#beginner program

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

#intermediate program If you've built a solid foundation and are no longer a beginner, it's time to increase the challenge. The programs below are designed for lifters who are ready for more frequency and volume to keep making progress.

If these don't fit your schedule or you want to explore other options, be sure to check out the complete list of proven programs for experienced lifters.

#calculate 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).

#macro surplus 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.

#macro deficit Let the Energy Macro Planner do the heavy lifting. Simply choose the right deficit from the table, plug it into the planner, and you'll get the exact amount of protein, fat, and carbs you need—no manual math required. Want to see the details behind the calculation? They're listed below for reference. Otherwise, feel free to skip to the next step, as the planner has already taken care of it for you.

#macro recomp You don't need to do anything manually now. Just use the Energy Macro Planner to skip the math, select the right deficit or maintenance from the table above, enter it into the planner, and it will tell you exactly how much protein, fat, and carbs you need.

The details below are for reference only (read if you're interested, otherwise, skip to the next step; the macro planner above already does this for you):

#carbs

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

#boost neat One more thing: before you start any serious cardio, we recommend boosting your metabolism through NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). In simple terms, this just means getting more active in your daily life. Aim to increase your step count to 10,000, 15,000, or even 20,000 steps a day. A higher step count burns more calories and can accelerate your weight loss. You can find helpful strategies for this in our Step Count Progression guide.

#requirement

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.

#bodyfatmeasurement 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.

#macrocodex-intro

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.

#exercise selection Does your routine include both compound and isolation exercises for every muscle? A 2019 study from Schoenfeld et al. confirms that this combination is crucial for ensuring full muscle activation and balanced development.

Limit to 1-3 exercises/muscle (mid-range compound + stretch + contracted, e.g., bench + pec deck + cable flyes). Strict form ensures tension on target muscles—cue mind-muscle connection (e.g., "pull humerus across body" on bench).

Heavy compounds first (e.g., deadlifts for back size); minor form loosening only on final reps if it keeps tension. No cheating that shifts load elsewhere.

See: Muscle Explorer for high quality Exercises.

#progression

You must consistently find ways to do more over time, whether that means increasing the weight, reps, or sets. Tracking your progress from week to week is essential for maintaining long-term gains.

Muscle size will increase as you become "stronger" in moderate rep ranges. For example, if you used to do 10 reps of 50 kg on the bench press and by the end of the year you can do 100 kg for 10 reps, your chest size will increase.

If you are lifting 20kg for 10 reps today and 20kg for 10 reps by the end of the year, you've made no progress, you'll see no muscle growth. You may have got leaner and see some definition but actual muscle size would have not changed!

When should you add reps or weight to the bar? Every session? Every week? Or every month? Well, the goal isn’t to add something to the bar every week. Add weight or reps when you become comfortable with the load and it no longer serves as a "stimulus." You'll become comfortable with a load as adaptation occurs.

Suppose you're bench pressing 60kg for 6–10 reps, stopping 2 reps shy of failure (2 RIR) each set. Over time, as you adapt, that same weight starts feeling easier. By the time you hit 10 reps, you're now 4 reps shy of failure (4 RIR)—well beyond the recommended proximity to failure. The guideline calls for staying within 0–3 RIR to ensure sufficient stimulus for growth. At 4 RIR, the set loses its effectiveness. And since you're already at the top of your rep range (10 reps), you can't just add more reps. Instead, it's time to bump up the weight on the bar to restore that challenging edge. But if you were doing 9 sets at 4 RIR you'll respond by adding 1 more rep, making it 10 reps. This is basically "double progression", where you first add reps untill you reach the top of the recommended rep range, after that you add weight but only when the current set stops being sufficient training stimulus.

As you progress and grow stronger, you may only be able to add weight to the bar every few weeks or months. The goal is to become stronger over time in moderate rep ranges, and muscle size increase will come as a result of this.

1. Linear Progression (Gradual Increase)

How It Works: Add small, consistent increments to your weight or reps every workout or every week.

Example: If you're bench pressing 100 lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps, aim to increase the weight by 2.5–5 lbs every week, or add 1–2 reps per set.

