating an anabolic environment, the necessity of a calorie surplus, and the optimal path to muscle visibility. This episode is your ticket to a smarter workout regimen that ensures you're not only feeling Herculean on the inside but also looking the part.
Forget the frustration of progress that feels glacial and those years that seem wasted in search of muscle definition. I break down evidence-based strategies for a controlled calorie surplus that meshes with your body’s needs like a glove.
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“Quick Wits” are short mini-episodes between full episodes to give you an actionable strategy or hit of motivation.
These mini-episodes give you practical advice on fitness, training, and mindset based on my everyday experience with clients that you can implement right away.
Think that spending more time in the gym is how to look like you lift. Think again. There's one surprising reason that most people are doing that prevents them looking like they want to and getting results from all that hard work in the gym, and we're going to talk about that on today's Quick Wits. Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast. I'm your host, philip Pape, and this twice-a-week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self-mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition. We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset, with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry. So you can look and feel your absolute best, let's dive right in. So you can look and feel your absolute best, let's dive right in. Welcome to another QuickWits, your favorite mini episode for no-nonsense fitness advice. Today we are tackling a common frustration, in fact, one of the most common I experience, and that is why, despite all your effort, you might not look like you lift. And the answer might surprise you maybe not if you've heard my stuff, but there are a lot of misconceptions and mispriorities. I'll call them that. For example, being super lean is the only way to showcase your hard-earned muscle and all you've got to do is lose weight, or I just need to work harder or more in the gym, you know. But here's the truth that most people are just avoiding, and that is that building visible muscle is not about the volume or the quantity. It's about spending the right amount of time building muscle. Now, yeah, you've gotta be doing it right, you've gotta be training hard, you have to be applying all the principles we talk about, but one of the most honestly the first filter I go through here is people simply are not spending enough time because you've got two sides of the equation You've got the muscle building and you've got the fat cutting or the lean part and people spend way too much time trying to lose weight or lose fat. Maybe they've built some muscle, but they just haven't spent that substantial, meaningful amount of time putting in the work to build muscle. And it takes more time than most people realize, especially if you're a natural lifter, like we all are listening to this show. It is a slow and steady process, not just months in some cases, but years. Just hate to break it to you. That's the truth. But the cool thing about that is, if you know it and you take the time, it will pay off for the rest of your life. So the foundation of muscle building is having an environment for growth. We call that anabolism, right, an anabolic environment, and you're not going to get that in a deficit. And you're not going to get that in a deficit and you're not going to get that very effectively at maintenance.
Philip Pape:
Yes, I've talked about body recomp. Yes, a newish lifter can do it. Even a more advanced trainer can do it if you want to take a long time to build the muscle. But if you want to maximize and optimize and I don't even mean optimize, I just mean do it time efficiently so you're not taking years to do it and you don't get frustrated and lose patience To do that, you've got to be in a calorie surplus and it doesn't have to be a big surplus, and that's the main condition, along with the right amount of protein and such. But honestly, the surplus alone is going to give you most of the benefit.
Philip Pape:
And as far as what surplus to go at, that's where we can get into nitty gritty talk about numbers. What I will really reiterate here is that the evidence shows us a rate of 0.2 to 0.3% of your body weight per week is a pretty solid range for most people. Yeah, you can go a little more aggressive at the risk of a little extra body fat. If you go less aggressive than that, it's just going to take a lot longer. And so 0.2 to 0.3%, it isn't that much, it really isn't. It comes out to for most people maybe a hundred or 150 calorie surplus a week, that's it. Or I mean a day a hundred, a hundred, a hundred, a hundred to 150 calories surplus a day, that's it. And it's a controlled approach. It minimizes fat gain, it's still going to support building muscle and it does it in the most time efficient way, so that within at least five or six months okay, and that's the part people miss out at you're going to build a decent amount of muscle, right.
Philip Pape:
And so part of this is mindset. I get it. We are prioritizing all the things like progressive overload, like training hard, and yet you give up after a month, right, and even the progressive overload and the training hard piece often can't bear real fruit until a good three, four, five weeks in of doing the same lifts and progressing them, because you get past that first learning and skill development phase the neuromuscular adaptation we call it and you get to the point where you're actually pushing your limit. That's one reason it's really important to take the time and never forget recovery is a big part of this Rest, nutrition, stress management, quality sleep, all of that but they do actually get easier when you're in a calorie surplus.
Philip Pape:
The other thing, don't forget building muscle for nine months or 10 months out of the year and dieting for only one or two at most is a wonderful place to be. Once you're in that rhythm, to be able to just eat almost whatever you want, right? I mean, again, you're sticking to like an 80-20 whole food to whatever else diet, but you've got so much more flexibility and you can fit it with your seasons, right. You can fit it with the building season, the winter season, when you have the holidays, when you're eating, when you're traveling, all of that. So to everyone out there wondering why you don't look the part and you're doing what you think, you're doing everything and the one thing missing is just time and putting it in because of a little fear, maybe, of gaining fat, right, consider how you're structuring your overall growth phase, your programming, and are you giving it enough time? Are you taking the right strategy to embrace the slow but actually optimal and effective build, focusing on your nutrition to fuel of that.
Philip Pape:
Keep pushing the weights. Whether it's the weights or the reps, or something has to continue going up and the gains will absolutely 100% come to you and they will last. That's it. Spend the time You'll look like you lift. Until next time, keep lifting, keep learning. Let's build those gains that show that you are committed and you are serious about doing this the right way. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights. If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their wits or weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode. Until then, stay strong.