Nutrition

You want to build muscle. Someone told you to eat in a calorie surplus. Now you need to know how big that surplus should be.

The fear: train fasted and your body will eat your muscle for fuel. The counter-fear: eat too close to training and you will be nauseous under a heavy squat.

Body recomposition — gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously — is real. It is also frequently overhyped and often applied to people it will not work for.

Rest days produce a lot of unnecessary anxiety. Do you eat less? Do you cut carbs? Do you maintain exactly what you eat on training days?

Most people eat the same way year-round regardless of what phase they're training in. That is like driving in first gear on the highway—technically moving, but leaving a lot on the table.

But as with most things that sound simple, there is more to the story. That is, losing weight is simple, but doing it is hard.