Recomposition: Holding Muscle While Losing Fat

Recomposition means reducing fat while maintaining or gaining lean mass, which is physiologically awkward because the energy deficit that drives one works against the other. The compounds used here are generally those with a favourable ratio of anabolic to androgenic activity, plus agents that protect lean tissue during a deficit.

Non-aromatising compounds feature heavily, because water retention obscures the visual result even when the underlying composition is improving. That is an aesthetic consideration driving compound selection rather than a purely physiological one, and it is worth being clear about which is which.

The GH axis contributes differently here than in bulking: its documented effect on visceral fat and connective tissue makes it more relevant to recomposition than its modest effect on lean mass alone would suggest.

What to weigh up

Stocked for this goal

Go deeper

This page covers what serves the goal. For what each compound actually is - class, mechanism, half-life and storage - see the reference library.