Coach HubDecisions in a build
Coaching a build looks like coaching a cut, with the same client, tools and check-ins, but the decisions are different. In a cut, the default lever is food down. In a build, the lead variable is training quality. Pulling a cut lever in a build phase is the most common phase-change mistake new coaches make.
The reverse: bring food back up promptly
Module 3 covers the setup. The decision rules:
- Add about 100–200 kcal per check-in, mostly carbs. Use the lower end for leaner or more anxious clients, and the higher end when recovery and adherence are strong.
- Don't go too slowly. Adding 50 kcal a check-in over three months keeps the body sitting in a suppressed, underfed state. Recovery really starts once they're back at maintenance, so get them there.
- Hold cardio at cut levels for the first couple of increases, then ease it back. Don't strip cardio and add food in the same week.
- Keep the meal structure. The target goes up. It's not a free-for-all.
- Stop when weight stabilises for 1–2 weeks at the new level, or starts a slow, controlled climb.
The build: slow, and led by the gym
Aim for roughly 0.25–0.5% of bodyweight a week (about 200–400 g for an 80 kg client, slower for advanced lifters, Module 3). Faster than that adds fat at a worse ratio and means a longer cut afterwards.
The bar is the lifts, not the scale. If lifts are climbing every week, the build is working, even if the scale barely moves.
The six build scenarios
| Scale | Gym | Look | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up, in range | Up | Lean | Hold. Don't fix what's working. |
| Up | Stalled | — | Don't add food. Fix the training: effort, form videos, program. More food on a stalled gym is just fat. |
| Up too fast (500 g+ a week) | — | Softening | Trim the surplus by 100–200 kcal or add light movement. One, not both. |
| Up, in range | Up | Softer than they want | Small trim or a little light movement |
| Stable | Up | — | Good outcome, basically a recomp. Hold, or +200 kcal if they want the scale to move. |
| Stable | Stalled | — | +200 kcal, mostly carbs, then watch 1–2 weeks |
The most common mistake is the second row: adding calories because the scale is up, when the fix is in the gym.
Movement in a build
Steps drop but don't disappear. They're a lifelong habit, not just a deficit lever. Structured cardio usually drops to none or one session. It comes back when the build is overshooting, or in the last 2–3 weeks before a planned cut, so the cut starts from a higher activity baseline instead of a sudden jump.
Keep them in it
The build is where clients get nervous: the scale's going up and they feel soft. Predict it, use fuel and performance language rather than scale language, and give them a scorecard that isn't the scale (Module 3).