Before you begin

A few quick notes will make these guides easier to use.

• Use a desktop or laptop when possible: These guides often link out to calculators and supporting references. A larger screen makes it much easier to move between tabs and compare information.
• Use the linked tools instead of doing manual math: Interactive calculators are linked wherever they can save time. The equations are sometimes shown for reference, but you usually do not need to calculate them yourself.
• Treat the guide as a framework, not a rulebook: Use the guidance as a strong starting point, then adjust based on your body, recovery, and training response instead of following it rigidly.

1. Introduction to Lean Bulking

AI Fitness Advice (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude)

AI models are trained on large amounts of online content, including forums like Reddit, where misinformation, bro-science, and repeated myths are common. Because of this, AI-generated workout programs and diet advice can often sound convincing while still being flawed or overly generic.

What is interesting is that AI’s biggest successes so far have mostly come from domains that are highly verifiable. In software engineering and mathematics, outputs can usually be checked quickly and cheaply: code either compiles, passes tests, or fails; a math solution can be verified directly. The feedback loop is immediate.

Fitness and nutrition are very different. There is rarely a fast or objective validation system. If an AI gives poor training advice, the consequences may only become visible after weeks or months, and even then the cause is difficult to isolate because progress depends on many interacting variables such as genetics, adherence, recovery, sleep, stress, exercise execution, and nutrition.

As a result, AI currently tends to perform best in fitness when guided by someone experienced enough to critically evaluate and iteratively refine its output. Unlike programming, there is no equivalent of a compiler or automated test suite that instantly flags a bad hypertrophy program or ineffective dieting strategy.

Why trust these guides? Where is the proof that they work? Who can I contact?

Nobody has to "trust" these guides blindly. If you find any inaccuracies or issues, simply email [email protected] and we'll look into it.

Feedback from Reddit users: https://www.reddit.com/r/tirzepatidecompound/comments/1omfgxd/everyone_should_read_this_guide_on_losing_fat/

Results found in the wild (user report, see screenshot): https://www.reddit.com/r/AskFitnessIndia/comments/1tgjvvo/how_to_backup_or_move_macrodex_data_locally_or_on/

We have linked evidence wherever possible, and users are encouraged to independently research the concepts presented in the guide.

Why read this Guide?

An average beginner spends 1–3 years not knowing how to diet properly. Most newbies focus too much on “optimizing” their workout plan when they could simply follow any proven beginner program. Workouts are much simpler than diet, all a newbie has to do is perform 10 sets per muscle group per week with high enough intensity with progressive overload to see results.

Without proper diet, at first, they still make progress because of newbie gains, but eventually their results plateau. In many cases, they may even build a decent amount of muscle simply by intuitively eating within the rough calorie/macro range needed for growth. However, this often leaves that muscle hidden behind a layer of body fat. So, the mirror ends up disappointing them.

This guide can save you 1–5 years of wasted time. After reading it, you’ll understand how to diet like professionals — including IFBB pros, Hollywood actors, models, and athletes.

Let's make a rule.

Nobody gets to say “my diet is fine” until they can define it like this:

“My maintenance calories are X. My goal is Y, so I’m running a deficit/surplus of Z. My target intake is A calories with B grams of protein, C grams of carbs, and D grams of fat.”

If someone cannot define their diet like this, then in most cases their idea of an “okay diet” is simply eating homemade/whole food without any real understanding of calories or macros.

But if you want consistent, measurable results, you need to know these numbers. This guide will teach you how to calculate and understand all of them.

Ask a celebrity, athlete, or model about their diet, and they can usually tell you immediately how many calories they eat and what their maintenance calories are.

Whether you’re aiming for a lean, athletic physique or the sheer size of a pro bodybuilder, your success ultimately hinges on a few fundamental principles. Mastering them is the difference between feeling lost and making consistent, tangible progress. It ensures every ounce of effort you pour into your training actually yields the results you’re after.

It all boils down to deliberately managing three key factors: the fuel you consume (calories and macros), your overall mass (body weight), and what that mass is made of (body fat percentage).

