Muscle Gain Periodization | Nutrition for Muscle Gain - Lecture 5

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[@JesseTheBuss]

I’ve lost 90lbs and kept it off for 4-5 years. The Dr. is absolutely correct when talking about set points and hunger.

[@quentonnankivell956]

Totally agree, I kept weight off for years but once I took my eye off the ball it all cMe back, I've done it like 4 times now ugh, currently down to 10% bf

[@jacobjindra8267]

This " Nutrition for Muscle Gain" series is amazing and way better than any lectures you would get in college!!! Thank you so much, Dr.Mike!!!

[@zarate6260]

Thank you for consider women. Yep muscle gain and strength gain are male dominated. It's hard for me as a woman, to find information when we have to deal with additional considerations like menstrual cycles, etc. Big fan of science based fitness and Dragon Ball 😌🖤

[@mikelozano4292]

I feel that these lectures are right on time for what I’m doing. I’ve been massing for 2 months and was thinking about cutting in a few weeks but now probably will do a maintenance phase. I’ve made so much quality gains from periodizing. Thanks dr mike

[@Beats-By-Anthony]

1) Have a seat, a pencil and a piece of paper... and watch this video from 0:01 till 35:44 2) Take notes and read them over and over again... 3) Set goals:... a 1 month goal... 3 months goal... 6 months goal and a 1 year goal. 4) Read them everyday and evaluate... 5) Prioritize and go from there over and over again...

[@giancarlofrizzetti4554]

It's like a having a course at the university. I'm taking two degrees ahahah

[@sabertoothwallaby2937]

Stfu

[@NinoGuariscoJR]

Your insight regarding the body’s desire to have times of homeostasis was incredibly educational. I had never considered how mentally exhausting both bulking and cutting can be, but I believe you’re correct. In 2019 I began to consistently lift for the first time, I was 48 yrs old, and also began to eat a healthy diet, in a hypo-caloric amount. I lost about 25 lbs of fat and built a solid muscular base from which I could build. My weight bottomed at 135, I’m a 5’7” man, and then slowly came up to 140 in late 2019. My weight remained at 140 throughout the first half of 2020, as I continued to lift fairly intensely about 3-4 times per week. I discovered, thanks to your teachings, that I was likely eating at maintenance, though I though I was eating a lot. It was frustrating to not gain, but on the other hand it was refreshing to live in the homeostasis phase, without bulking/cutting. That phase prepared me for my current bulk season that I began on October 1, and I am now mentally prepared to give this a good 5-6 month focus. Goal is to add about 1.5 lbs of body weight per month, followed by a couple months of maintenance, allowing my body to become accustomed to 148-150 pounds. Again, thank you so much for your educational videos!

[@narcoman]

Can u give a summary of this subject to a noob?

[@rvde3749]

Besides the amazing info, the analogies you talk about are unique and much appreciated. Keep them coming!

[@rossdunsford8872]

These lectures are fantastic. I’m learning so much from them! I see so many different takes on what ‘10-15%’ body fat actually looks like! Please can you give some examples or explain how we can judge body fat without the use of DEXA, callipers, etc. Thanks again and keep up the great work!

[@rshakesby]

Excellent as always! Thanks for your comments on female recommendations. Would love to see a dedicated podcast on gaining protocols for women!

[@FromtheEasternLands]

Things I learned today- what is colloquially called “muscle memory” re: muscle re-growth is a scientifically observable phenomenon. I am thus made richer in my knowledge. Unrelated point- this channel is absolute fucking gold.

[@leandrochinelli9549]

Thank you. For me those lectures, are by far, the best content bodybuilding wise on youtube!!!

[@med4699]

Favorite fitness channel period! I feel like you talk to everybody like they're your friends.

[@canyonranch1908]

So great!! I love all the metaphors. Thank you for all this knowledge!

[@mizakzee]

What's interesting is seeing Mike's face gain and lose fat across these videos.

[@boricua8426]

I've been noticing that as well! He really lives the lifestyle.

