I was guilty of 1 for the longest time. It is incredible how much paying attention to even the most basic concept of day to day tracking of calorie and protein macros can help dictate your growth. Once I started getting a good idea of calories (don't even need to be super exact), my week to week weight fluctuations, and tracking my gym progress, I took off and started getting big. I could tell the first time a buddy casually called me "the jacked one" in conversation and let's be real - that's what we're all here for.
@@tylerlewin___you don’t necessarily need to follow a program. Just listen to Dr Mike’s advice. If you listen to enough of what he says, you can design your own program. The best advice I picked up from him was to pick 4 exercises where I wanted to get stronger. I work them throughout the week close to failure (I take the last 2 sets to failure).
Bro if your not putting on an inch of height a month your doing it wrong gotta start tracking you ego or you will never grow taller bigger ego equals growth!!! Glad your still one of us to if you miss more than a day a month of working out you become a they them gotta be careful.
This video was so informative. I can relate to so much of it, just coming off a 6 month bulk (162 to 176 pounds). I am in maintenance now (chillin out and re-tuning), but I have some great information on what to do next. Thanks Dr Mike!
This is probably the HARDEST part. I can go in the gym and sling weight all day. But the constant measuring, counting, tracking is the worst part (for me). Some people can just do it and I'm totally jealous of them, but I'm not one of them.
The key is to not be too hard to yourself and just estimate your intake at days which have been too stressful. At some point it just becomes something you are used to. Wish you the best
For me, the tracking has been great. I've got a massive appetite, and it only grows when I'm training seriously. So I could easily consume an extra 1,000+ calories more than I need if I didn't track, and I wouldn't even notice it. It sucks that you can't do it, but if you're making progress and hitting your goals, then it doesn't really matter. Good luck.
@@akbananachucker2441 I literally don't even understand what you are asking. Nor do I understand why you are asking it. This is a fitness channel. Why the fuck do you think that I would be consuming junk food as part of my day to day diet? Furthermore, even if I were eating junk food, those calories most certainly do count. So again, I really don't know what the fucking point of your post is.
I started tracking protein only, realized on some days I was waaay under 1g/lb body weight. Once I hit my protein target consistently I started making big gains for the first time in my life
You got me on track last year and I was gaining a half pound a week for months. I slacked off for a couple of months and fell way behind. I'm almost back to my best weight, but I've just been working harder, eating more and hitting the scale, not calculating. This is what I needed to hear.
You should do a video about restdays, how to recover, how many calories to eat, ice baths, what to avoid, etc. Personally I feel like my rest days are kinda crap because I don’t know how to properly rest
He’s covered all of that in a bunch of different videos but never synthesized as you stated. You might be able to watch those videos and come up with your own mental map of what to do on rest days
I saw one video where he says not to do the ice bath/contrast shower types of things because it's about adaptation and not trying to recover faster. Really helpful video!!
He did do that in a recent video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-d2rL3dC92SM.html. Proper diet, high quality sleep, and stress management. There is no magic "recovery" protocol.
thank you for this incredible information. I know I know this stuff but it is good to hear it coming from you as well. I have also struggled with gaining weight mainly because I am now realizing that I was afraid of getting fat.
Coming from competitive running and climbing and now transitioning to more lifting and BJJ, I have made these mistakes. My previous sports aren't my only priority now and the culture in both leads to being incredibly fat averse. I need to save this video and listen to it once a week or something as I've made most of these mistakes out of habits. Thanks Dr Mike.
Tracking weight / mirror are way easier metrics for me than tracking food. I know what 3500 cals looks like, but sometimes I simply cannot eat that much. As long as I’m slightly heavier by the end of the month I’m on the right track.
Currently going through my 5th year of training. I really didn't want to force feed this year so I went with the maintenance approach. It definitely can feel like i'm spinning the wheels a bit but I know for sure the 1-2kg I have gained are all muscle. Maybe I'll push more food next year and do a comparison but buling and cutting make it very hard to measure results when they are only small.
Did you change your training or was it something else? Growth can happen at maintenance so I’m curious what do you attribute your increase to? I struggle with staying in a surplus, appreciate your feedback.
@@amperage8032 I have put more and more effort into the quality of my training. Dropping the weight and really slowing down the reps. Milking the eccentric. I have also moved to a delaod every 4 weeks. I was finding I could make progress for 3 weeks but then the 3rd, not so much. I swap between two similar programs each month and push to beat the weight/reps from the month before, even if it's only very small.
