In a country where nearly half of the population suffers from excess adiposity, it is only reasonable that many of its citizens are interested in reversing this trend. Excess adiposity, or “fatness” as most of us know it, is a complex first world issue that has led many people towards voluntary physical activity, exercise, and training. The interplay between adiposity and strength training is one that is poorly understood in the mainstream culture.

In modern day weight rooms, “aesthetic goals” are almost always mentioned by most clients. Most often, this refers to a loss of bodyfat. Occasionally, a new gym member walks in with a desire to get as strong as possible, with no attention paid to physical appearance. Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule. Weight loss is a far more common reason for joining a gym, hiring a coach, and attempting to follow a lifting program. This is certainly a giant step in the right direction, away from sitting endlessly and snacking on cookies, chips, and other bottomless pits of poor food. However, many overfat people still do not comprehend the purpose behind lifting and incorrectly assume that it directly addresses the bodyfat component of their body composition.

Contrary to popular belief in the diet industry, loss of bodyfat is still a matter of arithmetic. Energy balance must be negative, meaning that total energy expended (i.e. calories burned) must exceed energy intake (i.e. calories consumed). This is accomplished largely through dietary manipulations in calorie intake, although increasing physical activity also provides a mild contribution.

Although all increases in activity contribute to a greater energy expenditure, strength training primarily alters body composition through an increase in muscle mass. In most people, muscle mass accounts for 60-80% of their body composition. Despite this reality, most of the general public ignores this reality and focuses on the 20-40% of their bodyweight comprised of fat mass. This is understandable if you have a strong fat guy who is an advanced lifter, but that is rarely the case.

In many instances, building muscle mass is completely ignored in favor of extreme calorie restriction, long-duration endurance exercise and/or training, and doing an endurance workout under load (i.e. short rest periods, high reps, high number of exercises, supersets, etc.). This is not a productive use of time – it often results in a weak skinny/fat phenotype post- weight loss, a rebound weight gain exceeding baseline bodyweight, and no meaningful net change in body composition. Fortunately, we have alternatives, but they are not easy.

Let’s first define the overfat lifter to make clear who this article is intended for. To review, body mass index (BMI) is a measure of bodyweight status based exclusively on height and weight. The BMI equation along with a table of categories is shown below. Body fat percentage is a measure of the ratio of fat to fat free mass and is assessed using various instruments, which are discussed in detail in my article, Body Composition for Barbell Training.

BMI Categories

BMI (Metric) = Weight (kg) / Height (m²)

BMI (Imperial) = Weight (lb) / Height (in²) x 703

Online calculator

Overfat is defined as having an untrained body mass index (BMI) over 30 kg/m² along with a bodyfat percentage over 30%. This is one situation where BMI can be incredibly useful. The guy with a body mass index of 22 kg/m² at 30% bodyfat is undermuscled. He needs to gain muscle mass and not worry about weight loss. Likewise, the guy in the overweight category is also under-muscled and his body composition is likely to improve with training, and minimal weight change. However, the untrained guy in the “obese” category has a high bodyfat percentage because he is, in fact, too fat. One day he will earn his badge of honor and be “obese” with a normal fat percentage, but if he is untrained he probably needs to lose fat.

Novice training for the overfat lifter is straightforward, and decent progress is possible as long as the lifter does some of the program most of the time. This means a novice can under-eat and still get stronger than he was at baseline. He won’t be a novice as long as the overfat novice who eats at a maintenance or surplus level, but he will still progress well. Unfortunately, post-novice lifters don’t have it quite so easy. I have encountered many post-novice lifters who have reached a point where the demand of their training is at odds with their desire to achieve a certain physical appearance. To train harder, the lifter must eat more calories, especially from carbohydrates.

In contrast, to reduce bodyfat the lifter must eat fewer calories, primarily from both fats and carbohydrates. Eating fewer calories will inevitably delay recovery or impair it entirely. The greater the restriction required to lose bodyfat, the less flexibility the lifter has in terms of lifestyle and the stranger his behavior will need to become to continue losing more bodyfat. He is going to piss you off in public more often than you would like. Give it enough time and he will grow out of it like the rest of us have.