[@rabigym24]

Dr Mike LUV to hear your Lectures all day long 👍

[@AnuAlsere]

“High Body fat comes with intractable consequences... when you have a lot of fat cells, they will always be making you hungrier.” Me: looks at my 45%+ body fat.... shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

[@transformxruby]

I LOVE THIS LECTURE!! so much sense

[@Chaosdude341]

Excellent content, thank you RP!

[@majuspursuit]

thank you for including female body fat percentage, much appreciated!

[@nilo7727]

Excellent video excellent content as always!!!!👌👍👏💪😎

[@joeldoxtator9804]

I think the interplay between cardio and muscle growth needs a lot more research than just a simple calories in calories out equation. I believe that there are many other health benefits to doing cardio along side muscle training that actually benefits muscle growth. It logically makes sense as a stronger cardiac system should optimizes nutrient mobility.

[@Jmack7861]

Depends on the type of cardio, it’s well documented that long distance cardio will cause your body to want to get rid of/grow less of fast twitch fibers because it’s more tissue to move oxygen and nutrients to when they aren’t contributing to what’s being done. You can mitigate it with a caloric surplus and high training volume, but it will impede the growth even with these, and in a cut it will cause you to get rid of the fast twitch fibers even quicker. Low intensity steady state cardio doesn’t really do this (walking a couple miles, etc) but also won’t cause a training effect to increase your cardiac fitness after a certain point. This is why it’s a give and take relationship besides the calories in calories out aspext

[@PendlayRoe]

@@Jmack7861 Yeah, LISS definitely interferes with muscle growth (at least in large amounts). Metabolic conditioning and GPP work is probably way better for increasing cardiovascular fitness while weight training.

[@timothymagnusson4861]

Got so much answeres to my problems here💪🙏

[@caldennis7337]

I love this content so much

[@mastermimo7068]

Im a simple Man. I see Dr Mike and i press like....... And i just loooove the content:-)

[@KGReef]

Great video.

[@StephenMarkTurner]

Thanks, Mike!

[@priscillabahaw5673]

Trinidad and Tobago here watching all your vids

[@notsurewhyineedahandle]

Great content. Keep it up!

[@executivelifehacks6747]

Good video. I find that I can't lose serious fat without calorie counting. My fitbit confirms this. And that is difficult. So my life is divided up between mass gain (and lean body mass) and dieting. The triggers for beginning the diet are negative health aspects like sleep apnea, psoriasis, looking fat. The trigger for ending the diet are usually stress, schedule and work dinners. Not sure how I will ever get to 16% in my 40s but I look pretty good even at 24% or so, so go figure.

[@launcelot2023]

Thank you so much for these informative videos！ Much love from South Korea！

[@onlinearmeygames]

당신은 몇 년 동안 운동을 하고 있어요?

[@deeshmond]

This is really helpful for knowing how to gain muscle, limit fat gain, so on and so forth ;)

[@ghfjfghjasdfasdf]

Killer explanation!

[@lucaferro658]

Amazing video!

[@smarttrainingnutrition1046]

Mike over here reminding those of us who started our journey obese how shitty and hard getting lean is 😭

[@cmgeolo]

Yeah but it's not impossible and it's worth it. It's not your fault. Society tells us to be skinny but ridicules us for dieting and exercising. I am starting to think society wants us to be fat and sick and depressed. Dr. Israetel is changing our culture by providing this information.

[@revadofreestyle1.080]

Pure gold!

[@kevinmorris1390]

Thank you Dr. Mike. Great stuff. At what body fat does a beginner need to start considering a mass gain phase? I took about a decade off lifting and got back into it a little less that a year ago. The result have been awesome as I’ve dropped from about 18-20% body fat to 12-14%. How low can I go before no longer being a recomping beginner and need to start a mass gain phase?

[@alexsagatov]

Thanks Dr. Mike, your lectures are the best! I'm curious how would you recommend to adjust calories for the bulking phase that spreads over several mesos. It seems to make sense to eat at maintenance level during deload week. Then jump right in 300-500 ccal surplus? Or increase gradually, 100 ccal per week until the desirable surplus is achieved?

[@bigzmah3131]

Buffy the vampire slayer has never been better haha you crack me up

[@ffdragis]

The info on fat cells is good to know

[@CoreStrengthPerformance]

This was great

[@flojo9982]

Great thx!

