Do you need to be in a surplus to build muscle?

It's a cruel world we live in, one where for most of us, to gain a juicy ass means losing our abs and putting on a few extra kilos of fat. Why? Because the most efficient way to gain muscle is through a caloric surplus (and adequate protein).⁠

Muscle size increases when a person continually challenges the muscles to deal with higher levels of resistance or weight its subjected to. Muscle hypertrophy occurs when the fibres of the muscles sustain damage or injury. The body repairs damaged fibres by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles, but only when fuelled with enough calories.⁠

Trying to build muscle while in a calorie deficit is like trying to build a house out of mud bricks in the torrential rain. Fairly often people who train heavy while in a calorie deficit experience excessive muscle soreness and plagues in strength gains, this is due to their muscles not being able to repair properly due to inadequate fuel.⁠

You can build while at maintenance calories but it takes a lot longer to do.⁠

Now, you’ve probably heard the term “newbie gains”, where an individual makes significant progress very early on in there fitness journey. The reason for this phenomenon is muscle growth come about as response to increased stimulus and stress on the muscle fibres. To continue to grow you muscle continue to increase the stress and stimulus (increase weight, reps, changing exercises, increased tempo). As a beginner, any sort of stimulus will result in muscle gain because for the first 6-12 months resistance training is still such a foreign stress that our bodies respond well in the way that it continues to build muscle to adapt to the increased demand. During this time it is possible to put on SOME muscle while in a calorie deficit or at maintenance, but once again, it will be minimal.

For those who have been weight training for extended periods of time (2+ years) it becomes progressively more difficult to gain muscle. Being in a surplus is a must to help promote muscle growth, with dropping into a deficit usually resulting in the loss of muscle gains.

To summarise: for beginners, a slight calorie surplus of 5-10% is recommended to make optimal muscle gains with minimal fat gain. If you’re super new to weight training and want to lose fat and gain muscle, a slight deficit can sometimes give you quite good results! ⁠

Have a question? Email me enquiries@aubreymarsounpersonaltraining.com