My name is Cori Ritchey, and I am an exercise physiology nerd turned fitness journalist, and the fitness editor at Women’s Health. When I’m not writing, editing, and researching fitness, I’m teaching it to my personal training and group fitness clients. In my new column, Between Sets, I’m pulling back the curtain on the same advice, tips, and ‘aha!’ moments I share with my clients while they’re catching their breath.
Stick around for the strategic, science-backed nuggets that’ll help you move better, train smarter, and actually enjoy the process. Body recomp (increasing muscle while decreasing fat) is no easy task. In the kitchen, you have to prioritize protein while consuming just few enough calories to maintain a caloric deficit.
And in the gym, you need to load your muscles a few times a week to stimulate growth. When doing both at the same time, some people might find that the dumbbells that once felt manageable suddenly feel way heavier. That's because losing strength can be an unexpected side effect of body recomposition.
A loss of strength is one of the less obvious effects of body recomposition that many people don’t anticipate. You may assume gaining muscle automatically means gaining strength, but the two don’t always go hand-in-hand when you’re underfueled. Even with the slightest calorie deficit, weights that once felt easy may feel heavier than usual.
That’s because calories provide us with the fuel our muscles, heart, ligaments, and more need to exercise. When less energy is available, it can be harder to work out at your usual capacity. I’m sure you’re thinking, “one low energy day in the gym is nothing to worry about.” And you’d be right—but when that feeling of weakness remains consistent, it can become more of a problem than you might realize.
That constant feeling of defeat, unable to pick up the same weights you were before, might make you start to resent your routine or lifting in general. I’ve seen it in my clients before, and they tend to be more apt to skip their gym sessions when they’re feeling down on their capabilities in the gym—and that can be the start of a downward spiral that’s tough to break out of while still maintaining a deficit. Need help with body recomp?
Extract — continue reading at the source.