[@jessikarodriguez5413]

Thank you for mentioning percent body fat for women! It is something that doesn’t get mentioned often than women arnt simply ‘little men’. Our bodies are different and there are considerations we face that men don’t. I am loving the series!! Thank you!!

[@justinspike1669]

Great shirt!

[@customerservice5350]

Appreciate you addressing females too!

[@helloworldliberationforall]

I was really obese until 13. Then I lost a ton of weight in puberty through big caloric deficits. Now I am 22, 200 lb, lifting and eating cca 3600cal (i walk alot) in gain phase. I am always hungry and i really heard that how that drive to get fat again is so huge... I could literraly gain 10pounds a week if I eat as much as my desire is. So depresing. But I am keeping on track..

[@D0tHead]

Anyway you could do a video on the RP diet app, and it's new updates Dr Mike?

[@seeslotrun8574]

Every time Dr Mike BLINKS a Gym Bro gets his TREN.

[@chrissims1549]

Can preparatory growth be regained relatively quickly after a long cut?

[@natashacollinson9272]

Cannot believe I have only recently discovered RP and these incredible video resources. Hoping for some help relating to this lecture series. Currently 6 weeks into a gaining phase but needing to deload ... would I keep cals the same or drop to maintenance. Plan is to keep going with gaining phase but just needing to back off from training. Not in a huge calorie surplus (250 up from maintenance).

[@AlKey3]

Dr. Mike recommends going on maintenance calories during a deload.

[@Bromidias]

Cool shirt!

[@mdmaniruzzaman5710]

Where are lecture 3 and 4 in this series?

[@cmgeolo]

I know we can't talk about methods to remove loose skin that aren't medically accepted but there are many accounts of people fasting to encourage their bodies to "digest" their loose skin. This is very anecdotal but I would try it before surgery.

[@gndize]

I'm on a RP binge

[@lauravo3355]

Just curious: are there studies out there on nutrition for injury recovery?

[@darthbrutalicious6066]

Your content Doctor Mike is ultra instinct great. I consider myself one of your most dedicated viewers in Greece. However my big complaint is that still I don't have an answer on the following: ....YES !! I do am one of those mid 30's lifters around 25% body fat looking strongish but neither lean nor powerful. What is your suggestion for losing fat and building muscle at the same time?

[@thanosm7109]

Eat high protein, find your maintenance calories and eat at a very slight deficit ~100 cals... Probably not a good idea though, try doing them separately. Do a proper cut, 8-12 week (you could even build some muscle there) and then gain. Το έγραψα στα αγγλικά ώστε να μπορούν όλοι να καταλάβουν, γενικά όσο περισσότερα χρόνια προπόνησης έχεις τόσο λιγότερο νόημα βγάζει το recomp.

[@patrickcooney1725]

Given we should use bf% as a marker of when to end a phase or start a new one how should we measure it?

[@andresmillsgallego814]

When's the next video on how to transition off of a deload? About to do that and I needs it!!

[@troy3423]

go to his website and pay for his program

[@andresmillsgallego814]

@@troy3423 I'm not against that, but he already stated in his last video that the next youtube video covers exactly what I mentioned

[@kfreps5750]

I lost 120lbs last year, I went from 258lbs to 138lbs. I'm 5ft6, I have a fair bit of loose skin and I'm always hungry, I don't have so much loose skin that I think it will never leave but enough that I can pull it out a few inches. At the moment I'm 148lbs and fairly muscular, I've been in a gaining phase for the last 10months (2500calories on non training days and 2700 on training days) . I train 4-5days a week and 3hours ish each session, I have visable abbs when I flex them and I have over 15inch arms. My problems are the lose skin makes my stomach and chest less defined, the constant hunger is a huge issue aswell. My goal is too be big and lean but Mike made it sound almost impossible for someone like me who was morbidly obese before. Can anyone give me advice on getting bigger and keeping the fat off and dealing with hunger? I'm considering going into a fat loss phase again to get leaner.

