What’s a good ratio of fat to muscle gained on a bulk?
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the challenge of determining an ideal fat-to-muscle ratio during a natural bulk, emphasizing individual variability. It suggests focusing on optimizing the process rather than a specific ratio. The discussion highlights the importance of training and nutrition, noting that training is key to muscle gains while nutrition supports the process. As age increases, the script challenges the notion that muscle gain becomes more difficult, citing that age alone isn't a limiting factor but rather the duration of training experience. It advises adjusting training and nutrition based on personal response, using performance as a measure of progress rather than just visual changes.
Takeaways
- 💪 Muscle gain ratios during bulking are highly individual and depend on factors like training and nutrition.
- ⚖️ There's no universally optimal fat-to-muscle ratio during bulking; it depends on how the body responds to nutrition and training.
- ⏳ As you age, muscle gains become harder not because of age, but because of training experience over time.
- 🍽️ Nutrition plays a supportive role, but training quality is the primary driver of muscle growth.
- 👴 Age itself isn’t a significant factor in muscle gain or fat accumulation until later in life, such as in the 50s or beyond.
- 📉 Testosterone levels may not decline as much as people think for active individuals in their 40s and 50s.
- 👩 Men and women both experience similar relative muscle gains despite differences in testosterone levels.
- 🏋️ More experienced lifters gain fat more easily when bulking, while novices can tolerate larger surpluses with less fat gain.
- 📊 Bulk progress should be evaluated with both qualitative (mirror, photos) and quantitative (weight change) data.
- 🔄 Advanced athletes should compare progress over long periods (like cut-to-cut phases), as bulking may not always show immediate visual improvements.
Q & A
What is the significance of the ratio of fat to muscle gained during a natural bulk?
-The ratio of fat to muscle gained during a natural bulk is highly individual and can vary greatly. It's not as important to focus on the exact ratio as it is to optimize the process of bulking, which includes proper training and nutrition, and then adjust based on the results.
Why is it difficult to determine a good ratio of fat to muscle gained during a bulk?
-Determining a good ratio is challenging due to the high variability among individuals. Factors such as genetics, training experience, and nutritional intake all play a role in how an individual's body responds to a bulking phase.
How does age impact the ability to gain muscle versus fat during a bulk?
-Age itself is not a primary factor in the difficulty of gaining muscle over fat. It's more about the duration and intensity of training experience. Even in one's 40s, it's possible to gain muscle effectively if the training and nutrition are properly managed.
What role does testosterone play in muscle gains during a bulk?
-Testosterone levels can influence the baseline level of muscle mass, but they do not significantly explain the changes in muscle mass during a bulk. Even with lower testosterone levels, individuals can still achieve substantial muscle gains when they begin a proper training program.
How can one optimize their training program to support muscle gains during a bulk?
-Optimizing a training program involves focusing on progressive overload, proper exercise selection, and adequate rest. This ensures that the stimulus for muscle growth is maximized, which is crucial for effective muscle gains.
What is the recommended rate of weight gain for a beginner during a bulk?
-For beginners, a rate of weight gain around 0.5 to 1.5% of body weight per month is suggested, which corresponds to a 10 to 20% energy surplus. This allows for significant muscle gains with a manageable amount of fat gain.
How should an advanced lifter adjust their bulking strategy compared to a beginner?
-Advanced lifters should aim for a lower rate of weight gain, closer to 0.25 to 0.5% of body weight per month, as they are more likely to gain fat at higher surpluses. They also need to be more attentive to the qualitative aspects of their progress, such as performance and how they look, rather than just the numbers.
Why is it important to enjoy the process of bulking, especially for advanced athletes?
-For advanced athletes, the visual improvements during a bulk may not be as apparent as they are for beginners. Enjoying the process and focusing on performance gains can help maintain motivation, as the true success of a bulk may only be evident after a period of cutting and re-evaluating muscle mass.
How can one tell if they are gaining muscle effectively during a bulk?
