Hello friends, and welcome to our third issue of The Athlete Spot™ Weekly.
This issue is sponsored by The Athlete Spot™. Online physical and mental performance coaching to improve your performance on and off the field.
Has your doctor ever told you or someone you know to lose weight?
These two words are so common. But we never pause to consider whether losing is the best approach.
Today let’s flip the script. I’ll make the case for why we should talk about building - not losing - for health, physique, and feeling great too.
What’s Wrong With Losing Weight?
Browse any online discussion about health and fitness and you might see posts using words like:
“Lose weight”
“Intense cardio”
“Avoid muscle mass” (usually for fear of getting bigger)
But here’s the problem. It’s safe to say that a culture of losing has only led to increased rates of obesity over the past many decades.
Health professionals keep beating the drum of eating less and moving more to lose weight. But the World Obesity Federation predicts that 51% of the world will be obese or overweight within the next 12 years. That’s over 4 billion people! This will cost more than $4 trillion annually by 2035, or 3% of global GDP.
Clearly, this rise isn’t individual - there are cultural shifts at play. But why is a “losing” approach flawed, when we really do need to eat less and move more to shed fat? It comes down to a number of factors that cause people to lose weight - and then regain it.
Calorie Deficits Can’t Last Forever
Let’s start with how the culture of losing weight often leads to an unsustainable calorie deficit. Cutting calories and creating substantial deficits has become the norm. Let’s get that weight off quickly, they say.
Shows like The Biggest Loser perpetuate this notion by showing massive transformations, which don’t end up lasting months after the show is done.
When we dramatically cut calories and focus on losing, our metabolism adapts to slow down.
Cardio Alone Won’t Cut It
The culture of losing also promotes cardio as the movement of choice. Why? Because cardio burns energy and it doesn’t make you “bulky.” But excess cardio, combined with calorie deficits that are short on protein, leads to muscle wasting - aka muscle loss = less tone.
When we lose muscle, we directly lower our metabolism. Muscle is our metabolic sink so to speak. Muscle is where calories go to be burned.
If you have less muscle, you have fewer places for calories to go and get used up.
Retaining Muscle is Vital For Long Term Health
At some point past the age of 30, 40, 50, or 60, your body will have a hard time building or holding onto muscle mass. There will be a new mission focus. That will be to retain as much muscle as you can for the rest of your life. As muscle decreases, the likelihood of injury goes up as we age.
So we must actively fight age-related muscle loss in order to stay healthy and vital. If we focus only on losing, we can weaken ourselves unnecessarily by losing muscle along with fat.
But If I Build Muscle, I’ll Get Bulky!
Bear with me here. The single most important sport that every person should learn and participate in is bodybuilding.
No, I’m not talking about getting on stage and posing (although props to you if you compete or ever have). What I mean is learning how to build muscle like a bodybuilder.
Bodybuilders understand two important things. First, they know how to train to get their muscle to grow and become stronger. Second, they know how to manipulate food intake to either gain mass or lose body fat. (Steroids aside - there are plenty of natural bodybuilders who accomplish this, and it takes time.) How they manipulate their diet leads to either growing bigger muscles or melting fat off their bodies.
Why? When you know how to pull the most important lever in the metabolism game, you can control the size and shape of your body. That lever is building muscle.
In truth, a muscular body can be any size - from a gymnast to a CrossFit athlete, to a strongman or hybrid athlete. It is not building muscle alone that makes a bigger body. It’s the relationship between muscle building and nutrition that makes the difference.
What about the BULK?
I’d like to ban and remove the word bulky from your vocabulary - but I understand the concern. No one wants to put energy and time into the gym and not look the way they like.
There is nothing wrong with building as much muscle as you want. No matter your gender, visible muscle is a sign of hard work, strength, and vitality. Unlike every other measure of status, it can’t be bought or given - only earned.
Building visible muscle doesn’t happen overnight. You are likely many years, and a lot of hard work away from looking like a stage-ready bodybuilder.
But the best way to test this is to see for yourself.
Take progress photos while training with a muscle-building focus.
Nothing dramatic will happen overnight, but over time you’ll see the effects.
With a muscle-building approach, you can emphasize certain parts more or less if you want to refine them from there.
It’s time we change the message: Build muscle to lose fat
For now, that is all.
Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s The Athlete Spot™ Weekly.
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I hope you have a great Saturday and I wish you a great week!
In health and strength,