@@amperage8032 In my case, my routine underwent the following changes: 1) I increased the number of recovery days, moving from a 5-6 day per week schedule to 3 or 4 days, with each day focused on full-body workouts. My preferred routine alternates between heavy, rest, light, rest, medium, light, rest (if 3 days per week, it goes heavy, rest, medium, rest, medium, restx2). The 4 days a week setup appeals to me due to its well-distributed volume. 2) I enhanced my training volume, but I didn't measure it by the number of sets. Instead, I focused on total reps (reps x sets). For lighter days, I aimed for 12-15 reps, while medium days targeted 8-12 reps. Heavy days still maintained a range of 5-8 reps, but I never went below 5. 3) I increased relative intensity rather than the absolute intensity. Rather than fixating on achieving a high percentage of my one-rep max (RM), I concentrated on intensity within the range of 10-15 reps (for example), often reaching failure in the last set (expect on heavy day). This shift is crucial; many people become overly focused on lifting heavy weights as the sole measure of intensity. However, combining higher reps with increased volume can lead to muscle growth with reduced systemic fatigue. 4) I allowed strength progression to occur naturally, preferably with a double progression approach to ensure mastery of each weight.
This channel should have multi-million followers, even at 688k, this is an undervalued gem imo. Love the channel, not sure if it's the Russian dry humor, but I find myself enthralled more than any fitness channel lol. 😂😂 😍😍
I really enjoy your videos dr mike. Since I subscribed recently I have learned a lot about taking breaks from bulking and going into a cut phase to drop fat etc . Your videos are very informative and I have learned a lot from you and you have a very good sense of humor aswell . Keep pushing out videos my man 👍🏼
Hey Dr. Mike, I'm certain you have already made videos for newbies, but I would appreciate some advice for getting started on this stuff. I haven't spent any amount of time working out before. I just lost a decent amount of weight (I had a kid, forgot to eat as often as usual, and lost 30+ lbs in his first 2 years), and I would like to build muscle and make these changes more permanent. Where do I even start? Counting calories, protein, carbs, and fat intake? How should I exercise? How do I avoid burning out while still making progress?
I wasn't a fan of Dr.Mike at first, and I think it was just my horrible focus and how he is able to throw so much information so quickly. I've adapted though, and I love this channel now!
Dr Mike can you please make a video on the biology of eating in a slight deficit with a higher % of body fat to lose weight but also gain some muscle. From my research at 15-25% body fat you can eat a deficit and build muscle. Would like your opinion on this !
@@fepethepenguin8287 correct. I never said optimally. However it’s mentioned over and over low body fat and a deficit results and zero muscle gain whereas the same in a fat person does result in a some what of recomp type effect
@@import702Yeah but what's the point of being "technically" right if it's not applicable in reality? After like 3+ years of training, the difference between trying to gain muscle even at maintenance, vs 200-400 calorie surplus, is like the difference between netting 0.5lbs of muscle per year, vs 4-5lbs. Over a few years that adds up to a huge difference.
@@batataandshawarmalover you’re missing the point. The video is about dieting. I’m 24% body fat. Down from about 45%. 5’5” was 270 now 185. If I “bulk” aka surplus yes I’ll gain muscle but also more fat which I do not need. Study’s show if you have a significant amount of fat you do not need a surplus for a decent amount of muscle gain. The point is a scientific lecture from dr Mike on how it works and how fat is being metabolized out while muscle is being grown so you’re not just losing weight and getting skinny fat but actually putting on some muscle while getting to a better body fat %. We aren’t talking about muscle building optimally here. You wana do that. Eat a surplus. We are however talking about being a fatter person in a slight deficit to acquire a leaner physique without completely wasting all your effort lifting weights if it’s just going to MAV your muscle and built fuck all.
@@import702 sure, you shouldn't bulk at 24%, but the thing is, you're not a statue, you're not stuck at 24% forever. Cut to 20%, maintain for 2 months, cut again to 16%. Voila, now you can bulk. It's much faster, more effective and reliable for improving your body composition over time, to bulk and cut, than to just recomp, especially if you're not a beginner.