[@doncaffey7119]

I would suggest you pick the minimal amount of calories to atleast make you feel some what satiated so your not hungry all the time, and eat that. Eventually, the more muscle you gain this will become your maintenance calories. Then since you can gain eating at Maintnence or in a deficit, you will eventually start losing weight eating that same amount.... You gotta remember your in this for the long run, so quick fixes that may work in the moment are never the best choice considering your already primed to put fat on easily. So eat at a sustainable calorie number for a long period of time, and eventually you will be in a deficit and lose fat. (Cardio can also be used to make this a faster process)

[@janfollner5774]

Hey there. Great video, I would like to ask, is there some evidence that bulking and cutting is unhealthy compared to just maintaining your body weight?

[@joselizarraga9508]

As long as you don’t do extreme caloric surpluses or vice versa it’ll be okay the whole point is slow and steady wins the race.

[@sabertoothwallaby2937]

Definitely Gain indefinitely

[@JackOfHearts42]

5 months into fitness (real newbie here). I'm "skinny fat", mostly just fat stores in my belly. Should I even bother to try losing the belly (protein-focused hypocaloric diet), or stick with a protein-focused hypercaloric diet when combined with weight training/progressive overload? Just trying to generally get in better shape & healthy lifestyle.

[@Banong91]

Does the good doctor have any videos explaining how to do a transition from a hypertrophy block to a block focussing on strength? Can you do an intermediary block with a heavy/light split for each muscle group per week before transitioning to a proper strength training block where the focus becomes increasing the load every week? Please I need some direction in my life

[@christianvonb609]

I'd recommend reading "The scientific principles of strengh training" which Mike co-wrote.

[@Banong91]

@@christianvonb609 thanks man definitely sounds like a wealth of info

[@timgerber5563]

One thing Dr. Mike didn’t include in his model of strategically planned phases are training brakes due to illness/sickness. Obviously you can‘t decide when you get ill, but in my experience the body is much more susceptible to illness with building fatigue. When I was younger (during high school and college) I used to get ill amost every two months with bad colds and sinusitis which I attribute to my style of training back then (all out all of the time) and lack of sleep (6 hours seemed plenty). So basically, we can’t decide when we get ill, but if we do we should embrace the opportunity to shed fatigue and question ourselves whether our recovery matched our training intensity (by total load, volume and RIR of beyond failure). Had I known the training principles of MEV and MRV earlier, I could have spent a lot more time gaining instead of force-shedding fatigue due to illness.

[@tony2169]

Can you make a playlist of all the lectures 🙏

[@Tedsting82]

What should someone do if they overshoot their rate of body weight gain early on into their bulking phase and gain a few pounds over the preferred rate of gain very early on within the first month?

[@GodlessPhilosopher]

How can we track our body fat percentage along this process? Do you have approximate landmarks that are easier to calculate, e.g., weight at a given height or something?

[@jessemurray1757]

So, when I started working out, for the first 5 months, I gained quite a bit of muscle but stayed 225 the whole time. I've just now started gaining weight, now 233 but I think it is mostly water since I started taking creatine. So how is it that I gained strength every week for months without gaining any weight? I'm about 25% BF by the way. I've gained roughly 100 lbs for reps on each of the big 3.

[@Lufval]

Do we need a maintenance phase after a cut? I understand the importance of one after a bulk to reset your point and hold onto the new muscle, but since we're ideally just shedding fat in a cut do we need to maintain that new weight for a while as well?

[@MichaelAveryMusic]

There's also the factor of fatigue/volume resensitization. Since you're doing relatively demanding hypertrophy training during your cut, it's a good idea to refresh the system before you jump back into even more demanding hypertrophy training. Dr. Mike also answers this around 32:17.

[@zackfromtheburgh]

Bookmark: 21:00 and 28:30

[@bigzmah3131]

Dr. Mike is the only prof I know who's lecture you can blaze a fattie in.

[@vasilzhiliev6057]

I have a question related to the RP diet app on this topic, why doesn't it account for light, hard and super hard workouts within a diet period, you can choose the activity level and workout intensity only once when planning your diet, but later on there are no changes related to the progression in one mesocycle or a macrocycle. Maybe you can add a plug in of RP training templates so it calculates the daily macros in relation to the sets for each week. That would be truly amazing!

