Stop Trying to Lose Weight: Build Muscle First | Mind Pump 2982

Easily the number one fitness goal is weight loss. When you ask people, what do you want to work out for? Almost everybody says they want to lose weight, but there are five signs that you may actually need to build muscle and not lose weight. That the better goal will be to build muscle. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Here's the five signs that you need to build and not lose. Let's go. I know you're going to go over the five signs, but I just want to put it out there that it's almost always the case. That's usually how we refer people. Which sounds a bit counterintuitive when you think about somebody, because obviously there's, well, I remember every time we say this, I always get messages that are like, I hear you guys say that, but you guys are talking about someone who probably just needs to lose 10 or 15 or 20 pounds. What about someone like me who needs to lose 50 or 100? It's like, yeah, I still would focus on building muscle first because it makes the cut easier than to cut first. Yeah, it's just a much better strategy. And along the way, what ends up happening is you end up losing body fat too anyways in that pursuit. So I'd argue that even though you're going to make five points to know this, almost always it's the case, wouldn't you say? Yeah, you could leverage muscle for fat loss. But starting off with fat loss, I mean, you could try building afterwards, but it's actually a more difficult pursuit. And building muscle improves health, metabolic health. In fact, when you look at studies on things like insulin sensitivity, They've actually done studies on obese individuals. Had them lose no weight, all they did was get stronger, build some muscle. And you see these really fast improvements in insulin sensitivity because muscles. So metabolically active, uh, it's so sensitive to things like insulin and sugar at the storage vessel for blood sugar. So building muscle is always a good idea, especially when you first get started. Um, but of course there's gonna be people like, look, I just want to lose weight. Yeah. And there are some pretty loud signs that, um, you know, it's, you're better off trying to build right now. And I'll, I'll start with the first one. And this is more of an aesthetic thing, but it does point to what we're talking about, which is you might have that skinny fat look. And this is where your body weight isn't really that high, but you feel flabby. You feel loose. And so your idea is you need to lose body fat. So I see people like this all the time when I used to manage gyms. These people will come to me. And their body weight wasn't actually that bad, but they'd say things like, I need to lose body fat from my belly or from this part of my leg or from this, you know, my love handles or whatever. And it's like your body weight's actually okay, but you're under-muscled. And this is a big issue. Like being under-muscled is not good. In fact, being weak is a better predictor of all-cause mortality than being overweight is. Well, I was going to say, that's probably one of the biggest, you know, One of the things to point out is the frailty there where, you know, what a detriment that is, you know, long-term. However, I do get it too. It's like, I've had clients that they'll, you know, reasonable, reasonable body weight and they can fit in clothes nicely, but like they do have that kind of fluffy, like, yeah, squishy sort of. I mean, they want to address that. And it's like, to address that, we have to build muscle. That's what we solve. I mean, this is really common with people that think they need to lose about 10 to 20 pounds. Yes. So I used to get this all the time where somebody comes in, both male and female, that I see this a lot, that just want to lose weight, right? The ones that want to lose weight. And they come in there, oh, I need to get like 10 or 15 or 20 pounds off. And many times we get on the scale and I look at the scale for their height, you know, their sex. I'm like, that's not a lot. You don't weigh a lot. Your weight is fine. And I'll be like, but what about this? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh, my stomach is this, or my arms are flabby. So yeah, we just, we need to build muscle. In fact, I don't really think your weight should change much at all. Your weight is fine. In fact, we could probably even go up a few pounds. I don't really care, but we need to build muscle. We build muscle. you will look radically different and you won't have to lose any weight on the scale. Real common, I think, in the 10 to 20 pound range. 100%. I've had quite a few examples of people where just like what you said, Adam, 15 pounds, what they want to lose. I establish actually you're under muscled. We don't, not only do we not lose weight, we actually gain weight. So I've had them gain weight on the scale, eight to 10 pounds of lean body mass, no gain in body fat. But because they gain lean body mass, their body fat percentage goes down, right? Because your body fat percentage is a percentage of your overall body weight, right? So if you were to gain 10 pounds of muscle right now, you're leaner because now less of your total body weight is body fat since you've built some muscle. And they look better. They actually look like they lost weight. So even though they gained seven or eight pounds on the scale, people are commenting and saying things like, you look like you lost a bunch of