UNIVERSITY Bulk, Cut, or Recomp Choosing the first path in your journey to your goals The Lesson • Understand fat gain to muscle gain (P-ratio) • Factors influencing P-ratio • Optimal Body Fat Ranges for Growth and Cutting • Health Monitoring at Body Fat Levels • Body Recomp Phases • Final Recommendations P-ratio and Optimal Body Fat • Notion that there is an optimal body fat range for improved partitioning of nutrients towards muscle gain or fat gain ie P-ratio • A low body fat start point lends to more muscle gain • high body fat lends to more fat gain over muscle gain • In untrained overfeed subjects, 60-70% weight gain is lean tissue in thin individuals, but 30-40% is lean tissue in obese individuals.(1) • This also happens in reverse, if you have more fat to lose more will come from fat than lean tissue or being lean you will lose more from lean tissue than fat mass Darius et al Misapplication of P-ratio • Lean vs Dieted Down Lean Individuals • In theory since you are lean post show you should gain more muscle mass by improved partitioning • However when dieted down to low body fat levels changes in metabolic function, hormone levels, and hunger signaling aren’t reset until body fat levels were restored to pre diet conditions (3) • So, post contest not ideal time for muscle gain, but rapid fat gain • Interindividual response • P ratio is constant for one individual (4) • If p-ratio is more constant for individual what we really want to know is what is the best body fat for beneficial calorie partitioning Contributors to Calorie Partitioning • Genetics • Training • PEDS • Nutrition • Recovery • Body Fat level • Insulin Sensitivity • Inflammation • Hormones Insulin Sensitivity • How sensitive tissues are to insulin signaling for uptake of glucose into cells • Exercise increases insulin sensitivity post training and drives uptake of glucose and amino acids into skeletal muscle, tissue specific • Baseline Insulin Sensitivity has been shown to not be predictor of body fat gain in a lean state (5) • Insulin sensitivity related closer to visceral fat than subQ fat (6) • Above 20% body fat for males and (30% females) decreases insulin sensitivity are seen along with greater increases in visceral fat gain (7) • Below 20% body fat is more optimal for insulin sensitivity • A study in twins FFM gains was not associated with insulin secretion and more so with leptin levels, androgens, fat oxidation, FFM (8) Inflammation • Chronic Inflammation associated with body fat and weight gain (9) • High chronic inflammation lead to muscle mass loss (10) • After 20% body fat (30% females), with visceral fat accumulation, IL6 and CRP Levels increase • Visceral fat releases much larger cytokines than Sub Q body fat and related to muscle mass loss (10) This may impede inflammatory muscle growth signaling • Training in states of low chronic inflammation leads to greater increase in muscle mass (11) Endogenous Hormones • TESTOSTERONE • Around 10% body fat testosterone levels are optimized in men and declines • • • • with body fat gain (12) Low testosterone levels lead to increased fat gain (13) Increased visceral fat and rise in cytokines reduce testosterone levels There is dose relationship to increasing test levels and increase in lean mass (14) Dieting to low body fat levels decreases test levels and correlates with loss in lean mass (15) • ESTROGEN • Estrogen is anabolic hormone needed for muscle mass in women (16) • 24-30% body fat peak in estradiol levels when overfeeding (17) • 23-25% body fat peak estradiol when cutting (18) Exogenous Hormones • Steroid users current and former display lower insulin sensitivity via increases in visceral adipose tissues and total body fat % (19) • Elevated CRP levels, with low grade inflammation • Nandrolone shows a decrease in Subq fat but an increase in visceral fat • Visceral fat increases increases inflammation and decreases insulin sensitivity Issues may occur at lower body fat % than natural athletes Optimal Ranges for Calorie Partitioning • Above 20% males and 30% females there is an increase in insulin resistance and inflammation associated with the rise in visceral fat gain • Optimal testosterone is around 10% for males and optimal estrogen around 22-25% for females Levels may decline when body fat gets too low or too high • Steroids users aren’t effected by endogenous hormone production but may be more susceptible to visceral fat gain, inflammation and insulin resistance at lower subQ body fat levels • Typical contest prep time is 16-30 weeks with a typical body weight loss of 11% Stay close within start of prep body fat levels Males • Bulk if 8-12% body fat, Cut if 15-17% body fat Females • Bulk if 18-22% body fat, Cut if 25-27% body fat Subjective Cut Offs for Body Fat Levels BODY FAT TOO HIGH • Lethargy • Decreased Pumps • Low Appetite • GI alterations • Water Retention • Achy Joints BODY FAT TOO LOW • High Fatigue/Lack energy • Poor Sleep • Hunger High • Decreased Gym Performance • Decreased Libido • GI alterations Health Markers to Track • Waist Circumference •