How To: Effectively Periodize Training and Nutrition for Building Muscle and Losing Fat!

The top two goals amongst 95% of the women I talk to and work with; 

1️⃣ Building muscle

2️⃣ Losing fat

And if I were a betting kind of woman, I’d say that you’re here because you want to do the same. 

Which is a good thing, because in today's post I’m going to explain exactly how to periodize your training and nutrition to do both in the most effective and efficient way possible! 

And for the sake of efficiency let’s not waste any time and dive right on in! 

What does it mean to periodize training and nutrition? 

Before I get too far into HOW to periodize training and nutrition, let’s first clarify what it even means to periodize something.

Generally speaking, to periodize means to divide a portion of time into separate or shorter periods with their own criteria and/or themes.

In training this can look like breaking down a year's worth of training into individual phases or cycles. 

For example: 

Months 1-2 are programmed for hypertrophy 

Months 3-4 are programmed for strength 

Months 5-6 are programmed for endurance 

Months 7-8 are programmed for hypertrophy 

Months 9-10 are programmed for strength 

Months 11-12 are programmed for endurance

Whereas with nutrition, this can look like intentionally eating at a specific level of intake over a given period of time. 

For example: 

Months 1-6 are dedicated to eating at maintenance 

Months 7-9 are dedicated to eating in a deficit 

Months 10-12 are dedicated to eating at maintenance

In each case, both are being broken down into specific phases/periods of time that are dedicated to a smaller goal (building muscle, increasing endurance, weight loss, etc.) that will help in achieving an overarching goal (improving performance and body composition). 

Why is periodization important? 

While I know there are many posts about “body recomp” (ie. losing fat and building muscle at the same time) floating around social media, as good as that sounds, trying to achieve both of those goals in the same short period of time is exactly what’s holding you back from actually achieving either of them. 

Not to say that body recomp isn’t at all possible, but it’s going to take A LOT longer than a couple of months - like we’re talking YEARS here - to see the changes you’re wanting if your plan is to just hover slightly below your maintenance intake (or worse, in a deficit) until the end of time. 

The far more efficient and effective approach to building the strong, sexy, body of your dreams is to separate the two goals and prioritize one at a time. 

This allows you to have dedicated periods of time where you are fueling your body well at maintenance, training hard af, recovering well and actually BUILDING muscle while feeling your best day in and out. 

Followed by periods of time (ideally much shorter) that are dedicated to dieting where you’re spending 12-16 weeks losing fat and revealing the muscle you spent the time building.

Then getting up to and enjoying your strong, sexy, toned physique at your new maintenance. 

IF you try to stick to the all-at-once approach, not only will it take MUCH longer for you to actually see any of the physical changes your wanting to, you’ll constantly be in a slightly down regulated state (due to eating less calories than your body actually needs) which will make it hard for your body to feel and perform it’s best. 

This not only makes it more difficult for you to actually put on muscle, but to feel good and function well on a daily basis as you can experience disruptions (even if minor) in sleep quality, energy, mood, strength, and recovery. 

So, not only will periodizing your training and nutrition help you to avoid plateaus and achieve your performance and physique goals in a more condensed period of time, your overall health and quality of life will improve as well. 

How to periodize for muscle building and fat loss. 

Now that you have a solid understanding of what periodization is and why it’s important, let's get into HOW you can implement this strategy to build muscle and lose fat to reveal the strong, sexy, body of your dreams! 

Nutrition

Regardless of where you are on your fitness journey, whether you have 5 or 50 lbs to lose, you should ALWAYS start with making sure you have a solid foundation at maintenance. 

This not only includes eating at a maintenance level of intake, but ensuring you are also drinking at least ½ your body weight in oz of water daily, getting 6-9 hours of sleep each night, consuming mostly whole foods, eating .8-1g of protein per 1 lb of (ideal) body weight, and getting in 8-10k steps on a regular basis. 

One of the BIGGEST mistakes many women make in the pursuit of a strong, sexy, toned body is skipping this step and jumping straight into fat loss. 

