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Topics discussed:
00:00 Body Recomp Overview
01:53 What Recomp Means
02:42 Why It Feels Slow
03:54 Money Analogy Mindset
09:52 Social Media Expectations
12:53 Who Recomp Works For
15:26 Machines vs Free Weights
17:52 What Builds Muscle
20:34 Setting Calories Protein
23:48 Nutrient Timing Fueling
30:35 Wrap Up And Invite
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Creators and Guests
What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?
Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.
Lindsay: Welcome, welcome to
"The Lifting Lindsey Podcast."
Uh, so today I'm gonna talk a little
bit about, uh, body recomp, and some
questions that I've been getting
in, and we're gonna actually--
Well, let's j- let's just dive in.
So this past week, I got a really good
question in my training app community.
If you're not in there, just FYI, you can
always send me either a direct message or
you can ask questions to the whole group.
And somebody asked, " Which is better for
body recomp, machines or free weights?"
So we're gonna talk about that, but
we're also gonna dive into the idea
of body recomp itself and what it
actually means, 'cause I'm sure somebody
out there is probably thinking to
themselves, " What are you talking about?
What is body recomp?"
Because I've been doing a ton of macro
plans lately as well, because when
you sign up for the app, you do have
an option to add a nutrition plan on
there And one of the first things I
ask is, "What is your number one goal?"
And you can choose fat loss as
your number one goal, and then
you kind of pick a second goal.
And what I've been finding is that
so many of you are choosing recomp.
"I want body recomp."
So today, I'm going to explain
exactly what body recomp is, what
that approach really looks like, and
why y'all need to practice patience
with it, and also why it might not be
what you think you're signing up for.
Then we'll get into the machines
versus free weights and some research
on even fueling around your workouts.
Um, so let's dive into this, okay?
First, what is body recomp?
We can look at recomp a few different
ways, but typically, when somebody
says they want recomp, what they're
asking for is this: " I want to build
some muscle, and simultaneously,
I want to be dropping body fat."
And what people don't get about
doing both at the same time is
that that process is a lot slower.
Think about what happens
in a fat loss phase.
You step on the scale, and
over time, you see it drop.
There's a dopamine kick right there.
It's working.
The scale moves down, your measurements
are moving down, and over a
three-month period, you can watch
the progress really just stack up.
Body recomp, doing something
simultaneously, the building muscle,
the dropping body fat, that's different.
It's not going to be as quick.
It's not that linear.
You might step on the scale and see the
same number for weeks because you're
adding muscle while you're losing fat.
So your body is changing, but the feedback
you're used to getting with things
like the scale and the dopamine hits
that come with seeing that move in the
direction that you want to, guess what?
It's not there.
And if you don't know what's going on in
that and why that's not moving, you're
going to think, "Oh, it's not working."
Well, that's because you're asking your
body to do two opposing things at once.
Building muscle takes energy.
Losing fat requires an energy deficit.
One is spending and one is
saving at the same time.
It's possible, yes.
It's just a slow game.
Okay?
Think about it this way.
I, I love the, the money analogy
that I just barely used because I
was in banking for years, and I also
was this diehard Dave Ramsey fan.
If you've been following me
for a while, you know that.
Following his tactics especially our
early years of marriage really set
us up for what I would consider in
certain things of my life success.
Because we weren't making very much money,
but we weren't spending anything either.
Like, we literally were saving
or it was going to the house.
And when we chose that one goal and
were just hitting it, there was a lot
more movement towards savings, right?
And I could see the compound effect
adding up very, very quickly But
that's just one way to do it.
If I was trying to do it all at the
same time, if I'm trying to save as
much as possible, plus, you know, buy
the new car, buy the brand new phone,
buy the this and that, then guess what?
My savings account, there's not
going to be as much money that I
can put towards my saving, savings.
But that doesn't mean that I'm not saving.
It just means that what is happening in
my savings account, it's just going to
accumulate a little bit slower, okay?
But guess what?
For some people, the Dave
Ramsey approach works.
If you guys don't know who Dave Ramsey
is, he helps a ton of people really,
really get out of debt and then
just throw everything towards, like,
building savings and, yeah, getting out
of debt and doing it quickly, right?
Because you're not trying to have,
you know, eating out every single
day, all of the best technology,
the-- You're not trying to have the
fanciest house or redecorate all of
your rooms at the same ti- You're not
trying to have all of those things.