What the Scale Doesn't Tell You

It’s easy to get fixated on the number on the scale, but that figure doesn't tell the whole story. Your body isn't one solid mass; it’s a composition of fat mass and lean mass. Fat mass is exactly what it sounds like, while lean mass is everything else—muscle, bones, water, and organs. Knowing both your body weight and your body fat percentage allows you to understand this ratio, giving you a crystal-clear picture of your starting point and the quality of the progress you're making.

What's the Goal?

Your objective will dictate your entire approach, so it’s crucial to know exactly what you’re aiming for.

• Cutting is all about lowering your body fat while performing minimum required lifting to maintain existing muscle mass
• Body Recomposition is the process of building muscle and losing fat at the same time.
• A Lean Bulk focuses on maximizing muscle gain while accepting a minimal, controlled increase in body fat.
• An Underweight Bulk is a more aggressive approach for those who need to gain weight to reach a healthy range.

Manage expecations

Many newbies fail because they aim for multiple things in the same phase, while pros prioritize specific goals in specific phases.

In a weight-loss phase (cut), you should not expect to build much muscle. Yes, it's possible to gain muscle in a deficit, but the process is slow and difficult. It's like swimming against the current — possible, but requiring much more effort.

The rate of muscle gain drastically drops when the deficit exceeds 400 kcal, so why focus heavily on building muscle during a cut?

Muscle gain is maximized in a surplus.

A much better approach during a cut is to perform 1–1.5 hours of Zone 2 cardio daily. Vary the activity — fast walking, cycling, swimming — to avoid overuse injuries. Lift only 1-2x a week to maintain muscles with ease.

Once you cut down to a lean stage, transition into a lean bulk. Increase workout frequency to 3–4x/week and reduce cardio to around 30 minutes. Now you are gaining muscle faster due to the calorie surplus from the lean bulk.

Muscle comes easier during a lean bulk because of the calorie surplus.

Fat loss is relatively easy through hours of low-intensity Zone 2 cardio, but muscle gain is difficult during a cut or weight-loss phase.

Do not fight againist Calorie Balance, you'll burnout. Surplus for muscle gain, deficit for fat loss. Very simple.

Why not just continue eating at maintenance and avoid lean bulk or cut?

A slight surplus maximizes muscle gain. If you try to eat at maintenance, you'll most likely undershoot or overshoot your calories.

A slight surplus ensures that you are in a guaranteed calorie surplus environment where muscles have the best chance to grow.

The weight gained is partly muscle and partly fat. A lean bulk aims to maximize muscle gain while minimizing fat gain.

A cut is needed to get rid of the excess fat gained unintentionally during the lean bulk.

The Problem with Most Body Fat Measurements

Since your body fat percentage is such a critical metric, you need an accurate way to measure it. The truth is, most methods are wildly inconsistent.

First, you need an accurate body fat measurement.

The easiest way is to find a place with a Multi Segment Body Composition Analysis machine, like an InBody 970, 700,580, 380s, 270 or 260. It's accessible, cheaper than a DEXA scan, and accurate enough for tracking.

Don't worry it doesn't cost much (few dollars), many gyms offer it for free. Make sure it's a professional grade inbody machine, not consumer grade BCA anaylzers which tend to be highly inaccurate. (unfortunately some gyms install them)

A word of warning: don't trust consumer grade smartwatches and scales. While they're convenient, their body fat estimations are often unreliable and can lead you to make the wrong decisions. The professional equipment costs thousands of dollars for a reason that's a level of technology you simply won't find in a sub $1000 gadget. Finding a place for a real scan is easier than you think; a quick Google search for "body composition analysis near me" will likely point you to a local gym or clinic that offers InBody scans for a small fee.

For body fat % measurement, in terms of accuracy: MRI > DEXA > Hydrostatic Weighing > Bod Pod > InBody Multi Freq Device (specially the ones which also use Mhz freq, eg, InBody 970, 700) > InBody Multi Freq Device (no Mhz freq, eg, InBody 260,270, 280) > Other Multi-Frequency BIA Devices> Calipers (Skinfold, highly depends on operator skill) > Ultrasound > US Navy Formula > Single-Frequency BIA Devices.