-Besides tracking weight gain, one should monitor changes in strength, performance in the gym, and qualitative feedback from mirrors and photos. These can provide a more holistic view of progress beyond just numerical data.
What is the significance of the 'qualitative experience' during a bulking phase?
-The qualitative experience refers to the personal and visual feedback one gets from bulking. It's important because it can provide insights into whether the bulk is going well beyond just the numbers, and it can help in making adjustments to the bulking strategy.
Outlines
💪 Optimizing Muscle Gain During Natural Bulking
The paragraph discusses the challenge of determining an ideal fat-to-muscle ratio during a natural bulk, emphasizing that individual differences make it difficult to generalize. It suggests focusing on optimizing the process rather than a specific ratio. The importance of training over nutrition in stimulating muscle gains is highlighted, with the notion that an effective training program is crucial for muscle mass gains, regardless of nutritional intake. The discussion also touches on the misconception that it's harder to gain muscle as one ages, clarifying that the difficulty is more related to the duration of training rather than age itself. The role of testosterone in muscle gains is also explored, indicating that while it may influence baseline muscle mass, it does not significantly affect the amount of muscle gained through training.
📊 Balancing Muscle and Fat Gain During Bulking
This paragraph delves into the practical aspects of bulking, discussing the rate of weight gain and how it correlates with muscle and fat accumulation. It uses an example of an athlete's experience to illustrate how monitoring progress through photos and performance, rather than just numbers, can be more informative. The paragraph also addresses the variability in how individuals respond to caloric surpluses, with beginners being able to gain more weight without fat accumulation compared to more advanced lifters. The concept of energy surplus and its relation to body weight change is introduced, providing a guideline for how much one might increase their caloric intake during bulking. The importance of considering both qualitative and quantitative data when assessing progress is emphasized, suggesting that individual response to bulking can vary widely.
🏋️♂️ The Reality of Bulking for Advanced Lifters
The final paragraph addresses the experience of advanced lifters during bulking, acknowledging that the process can be discouraging as visual improvements may not be apparent until the individual is lean again. It suggests that performance improvements can serve as a proxy for success during bulking phases. The paragraph also discusses the importance of enjoying the process, as the visual outcomes for advanced, natural bodybuilders may not always be immediately gratifying. The narrative concludes with the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to bulking, and that individual experiences will vary widely, making it essential to focus on personal progress and performance rather than striving for an unattainable ideal ratio of fat to muscle gain.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fat to Muscle Ratio
💡Natural Bulk
💡Training Program
💡Nutrition
💡Testosterone
💡Muscular Potential
💡Rate of Gain
💡Energy Surplus
💡Genetics
💡Visual Improvements
💡Performance Metrics
Highlights
It's difficult to determine a good ratio of fat to muscle gained on a natural bulk due to individual variability.
Optimizing the process is more important than striving for a specific ratio.
The rate of muscle gain can vary greatly depending on training and nutrition.
Training is more critical than nutrition in stimulating muscle mass gains.
The ability to gain muscle without fat increases with age, contrary to common belief.
Testosterone levels do not significantly decline in men in their 40s and 50s when corrected for activity levels.
Testosterone levels do not fully explain muscle gains; other factors are more influential.
Women can achieve similar muscle gains to men despite lower testosterone levels.
Muscle gains are more about training experience than age.
The rate of gain can be adjusted based on training experience and body's response.
Novice lifters can tolerate a higher caloric surplus for muscle gain compared to advanced lifters.
The experience of bulking can vary; sometimes looking better during the process and other times worse.
Performance improvements can be a proxy for success when visual changes are not apparent.
For advanced bodybuilders, it's important to compare their physique from one cut to another rather than bulk to bulk.
Enjoying the process of bulking is crucial as visual improvements may not be immediate.
There is no universally good ratio of fat to muscle gain; it's highly individual.