You have one goal, and that's
either get out of debt, and when
you do, it's accumulate wealth
for your future kind of thing.
Now, that can work really, really
well, um, especially when you have
short periods of time of doing it.
But long periods of time, it's
harder because it's like, man So
these little things that maybe
you want, you have to say no to.
And they might not seem
like much over time.
When I was a banker, for example,
people would come to me and be like,
"I don't get why I don't have m- money.
I'm not…
Or I've overdrafted.
I'm not spending a lot."
And they weren't, they weren't going
out and making huge withdrawals.
What was killing them were the
tiny withdrawals every day.
The $5 here, a little $7
here, a little $3 here.
That's actually what was
draining their account.
Okay?
So you can't max your savings while
enjoying and spending more, right?
Now, once again, that's
maximizing savings.
That approach can work for, for a
certain group of people, but sometimes
it's just like, no, I, I want to
have a more moderate approach.
I want to be able to work towards
this goal of savings, but at
the same time have money that I
can also spend here and there.
And so just knowing that, look,
okay, then we can do that.
But just know it is going to take a
little bit longer to build up that
reserve or get out of debt or get the
savings where you want it compared to
somebody who's like, "I'm just choosing
that one goal and I'm killing it."
And the same thing
really goes with fitness.
When you choose one goal and choose
to kill it, like, okay, I just…
Fat loss.
I'm gonna-- I really wanna
see the muscle that I have.
I'm gonna pull back the, the, the layers.
I'm gonna work really, really hard
for it and just push into that.
You will see fat loss a lot faster.
Or let's just say you did lose a
bunch of body fat and you're like,
"Oh, I don't have the muscle I want.
I'm gonna move into a slight surplus
where I'm okay with a little body fat
coming on because I know I'm gonna be
maximizing my muscle gains right now."
And so you give, you sacrifice a little
bit of something else you want to
maximize your efforts during that season.
Now, that can work really well for
people, but actually for a good
handful of people, that doesn't.
A more moderate approach of body recomp
is actually going to be for them a really
good sweet spot to live years in But you
just have to understand that the progress
is going to feel a little bit slower
because we're not seeing the, the bank
account bam, bam, bam go up, or should I
say the scale go down, down, down really
fast or something like that, right?
We just have to become better
at navigating this period and
understanding I'm doing a little
bit of both at the same time.
So progress may be happening,
but I have to change how I'm
viewing, like, the scale.
I have to change how I'm
viewing this process.
I have to enter it with far more patience.
And if you're not a patient person,
then this approach is not for you.
Okay?
So I'm gonna say that you guys
are not used to watching real
body recomp, and let me explain.
You're used to somebody posting
their 30, 60, 90-day transformation.
They went from not lifting at all to then
lifting and being in calorie deficit,
and as a newbie going from nothing to
moving weight in the gym, guess what?
You get easy gains.
They are called easy gains because you
don't have to optimize literally anything.
You just move some weight
and your body responds.
So you see this incredible
before and after, and you
think, wow, they experienced,
experienced so much body recomp.
But mainly what you're seeing is newbie
gains, plus they dropped enough body
fat that you can actually see the
muscle that genetically they had a
good amount of or they're newbie gains.
Then you, somebody who's been lifting
for two or three years, whose newbie
gains are behind you, look at that
and think, "Well, I want that too.
I want to put on a little
bit of muscle like they did.
I want to drop body fat massively
at the same time like they did.
They must have a secret I don't have."
No, they have their genetics, they have
a calorie deficit, and a lot of what
you're seeing really is the newbie gains.
Or here's another one.
Somebody's been trying
for five, six years.
They've been lean, but
they've never been shredded.
Then they get shredded, and
everyone in the comments is saying,
"Wow, you put on so much muscle."
They didn't put on so much muscle
going from lean to shredded.
It's just now you can see it.
So we're comparing apples to oranges.
We're not comparing ourselves to
someone in the exact same position
as us who massively put on muscle and
dropped body fat at the same time.
We're looking at somebody who
dropped a lot of body fat,
and now we see their muscle.
That's the problem with
comparing on social media.
We take those expectations and decide
that if we choose recomp, we're gonna see
some dramatic changes in three months.
And this is actually what I really worry
about when women are signing up for macro
plans for me, when they sign into the app.
And they're, they ask for body recomp.
They ask to simultaneously drop
body fat and build as much muscle
as they can during a, a short period
of time, let's say three months.
My fear is that, one, they don't
understand the patience that it requires.
