Hey everyone , philip here with a quick Sunday bonus episode because I want to talk about body recomposition . I get asked about this all the time . Probably one of the most common questions is can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time ? And it comes from , sometimes , a fear of not wanting to gain too much weight , but it also comes from the idea that you don't wanna be in a big calorie deficit and a big fat loss phase either and you want to kind of walk the line of both . And so if you've ever asked yourself the question can I do this , can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time ? The answer is yes if you do it the right way . But most people miss this because they either think you only have to cut or bulk or , more likely , they're bouncing back and forth and never really liking how they look or feel in either one , and then they say , okay , I want to recomp . Can we do that ? Let's do that one . So the answer is yes .
Philip PapeI'm going to come from it from the positive lens of how you would do it , because true body recomp or body recomposition happens when you are fueling enough to recover and build muscle while training in a way that signals your body to hold on to or and here's what we want even add a little bit of lean mass , at the same time dropping fat . And for some people it kind of sounds impossible . Or you might have heard influencers say you know that takes a long time , only certain people can do it . So I want to bust some myths
really quickly . The first one is that you can only recomp if you're a beginner , and that's nonsense . I've worked with intermediate lifters who've had incredible body recomp results and I think the evidence supports that there is a broader range of training levels that can do this . Second , you need to eat in a big surplus or a big deficit and actually still do a bulk or cut . It's just slower , also wrong . I think you could do this while pretty much being at maintenance . And then , third , the scale is the best way to measure progress .
Philip PapeA lot of you who listen to the show know I already advocate that you use other measures beyond the scale . And when it comes to body recomp , you can't use the scale really other than to avoid significant weight gain or significant weight loss . And what actually happens during successful body recomp is you might maintain the same weight or even gain a tiny bit of weight , but you're completely transforming the physical dimensions of your body . So it's how you look and also how you feel , because there's a recovery aspect to this , there's a metabolic aspect to it . Your clothes will fit better , you're stronger in the gym , you have more energy , and so you really can't be looking at the scale for that , even though that is one tiny measure that supports the overall picture
.
Philip PapeNow I've had clients who are kind of all over the place and get the result they want , and what I mean by that is I've had clients who gained three pounds on the scale during a recomp and they might be freaking out a little bit , thinking they're gaining fat , but their measurements show that , you know , they lost two inches off their waist , they gained an inch on their arm and they actually , you know , gained four pounds of muscle . So for that three pounds of scale weight , they gained four pounds of muscle and they must have lost a pound of fat , right , that's where it gets confusing , because most people are doing one of the specific things I just mentioned , wrong or not doing it , and they get frustrated , right , they're either under eating , so they can't build muscle because their metabolism is kind of lagging . They're doing maybe too much , too much cardio . They don't have enough recovery and remember , you're not in a surplus here , so your recovery is limited to an extent . It's not as bad as in a deficit , but it's not as full as when you're in a surplus .
Philip PapeOr they're chasing scale weight right , even even at the expense of chasing um maintenance , scale weight instead of body composition , meaning it . You don't necessarily want to just hold your weight , that is , I'll say , in the ballpark of where you want to be , but it's okay to drift a little bit if the other things that you care about are moving in the right direction , right . And then the other big pet peeve of mine is people who just train randomly , don't follow a good program , don't use progressive overload . So the result of that approach is lots and lots of frustration because , okay , I don't want to bulk , I don't want to cut , but then I don't know how to recomp properly either . So if this sounds familiar , then you've come to the right place , because what I teach instead on this show in Physique University is what I call aggressive maintenance . It's slightly above your normal maintenance calories to support recovery and muscle growth , but still allow for fat loss , because the muscle gain is going to drive your metabolism up a little bit , and so the fat loss kind of happens under the surface .
Philip PapeThe math is hard to understand , but it's happening . And so this is where having enough protein and , you know , balancing your fats and carbs , supporting your training demands eating what you like to fats and carbs . Supporting your training demands eating what you like to eat and being flexible about it . Right , there's nothing magic about all of that . The when people , I think , go wrong here is they don't track the right things . They don't track the
right data , and that's what we're all about here . That's why I created a tracker called the Physique and Biofeedback Tracker . We use that with our group program and that calculates lots of things . That calculates body fat and lean mass , muscle to fat ratio . I even have an advanced tracker that calculates how much of your lean mass is muscle tissue specifically , helps you track your measurements for context , helps you monitor your feedback like sleep , energy recovery and so on . All of that stuff tells you if your approach is working , in conjunction , of course , with a proper training and nutrition plan .
Philip PapeSo when body recomp is happening , you are going to see lean body mass going up , fat mass going down over time , the scale might drift a little bit or it might stay the same . It really depends . Your biofeedback stays mostly positive , right . There are some places where you could have challenges . If you're , for example , not eating enough food volume , you might have hunger where someone else wouldn't , even if you're not in a deficit , right . So there's lots of little levers that we can turn and the whole thing needs to be sustainable . Now compare that to traditional , you know , just going after fat loss or going after bulking , where there's more challenges to deal with , depending on what you're doing Like , you might be more tired , hungry , miserable . When you're cutting right or when you're in a surplus , you're dealing with the fears of gaining fat and trying to avoid gaining too quickly .
Philip PapeSo I'm actually going to dive deeper into this topic tomorrow
. On Monday's episode . I'm going to break down the science behind how body recomp works without a traditional calorie deficit , some of the mechanisms that make it happen from that kind of nerdy engineering perspective , like in the body , what's going on , and then some details on that aggressive maintenance approach approach I mentioned and that . So that's kind of the podcast variety of this . And then , if you want to implement this , if you want a training plan , if you want to understand how to set up your nutrition and phase this out over 90 days , I'm doing a live workshop Tuesday this Tuesday , august 19th . It's at noon Eastern . The replay will be included if can't make it , and I'm going to walk you through a 90 day roadmap for body recomp . You're going to get the tracker I mentioned .
Philip PapeTraining template I'm going to actually propose a very specific template that I think is really good for 12 weeks of body recomp . You're going to get by by joining the workshop you're effectively in physique university at the same time for no extra cost . So you're going to get a custom nutrition plan and your first month in Physique University all for that price , so for 27 bucks . And if you don't think that's a steal , then maybe you know . Go listen to another podcast , because I'm practically giving this stuff away . Anyway , if this sounds like what you're looking for , go to livewitsandweightscom or click in the show notes . Go to livewitsandweightscom . You can sign up If you're already in physique you . You're going to get it for free anyway as part of being in the program . But if you want to do the workshop on the 90 day body recomp workshop this Tuesday , august 19th and get the replay . If you can't make it , no-transcript .