[@The0ldeKnight]

you can change your workout intensity level manually whenever you want

[@vasilzhiliev6057]

@@The0ldeKnight Oh really? Thanks, I've been using the app for only a week and a half, thank you very much

[@dask.d182]

how we could share the period of erxcersices circle between sets and how heavy are them like metabolic stress, hypertrophy or strenth with the period of foods. i mean, if we do strenth in the gym, is it nesecary we have muscle gain in our nutrition plans? or if we have metabolic stress in the gym we must have fat loss on nutrition plans?

[@Chaosdude341]

Yaaaayyy Dr mikeeeeoouuuu

[@Heck-ed6sr]

Does liposuction solve the problem of having too many fat cells after becoming too fat (fat cells have gone through substantial cell division)?

[@raizan6564]

But what do i do if i was fat, lost weight. Bulked up, gain muscle, did another fat loss, but never really been able to get below 15%? Is it cause of the time i was fat af? If so, how can i fix it?

[@keegansterley3296]

So, I'm curious about P-Ratios. I used to be obese (90kg, probably like 35-40% bf) but now I weigh about 70 at 16-17% bodyfat. Presumably, I have an increased number of fat cells from this, so when I bulk, would those fat cells be more likely to fill up, than new muscle tissue?

[@nickhoward316]

Dang, as an obese person trying to lose fat, this truth bomb hurt. I obviously knew about the loose skin, but didn't know about the subdivision of fat cells and how they stay forever. Sigh.

[@07SSBLAZER]

Maybe hard to swallow, but dont let that stop you. Just let it motivate you to never get to that point again

[@TheMastermind729]

On the bright side… your calves will probably be huge

[@TresonBerry]

Thanks man. Going up to 150 for a few months. We all gotta start somewhere

[@TheMastermind729]

I’m at 126, a beginner, too scared to bulk…

[@user-kf2mn4ro1u]

So what if I haven’t trained for hypertrophy in like three years and was never really intermediate. Would I still be a beginner ?

[@jim7666]

Come on doc, you need to eat bacon, noodles, dumplings and all that tasty Asian food in an all you can eat buffet style to get them Super Saiyan gains.

[@kinginthenorth1437]

So is the problem with gaintaining similar to the problem I have where my kitchen is never perfectly clean because I usually do dishes when I need them or while I'm waiting on something else to cook.

[@spencerdickerson1620]

The problem is that you don’t clean up all the dishes once your done just some so eventually they build up

[@christophertroxell3221]

Gets a like just for the Buffy the vampire slayer joke

[@slatermauro2092]

20:10 note to self

[@noelblanco]

Can liposuction lower set points??

[@rizennsunn]

Damn. Sounds like tug of war💪😔👍

[@glrbuildersinc.8666]

5:50 okay I hear you right.. but what if you’re doing a job you love. Something you wake up in the morning and thoroughly enjoy doing. That fatigue isn’t going to sit on the body the same. I say that to say.. if you’re eating in a surplus to bulk, but it’s lean meats and vegetables it’s obviously not going to accumulate fat bc where is the fat coming from? I’m a wrong in this logic?

[@martyowens6356]

Question. During fat loss phases does MEV and MAV change? Is it perhaps more recommendable to stay closer to just a little beyond MV in order to retain muscle rather than shoot closer to MRV which may result in too much fatigue and improper recovery as the purpose of this phase is to lose fat rather than gain muscle.

[@elrondlariel6524]

During a fat loss phase your MV and MEV go up, and your MRV goes down, shrinking your MAV window.

[@martyowens6356]

@@elrondlariel6524 This makes sense, thank you.

[@kyledavenport6505]

Someone needs to show this to Eddie Hall in 2023

[@SimonBrkopec92]

About fat cells. If i lost 60kg and then gain or bulk up for 10kg. Is that also new fat cells or does the old fat cells get full first? So until i get fatter then first time, lets say 65kg....only for extra 5kg i will got new fat cells?

[@menzoznem]

I'm always a bit skeptical about this bulking/cutting method. How much benefit do you really get when compared to someone who doesn't do anything apart from staying around a certain weight? I mean I never successfully applied these methods but just ate when I pleased. I then gain a kilo but then watch what I eat for a weak and lose a but. Perhaps you could see this as bulk/cutting on far shorter cycles, but the key about the bulk/cut method is that it is for longer periods. What is the research that we really get better results for these clear longer fases? Isn't there some value in me just listening to my hunger and eating healthy and not forcing these fases?