Have any studies been done about a possible difference between the effectiveness of a 500 calorie deficit with no cardio vs maintenance calories with 500 calories worth of cardio? Intuitively I feel like the extra calories in the diet would contribute positively to muscle retention (as long as the cardio isn’t too intense)
shit I can't find the study but I recall one which looked high protein calorie deficit vs high protein calorie surplus and if memory serves correct there was a tiny amount of muscle gain in the deficit group with body fat reduction, with the expected result for the surplus group. The caveats of the study were; participants were advanced/expert lifters, study was short (3 months - 6 months I believe), and the performance of the deficit group was inhibited by higher levels of fatigue. Sorry I can't link, hopefully someone sees this and can find it
Aristotle: do not expect more precision than that of which your subject admits. Second, remember epicycles? Don't add complications to your analysis.which don't explain anything. All that said, keep up the good work, you speak from experience and you help me.
As far as adjusting your diet, I give any change two weeks to see what direction it is actually going. Your body takes some time to realize that the diet change is not a fluke and that it can rely on it to continue. That is why if you overeat or fast once your body doesn't really change.
This is a great video. Very informative and holistic. Would love a video like this but for cutting. I'm stuck at about 15% body fat. Since I cut at 193 lbs, I've hit plateaus at 185, 175, and now 172.
Doc Mike. Thank you for this video/class/knowledge. I was freaking out because of my weight when i weigh myself every week.😂😂😂😂 i need this right now and thank you!!!!❤❤❤❤❤
@@gur262 Slow and steady wins the race :) Hard to tell if thats really muscle or mostly the muscle you had from carrying that much weight. Hope you stick to your grind my friend, you are well on your way!
I think it's also a personal mentality thing. I used to have a lot of body fat and I still do have more boody fat than I want (probably around 16-17% right now) so I am willing to sacrifice gains and limit my gains to loose fat. I would rather get 2Kg of muscle in a year or even 1Kg of muscle in a year and be lean all year rather than go on a bulk. I'm okay with that and I understand that many people aren't. For some people like me, putting on fat is just not an option that we want to consider. Also, I'm on a really clean diet with a precise look on my macros, I never eat junk food and yeah, healthy food is actually fun food to me. I mean, people don't like healthy food mostly because they cooking it wrong or prepare it wrong. I can tell you that I make salads with Iceberg Lettuce, Red Peppers (sooooo good), Red Tofu, some Onions (not fried, we're talking about actual small slices of onions) and corn. Just add a few herbs like origan on that (and no, not those already prepared herb mixes that are actually 70% salt) and bro, I'm having such a blast.
Same, I'm at the end of my cut (ended up being able to cut 5-10 more pounds than I expected 😞so I'm an extra 2 months into a cut) and it feels like it's taking forever to get those last few pounds off. Can't wait to be able to eat a less strict diet.
Hey Dr. Mike. Do your students ever confront you in class about your online videos? How do those conversations go? I appreciate your content, and I'm waiting for your OF.
I’ve got one for you. I started, or resumed my fitness journey, at the end of March of this year. I was fat, and weak. I have lifted weights and worked out in various ways off on and on over my lifetime, but was never very consistent with it. At the end of March I was weighing 285 pounds (I’m 6’0” tall) and I had a DEXA scan and RMR test done that told me I was at 38% body fat with 160 pounds of lean mass. Embarrassing, I know. I had really let myself go, and hadn’t set foot in a gym in years. I was 52 years old (I turned 53 in August). I resumed weight training in January, and got serious about tracking all of my food and macros on March 28th after getting the tests done. My RMR was measured at 2146 calories per day, with an estimated TDEE of 3011 calories per day. My recommended weight loss zone was calculated at 2146-1718 calories per day. I decided, since I was so fat, to err on the extreme side and reduced my daily calorie intake to 1750 calories per day while consuming at least 160 grams of protein per day (based on my lean mass results). I was consistently losing 3 pounds per week for a few months and making gains in strength and visible muscle mass. I figured I had more than enough stored fat to get away with the low calorie intake. For the last month my weight has stalled at around 230. I am obsessive about tracking my calories and macros, and not going over my daily limit. I have also been tracking my steps and getting in at least 10K per day. I know that dieting can make your metabolism slow down and that your body eventually adapts to a calorie deficit, but I still have a hard time believing that at 230 pounds I need to further reduce my calorie intake, and I don’t think that I could maintain a lower amount of food intake. I’m still hitting PRs in strength and volume. I also use the Me360 app to do body scans, and my body composition changes seem to have stalled as well. I’m starting to get frustrated and wondering what I could possibly do to get my weight loss to kick back into gear. Should I take a diet break for a while and eat at maintenance? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Pretty sure Mike/RP would say yes. He's done several videos discussing the necessity of frequent breaks from fat loss phases iirc. Congrats on your progress so far!
