Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Should You Take Fat Loss Supplements When Bulking?

Episode Date: November 16, 2017

If you want to gain muscle and strength as quickly as possible, you have to maintain a slight calorie surplus. Unless you’re new to weightlifting, there’s just no way around it. In the end, energy balance impacts muscle gain just as much as fat loss. The unfortunate “side effect” is unwanted fat gain, of course, because even mild overeating will raise body fat levels over time. Can you get around this by including a “fat burner” or two in your supplement regimen while bulking, though? Well, the short answer is no, and in this episode, you’ll find out why. Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Hey, this is Mike and welcome to another installment in my in five minutes or less series where I answer one common question quickly and simply because while long form content is great, sometimes it is also nice when someone just gets right to the point and tells you what to do and how to do it in five minutes or less. And that's what I do in these episodes. Hey, this is Mike Matthews from Most Full Life and Legion Athletics. And in this video slash podcast, I want to address a question that I get fairly frequently. And that is, should you take fat loss or fat burning supplements while bulking? And if you're wondering why people would ask that, it's because they want to know if they can minimize or maybe even neutralize fat gain while bulking by including some fat loss or fat burning

supplements in their regimen. And it's a good question because it indicates that they understand that even when you're lean bulking, even when you're doing it right, you got to be in a caloric surplus. And that means you got to gain some body fat. So will including fat loss or fat burning supplements in your bulks help mitigate or maybe even eliminate that fat gain? And unfortunately, the answer is no. Now I could just say, yeah, sure, here, buy my fat loss supplements and they'll help you gain as little fat as possible when you bulk and lose as much as fast as possible when you cut, but that's really not how it's going to play out. And the reason for that is the majority of what you get from a good fat loss supplement,

from a good fat burner is really just an increase in energy expenditure. It's an increase in calorie burning. So for example, my fat loss supplement Phoenix contains a few ingredients, sinephrine, naringin, and hesperidin that have been shown to, when taken together, increase metabolic rate by about 180 calories, which is pretty significant for some natural supplements. And to put that in perspective, that's about the amount of energy that you burn in an hour or so of vigorous walking. So it's, again, pretty significant for a supplement. So let's say that you were taking Phoenix while you're bulking. So you've increased your daily energy expenditure by a bit. And that means though

that you're just going to have to eat more food because you're still going to have to make sure that you're in that caloric surplus while you're bulking in order to maximize muscle and strength gains. So really then all you'd be doing is spending money on a supplement that would then force you to spend a bit more money on food to make sure that you are eating enough to maintain that slight, let's say about 10% caloric surplus that you need for proper bulking. And you know, I would rather have you actually do the walking. I'd rather have you walking a few hours per week while you're bulking than taking pills or powders because the walking can help you gain muscle and strength faster and

can also help mitigate fat gain. But that can be the subject for another video. Now, since we are on the topic of supplements and bulking, let's quickly talk about a few supplements that you actually should consider taking while you're bulking. And the first one is creatine, which is a natural substance that your body produces. And it's also present in certain foods like meat, for example. And it is probably the most researched molecule in all of sports nutrition. And at this point, the consensus is very clear. About five grams per day is going to help you gain muscle and strength faster. It's going to improve your anaerobic endurance, and it's going to help reduce muscle damage and muscle soreness resulting from your workouts. And in terms of specific products, I myself take my own, which is a 100% natural post-workout supplement called

Recharge that contains creatine, as well as two other substances that are going to help you recover better and faster from your workouts. And if you want to learn more about it, simply click on the link in the description. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on

Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. The next supplement you should consider while bulking is a protein powder or even a weight gainer if you have trouble eating enough food. And powders are not necessary, of course. I mean, no supplements are necessary for gaining muscle and strength or not necessary. Of course, I mean, no supplements are necessary for gaining muscle and strength or losing fat. You know, no amount of pills and powders are going to give you the body that you really want. You have to work hard in the gym and know what you're doing in the kitchen. Supplements can only help. But in the case of protein powders and weight gainers, they can be convenient because when you're bulking and when

you're wanting to maximize muscle and strength gains, one, you have to eat a fair amount of protein every day. You have to eat about 0.8 to one gram per pound of body weight per day of protein. And sure, you can do that through whole food alone, but it can be difficult. So powders are convenient and help you get to that daily target easier. And in terms of calories, your calories are going to need to be probably somewhere around 16 to 18 calories per pound of body weight per day. Again, you can get there through whole food if you have a good appetite, but some people find that difficult and some people need to eat quite a bit more. I mean, I've worked with 170 pound guys that have to eat upward of 4,000 calories a day just to gain a half a pound a week. So for those guys, something like a good weight gainer or meal replacement, those terms are pretty much synonymous, can really help.

And in terms of specific products, I myself use my own again, of course. I have a 100% whey isolate protein, which is my pure protein powder of choice because whey isolate is basically just pure protein. It's whey with the lactose and the fat removed. And mine is called Whey Plus, and you can learn more about it by simply clicking on the link in the description. And in terms of weight gainers slash meal replacements, I also have one called Atlas, which contains a blend of casein protein and whey protein, and also contains some nutritious carbs from potatoes, from oats, and some other nutrients that are going to help you get the most out of your bulks. And again, you can learn more about it by simply clicking on the link in the description.

And the last supplement I recommend that you consider while bulking is a good pre-workout. Now, if you have been disappointed in pre-workouts in the past, if they've just kind of made you jittery or nauseous or just done nothing at all, I understand there are a lot of really bad pre-workouts out there. And again, that's why I just made my own. It's called Pulse and it is a 100% natural supplement, meaning that not only are the active ingredients natural, it's also naturally sweetened. It's naturally flavored. It's naturally colored. It doesn't contain any unnecessary chemical junk. And what it does contain is clinically effective dosages of six ingredients that have been proven to enhance your workout performance. And in a couple of cases can also directly impact your muscle and strength gains.

And I'm talking about beta alanine and citrulline in particular. And if you want to read more about pulse and the science behind the formulation, simply click on the link in the description. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how

to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts

on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in, so instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my newest supplement, which I'm very excited about,

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