Ep.49 Christopher Barakat: Body recomposition, building muscle and losing fat
Christopher Barakat is a competitive natural bodybuilder, coach, and researcher investigating training & nutrition intervention to optimize body composition outcomes. He started competing in 2011 as a teenager and this passion led him to pursue academic studies that would enhance his knowledge to be a better coach and athlete. He earned his bachelor's in Athletic Training and his master's in Exercise & Nutritional Sciences. He's been teaching at the University of Tampa since 2017 and continues to research in the human performance lab under Dr. Eduardo De Souza and colleagues.
Body Recomposition: Can Trained Individuals Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?
Christopher's Research Gate profile
In this episode we cover:
- Chris's background in bodybuilding and exercise science
- Chris's current research projects on repetition tempo and intra-set stretching
- What is body recomposition and how does it occur?
- Is it something that only occurs in untrained people or why does it happen more readily in that group?
- Why does muscle gain and fat loss get harder the closer someone gets to their genetic potential?
- What are the different ways of measuring muscle mass and body fat and what's the difference between them?
- The importance of standardizing someone's hydration, food and exercise before measuring body composition
- What definitions are used for "resistance trained" individuals in studies?
- The importance of looking at participant's starting strength to guage their level of training or training status
- What role does detraining and retraining play in the results of body composition studies?
- Why people shouldn't be too worried about losing muscle or strength during lockdown
- Chris's thoughts on the difference in the training of the average gym-user and the type of training he employs in his research
- The importance of tracking your training in a log book
- The interesting science around protein intake and its effects on fat mass
- Protein intake recommendations for body recomposition
- Why is body recomposition not observed in case studies of physique competitors?
- Do physique competitor's lose muscle during contest prep?
- What role does sleep play on body composition?
- Chris's key recommendations for evidence-based body recomposition