So then how is it possible to achieve muscle gain and fat loss at the same time? Traditionally, bodybuilders go on what you call bulking cycles and cutting cycles - where you go for a stretch of time "bulking" up, gaining muscle and some fat at the same time, and "cutting" down where you burn off the fat and also end up losing some muscle mass in the process.
Gain Muscle and Lose Fat
Bulking and cutting phases can last for a prolonged period of time depending on the person and his/her goals. However, what if you considered something called a "cyclical nutrition" plan? - where you go through these "bulking" and "cutting" phases in much short duration? Of course it's a lot more complicated than that, but following something such as a cyclical nutrition plan can help you achieve the goals of fat loss and muscle gain.
"The key is to partition as much of that surplus [calories] into lean tissue and have as much of the energy deficit withdrawn from fat tissue as humanly possible. Anabolic and catabolic hormones are primary players in the partitioning of energy and nutrients." - quoted from Tom Venuto's Body transformation program.
Whether you're on a bulking or cutting phase, there are certain key factors you have to consider, and one of the very important ones is energy partitioning. For example, during a fat loss cycle, you reduce your calorie intake, and in this situation, it is important to know where the deficit energy is being withdrawn from - is it from your muscles (leading to muscle loss), is it from glycogen, or is it from stored body fat (the desired result). Conversely, on a bulking cycle, where you have a calorie surplus, do you know where all that surplus energy is going to? Is it going to building more muscle mass, or is it being stored as body fat?
Therefore, the key here of energy partitioning is to create an environment for yourself such that during calorie deficits, you withdraw the deficit energy from fat, and during calorie surplus, the excess energy goes towards muscle building, instead of being stored as body fat.
That sounds promising, doesn't it? So, exactly how do you achieve something like that?
This can be achieved through something Tom Venuto calls Nutritional Periodization and Cyclical Dieting. And this involves nutritional periodization dealing with macrocycle, mesocycle, and microcyles in your diet and nutritional planning. To learn more about all this and more strategies for losing fat and building muscle, please take a look at Tom Venuto's Holy Grail Body Transformation Program. Click the link below:
>> Lose Fat and Gain Muscle. Click here for Tom Venuto's Holy Grail Body Transformation Program