[@matthewcervantes]

Recomp. You're talking about recomp.

[@sean3888]

My man is wearing a goku shirt💀💀💀

[@rananapier8424]

my favorite DBZ shirt he wore was with Vegeta holding Superman and Batman by the neck, one in each hand. Was sick!

[@sean3888]

@@rananapier8424 lmao

[@gbin21]

Would it be sensible to combine a minicut with a deloadweek?

[@MichaelAveryMusic]

No. Based off the principles in the series, you're kind of getting the worst of both worlds. It'll interfere with finding a higher settling point and laying preparatory gains during a mass, and you'll lose muscle since you're not supplying a hypertrophic stimulus while cutting weight.

[@user-fe9cj5nm5d]

You deload in order to give your body a break and to recover from the fatigue you have accumulated while training. Cutting during a deload would take away one of your best recovery tools, which is calories. You at least want to be at maintenance calories while on a deload so you can be ready for the next meso of training.

[@paoloclaravall8566]

I've read Mike comment on IG that it makes sense to stay at maintenance during a deload week.

[@lukelafontaine9483]

Would you say for someone who is very/extremely active and has a pretty high metabolism and trying to gain size, that reducing the gym sessions from 5-6 days a week down to maybe 3-4 would be beneficial?

[@jamesdashper1316]

@@lukelafontaine9483 how would training less help you gain muscle

[@binchili]

20:13 MAINTENANCE

[@RandoBox]

Do bodybuilders ever have problems with stretch marks? With how much they bulk, I am surprised that you do not see more of them.

[@rananapier8424]

Of course they do, look around their shoulders and armpits, a lot of them have stretch marks there, most commonly.

[@user-xv9yr4ql2z]

Question please: My last bulk-cut phase ended me returning to the same starting weight point. Does that mean that it wasn't successful? I'm pretty sure that I did gain muscle...

[@suckonthebigtoe279]

did your lifts improve? body composition? surely you gained some muscle

[@user-xv9yr4ql2z]

@@suckonthebigtoe279 improved indeed. But i guess that the goal should be to gain weight after such a cycle, no?

[@suckonthebigtoe279]

@@user-xv9yr4ql2z I don't know what your goal should be that is left for you to decide. if you want to gain weight I would recommend spend more time bulking than cutting. Lets say you wanna go from 70 to 80 kg. You gain weight at a rate of .75% per week and lose weight at 1% per week (i like to do it that way). you would be gaining around 0.5 kg in the beginning to 0.6 kg when you're closer to 80kg. for a net weight gain of 2-2.4 kg a month. losing way would be at 0.7 kg to 0.8kg a week which results in a monthly loss of 2.8-3.2kg. lets say you bulk for 12 weeks at a time and cut for 6-8weeks. so your weight gain journey could go like this: 70kg -> 77kg (12 wk bulk followed by maintenance or mini cut) 77kg -> 73kg (6 wk minicut or fat loss phase) 73kg -> 80kg (12 wk bulk) Maintain your new weight and go from there. you could plan it like that but there are so many different ways

[@user-xv9yr4ql2z]

@@suckonthebigtoe279 thanks so much for the elaborated response! Your weight gain rates during a bulk are more or less what I adopt, although in the 'lean bulking' approach it is usually recommended gaining much slower, something like a few pounds a month (although i personally find it unrealistic). Thanks again!

[@freestyleliving4145]

How big do you get to mess up cells like 50%

[@jonathonhyde1666]

Dungeon Master Dr. Mike?!?!?!?!

[@brookmachatte]

I'm skinny fat and starting to lift for gains. 6'1" and 215lbs. Should I still go hypercaloric? I think i'm over 20% already and worried i'd be putting on too much fat.

[@rudi5139]

No, maintenance. Try body recomp and see the results.

[@mmcnamara35able]

Yes I am THE MACHINE 🤣💪

[@user-ri6wh8lb5x]

Don’t get fat. Got it 👍🏼