Transcripts
[Music]
what's a good ratio of fat to muscle
gained on a natural bulk and with this
ratio be expected to remain the same for
someone in their 40s when it seems as
though body fat is even easier to
acquire over
muscle so two things to consider um one
so individual to the point where it's
very difficult to answer that question
on what a good ratio is um I think a
better perspective is that you set up
all of the various things that will
optimize that process and then it is
what it is and then you calibrate from
there if you gained if you tried to be
on the little higher end of the rate
that we we'll discuss that is
appropriate and it was mostly fat um and
or or likewise if you kept it really
really like I'm just going to go kind of
the gain taining approach and I only
gained one pound every 3 months or
something like that and it was all
muscle but you like I don't know if that
was unnecessarily slow then try a little
faster next time um that's ultimately
what it's going to be cuz you don't know
what what your muscular potential is um
there are so many variables related to
your training primarily uh that can make
that process effective you know we often
say um nutrition is permissive to muscle
mass gains and the main thing that's
going to stimulate it is your training
so if you have a fantastically setup
training program then you step in with
good nutrition it w go very well but if
your training program regardless of what
you you do with your nutrition is not
great
then fixing your nutrition will do
nothing because it's not the problem
right so that's caveat one caveat two um
if you've been training since you were
20 yeah it'll be harder to put on muscle
without it being more fat when you're 40
but it's actually not because you're 40
it's because you've been training for 20
years um when we just purely look at
differences between people who are 40
and younger especially in active people
um we really see very little difference
if if if at all in fact there is data uh
when you correct for activity levels in
health that show that testosterone
levels don't even decline in men in
their their 40s and 50s more importantly
though does testosterone or the
physiological range explain the gains
you make and the answer is they don't
they might have some impact on the
Baseline level of muscle mass you have
but when you actually look at uh the
explain
explaining how much change occurs they
don't and anyone who's incredulous about
that think about women they have far
lower testosterone levels than men yet
they get the same relative increase in
muscle mass uh when they start on a on a
program this has been demonstrated in
very large sample sizes classic study by
Hubble 05 that you put people on this
12we program across a variety of Ages
both
sexes 12 weeks doing bicep curls and you
get 0 to 60% increase poor bastard and
who you know got 0% um awesome person
who got 60% increase in their their
muscle cross-sectional area and that was
true regardless of sex so you know the
difference between a biological male
biological female is going to be their
Baseline starting because they went
through different puberties um and that
it's not until you actually do super
physiological levels of testosterone
like you might see in someone going
through a transition uh to the to to
getting to the other sex or in someone
who's taking a uh performance enhancing
level usage of a super physiological
testosterone so yeah I I think for one
The Narrative around age um it's only
going to be true if it's co-varying with
a narrative around experience like I'm
gaining less muscle now not because I'm
40 but because I've been training since
for 19 years so those are the two things
I would say Brian you want to add to
that yeah I mean I think
is rather than like the ratio because
we're never going to know the ratio
specifically anyway you know so I think
looking at it more in terms of like rate
of gain depending on your training
experience and you know Eric I know in
like the nutrition pyramid books like
0.5 to one and a half or 0.25 to one and
a half% per month you know and there's
there's going to be um so like if you're
a novice you're going to be able to get
away with a larger Surplus and a faster
rate of gain you know while if you take
that same Surplus and put it you know
apply it to a lifter who's been training
for 30 years they're going to gain a lot
more body fat so I think just having
that concept I think helps a lot but I
also see people that you know just to
kind of support your point with the
individuality of it where
like there's there's nothing inherently
special about these percentages like
this is just the concept that we're
trying to illustrate here and um as an
example I I have an athlete
who is I would say probably early to
Middle intermediate in terms of training
age and you know when we first start
working together we put him on a surplus
aiming to gain around like 1% per month
you know on average um and when I say
that it's like compare last month's we
in average to the next month's you know