Two, that they don't understand that
we're not gonna be seeing massive,
you know, drops in the scale.
So, so you have to become better
at tracking how are my pumps, how
is my strength, how are my changes,
you know, in the gym, how are my
changes with how my, my clothes fit?
Those are going to become far more
important, and even measurements,
than anything on the scale.
Okay?
So who does recomp well?
Now, the research lines up
with what I see in coaching.
So there was a study in 2020, and
that they found that recomp happens
most readily in newer lifters because
of those easy gains we just talked
about, or returning lifters coming
back after time off who rebuild
faster than they built the first time.
Like everybody says muscle memory.
There is something to that, right?
Or people carrying more body fat who
have more stored energy to pull from.
Uh, people who've been under-eating
protein or training without real
progressions, like they're not
really doing hypertrophy programming.
Maybe they're going in and doing
Pilates and yoga and classes,
and those things are fine.
Those are great, but they're not
maximizing hypertrophy with those methods.
And so when they move into
hypertrophy training, they're like,
"Wow, I can't believe the progress
that I've seen in a few months."
It is the reason why women come to me and
they're like, "Oh, I'm really trained.
I've been taking classes for three years,
and I have seen more in three months
in your training app progress-wise than
I've, I ever saw in those three years."
Yeah, because you were not doing
a very intentional progressive
overload program before.
And believe it or not, it
does make a difference.
So can a trained lifter recomp?
Yes.
It's just slower, and it takes
tighter training and, and in my
opinion, a little bit more protein.
And a lot of you women 35 and older
who spent years dieting and doing
cardio and never really lifting
with intent, you fit that, right?
You're not too late for this.
You might be the ideal candidate.
You just need realistic expectations
about the pace, which is why the scale
is the worst tool to judge recomp.
Watch your progress photos, your waist
and hip measurements, how your clothes
f- everything that I already mentioned.
Uh, your training log is a huge one.
Your loads and reps are climbing,
and your waist is staying the
same or shrinking, is coming down.
That's a great sign you're
recomping Okay, so let's get
back to the original question.
Machines or free weights for recomp?
Honestly, it doesn't matter,
not in the way you've been told.
So I swear, somewhere along the
way you heard that barbells are
real training and machines are for
people who aren't that serious.
Or the opposite, that machines
are safer and free weights are
for the ego lift- lifters and
they're, you know, bad for you.
Your muscle fibers don't care.
They can't see a cable stack.
They can't read the label on a dumbbell.
They respond to tension, effort,
and progression over time.
And the research really does back this up.
There was a study, uh, in 2023, I
believe, and it found muscle growth was
similar with free weights and machines.
Strength was more specific, though.
I mean, when we're looking at
strength, usually when people say
strength, well, it depends on who
you're talking to, but there's
hypertrophy and then there's strength.
So when I do, a barbell, like a,
a deadlift My goal is strength.
It is not n- it's not a bad hypertrophy
exercise, it's just not the best.
We are looking typically when we
deadlift, we are utilizing it, as
a how much can I possibly move?
Like, that's the fun part about
deadlifting, in my opinion, right?
So people get stronger though doing
like whatever they're, they train in.
Train on a machine, you
get better on a machine.
Train with free weights, y- well,
you get better with free weights.
So strength is partly a skill,
and I do think that we need
to understand that, right?
Somebody could out leg press
me, but I could outperform
them on a deadlift, right?
Because there's skill and there's,
there is, it is like a, you know,
full posterior chain exercise, not
just like a glutes and quads thing.
So if there's a specific exercise
that you want to get really good at,
then you've gotta do the exercise.
But if you're just looking for body
recomp, then probably want to choose
the exercise that you feel the most
confident in, uh, most comfortable,
most stable, and just work hard.
Because what actually builds muscle,
no matter the equipment, is mechanical
tension on the muscle you're targeting.
It's effort, meaning your
sets get close to failure.
It's enough weekly volume.
It's progressing, more load,
more rep, more over time.
So from a biomechanics standpoint, the
better question is where in the range
of motion and exercise is hardest?
So a dumbbell lateral raise,
hardest at the top, does
almost nothing at the bottom.
A cable lateral raise keeps tension more
even throughout the whole range, or we
could even make it more difficult at the
bottom where a dumbbell doesn't touch it.
So if the goal is to maximize
hypertrophy during a, uh, you know,
fat, a slight calorie deficit,
well, then we would be using both.
