Obviously you need the proper nutrients to feed those hungry muscles, but not so much that you gain fat. In fact you’d probably like to be doing the opposite; losing fat. In the good old days, athletes would go on “bulking up” cycles, where they’d train hard and eat like they were at the training table in college; pretty much everything in sight. Then, when they needed to make weight or compete in a contest, they’d slim down. The problem with that strategy is that you can waste so much time trying to cut the fat that you shouldn’t really have built in the first place. Also, you can lose valuable muscle mass during the cutting up cycle.
Recent research has pointed to the effectiveness of mid to low reps and high weights to be the maximally effective solution for initiating long term metabolic increases. In previous posts I’ve mentioned that the standard way to measure metabolic increase caused by exercise is by looking at excess post exercise oxygen consumption abbreviated as EPOC. This is exactly what it sounds like, how much oxygen your body is using after you exercise, how much it rises after you’ve completed the exercise routine, and how long it stays elevated. Look at my previous post on weight training for fat loss.