Trying to “build muscle”? You might be too fat to begin with..
The reality for most people trying to “build muscle” is that majority of the time you’re too fat to begin with..
If your body fat is above 15% (for a male) or above 20% (for a female), during your building phases you’re likely just going to gain a bunch of extra body fat and not much else..
To make your building phases more productive you need to be relatively lean first! The leaner you are, the longer the runway for muscle growth is without rapid fat tissue accumulation.
So the decision process for whether you should cut or build is simple..
Male: Above 15% you need to cut first
Female: Above 20% you need to cut first
If you’re below those ranges, you’re pretty much good to go and will have a far better outcome in the end.
Here’s how we would lay it out for each scenario..
Scenario 1: Too much body fat - needs to cut first then build
Cutting phase: 8-16 weeks
Holding phase: 2-8 weeks
Building phase: 12-24 weeks
Scenario 2: Ideal body fat - ready to start build
Building phase: 12-24 weeks
Holding phase: 2-8 weeks
Cutting phase: 8-16 weeks
Rinse and repeat both depending on your scenario and results aren’t just promised, they’re GUARANTEED!
The reality is, body fat accumulation is a normal part of the process during a build phase and is likely a contributing factor to how far you can push these phases (more fat accumulation compared to muscle growth).
So the leaner you are to begin with, the longer you have to gain muscle without fat accumulation becoming the issue.