Visual estimates, even by professionals, are significantly less accurate than DEXA scans, no matter what some forum discussions might claim. That said, for contest or photoshoot preparation, visual assessments for conditioning are a practical method. In such cases, it's beneficial to seek guidance from a coach's trained eye for a more reliable evaluation.

Coaches use Caliper and DEXA, onstage bodybuilders are evaulated based conditioning, accurate bodyfat% is not a judging criteria. So, while you'll see coaches telling people "eyes are final judges", nobodys eyes are more accurate than DEXA or MRI.

Back in time when these devices were not widely available, people used a much simpler rule. Lean bulk untill abs disappear, cut till abs become sharp. So, not having access to any of the bodyfat% measuring devices is not a roadblocker.

The "Dieting Tips" Fallacy

Many times you'll hear people say, "Just reduce your portions." The problem is that if you don't track calories, you won't know which portion to reduce.

Imagine your diet would benefit most from reducing excess fat intake, but instead you cut carbohydrates or protein. You may end up hurting your gym performance, recovery, or muscle gain while making little progress toward your goal.

Calorie tracking helps you avoid this problem by showing exactly where your calories are coming from. It allows you to remove the "wrong part" of the diet less often and make more informed adjustments.

A common misconception is that people who track calories are following an overly restrictive diet. In reality, tracking often provides more flexibility because you can fit foods you enjoy into your calorie target while still moving toward your goal.

Another common piece of advice is "cut carbs." Each gram of stored carbohydrate (glycogen) is associated with several grams of water, notice the word "hydrate" in the suffix. When people drastically reduce carbohydrate intake, they often lose a significant amount of water weight within a few days. Beginners see the scale drop rapidly and assume they have lost a large amount of body fat, when much of the initial change is simply water loss.

Without proper measurement, it is easy to mistake water loss for fat loss or make dietary changes that are not actually solving the problem.

Measure → Adjust → Measure → Repeat

Automation

This guide teaches you how to manually calculate and track everything step by step so you fully understand how the system works.

If you want to automate most of the process, you can use MacroCodex — a completely free app built around the methods explained in this guide. It handles nearly all of the repetitive calculations and tracking automatically.

You can still study the guide to understand the reasoning behind everything, but if you:

• do not have time for manual calculations,
• prefer learning by doing,
• or already understand the concepts and want a faster daily workflow,

then MacroCodex can make the process significantly easier and more consistent.

The dashed line represents your maintenance calories (TDEE).

Eat below the green dashed line to lose weight (deficit).

Eat above the green dashed line to gain weight (surplus).

For body recomposition, eat around the green dashed line (maintenance).

MacroCodex app has 12,000+ users already! Get free MacroCodex app here

All you've to do is log your calorie intake (daily) and weight (weekly) in the app

You can setup a goal like weight loss, recomp, cut, lean bulk

As your maintenance calories (TDEE) change, MacroCodex automatically updates your calorie and macro targets making your life easy.

Fueling the Machine: Calories and Macros

Your body's transformation is fueled by what you eat. Calories are simply energy—eat more than you burn, and you’ll gain weight; eat less, and you’ll lose it. But the type of calories you eat determines the quality of that change. These are your macros:

• Protein is the brick and mortar for building muscle. Without enough of it, your body simply can't repair and grow, no matter how hard you train.
• Fats are non-negotiable. Healthy fats are essential for regulating the hormones that drive muscle growth and recovery, not to mention keeping your joints healthy. Skimping on them will sabotage your progress.
• Carbohydrates are your body's go-to energy source, especially for powering you through high-intensity workouts.

What is Lean Bulking?

Lean bulking is gaining muscle with minimal fat gain by eating a small to moderate calorie surplus and following a consistent training plan. The goal is steady muscle growth without excessive fat accumulation.

Who Should Lean Bulk?

Before starting a lean bulk (gaining muscle with minimal fat gain), it's important to make sure it's the right phase for you. Bulking at the wrong time can lead to unnecessary fat gain and slow progress.

Use this tool to assess whether you should lean bulk: Should You Bulk or Cut? Fitness Strategy Planner

Important: Do not start a lean bulk until you've used the tool above and confirmed it's the right step for your current body composition and goals.