We would be using free weights to
work some things, and we'd be using
machines in the way that they're best
to work the muscles through a better
range There is something, um, to uh,
hypertrophy at different places of the
muscle too, and different exercises
can cause more hypertrophy more or less
in different areas of a muscle, right?
So the most important thing, the,
the better question in my mind
isn't machines versus free weights
to maximize, like for body recomp.
Keep in mind, what is body recomp?
Body recomp is dropping body fat
slowly and building muscle slowly.
So if we are in a calorie deficit, we
have actually stepped away a little
bit from our potential to maximize
muscle growth, which means our
stimulus has to be better in the gym.
A really good program, like it has
to be a killer program And that, a
killer program is going to use both.
It really will.
Okay?
And keep in mind, machines can give
you a little bit more stability
so you can push closer to failure
without, like, balance limiting you.
And they're easy to progress
in smaller jumps too.
So my thing is you use the tool
Uh, in the best way possible
depending on what it targets.
So using both of them is what a really,
really good, um, program will have.
Okay, so what, what
actually moves the needle?
How do we kind of set up this body,
the, like a body recomp approach?
Well, first and foremost, you have
to know where your maintenance is.
I know so many women who have no
clue what, what their maintenance is.
They have done a million diets,
but not one of them can actually
tell you, "Oh yeah, this is
about my maintenance calories."
Like, that's, that's ridiculous.
Honestly, you should know
where your maintenance is.
So I really believe when we
do a body recomp approach, we
first find your maintenance.
Let's first find it, and then from there,
we're going to go into a slight deficit.
Now, here's a few things
that you need to know.
We can go into a 10% deficit to 15.
Moving further away from that
tends to maybe step further away
from possibilities of building a
lot on a more trained individual.
Now, sometimes with clients, though,
I will actually begin at a 17% deficit
because I know certain things about them.
I know that they're going to track
loosely, and so what they'll end up doing
is being in closer to a 10% deficit.
Does that make sense?
I've watched that client over time,
and she does really well Monday through
Friday, and then Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday, she's not tracking.
So with those clients, I actually
push into a little bit more,
closer to like a 17% deficit.
But with clients that are like, "I
follow things to a T," we could do
something like a 10% to 12% deficit.
So it just kind of depends.
Who are you?
Know thyself.
That is really, really important.
So what else is really important?
I'm gonna be quoting a little bit
from a carousel that Brandon Dacruz,
I just need to invite him on here.
I really love how he framed this,
and so I'm gonna talk about this.
but another thing that's
really important is protein.
I usually have recomp clients being
at one gram per pound of body weight,
of goal body weight, even 1.2.
Remember, this is a, a, um, recomp
approach, so having a little bit higher
protein is a way for me to give them a
little bit more food and maybe put them
in a, a slight, energy macros deficit at
the same time, so that can be a tactic.
The number-- The next thing that
is really, really important that we
already touched on, but I just really
wanna reinforce again, is training.
Training is so, so, so important.
Uh, you need a high stimulus.
That training is a signal
to the body to keep building
muscle while energy is limited.
And quality training when you're trying
to do both fat loss and building muscle
at the time, the same time, is key.
Absolutely key.
The other three-- The other thing,
number three, I wanna talk a
little bit about nutrient timing.
And this is where I'm gonna quote
Brandon's, uh, carousel, 'cause I feel
like he did this really, really well he
talks about building muscle and losing
fat at the same time is really asking
your body to do two opposing things
at once, and we talked about this.
So the deficit is breaking tissue down.
The training is sending that
high signal trying to build it.
And then he goes on to say peri-workout,
meaning the workout nutrition or timing,
like timed right around your training, is
how you tip that balance toward building.
By organizing protein and carbs
around your training window, you fuel
harder sessions, recover faster, and
spend more of the day in positive
protein balance even while dieting.
And this is something that I personally
have seen with myself and clients as well.
When we move into wanting to do it all
at once, nutritional timing matters more.
I'm not saying this matters for everybody.
I'm saying it matters more for those who
are trying to do it all at the same time.
Now, nutrition, uh, nutrient timing
gets dismissed constantly And if I'm
being really honest, in maintenance,
hitting protein calories for the day
is really, that's all that matters.
Even in a fat loss phase,
protein and calories are key.
Like, hit those.
But when you're trying to have your body
simultaneously do two slightly opposing
goals, I really do believe, and I have
seen, that it does make a difference.
So I really wanna highlight that.