weight. And they'll come to me and tell me that. Like, it's so weird. My coworkers are asking me how I lost weight and I tell them I'm heavier than I was before. That's because they were skinny fat. That's the definition now. And they tend to identify with a period of time in their life where they weighed a certain amount where they felt the most confident about their body. Right. So an example of that would be like- So they got that number. So I've got like this 5'5 girl and she comes in and she remembers when she was in college, she felt the best, looked the best, and she weighed like 125. And she comes in and she's weighing 140. Mm-hmm. And she's like, I want, I need to lose 15, 20 pounds. And I'm like, no, you don't. And she's like, yes, that was the best I ever looked. That's how, and I'm explaining like, listen, 140 pounds at a five, five girl is not a lot of weight. No, it's not. If you're strong and lean, that's a phenomenal body. Great. It's a great, it's a great body weight. It's probably where you'll end up if you have, if we build some really good muscle. And so this is not a weight thing, but yet it's hard to get that across because she can see herself. You know, a decade or two or however long ago it was when she looked and felt that way and she remembers the weight. And so you identify with this like scale number that I was like, oh no, I know what I need to weigh to look really good. The crazy part is if you can get that person bought in. Not, not, not only will they be happy, they'll be happier at the new weight because they put muscle because it looks even better on them. So that, that girl who thought she wanted to be 125, because that's how she thought was the best she ever looked when she was, you know, X amount of years younger ends up being more muscle on her body at 140. And that clack, which is always one of my favorite clients to train because they are like mind blown. Like, oh my God, I weigh more than I've ever weighed. Yet I feel better than I've ever felt before. And once you can show somebody that, and this is why on the show, I've been saying this so often, I feel like to live callers of like, stop trying to cut into the body you think you want and try and build into that body and stop letting the scale, this arbitrary number dictate whether you're being successful or not. Like go get strong, go build muscle. Right, now, you know, Justin earlier mentioned frailty. Thank you. Sometimes you'll get people whose body weight is actually low and they still think they need to get leaner because they feel flabby, not realizing that they need to build muscle when it comes to longevity. Right. So when you look at like chronic health issues, mortality. Mortality. Under-body weight, under-muscled, under-strength is actually one of the worst categories. So they actually have one of the highest rates. In fact, you're better off being overweight and strong, much better off. Super vulnerable. Yes, 100% for injury, for breaks, and for not being able to weather the storm if you get sick. Exactly. So here's another one. You notice that you just need more strength. Like you struggle to lift things. You struggle to put your... Luggage in the overhead compartment or to move boxes or fundamental stuff move the couch or your legs get really tired Going up the stairs or you're pushing a stroller and you're like I need to lose weight No, you need to increase your strength, you know, uh strength a lot of people don't know this but strength is the base foundational Physical pursuit so that doesn't mean it's the only physical pursuit. But what I mean by by saying it's the base one Is that strength has to be good for all the other physical pursuits to be okay. In other words, if you're weak, your endurance doesn't mean much. You can't really build off weak. No. If you're weak, you don't have good mobility. Your flexibility actually creates instability if you're weak. If you're weak, stamina doesn't mean much. Strength contributes to all physical pursuits. And if you feel weak, if you find yourself not feeling strong or like you need to be I'm going to be stronger, definitely. Go train your body to build some muscle. There's also a momentum builder there too. It's like, this is what we used to teach our trainers. It's like, you get a client like that, that has this like look in their head again or some arbitrary number on the scale. Uh, but also is weak in everyday life. You know, I might not be able to lose you 30 or 40 pounds of fat in the first month or like that, but I can show this improvement in strength. And when you can see that carry over into the thing that like, Oh my God, like, in fact, I was just watching this video of a personal trainer. In fact, the video was like targeting, like, will AI replace a personal trainer and a personal trainer's training this, this old guy. And it's like, he challenges him to get up off the floor with, with no hands. And the guy looks at him like he can't do it. And then he, then he does it. He's able to get up out. It's like, man, you take somebody like that who didn't have the strength to even get up off the floor and then that person can get up the floor. They might still have 20 pounds of fat they need to lose. But boy, that radically changed their life and the buy-in that you get from that. I'm glad you said what you said, Adam. Here's some signs that you need to build some strength. Not being able to get up off the floor. Without assistance or without grabbing onto