I'm so confused....I watched this video by Greg docutte and does this mean I can gain weight without being in a caloric surplus ?

I get what he's saying, but he doesn't really make it clear what he recommends people actually should do.

He's basically saying you can't force-feed muscle growth, which is true. Eating a larger than necessary surplus is not gonna make you put on more muscle, it will just lead to extra fat gain (and water, glycogen, etc.). This study showed that one group of athletes eating 600 calories more (on average) than another group of athletes gained no more muscle, but way more fat than the other group.

He's also right in saying you don't need a calorie surplus to build muscle. You can certainly build muscle at maintenance, or even a deficit. This is because the body directs calories to muscle and fat independently, which you can read more about here. And this is not just for untrained skinny-fat beginners like most people say, although the degree to which it will happen depends on factors such as training age, biological age, body fat level, are you returning from a layoff, etc.

With all that being said, there certainly is an extra anabolic effect when you are in a caloric surplus, and being in a deficit is certainly not optimal due to its effect on muscle protein synthesis rates, hormone levels, etc.

To optimise muscle growth, a small surplus is probably required. No one knows what the size of that surplus is to maximise muscle growth while minimising unnecessary fat. But it will gradually decrease as you become more advanced.

/r/gainit Thread