Um, I personally-- He goes on to say,
"I've watched hundreds of dieting clients
respond to it, especially when they're
in a deficit and glycogen, uh, depleted.
Prioritizing protein and carbs
around train- uh, training changes
how they perform during," right,
"and how they recover after."
Once again, I'm right there with him.
I totally agree.
He goes on to say, "Training
is a catabolic process.
Being in a deficit is catabolic.
So stack them and you're asking your
body to build muscle in an environment
that's actively breaking it down."
See, this is why I wanted to quote him.
I feel like he did it really well.
" Proper fueling before and after training
is what pulls you out of that catabolic
state and into positive protein balance.
That's the anabolic state
that supports muscle growth.
In a deficit, you can't afford to waste
the time, period, where your body is
most primed to use the fuel you gave it."
So, and, and he goes on to say,
"That's why I don't have recomp clients
train fasted," which is something
that I strongly encourage as well.
If you really want to maximize muscle
growth in a slight calorie deficit,
in any type of calorie deficit, better
fueling is going to mean you have better
energy, which means that the overall
training quality is gonna go up, guys.
And that potent high stimulus that we are
after That really sends that signal to
the body like, "Hey, I, I need muscle.
I'm pushing myself hard."
the quality of your training is the
most potent recomp stimulus you have.
So showing up under-fueled is putting
yourself really at a disadvantage.
I really, really do believe that.
So going in, and we-- And I also believe
that we don't have to overthink it.
I don't think that we have to come
up with some magic macro ratio
of what works well for people.
I just know that an hour or two
after my first meal, I'm training.
And so I time it so that I can get
something in me that I enjoy, that digests
well, that I'm not gonna feel groggy and
gross walking into the gym because I'm
stuffed and it's still trying to digest.
I don't think we need to overthink it.
Get something in you so that you feel
like you have the energy to push hard.
Get a little bit of protein, little
bit of carbs, little bit of fat even.
Just that's as long as
you feel that high energy.
And for post-workout meal, I once again
don't think that we need to overthink
it, but I do think that having a high
protein, 30 to 40 grams, and higher
carbs, and then a little bit lower fat.
So maybe protein's gonna be a 30%
of that meal, carbs 50%, fats 20%.
Uh, that is going-- I really love
having a really high carb meal and high
protein, really refilling glycogen.
Once again, I don't think that
we have to overthink this, but I
think that pre-workout should be a
meal that we feel gives us enough
energy to be able to push hard.
Post-workout, during recomp, once again,
replenishing glycogen, getting us into a
rested and recovery state a lot faster.
During recomp, I keep saying this,
when we're trying to do it all at
once, this becomes far more important,
and this is what I tell my clients,
my app users who ask for nutrition
plans and they want body recomp.
This is what I tell them.
This becomes a little bit more important.
Don't be weird about it.
Some of you are going to not
hear the words coming out of my
mouth, and you're gonna get weird.
You're gonna get so weird about it.
You're gonna start getting on Instagram
and telling everybody that they need to
have some magic before and after meal.
I'm not saying that.
I'm saying for those who are trying
to do both This can be a really
wise lever to pull to help make sure
when you walk into the gym, your
training is intense, and when you go
home, your recovery happens quick.
That's what I'm telling you.
And over time, the compound effect
of what I've seen, what clients
have seen, how they felt, adds up.
So that's what I'm saying.
Anyways, so in conclusion,
machines versus free weights.
It's fun.
It's fun to talk about.
But honestly, it really just comes
down to is your program even good?
Who cares whether you're using a
dumbbell or whether you're using a cable?
The only reason you should care is, is it
hitting the muscle how we want it to be?
Am I going to have a well-rounded
program by using both?
Honestly, that, that's
how I write programs.
I use both.
And then if you want a plan built
on exactly all of this, honestly,
guys, come train with me inside
the Lifting Lindsay training app.
When you sign up, you get a
nutrition plan built around you
and your needs and your goals.
You know exactly what you're
choosing when you pick recomp.
You can ask me questions.
I can guide you through this process.
I'm here to help you out.
So if you find, "Do you know what?
This is what sounds good to me.
I want to strive to do both, and I know
it's gonna require patience, but I'm
here for it," come and lift with me.
Come and do the training program.
Let me show you how to do both and
give you good training so that we can
stimulate those muscles to grow even
when calories are a little bit lower.
Anyways, you guys are awesome.
I really love and appreciate you.
Have a wonderful day.