things and pushing yourself up. Getting up out of a chair, when you're in a low chair and it's sunken down and you have trouble getting up, that's a sign that you need to build some strength. Going up the stairs, if it starts to feel exhausting, it's not stamina you lack, it's strength that you lack. If you just can't go up your normal stairs, when you're grabbing things and putting them up high and you feel shaky or unstable. People back. Balance issues. Are strength issues most of the time. When you have issues with balance, when you feel like you could fall, you definitely need to build strength. And if you're younger and you're noticing some of these things, get in the gym and lift some weights for sure. Don't try to lose weight. Here's what will happen. If you're weak and you pursue weight loss, you'll get weaker. It's not a good place to be. Those are rapidly declining. You mentioned sitting down and standing up, but also lifting overhead. Just the range of motion you lose from having your arm directly overhead. I noticed that immediately with the elder population. Well, you don't use it, you lose it. It's one of those things, they don't even realize they lost it until they haven't taken a flight in a year or two or something. And they finally go to a flight and they realize they can't do that thing. Or they haven't tried to get up off the floor With no hands until something they do, they realize, oh my God, I can't do that. I mean, this morning, I do this all the time. And it's so funny that you brought that up because I was doing it this morning in front of my red shoes. I put my socks on, balancing on one leg as I put one sock on and then I switch to the other. And it's so silly. But at the same point, I'm always testing that to make sure I don't lose that ability to do that because it's like this huge... Red flag, same thing with getting up. If I was sitting on the floor with my son, like I'll intentionally get up with no hands to make sure that like I have that skill and that strength always. And yes, I do all the lifting and all the things now. And so I shouldn't lose that ability. But it's also that I do that for myself because there might become a time when maybe I'm not training as consistently, but then all of a sudden I go to do that. That'll be a massive red flag if I feel challenged. Here's another one, like you'll have a mom, a postpartum and she's getting pain from holding the baby. Uh, but her concern is weight loss because she wants to lose the baby weight. No, get stronger. And again, like we said at the beginning of the episode, uh, you leverage muscle for fat loss and it really makes it a lot easier. Building first makes the weight loss a lot easier, uh, later on, especially if you need to build that muscle. Today's program, Giveaways, MAPS, Powerlift. If you want to win, you got to leave a comment below this video in the first 24 hours that we drop it. Also, subscribe to this channel and turn on notifications. If you win, we'll notify you in the comments section. Also, right now, every MAPS program, every bundle, every workout program, every guide, everything, 60% off. It's the biggest sale of the year. We do it once a year. Go to mapsfitnessproducts.com. Use the code BLACKFRIDAY. By the way, every purchase enters you into a contest. This month, we're giving away supplements. We're giving away sleep systems, red light panels. We're giving away squat racks. We're giving away a vacation. That's right. Somebody's going to win a three-day vacation near Park City, Utah. This is all happening right now. And again, everything is 60% off. Go to mapsfitnessproducts.com. Use the code BLACKFRIDAY. All right, real quick. If you love us like we love you, why not show up by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mindpumpstore.com. I'm talking right now. Hit pause. Head on over to mindpumpstore.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. Here's another one. You have bone density issues. Do not try to lose weight if your bone density is coming back low. Because you are actually sending a signal to weaken your bones even more by putting yourself on a weight loss journey. It's a fact. Now, strength training with adequate calories is how you build bone. Same way you build muscle is how you build bone. So if you see your strength go up and you're feeding yourself adequately, then you'll see your bone density improve. Somebody with low, borderline low bone density, or God forbid, something like osteopenia. And they're like, I need to lose 30 pounds for it. By the way, bone density issues is very common with people who are quote unquote overweight. So there's this myth out there that that's not the case. It's just, in fact, the sarcopenia- I mean, I remember I used to think that. I used to think that the person who carried 300 pounds around, they gotta be pretty strong too, right? But it's like, it's not- Sarcopenia is even higher in that population, you know, muscle loss. And so if your bones aren't strong, you're getting a readout from your doctor and they're like, oh, you're borderline. And you, let's say, need to lose 50 pounds. Do not cut your calories and go on this crazy weight loss journey. You're right. You will weaken your bones faster. The best thing you could do is eat a high-protein diet, feed yourself properly. I'm not telling you to go overboard, but feed yourself properly and go lift some weights, and that'll get the bone density going in the right direction. I think the... The