1. Double Progression (Weight and Reps Combo)

How It Works: Focus on achieving a specific rep range before increasing the weight. Once you can perform the target rep range (e.g., 8-12 reps) with good form, increase the weight and drop back to the lower end of the rep range.

Example: If your goal is to do 8–12 reps for squats, you'll first work on increasing your reps within that range. Once you can do 12 reps comfortably, increase the weight and go back to 8 reps.

Double progression is pretty easy to understand, so that's what you should use to progress in strength.

#beforeStart

Before you begin, please keep the following points in mind:

Note: You do not need any math skills to work through this guide, interactive calculators are linked wherever possible to make easy for you to calculate everything you need. While some calculations are displayed for reference only, for people who may find it interesting.

1. Use a Desktop or Laptop: For the best experience, open this guide on a desktop or laptop. You’ll need to work with multiple tabs, and following along on a smartphone can be challenging. Additionally, some features, like hovering over terms for more details, only work on desktop.

2. A Starting Point, Not a Rulebook: This guide is designed to provide you with a solid foundation. Don’t treat it as the ultimate truth—it offers fundamental information that’s likely to work for you. Once you get the hang of it, feel free to experiment with training and diet adjustments to better suit your goals and body. Remember, sticking rigidly to any single guide goes against the spirit of science.

3. Share the Knowledge: If someone recommended this guide to you, consider passing it along to others who might benefit from it as well.

#strengthincrease

• Strength Progression
  You won't be able to measure weekly progress—2mm added to muscle thickness is pretty hard to measure with a tape. The best proxy for muscle gain is if you're getting progressively stronger in the medium rep range (8-15). If you started by doing 10 reps of 50kg, and by the end of the year you can do 10 reps of 100kg, your muscle size has definitely increased. You've undeniably added muscle

• Normalized FFMI Over years, you can keep track of your muscle gain progress via Normalized FFMI. Calculate it here

#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

#mealplanguidance

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

#recompdetail

Body recomposition tends to work best at around 20% body fat for men and 29% for women.

If you are a man with 25% to 30% body fat, cutting is usually the better option. You can still recomp at that level, but fat loss is usually slower than it would be with a proper cut.

When Recomp Makes Sense

Recomping can be a good option if you are:

• A complete beginner
• New to training or dieting
• Coming back after a long break
• Been sedentary for a while
• skinny fat, not visibly fat
• normal BMI between 19-24 but belly fat, love handles etc..

In most cases, it makes sense to recomp for the first few months, as long as you are not already underweight or very lean, such as at or below 10% to 13% body fat for men and at or below 19% to 21% for women.

If you are thin overall but still carry fat in places like your belly, face, thighs, or hips, you are probably dealing with the classic "skinny fat" look. In many cases, that means your body fat is closer to 20% for males and 29% for females.

Why Recomp?

When you recomp for the first few months, you eat at TDEE, or maintenance calories. That is usually much easier to stick to than a surplus or deficit.

You also become more active gradually if you add Zone 2 cardio.

At the same time, you are adjusting to a new routine, learning to track calories, understanding maintenance calories and macros, and practicing progressive overload.

There is already a lot to juggle, and cutting or lean bulking can make things even more complicated.

Another benefit is that beginners can often build muscle during recomp and benefit from newbie gains. So even if cutting is eventually the better long-term choice, recomping may still add a few kilograms of muscle, which can raise your resting metabolic rate and make future fat loss easier.

It can also improve your stress tolerance and help your body adapt better to training and daily life.

Recomp is a good starting point for a proper lean bulk or cut later on.

What To Expect

Do not expect dramatic visual changes from recomp. Most of the progress is subtle, and beginners may not notice much visually even when things are improving.

Simple Rule

• Best for the fastest visual change: Cut
• Best for simplicity and consistency: Recomp

If you are obese, you can usually go straight into a cut.

If you want to ease into a new routine, recomping for a few months is a perfectly valid choice, even if progress is slower.

Why Most People Burn Out

Most people try to go from:

Overweight → Lean and Muscular

in a single step.

They hear things like:

“You can lose fat and build muscle at the same time.”

Yes, body recomposition is possible.