2. Calorie Targets

Calculating TDEE

Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the amount of energy your body burns just to stay alive at rest. Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) includes your BMR plus all the calories you burn from daily life and exercise. While most online calculators give you an estimate, the only way to find your true TDEE is by tracking your food intake against your weight changes over a few weeks. For a deeper dive, see this accurate TDEE calculator.

After step2, your TDEE will be dead on center, not adjustment needed

TDEE is the maintenance calories, if you eat at matenance your weight will not change if you average it over 3 weeks which should take out water weight fluctations.

If you eat more than maintenance, you gain weight

if you eat less than maintenance, you lose weight.

Weight gain or lost will be some part fat, some muscle, depending on training/diet

Just use this calculator (it's the most accurate): TDEE Calculator

It will give you your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

Select a Surplus

Use the Energy Phase Selector to figure out what surplus % you need.

The info below is for reference only, you can skip to the next step.

Current research suggests that a modest calorie surplus is sufficient for muscle gain, as little as 2-3% in some cases.

For most people (especially beginners), aiming for a 5-10% surplus is more practical. Very small surpluses like 2-3% are harder to track accurately and may not consistently support growth.

If you're experienced and tracking intake/output precisely, a 2-7% surplus can be effective, though it's more difficult to maintain week to week.

More surplus ≠ more muscle gain. It usually just means more fat gain.

Eating beyond a modest surplus doesn't accelerate hypertrophy, it accelerates fat gain.

Helms et al. (2023, Sports Med. Open, 9(1), 102) studied trained lifters over 8 weeks: groups assigned to maintenance (MAIN), 5% surplus (MOD), and 15% surplus (HIGH) showed no significant difference in strength or muscle growth. However, fat gain increased with the larger surpluses.

Recommended Lean Bulk Targets

• Calorie Surplus: +5-10% of TDEE (roughly 100-300 kcal/day)
• Weekly Weight Gain Rate:
  • Beginners: 0.25-0.5% of body weight
  • Intermediates: 0.25-0.4%
  • Advanced Lifters: 0.1-0.25%

What the Research Says

Garthe et al. (2013, Eur. J. Sport Sci., 13(3), 295–303):

• Slow gain group (0.3-0.5%/week):
  → 1.7 kg (3.7 lb) lean mass
  → 0.3 kg (0.66 lb) fat
• Fast gain group (0.7-1%/week):
  → 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) lean mass
  → 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) fat

Despite faster weight gain, lean mass gains were not higher, and fat gain was significantly worse.

Slater et al. (2019, Front. Nutr., 6, 131) also confirm: large surpluses lead to fat gain, not more muscle.

Bottom line:
Aim for slow, controlled weight gain based on your experience level. Monitor your weekly average body weight and adjust your intake to stay within the target range.

It’s better to track weekly weight gain (% of bodyweight) rather than aiming for a fixed calorie surplus. Your real goal is the result (muscle gain), not the input (calories), and weight gain reflects that result more directly.

Caloric needs vary from person to person and can change over time with activity, sleep, or recovery. TDEE estimates often have a margin of error, while weight gain gives you immediate, personalized feedback.

Prioritize quality training, adequate sleep, and smart recovery strategies, not just eating more food. Calories support muscle growth, but they don’t replace proper programming.

3. Macronutrient Recommendations

There’s no need to do all this math manually. The Energy Macro Planner will do the heavy lifting for you—just select the right surplus based on the info above, plug it in, and it'll calculate your exact protein, fat, and carb targets. If you're curious about the numbers behind that calculation, the details are below for you to read. Otherwise, feel free to skip ahead to the next step.

Protein

• 1.6-2.2 g per kg of total body weight
• Sufficient to maximize muscle protein synthesis and recovery
• Supported by Morton et al., 2018 (Br J Sports Med) & Schoenfeld & Aragon, 2018 (J Int Soc Sports Nutr) - Research widely supports a protein intake of 1.6-2.2 g/kg total body weight for optimizing muscle protein synthesis and hypertrophy in resistance trained individuals during a caloric surplus. For natural bodybuilders prioritizing lean mass gain, staying within this effective range ensures adequate amino acid availability without excessive intake that may displace other crucial macronutrients like carbohydrates

Fat

• 0.8-1.5 g per kg of total body weight
• Supports hormone function and overall health
• Supported by Helms et al., 2019 (Sports Basel) - Moderate fat intake (e.g., 0.5-1.5 g/kg total body weight or 20-35% of total calories) is recommended for bodybuilders in the off season to ensure essential fatty acids and support hormonal balance. For natural bodybuilders aiming for a lean bulk, a more specific range of 0.8-1.0 g/kg total body weight is commonly adopted, allowing sufficient caloric 'room' for optimal carbohydrate intake to fuel intense training and muscle growth.