cuz there's going to be variability
within that you know on a day-to-day
basis sometimes so um but what I found
like looking at the data after the first
like six weeks or so was like okay our
rate is exceeding what we want I think
we like are probably a little bit too
aggressive here and then I had him like
send some photos or the the next time we
had a call he' updated some photos and
it was very clear like he's like it it
would have been foolish for me to pull
back on the deficit before or on the
Surplus before seeing the photos because
he was closer to about 2% per month but
was just as lean as he was when he
started so it's it's got to you have
don't don't look at the like the the
quantitative data
shouldn't Trump the qualitative aspect
of things like if you're seeing results
in the mirror that you're happy with
performance is going up then like you're
you're probably in a good spot yeah and
for the listeners for reference the
percentages that they're talking about
are percent of body weight change yeah
yes yeah good point and those roughly
correlate to being in a um 10 to 20%
energy Surplus like if you take your
current calories and maintenance and you
increase it by 10 to 20% that's kind of
what we're talking
about so if you're eating 2,000 calories
you're going up to 2200 to 2400 as a
decent guideline um with a slower one
being closer to 10% faster one being
closer to 20% it's not always going to
be perfect because it has more to do
with how much absolute muscle tissue you
can accruit but right R the earlier you
are in your training career the higher
percent change you can see without it
necessarily being fat so if um so like
Brian said like a 0.25 to like one or
1.2% body weight change per month is
what you said at the beginning right and
that um if you are a beginner it's okay
to be kind of towards the top end of
that but if you're Advanced closer to
the bottom if at all looking more maybe
over six months or a year seeing tiny
changes or or I think CL said like none
at all it's just solely qualitative how
you're feeling how you're looking when
you're very Advanced yeah the and that's
regardless of age like you're
saying yeah I mean there obviously there
is a point when age does matter but
because of the person asking this
question is is in their 40s I would just
say like hey um age would not be the
factor I'd be considering until maybe
you're in your 50s or later for most
people um and then just being a little
more conservative um but a novice who
starts lifting weights at 50 will
absolutely gain muscle mass you know
yeah so um the qualitative experience of
bulking if I could summarize this if
you're in a category of I have like
decent genetics compared to the average
people of people who lift which is
probably better than average genetics a
lot of people have terrible genetics to
stop um let's be honest uh or better is
that when I'm in novice and I did my
first reasonable bulk um or my
aggressive bulk at least in the very
beginning I looked better as I was doing
it and then once you're like an
intermediate or later unless you've just
got great
genetics um the experience is all the
way from I'm looking better in some ways
and worse than others to I have signed
up to look worse as an investment
hopefully long term yeah um I remember
looking better from one 70ish 174 175
somewhere in there all the way up to 195
when I very first bul and then every
other time after that um I looked worse
except for a few contest preps initially
where I was being more conservative
actually we're talking like basically my
07 prep the initial weight gain for like
3 weeks I looked better cuz I had just
over dieted myself and I had only been
training for 3 years and then 2011 where
I kind of did a reverse diet I looked uh
um I don't know if I looked better like
I wouldn't have placed as well on a
bodybuilding stage but I personally was
like oh I'm looking Fuller and I'm still
lean enough to
tell every other time I've bulked in the
last 13 years 12 years excuse me I have
gotten worse in the way I visually
appeared sometimes you look better in a
shirt you know but that's that's about
it yeah you know and that's when you're
doing everything right as a drug-free
athlete
now I think it's important at that point
like look at performance is kind of the
proxy for Success there because
sometimes like as an advanced
bodybuilder you won't you won't really
know for sure if you are better until
you get shredd it again and then it can
be very apparent but it's not I mean
that on the enhanced side it's obviously
different but yes um yeah so that's why
it's important to enjoy the process of
it because it can be discouraging if
you're waiting for visual
improvements y with a three-year off
seon you know yeah you kind of have to
compare cut to cut rather than bulk to
bulk in many ways yeah agree okay so
there is no good ratio because you don't
even know what anyways the answer yeah
it's so individual and you can't really
accurately measure it um so yeah
[Music]
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