Gaining strength on a calorie deficit

[Kingace]

Hey. My previous goal was to build muscle and gain strength, but have gained a load of fat along with the muscle. My current goal is to lose fat and gain strength and I was wondering if it is possible to have the CNS benefits (increase in neuromuscular efficiency) whilst losing fat on a -500 cal deficit? I'm guessing it is possible, but I have seen many responses on the forum where people have said 'You don't realise how much you have to eat to get stronger', hopefully they were referring to gaining muscle to get stronger along with improving neuromuscular efficiency. I'm obviously no expert on the subject.

Also, what do people think about losing fat whilst both on a calorie deficit and doing HIIT/cardio? Is it best to do both or one of them?

[killerdude494949]

http://jasonferruggia.com/burning-fat-w ... -strength/

[Bman1]

The extent to which you can gain strength via neuromuscular adaptation will, to some extent, depend on how long you have been training. That is, it will be much easier for a relative beginner to gain significant amounts of strength while in a calorie defecit than someone who has been lifting for years. Nonetheless, it is definitely possible to gain strength while on a calorie defecit, just don't expect it to be at an extraordinary rate. My non-expert opinion would be to lose the fat and keep lifting hard trying to make whatever strength gains you can. Doing cardio work will definitely help you lose the fat faster. Many benefits to either HIIT or steady-state cardio, you don't have to pick one over the other.

[KyleAaron]

As I understand it, most of the "neural" strength gains happen in the beginning of training, the first 3-9 months. After that it's mostly physical, actual changes to and growth of the muscle.

You can lose fat and gain muscle while on a calorie deficit if you are relatively high bodyfat - 25+% for men, 30+% for women. The extra fat does what extra fat is supposed to, act as a reserve in hard times - the caloric deficit is made up from drawing on your fat. This will get you down to the mid-teens (for men) or low twenties (for women) in bodyfat %; after that you must choose between cutting (lose fat, lose much less or maintain muscle) and bulking (gain muscle and fat both).

This is not very well-studied in the science side, but is the experience of many trainees. This was my experience, too. In January I was around 25% bodyfat, and I lost fat and gained muscle with weight training, some cardio and a caloric deficit. However, once I hit 14-16% bodyfat, the fat loss stopped and the strength more or less plateaued.

From the lifts in your sig, Kingace, I think it fair to say you are not a beginner anymore, and that your bodyfat is about as low as it can go simply by drawing on it to fuel your muscle growth. I think you're at the stage where you have to choose between cutting and bulking, and during a cutting stage you won't increase strength much.

However, take what I say in the context of my experience and qualifications as seen in my sig and journal. I mostly know about beginners, about the first year of trainign.

[dylanamus]

What Kyle wrote seems to be true to my current experiences too. I have been continuing strength training 2 or 3 times a week with HIIT 1 or 2 times a week on a caloric defecit of around 500kcal, adjusted to suit on/off days.

It's hard for me to say what gains or losses I can attriubte to nutrition alone, as I have been doing higher rep routines (20 rep squat and milk past 2 months and a barbell only (no rack or bench) 3 months prior to that), and how much is due to lack of high intensity (strength) training for the past 5 months.

I have just started the Texas Method now that I am 14.5% bf. I have not lost any fat, or weight for that matter, for the past week to two weeks while doing the same as usual. This echos Kyle's theory too. I am already an intermediate, so it will be interesting to see if I can make any gains beyond my old personal records that I set 6-7 months ago while eating like a wild beast.