Carbohydrates

• Fill the rest of your calories with carbs
• Helps fuel workouts and recovery

4. Meal Plan Generation

Once you’ve got your calories and macros from the Energy & Macro Planner, you can use AI to help create a diet plan.

AI often makes mistakes when estimating calories and macros, so always double-check everything using an accurate calorie tracker like Cronometer

See this guide on How to create a meal plan

5. Training Guidelines

Before you start any program

Hypertrophy just means muscle growth. You'll find plenty of programs but first you must learn what really matters in a program. Read Hypertrophy Blueprint, it contains all the knowledge you need to grow muscles. After reading this, you'll be able to make changes to any program.

Are you a beginner?

When you're new to fitness, the best thing you can do is follow a program built by an experienced coach. It's tempting to try and design your own routine, but you're unlikely to come up with something more effective. A solid plan is much more than just a list of exercises; it’s a careful balance of volume, intensity, and smart progression that takes expertise to get right.

If you’re working out from home or have limited equipment, this free beginner program list is an excellent place to start. It’s flexible and offers options based on the gear you have, including a full bodyweight program if you have no equipment at all.

So, what kind of schedule works best for beginners? A full-body routine three times a week or an upper/lower split four times a week are your best bets. As a novice, you get better results by training each muscle group at least twice a week, which helps maximize your body's muscle-building response. This is supported by the study "Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy, a systematic review and meta analysis" by Schoenfeld et al., published in Sports Medicine, 2019. This approach also lets you practice the main lifts more often to build a solid foundation. If you can train four days a week, an upper/lower split is a fantastic choice because it hits every muscle twice while giving you plenty of time to recover and grow.

Ready to hit a fully-equipped gym? Here are a few great starting points:

Beginner Optimal Hypetrophy Program

If you're a late beginner or intermediate, proceed to Intermediate Programs

How often should you lift weights?

• Recomp: 3–4x/week If you're new, detrained, a beginner, or returning after time off, you can usually recover well from 3–4 sessions per week while still building muscle and losing fat. You are handling easy weights here, so recovery isn't much of an issue.

• Lean bulk: 3–4x/week You are in a calorie surplus and lean enough to prioritize muscle growth. Muscle gain is generally maximized in a surplus, so training performance and recovery are better.

• Cut / weight loss: 1–2x/week In a calorie deficit, recovery and muscle growth potential drop. Once the deficit becomes large (around 400+ kcal/day), muscle gain slows significantly, so the goal shifts more toward maintaining muscle rather than maximizing growth.

• Maintenance: 1–2x/week Maintaining muscle requires far less training volume than building it. A small amount of hard training is often enough to keep most of your muscle and strength.

• PED users: 5–6x/week PEDs can dramatically increase recovery, work capacity, and protein synthesis, allowing much higher training frequency and volume. PED users can build muscles much faster than naturals even in deficit. How often should you do cardio?

Zone 2 is low-intensity cardio, so it can be sustained for much longer than high-intensity cardio like sprints, allowing for a higher cumulative calorie burn over time.

• Recomp: ~50-60 minutes/day of Zone 2 cardio Helps increase TDEE and makes it easier to stay in a slight deficit while still recovering well enough to build or maintain muscle. Deficit = TDEE − calorie intake.

• Lean bulk: 30–40 minutes/day of Zone 2 cardio Your main goal is muscle gain, not maximizing calorie burn. Moderate cardio helps with cardiovascular health, work capacity, recovery, and appetite without interfering too much with gaining weight.

• Cut / weight loss: 1–2 hours/day of Zone 2 cardio More Zone 2 cardio increases calorie expenditure, helping create larger deficits for faster fat loss. Since lifting frequency is lower during this phase, more time and recovery capacity can be allocated toward cardio. Since you are performing relatively high amount of cardio, vary it between bicycling, fast walking, incline walking, swimming to avoid overuse injuries.