one that a lot of people don't consider because like immediately your doctor's like, oh, we got to address this. And you're like thinking, oh, I should probably lift some weights and make that more regular routine or you've already been doing that. I'm trying to stay ahead of it. Meanwhile, I haven't been taking in, you know, enough calories to really feed that, support that. So this is one of the cool benefits of, I know you just did your DEXA scan recently, but that they show the bone density and where you range on there. And I was going to ask you guys, if you thought this was always the case, or we've just become more aware of it because of tests like the DEXA scan? Bone density issues used to be a result of nutrient deficiencies. So whenever we would see bone density issues, it was like low vitamin D or something like that. And elderly population. Yes. But now you see it in young people. You see it now. Now it's not a nutrient issue. Now we get adequate nutrients, at least way more than we did, let's say, 100 years ago. But now it's because our bones have no reason to be strong. And it's quite common. And then on top of it, this is why you're seeing young people. On GLP medications, which GLPs severely limit your appetite, right? So they make you lose weight through that process. Super low calorie. But they're not strength training. They're not hitting protein targets. They're losing weight coming back with osteopenia. I've now seen several people where they're like, man, I lost 30 pounds, but now my doctor says I have osteopenia and I'm 35. Like what the heck is going on? It's alarming. So yeah. So if your bone density isn't great, the last thing you should do is go on this crazy weight loss journey with subcalorie diet. Best thing you could do is strength train and eat adequately to support that. And for the people trying to figure that out, you can go do that through like a DEXA scan. You can go get that done. And it's great to have this yellow, green, red, right? So it's just like, if you're in the middle, you're going to be yellow. And if you're, the younger you are and the less in the green you are, the not good it is. Like if you're young, it should be green all the way. It should be green easy, yeah. Yeah. And if you're, if you're middle age and you're yellow to green, you're doing okay. You definitely don't want to be in the red at any age at any point, but it's a huge red flag if you're younger and you're already in that, that point, because it's definitely dangerous for you to be cutting like that. So here's another one. Uh, you're constantly cold. You have low energy. You have a sluggish metabolism. Okay. So if this is you, what I mean by sluggish metabolism is like, you know, I don't really eat that much. And you're being honest. Some people say that, but then when you track, You're actually eating quite a bit. But you really don't eat that much. You don't have a lot of energy. You're cold all the time. And you need to lose 30 pounds. Do not go on a diet. All of the things I just said will get way worse. Your metabolism is already slow. You're not burning many calories, probably because you don't have a lot of lean body mass. You're not active because you have low energy. You go on a sub-calorie diet, bring it down even lower. Energy is going to drop even more. You're going to have even more of an intolerance to cold temperatures. And your metabolic rate's going to adapt downward even more, putting you in a really precarious situation where, yeah, I lost 10 pounds. I've got 20 more to go, but I'm eating 1,200 calories. Where do I go from here? This person, build muscle. Go on a process of three, four, five months where the goal is to gain lean body mass and get stronger, and watch what happens. Your body weight, your body temperature goes up. You feel warmer. Energy suddenly goes up because you've got all this metabolic tissue that you're building. Metabolism boosts. Now you can eat more calories than you could before, and yet you're still getting leaner. Do you think this is a harder one for people to pick up on reading themselves, or did you find this a common one that people can pick up on? I think if it resonates with someone, then they should look deeper. Because there's people listening right now that are like, you know what, I do need to lose weight, but I really don't eat that much, and I just don't get it, and I'm really tired all the time. That person listening right now, let's go on a journey. It's a similar one to overtraining a bit with the cold. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cold, like intolerance to temperatures oftentimes. It can also mean hormone issues. But when you diet and when you cut your calories low and you're not consuming a lot of food, you're not active. Yeah, your body's slowing everything down. Your body's trying to conserve energy. So it's not even producing much of heat. So you just become very intolerant to it. And then lastly, like you've already been dieting for a while. So if you're listening right now and you've been cutting and losing weight and plateaued and you're plateaued, you're like, man, I'm eating very little. I've been watching my calories. I've been watching my macronutrients for a while. Like reverse it. Go on a build journey, go on a three month build journey, do a reverse diet, boost that metabolic rate, build that muscle, watch what happens to how your body looks and feels. It'll change your life. It'll blow your mind. I