Failing to develop this foundation prior to attempting a fat loss phase not only makes fat loss more difficult, it makes maintaining progress long term damn near impossible (which is why you have gained and lost the same 10-15 lbs year after year). 

So, maintenance comes FIRST.

I would recommend at least 3-6+ months of intentionally eating and training at maintenance prior to going into a deficit (length of time will be dependent on your body composition, experience, and goals). 

After you’ve spent time checking all the boxes at maintenance and you are confident that you have actually added new muscle tissue (see the my blog on setting realistic goals and expectations for maintenance) THEN you can go down into a structured 12-16 week deficit (again, actual length of time will be dependent on individual factors). 

Once you have either achieved the desired goal, or biofeedback, and/or lack of adherence indicates a need to return to maintenance, you can reverse out of the deficit back up to your new maintenance and continue to repeat this process for as long as it takes to achieve the desired body composition. 

I have found that for most women (myself included) this process will need to be repeated multiple times over the course of several YEARS even with a periodized approach. 

And one of the biggest mistakes made when periodizing nutrition is not taking the maintenance phase seriously because it’s “boring.” 

Maintenance is where you build the body you reveal in a deficit. 

If you never take it seriously, you’ll never see the changes you want in your body composition and forever continue to reveal the exact same shape every time you go into a deficit.

Training 

Periodization of training for building muscle and losing fat looks a bit different from that of nutrition in that you can go through several different “phases” of training in a single phase of nutrition.

For example your training phase could look like: 

Phase 1: Hypertrophy (10-15 rep ranges) 

Phase 2: Hypertrophy (8-12 rep ranges) 

Phase 3: Strength (4-6 rep ranges) 

All within your maintenance phase of nutrition. 

The key is to ensure that the phases of training you go through make sense for your goals. 

If your goal is to BUILD MUSCLE and you’re spending 99% of your time utilizing programs focused on metabolic and endurance style training, no matter WHAT phase of nutrition you’re in, you’re not going to build anything. 

What you need to build a strong, sexy, toned foundation is to follow programs that utilize progressive overload and periodize hypertrophy and strength based phases of training MOST often with an occasional endurance phase filtered in. 

Not only during maintenance phases of nutrition, but dieting phases as well. 

While at maintenance hypertrophy and strength based phases will help you to BUILD muscle, and while in a deficit these same types of phases will help you to MAINTAIN it while losing fat. 

The only thing you may need to do is decrease overall volume a bit to ensure you are still capable of recovering well, but otherwise the goal is to always to bring as much intention and intensity to training as possible. 

So, if your goal is to build muscle and lose fat, investing in a program that primarily focuses on hypertrophy and strength based training is the way to go. 

Wrapping it up!

While I understand it can be disappointing to need to prioritize one goal at a time, dedicating the time and effort to doing so will yield far better results than trying to achieve both simultaneously. 

And while I wish I could make a blanket statement and tell you it’ll only take “x” amount of time to achieve your “goal body” there are far too many individual factors to take into account to even give an estimate. 

Things like: 

• Personal background 

• Current body composition

• Level of training experience 

• Level of consistency (in all stages)

• YOUR specific goals

So, my biggest piece of advice for you is to remove the timeline and count yourself in for the long haul. 

Because at the end of the day, whether it takes 1 year, 5 years, or 10, the time will pass anyway. 

The difference in where you are now and where you’ll be then lies within the choices you make between those two points. 

And if you’re really having a hard time putting all of these things together on your own, one of the choices that you can make that will help clear those muddy waters is investing in help along the way. 

Whether that be in the form of a custom training program, nutrition consults, or full blown 1:1 coaching, any investment you make that helps to provide clarity and a more individualized approach will go a long way. 

I know because I have invested in my own goals every step of the way and know without a doubt that I would not be anywhere closer to where I am now had I made the choice to keep trying to figure things out on my own. 

So, if you’re ready to stop trying to figure things out all on your own, and make the most efficient progress towards the strong, sexy body of your dreams feel free to submit an application or reach out at amber@strongherproject.com to book a free consultation to chat about which StrongHer Project offer aligns best with your current goals!