Hello, sir, thank you for sharing your knowledge! Great content. Спасибо, мужик! Also i have a question about recomposition thing, im always trying to stay in maintenance calories and weight, training 3 times a week with enough protein intake, is it worth it? Or i just need to eat more and then go shredding?
I've been in maintenance for the last year, haven't lost or gained any weight, but have been working out like a maniac. I've noticed I've gotten a little bigger, but more so I've gotten way stronger and my muscles have gotten harder. I eat like shit too! If I were to take my diet seriously then I could definitely lose the weight I want.
@@RenaissancePeriodization So I should try ja 500 cal deficit, and stay away sugar and refined carbs? As bland as this sounds I actually like plain baked chicken, broccoli and rice, so whenever I do decide to diet, it's very easy for me.
In regards to your video about de-loading and talking about dropping calorie intake to maintenance during those weeks, do you do it IMMEDIATELY on the first day of maintenance or might it be better to drop to maintenance only AFTER your muscles are no longer sore from the previous week? Wondering if the muscles are still needing the calories while they are rebuilding, even though you are entering a rest/low-intensity phase.
I wish just eating more was so easy, for me. but, it is my biggest challenge. I have a condition called parosmia. starting in the fall of 2021, my taste and smell became...distorted. I have only found 3 things that taste as they did prior, and same goes for smell. the staple foods for most people trying to gain, are inedible to me. it is not just a slight affect. chicken, almost every type of beef, fish, many vegetables, breads and on and on taste like chemicals to me. it is very hard to describe to others what my brain perceives, and even more difficult to convey how severe it is. somethings to me are like I justtook a big ole swig of drano. I eat the same things every single day, vanilla protein powder (cannot tolerate any other flavor so far) oatmeal (needs something sweet added to get through it) ,a shake with milk/protein/oatmeal/strawberries/banans (this is the only thingI eat regularly that I actually enjoy the taste of), some nature valley oatmeal bars, lastly 3 musketeers right before training. I take fish oil to try and get enough fats, and double up on daily vitamins. trying to get some what proper nutrition. gains have been....slow. but, I just keep putting in the work, and take the results as they come.
I have experienced this after anesthesia so i know what it's like. At one point I was asking hubs to get a diabetes test because his breath smelled like fruit (it wasn't him, it was my brain post-anesthesia). For me it goes away after 2 weeks.
Dude check out Arnold Schwarzenegger's encyclopedia of body building. Not for the exorcise but at the very end there's a formula to gain weight. I used it when I was 16 and a stick. But instead of saflower oil use butter or tallow because the carnivore diet I'm doing right now says seed oils are bad for you but animal fats are great. The lecithin granules help you digest it. Your going to have to have it warm because of the diffent type of fat. Cold was good back then. Hope it helps. Probably better than the 3 musketeers for you. This way you can take out some of the sugar wich is going to kill u
@@donnaryan71 it is obviously neurological. long term cases like mine are virtually unknown to the medical profession, only having done one study on 2 subjects. for me, it is so peculiar. it evolves, meaning smell/ tastes change. I have experienced a few instances like with deoderant where,the first day it smelled somewhat normqal. then by the next it has morphed into something completely different. I try and laugh at how ridculous it is. soaps smell horrible, and I still don't smell body odor. so, I come out of the shower smelling worse than when I went in haha tmi....sorry
Dr. Mike you’ve been asked this a million times, but on average how many calories per pound of body weight is a good starting point. At what body fat percentage would you use lean mass to to gauge your calorie needs. Thanks!!
24:19 and the next bits had me rolling, great stuff! I've been monkeying around with weight and where/what feels good, was up to 240 earlier this year at a pinnacle, 230 was maintainable more easily, summer time I cut down and now am nice and dry at 220, funny thing is I'm nearing my previous peak strength at less weight and I swear my muscles look n feel more full, going to have to measure to compare... But I'm teetering on feeling beat and worn in this last intense push so I'm going to lighten the lifting load for a week and recheck in with myself, extend if need be, really just depends when things feel right again.
I gotta say about ⅓ of my dietary intake on a bulk is junk food. Otherwise I just can't get myself to eat that many calories and diet fatigue kicks in super early. What I do though is try to have the junk after workouts so as not to affect my gym performance and it works.