was looking forward to this last tip that you put on there because I had stuff I wanted to talk to you about that just on my, you know, leaning out journey right now, I'm reminded of, and we do this, right? We've talked ad nauseum on the podcast of how we coach to Cut bulk cycles with people. Like we never put somebody in a bulk for, I mean, a cut for six months uninterrupted. We always interrupt it with some sort of a bulk to maintenance and then go back. And a lot of that's just from experience and practice. Like what we've seen, like what happens to people. There's behavioral stuff to it. I wanted to know what you think is going on. Like it's so fascinating to me right now. Like I just had this run where even I had, I was like, oh, you know what? I've been dieting pretty hard now for about four weeks uninterrupted or whatever. And, you know, felt like I was leaning out pretty good week over week. And then I kind of felt like I just stalled out. I think I shared this with you off air. Like I was like, man, I've been pinned, right? At this weight. And not only was I pinned at this weight, but I'm pretty good about seeing if I see, notice changes because I track a lot of stuff and I have photos and all that stuff. And I'm like, I'm definitely kind of holding. And I know I'm low and I'm really low calorie. And I'm like, I need, I think I'm going to interrupt it with, uh, you know, a couple of like high calorie days and then go back. And it's so wild. Cause I do the two high calorie days weight shoots up initially on the scale. I mean, you see, yeah. Oh yeah. You see it go up six, eight pounds, you know? And so I, and I can only imagine somebody who's like really obsessed with the scale weight would freak out in that. And I'm like, nope, got to do another day. So two days in a row, I'm going to, I'm going to really refuel and it's a trip day three. Came back down, day four, came back down. I think it was day five, new low. Like, what? Like, it doesn't make logical sense at all. It doesn't if you don't consider that your metabolism, that's a very general term, right? It's like a complex system of the body. But it doesn't make sense if you think metabolism's fixed. It makes plenty of sense if you understand that your metabolism adapts. This is what people don't realize. Your metabolic rate adapts. What does it adapt to? Oh, all kinds of things. It adapts to hormones and sleep and activity, lean body mass, the way you eat, what you eat. Your metabolic rate is not constant. So by bumping your calories, your metabolism, and this is, I'm just going to explain it like an idiot, essentially, because it's way more complex than this, but your metabolism Alvin was like, cool. We can speed up. We can burn more energy as heat. Yeah, he's giving me more fuel. Yeah, I don't need to hold on. And that's what happens. And I see this happen all the time. Like, you bump your calories, go back down, suddenly the plateau's gone. Uh-huh, I ate more. Yeah. How's that supposed to work? Yeah, like, if you were to average, because they always hear people who tout law of thermodynamics, calories in versus calories out. We'll go like, you know, it's the total calories in the week, what your average is. Yours is still higher. Right. And so it's like, I did two huge calorie bumps. I mean, huge, which would take my average, say, up, you know, five to 700 more calories in the previous week where I was stuck. But yet I went and saw a new low. Like that just, I mean, based off of that, that doesn't science. It doesn't make sense. But I know it works because I've done it with clients. For my entire career, and yet, even on myself, I was like, in that point, I'm like, oh, okay, I probably need to do that. And then just fascinated with watching it happen and feeling it and seeing that. And then also knowing, too, like, man, how many people do we probably, because we've talked about this on the show before, do we talk to about this? And then they probably try it and they freak out because you've got to know that, like, that day I'm pushing, like, so people are- Oh, yeah, if you didn't know what was going to happen or anticipate what was going to happen, that's scary. Yeah. It's like, I'm getting all this weight on the scale. What's going on? Oh, yeah. And it's, I mean, because you're bumping carbs, everything went up. Carbs, fat, proteins, total calories just went up significantly for me for those two days. And so you got all that extra food in you. You got all that extra water you're probably holding from you. I don't, I definitely don't feel like I look better in that moment because when everything's all lean, I look better. And so it's like, it's a real mind **** for somebody. And then all of a sudden you see the days come back, back, back, back, back. And then all of a sudden, new low. It's just. So fast. Like clockwork. Yeah, like clockwork. Look, if you're convinced right now, listening to us talk about building muscle, you need a good strength training program. We have 38 of them, each one designed for a different person, different goal. And right now is the biggest sale of the year. We only do this once a year. It's 60% off across the board. So all of our workout programs, all of our bundles of programs are 60% off. So if you're interested, you go to mapsfitnessproducts.com and then use the code BLACKFRIDAY for the 60. percent off. Also, if you like the show and you want more, you can find us on Instagram. It's mindpumpmedia. We'll see you there.