Do You Need a Calorie Surplus to Build Muscle? | Dr. Eric Helms

Most lifters have been told they need to eat in a Calorie surplus to build muscle. That rule has always come with a list of exceptions: unless you're new, unless you're carrying extra body fat, unless you're coming back from time off. Dr. Eric Helms joins Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum to work out what the rule is actually tracking, starting from a question with a real number attached: what does a pound of muscle cost to build? And then, do you need to be in a surplus to build muscle?

Timestamps:

0:00 The rule, and its exceptions2:08 Where "you need a surplus" came from7:12 Heuristics versus theories11:40 Hypertrophy, maintenance, deficit and surplus defined14:58 Body fat as a savings account18:24 How fast anyone can actually build muscle23:39 What sets the ceiling: stimulus, not genetics26:37 Microgravity, astronauts, and a 20 kg barbell31:49 What constrains growth if steroids don't break the ceiling36:44 If training sets the ceiling, what does energy do38:45 What 1 kg of muscle costs to build44:05 Why 3,500 Calories doesn't tell you what to eat44:55 REDs and the dual intervention model47:51 The 2000s bulking studies51:34 Garthe 2013: elite athletes and a 500 Calorie surplus58:30 Protein: 1.6 versus 2.5 g/kg1:03:31 What starvation research shows the body protects1:10:29 Vargas-Molina: maintenance versus deficit1:19:17 What to do if you're lean1:39:34 What would prove this wrong1:57:57 Three buckets

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