A calorie restricted lifter cannot typically dine out often if he is unable to regulate the amount of food consumed either in the restaurant or throughout the day at home, especially the more metabolically efficient he is. Calorie restriction must be maintained for 7 consecutive days at a time to elicit fat loss. This is typically not unreasonable for the fat guy trying to go from obese to “chubby” or reasonably lean because his total calorie intake will still be reasonable.

The guy who is already at a normal bodyweight is an entirely different situation. This guy’s body is resisting fat loss as he tries to mobilize otherwise non-problematic fat stores. Training becomes difficult, energy levels drop, and hunger increases incrementally as fat stores deplete. This situation is entirely incompatible with heavy strength training and an impairment in performance is inevitable.

This is one reason why bodybuilders lift light weights for higher repetitions and at higher training volumes. The caloric demand from lifting light weights is often lower, contrary to what the exercise-addicted volume people say. Under-eat before a training day consisting of heavy fives and triples and see what happens. Better yet, step on the platform and attempt a new 1RM and see if it ends the same way as the last rep of a set of 12.

Now, we are in the business of getting people stronger and “physique” training is not what we do. However, some people legitimately need to lose bodyfat and since we know you are going to go on a “cut,” while trying to train for strength, let’s go over some ways to minimize the damage. This way you don’t get hurt and decide that the leg press and smith machine are safer or pursue the oxymoronic idea of “lean gains.” If you want “lean gains,” put on enough muscle mass so that everything except your abs are still visible at 20% bodyfat.

If the goal is purely to reduce the total amount of fat mass, calories must be restricted for 7 consecutive days at a time and a lifestyle disruption is almost inevitable. Follow the 7-day rule with tunnel vision so you can get this over with as quickly as possible. Since eating fewer calories to lose fat prevents you from training at high intensities, intensity must come down first since you lack the resources to push heavy weights.

Running Texas Method on “a cut” is a Very Bad Idea, and for the 2938493904830805th time: Don't Do It. It Won't Work. Since you are not going to run Texas Method or any other demanding strength program, you will need to train so you can stave off as much muscle and strength loss as possible. Intensity will decrease, which means volume will increase. This does not mean start a cycle of German Volume Training either. This simply means that a new 5-rep PR every week or every other week is not the focus.

You will still be doing your fives, and you just may be adding tempo or pauses to your main lifts, performing more assistance exercises, or other methods that make the lighter weight feel difficult while you are trying to lose bodyfat. The goal is to complete the reps and progress each workout, to the extent that they can be progressed, without throwing out your back, hips, or knees in the process. That may mean load increases slow down or happen less frequently. Multiple load resets may also occur throughout the process. The goal is to stay productive while you are under-eating to lose weight. Any progress made is a bonus here and sometimes we end up surprised. You are “artificially more advanced” due to the longer recovery time, until you start eating more calories again.

For better or worse, the desire to lose bodyfat has drawn more people into the gym than any other variable in the gym business. There are certainly many people that will benefit from substantial fat loss. Walking around at 40-50% bodyfat is not healthy and getting the excess bodyweight off should be a high priority. Trying to artificially stay at 7% bodyfat is also equally unhealthy for virtually everyone except for those who are naturally that lean. Walking around at 20% bodyfat with an “overweight” body mass index may not be a bad thing if you have gotten sufficiently strong in the process.

Remember, all weight standards were largely derived from poorly collected data sets that did not control for strength training status (or anything else that matters). In other words, a fat guy who trains is healthier, or less-unhealthy at worst, than a fat guy who doesn’t train. Getting stronger will also improve your physical presentation regardless of bodyweight. The 400lb guy who trains will look better than his untrained self, as will the 6’2” 185lb guy who thinks he needs to go on a cut. The difference is the 400lb guy will need to lose bodyweight, whereas the 185lb guy will need to address his psychology and gain weight for a period of time.

No matter the person, getting stronger will improve physical function, physical appearance, and a long list of other variables that will enhance your life. Staying weak, whether fat, skinny, or anything in between, does not end well. Stop doing it and get under the bar, get your nutrition in order, and begin the process. Your older and stronger self will thank you later.  

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