• Maintenance: 30–40 minutes/day Enough to maintain cardiovascular fitness, general health, and keep TDEE above a sedentary level without creating excessive fatigue or energy demands.

Since Zone 2 cardio is low intensity and relatively easy to recover from, it usually does not interfere much with recovery from lifting weights.

You can separate the sessions across the day, such as doing cardio in the morning and lifting in the evening, or the other way around.

• Use cardio as a tool to increase energy expenditure, not to replace a calorie controlled diet
• High intensity cardio can interfere with strength training recovery

Note: Cardio increases your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), thereby increasing your calorie deficit and accelerating fat loss.

It also helps break plateaus by maintaining high energy demands, forcing the body to tap into fat reserves to meet those needs.

For best results, focus on Zone 2 cardio, which primarily uses fat for fuel—effectively burning fat while minimizing Lean Mass loss.

6. Progress Tracking

The goal of a lean bulk is to gain muscle steadily while minimizing fat gain. You’ll start with a calorie surplus, typically +5-10% of TDEE (100-300 kcal/day), but what really matters is how your body responds over time.

You're on track if:

• You’re gaining at the target rate:
  • Beginners: ~0.25-0.5% of body weight/week
  • Intermediates: ~0.25-0.4%
  • Advanced lifters: ~0.1-0.25%
• Your strength is going up, especially on compound lifts
• You’re not seeing rapid fat gain in the face or midsection
• Your muscles look fuller, not just bloated
• Recovery is solid, no chronic fatigue or soreness

Gaining faster than your target rate? Likely excessive fat gain, reduce your surplus.
Not gaining for 2-3 weeks? Bump your intake slightly.

Track weekly average bodyweight, not daily fluctuations. Use this to adjust your intake, not static calorie numbers.

Start with a calculated surplus, but let the rate of weight gain guide your long term adjustments. Calories are your starting estimate, bodyweight change is your feedback system.

See: Progress Tracking

7. Troubleshooting

Not gaining muscle?

• Slightly increase calories by 5%
• Add calorie-dense foods or shakes

Excess fat gain?

• Reduce surplus closer to maintenance or +5%
• Track intake carefully
• Add light cardio if needed

Stopping Lean Bulking & Next Steps

Lean bulking is a strategy aimed at maximising muscle gain while minimising fat gain. Knowing when to stop is essential to avoid excess fat accumulation and to maintain insulin sensitivity, hormonal balance, and metabolic health.

Scientifically Recommended Upper Limits for Body Fat

Note: These thresholds are based on meta analyses and expert consensus on body composition, hormonal health, and nutrient partitioning efficiency during bulking phases.

Why Stop Around These Percentages?

1. Diminishing Returns: Research shows that beyond ~15% (men) or ~25% (women), the ability to gain lean mass without gaining excess fat reduces significantly. Reference: Hall et al., 2012, NIH body weight regulation model; Forbes, 2000 lean mass gain vs. body fat percentage.
2. Insulin Sensitivity Decline: Higher body fat impairs glucose metabolism, reducing muscle gain efficiency. Reference: Boden et al., 1997; Kelley et al., 2002.
3. Hormonal Disruption: Testosterone, estrogen, and other anabolic hormones can become imbalanced at higher body fat levels. Reference: Travison et al., 2007.

What to Do After Lean Bulking?

Once you approach or exceed the upper recommended body fat range (~17% for males, ~27% for females), it's time to reassess your next phase.

Use this tool: Fitness Strategy Planner It will help you decide whether to transition into a cut, maintain, or continue bulking based on your current body composition and goals.

9. References

• Garthe I, Raastad T, Refsnes PE, Koivisto A, Sundgot-Borgen J. Effect of Nutrition Intervention on Body Composition and Physical Performance in Elite Athletes: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients. 2021;13(1):141.
• Helms ER, Aragon AA, Fitschen PJ. Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2018;15(1):3.
• Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength. Br J Sports Med. 2018;52(6):376-384.
• Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Norton LE. Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014;11(1):7.