27/02/2026
Flex Friday.
With a difference….
I have been as guilty as many who just share the “shredded” pictures.
I always practice what I try and preach and for me my goal over the last 12 years was to grow as much muscle as I could.
This requires some pushing out, getting soft, accruing body fat, not walking around at 5% body fat.
Whatever you call it. You get the point.
In my mind you don’t grow if you keep panicking and hitting the cut button when you get a little “soft” on the edges.
Pretty much every growth period I have undergone required me to push calories up and condition out.
You get stronger and remain in a surplus for a good period of time, personally I have spent 2 years just growing at points and most recently was 46 weeks.
Your rate of gain yes should be controlled.
I’m not saying you just get soft for the sake of it or as quickly as you can.
It’s a fight.
A fight to control nutrient partitioning, keeping things like cardio in, yes enjoying social times but never a need for massive overfeeding of calories at any point.
Especially dietary fats when in a surplus.
Not that dietary fats alone put you in a surplus, just that they are more easily stored as fat in a surplus.
Protein for me should be consistent year round.
Most won’t need to change the level save for if you ever went near true 8% body fat - then you maybe want a little more than normal to help protect muscle - all things considered.
Not everyone needs to follow this path I am showing. I lose body fat quite easily.
It’s a gift. But also a curse.
It takes me a TONNE of food to grow and time with that.
This approach has taken me from 147 pounds at my lightest in my journey to 240 pounds in full improvement season.
From there sitting at around 210 brings very good condition / size balance.
If I want to go deeper say compete I need to get closer to 190 pounds.
I hope this helps give some insight.
