Despite all the claims of the recomp fanatics, I'm pretty sure gaining muscle and losing fat are two contrary goals. At least that's what almost any nutrition text will tell you. Either you're eating at a deficit and losing weight (hopefully fat) or you're eating a surplus and gaining weight (hopefully muscle). In fact, Dorian Yates was saying this just the other day on the telly -- that you can't really burn fat without losing some muscle and, conversely, you're not going to gain muscle without also bringing in some fat.
So what is this 'recomp' you ladies are talking aboot?
@The Solution, hook a bro up, I'll give you a suuuper scientific review.
So, I am friends with the owner of Evomuse and do a small amount of sales work for him - so there's that disclaimer. But truth be told, I am in that situation because I was using his products and realized his stuff was in my rare repeat purchase list.
I am far from a "recomp" fanatic - I hate the idea of people "recomping" - I agree that as a strategy it can be pretty foolish. And I get where Dorian Yates would be coming from - but you have to understand distinctions. It's not about whether it is possible or not, but whether it is efficient and whether you have proper expectations.
Most people think recomping is a good idea and they are fooling themselves. If you have 20 pounds of fat you want to lose, a "recomp" will likely take you 3-4 years minimum, as a natural. Why would I say this? Because people DRAMATICALLY underestimate how hard it is to gain muscle. Gaining a pound of muscle doesn't happen overnight to begin with - surplus or deficit. It is a slow process and as a natural with some training under your belt, you are probably lucky if you can gain a half a pound of muscle in a month.
Good news though. You CAN, 100% without a doubt, increase strength in a deficit and thus adapt, and thus gain muscle. So, yeah, I've had enough of the recomping, unrealistic expectations - but not because it's impossible, because you SHOULD just diet if you have a significant amount of fat to lose, because gaining enough muscle to replace all that fat will take years and years.
The bottom line is, your body is designed to survive. This is the reason you store fat in the first place - for energy demands when there is no food supply. Fat is your stored food supply. And you will adapt to a stimulus if you are capable of adapting to it. In other words, your body won't say, "Geez, I'm really getting hammered with all this weight I have to move - but, you know, I'm just not gonna adapt, I will let that kill me over time. I'm saving this bodyfat for something else."
Yes, your body won't say it because it doesn't have a brain. And yet, it is smart enough to know how stupid that logic is. So, um, where does that leave people who believe that logic? I don't know. Just something to think about. If you have a nutrition text that states this as a 100% rule and not as an expectation, I would probably look for a text that was written by someone who had a better command of logic.
Anyway, as far as BMP and recomping, the product has taken off as a recomping agent more based on user reviews than anything. I think The Solution's log actually, in a way, created some of this - he was very strict about not changing things and kept his food and training very consistent. Did he see huge strength increases? No, not over a month or so - but he did notice fat loss.
Resolve had a log that was straight forward and had similar results..
Personally, I can tell you that when I'm on it and eating less strictly, I tend to gain weight more slowly than when I'm not on it. I am a smaller person and cannot eat a lot of food, and if I do I get fat very fast. BMP does help make that less harsh. Not saying it's magic, nor even scientific, it's just a subjective observation.
What I do notice on it, and most people in the logs haven't mentioned this - I tend to get significant strength gains after about 3-4 weeks on it. The first time I used it I was deadlifting 405 for 3 and it was brutal to achieve. Lots of huffing and puffing. 6 weeks into my first run I was pulling 425 X 5 and it felt way easier. Maybe it was just training, but putting 20 pounds PLUS 2 reps on my lifts, for me, is not something that happens in 6 weeks normally.
For some people, maybe it is normal to gain that much. Of course, if it is, they could add 160+ pounds to those lifts this year. Still, I'm sure plenty of people on here who will claim 20 pounds in 6 weeks isn't that much.
Still, I get being skeptical of a supplement. You should be. I always see myself like Fox Mulder in the supplement world. I WANT to believe, but I realize that I want to believe and I try to be very skeptical of the evidence at hand.
I reckon there's definitely a precise biochemical process at work here bros.
There is something at work here. I can smell the wood burning.
That sucks this isn't working for you, it's literally the best supplement I've ever taken. I would say 11-OXO did "just as much" for me that this did, but that's pro hormone that I want to stay away from now.