I ask this question because it seems to be one of the main reasons people never reach their goal of achieving a physique they are happy with; whether they want to look good for the beach or compete in bodybuilding. Often they have a fixed idea of what they want to weigh based on unrealistic expectations derived from bodybuilding magazines, claims made on the internet or the person they see at the gym who is using more than just food and natural supplements.
Another side to it is that people often believe that they can “bulk up” and gain a lean muscular physique faster through force feedings and eating junk followed by a “cut”. This can work for a few gifted or “enhanced” athletes, but what usually happens is the majority of the weight gain is fat. So they then have to work extremely hard both physically and mentally to lose all the excess weight- sometimes with no gains to show for it at the other end.
Staying relatively lean through the muscle building process is better for several reasons; it allows you to see your progress and provides a better picture of what needs to be worked on in terms of weaknesses. There is less chance of losing the hard earned muscle you have gained and ironically when you are leaner and lighter you often look bigger as the separation between individual muscles and the increased differential between the waist and shoulders creates the illusion of more size.
So what is the best way to achieve a beach body or competitive physique for a natural athlete?
Firstly we need to have realistic goals of what can be achieved naturally; below are some yardsticks to measure yourself by:
As covered in a previous article; Steve Reeves, a bodybuilding icon before drugs became widespread, presented a simple formula for calculating the ideal muscular body weight for your height. (Probably around 8-12% body fat which would be a good beach body look).
Height Weight (pd) Weight (kg).
5’5” 160 72.7 (note- professional bodybuilders can weigh 95kg+ with 5% body fat at this height!)
5’6” 165 75
5’7” 170 77.2
5’8” 175 79.5
5’9” 180 81.8
5’10” 185 84
5’11” 190 86.3
6’0” 200 90
6’1” 210 95.4
6’2” 220 100
Martin Berkhan, the creator of leangains.com suggests that a lot of natural athletes, when dialed in for a bodybuilding contest (around 5-6%), are not far off this formula: “Height in centimetres – (96-102) = bodyweight in kilos.
So for me this would be 165 – (96-102) = 63-69 kg. As a natural athlete in competition condition I feel this a realistic goal as I look my best around this weight- usually around 60-65kg. Obviously there will be exceptions beyond this as genetics play a large part in determining your muscular bodyweight potential. If you surpass this naturally then congratulations- awesome work!
Now that we have some realistic goals to shoot for we need to train smart by using exercises that suit our unique leverages, muscle belly lengths and can be overloaded progressively over a long period of time (see “Finding what works for you 1-4 in archived articles”). Also using a combination of low rep (myofibrillar) and higher rep (sarcoplasmic) training should be used to maximise muscle growth.
Eat good food that meets your macronutrient and micronutrient needs to gain muscle without gaining excess fat. I am not a fan of IIFYM (if it fits your macros) as people think they can eat junk food with little micronutrient value and think it will help them achieve their physique goals. Find out how many calories, protein, carbs and fats is required to maintain your weight now by eating meat, eggs, fruit, veges, nuts, dairy……. Then eat a little more of these foods to help the muscle building process. Augment this with a range of good supplements like whey, creatine, fish oil, vitamins and minerals. You won’t gain body weight as fast, but what you do gain will be mostly lean mass- in fact you may even gain muscle and lose fat at the same time!
Finally, I frequently see people at the gym who think they need to get bigger who really just need to get leaner and they would have an extremely impressive physique (either on the beach or for competition). If you have been training a while, eat lots of nutritious food, use good natural supplements and are still not happy with how you look consider this- do I need to get any bigger? In a lot of occasions I would say probably not.
So there you have it, set realistic goals, train smart, eat quality food and supplements to allow muscle growth and lose enough body fat to show off the muscle you already have. Not only will you be happier with your physique but you will also be the envy of all those around you who are stuck in the mindset that they have to get bigger!