But just because something is possible does not mean it is the best approach for most people.

It is also possible to walk 100 km in a day. Most people either cannot do it or would burn out trying.

The same thing happens with fitness.

People try to:

• learn calorie tracking
• lift weights
• stay in a calorie deficit
• do lots of cardio
• optimize macros
• recover properly

all at the same time.

That is why many beginners quit.

Instead, break the process into stages.

---

The Better Approach

Stage 1 — Recomp Phase

Overweight → Recomp for a few months

Goal:

• Learn the basics
• Build consistency
• Capture easy newbie muscle gains

During this stage, eat around maintenance calories while lifting weights consistently.

Why this works:

1. You learn the fundamentals

You learn:

• calorie tracking
• maintenance calories
• protein intake
• meal structure
• workout consistency

Without the stress of an aggressive cut.

2. You capture beginner gains

New lifters can build muscle relatively quickly.

More muscle means:

• higher daily energy expenditure
• better body composition
• improved strength
• better workout performance

3. It is easier mentally

Adding a large calorie deficit and lots of cardio immediately can feel overwhelming.

Recomp lets you build habits first before increasing difficulty.

---

Stage 2 — Proper Cut

Recomp → Cut

Now you already know:

• how to track calories
• how maintenance feels
• how to lift consistently

The only new skill is learning how to sustain a calorie deficit.

This is where you:

• add moderate Zone 2 cardio
• reduce calories gradually
• focus on fat loss while maintaining muscle

Because the foundation is already built, the cut feels much easier.

---

Stage 3 — Lean Bulk

Lean → Controlled Surplus

At this point:

• insulin sensitivity is usually improved
• appetite regulation is better
• training performance is higher
• you are lean enough to actually see muscle gain clearly

Now you enter a small calorie surplus and focus on building muscle.

This is where muscle building becomes much more productive and enjoyable.

You can train 3–4 times per week consistently and make excellent progress.

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Stage 4 — Final Cut

After months of lean bulking, you cut again.

This time, when body fat gets low:

• muscle definition becomes visible
• shoulders, arms, chest, abs, and legs start standing out clearly

This is the stage where people achieve the “lean and muscular” look they originally wanted.

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Important Notes

• Recomping is great for beginners, but it is not magic.
• For overweight people, getting truly lean through recomp alone can take a very long time.
• Spending 12+ months trying to recomp is usually inefficient.

For most people:

• 2–3 months of recomp is enough
• Busy people can stretch it to 4–5 months

After that, a proper cut is usually the better option.

A good sign you are ready for your first cut is when:

• calorie tracking feels normal
• lifting is part of your routine
• you understand your maintenance calories
• you feel consistent instead of overwhelmed

That is when you level up to the next stage.

#workout-frequency

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.

#cardio-frequency

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.

#diet-tips 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

#why-cardio

Why do Zone2 cardio?

A calorie deficit is:

Deficit = TDEE (Maintenance Calories) - Intake

Most people focus only on lowering calorie intake, but increasing energy expenditure is another way to create the same deficit.

Example:

• Maintenance calories (TDEE): 2,000 kcal
• Food intake: 1,500 kcal
• Deficit: 500 kcal

For many people, eating only 1,500 kcal is difficult and may leave them hungry, tired, and less active.

Instead, they could increase their activity through easy Zone 2 cardio such as brisk walking or incline walking:

• Maintenance calories (TDEE): 2,500 kcal
• Food intake: 2,000 kcal
• Deficit: 500 kcal

The deficit is exactly the same, but the person gets to eat 500 more calories per day.

This is important because sedentary people already have relatively low energy expenditure. If they rely entirely on food restriction, they often become hungry, lethargic, and unconsciously move less throughout the day. As body weight decreases, energy expenditure also naturally falls. Together, these effects can reduce TDEE and slow fat loss.

Easy Zone 2 cardio helps counter this by increasing daily energy expenditure while being relatively easy to recover from. This allows many people to maintain a meaningful calorie deficit while eating more food, feeling better, and staying more active throughout the diet.

The goal is not simply to eat as little as possible. The goal is to create a sustainable calorie deficit while keeping energy expenditure as high as reasonably possible.