‘Recomping’ is the process of improving your body composition while maintaining similar weight. It is not all out fat loss and it is not a bulk. It is doing them both simultaneously. As it is trying to get the benefits of both worlds it is associated with being a modest process. You can pack weight on with a dirty approach to bulking and lose weight dramatically with a severe caloric restriction but the results tend to be something you need to fine tune later i.e. lose the fat that you have accumulated through bulking or regain some of the muscle tissue you have catabolised through cutting. Your body won’t go through such drastic changes in physique in the same space of time but will continuously look leaner and more muscular in a more linear fashion.
An important analysis to make is that because recomping does not produce such a rapid physical change as bulking or cutting you need to know you are making progress. If you lose 1lb of fat and gain 1lb of muscle in one week you may stand on the scale and be disappointed that you have made no progress. This is obviously not the case and that rate of progress would produce outstanding results over the long term if you could continue it. The simplest way to do this is to get your body fat measured regularly via a skinfold test. The reason behind a skinfold test is because you always know that your skinfolds are going down. Assuming the person who is taking the measurements is reliable at it, you know that your mass is going down when your total skinfold reading is going down. Bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) on the other hand can be used but the reliability of machines varies hugely. There are cases of colleagues taking a shower and getting measured again with greatly varied results, as well as someone eating foods renowned for promoting water retention and stepping on the BIA machine the next day only to find out he had allegedly put on an extraordinary amount of ‘muscle mass’!
Once you have your body fat percentage you can use it to work out an approximate lean body mass (LBM) and fat mass amount. For example;
200lb man at 15% body fat = 30lbs of fat mass and 170lbs of LBM.
This allows you to monitor your progress and make sure you can track the smallest changes. There is room for human error on a skinfold test. Here is some practical advice to make sure you get the best reading.
- Get your measurements taken on multiple points. I use a 12 point measurement which covers key areas of fat storage such as umbilicus, subscapular, thigh, tricep and pectoral. Some formulas using fewer points that don’t even have a measurement on the stomach, the most common area for excess fat storage.
- The body fat formulas are rough guides depending on the amount of sites used. The most important thing is that your skinfold totals are going down.
The key to improving body composition in my opinion revolves around training routines with a high metabolic cost and clean eating which has adequate calories and macronutrients to support muscle tissue but balanced at a level that you can lose fat as well. Doing this simultaneously occurs much faster in individuals with higher body fat levels. Once you get to below 10% body fat it becomes a much slower and laborious process. I am going to assume you are 15% body fat or above and give you some guidelines to get started. Many people will have different approaches to this and these rules are by no means set in stone. They are more intended as a guide for people who have no idea where to start and are keen to gain the ability to fine tune their progress by learning what works best for them.
- Training routines with a high metabolic cost can improve insulin function, nutrient partitioning therefore carbohydrate tolerance and growth hormone output. This would involve using partial rest periods to promote growth hormone output. The goal is to create microtrauma to a degree where your metabolism is raised for a longer period of time. In the weight training world this would be the equivalent of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) when compared to LISS (Low Intensity Steady State). Two popular examples of this would be Charles Poliquin’s ‘6,12,25’ programme or Charles Staley’s ‘Escalating Density Training’.
- Nutritionally you are eating to support muscle tissue turnover as you are still trying to build muscle. A lot of formulas get thrown around for the amount of protein you should eat on a daily basis. I have seen one study with hard training athletes where they were still in a negative nitrogen balance up to 2g/lb bodyweight, this is on the extreme end of the scale, a good conservative starting point is 1g/lb bodyweight. Very simply, if you weigh 200lbs, consume at least 200g of protein per day.
- For the rest of your nutritional programme you are going to consume vegetables in abundance. The foods with the lowest GI (glycemic index) are recommended to keep blood sugar stable and therefore minimising raised insulin levels which would promote fat storage and hinder fat oxidation.
- Grains start off modestly eaten in evenings and post workout only.
- Healthy fats such as coconut oil, olive oil and fish oil are permitted.
- Your level of carbohydrate intake can be inversely correlated with your body fat percentage. As your body fat levels drop, you can get away with eating more carbs and benefitting from the anabolic side of insulin without being as sensitive to gaining fat.
Some ways to troubleshoot and fine tune your progress;
- If you want to improve the rate of fat loss you can experiment with raising your protein intake and lowering your carb intake simultaneously. To start with I would recommend keeping calories the same and simply changing the ratios. This is to keep all other variables the same.
- If you find you are losing fat at a steady rate but catabolising muscle tissue as well then firstly ensure you are eating enough protein and calories. Then start increasing your intake of carbs, this will add to your total calorie total and this is fine. To start with increase your carb intake post workout and at your last evening meal only. This again is to keep all other variables the same.
- If you find your energy levels are better earlier in the day when your carb intake is lower it could be for two common reasons. One is insulin function and one is the neurotransmitter release associated with higher carb intake. One can improve as you get leaner, the other may not. Scale back on your carb meals and do it on separate days. This will naturally get you into the habit of carb cycling, eating more when you can get away with more. For those people who find that high carb meals make them feel lethargic, this often improves as you get leaner. For others it does not. Think of this as a carb cycle routine based on biofeedback rather than a strict structure.
- If this is a lower carb plan than you are used to and you are struggling for energy after the two week mark then increase your carbohydrate intake by having a slightly larger portion at all meals. You can then scale back if you want to improve the rate of fat loss and find a point that works for you. Some people adapt to a lower carb diet through a shift in energy metabolism pathways. If you feel no difference in energy levels after the initial two week period of the lower carb plan then you are probably one of the people who are suited to low carb diets in general.
- Once you get to a body fat percentage you are happy with you can keep going as you are to get even leaner. If you want to start adding muscle tissue whilst maintaining your new found lean physique you can get away with increasing your total carbohydrate and caloric intake gradually.
- If you want to lose fat faster without catabolising muscle tissue then I would recommend keeping protein high and either dropping total calories or dropping carbohydrate intake. Supplemental amino acids such as BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids) or EAAs (Essential Amino Acids) can be used for their anti-catabolic effect.
This plan provides guidelines for you to start your body ‘recomposition’ phase to a new leaner you. As with anything in the weight training world, not all rules will work for everyone. The key is to be able to find what works for you. This could be as simple as lowering your carb intake in the day and having a higher carb feed in the evening. With body fat measurements at regular intervals you will be able to monitor your progress and ensure you are on the right track.
