Bodyfat reduction is diet. Not training.
I'm a 5'8", 214lb. 37yo male with a 42" waist circumference and while I value strength more than physique I'd like to improve my overall health by decreasing my body fat % as I near the end of the novice LP. I know BMI numbers have limitations but mine is at 32 and I also have high blood pressure so I'm hoping to improve that as well. I'm about two months into novice LP (after a covid layoff) so still have a way to go but I want to get some input on what to do next. I've run TM before focusing strictly on strength but I would like to incorporate some hypertrophy into the intermediate phase. Are there any other programs, or modifications to TM, I can use to to improve physique while still making progress on the main lifts?
Bodyfat reduction is diet. Not training.
Is it possible to lower body fat ratio by increasing muscle mass? I know nothing about adding hypertrophy work into a strength program but is there is a way to do it, particularly with barbells, without it being detrimental to strength gains? I'm not really interested in cutting and losing weight, or bodybuilding, but simply adding some size to offset some body fat.
This is what happens with training, yes. If you've added too much fat during your LP, then you've been overeating and/or your weights are way lower than they should be. Diet changes clean up the former. If you've added muscle like you should have during LP, then small changes in diet should clean you up real fast - one of the benefits of being male. For the latter no one can say much since you haven't given your lifts, so we have no idea what is going on with your training.
This is what the internet has done for us/to us. It's taught us that hypertrophy (accomplished by volume with light weights) is somehow decoupled from getting stronger. Here is the primary thing you have to understand: If you drive your squat and deadlift from 185/225 using sets of 5 up to 405/495 for sets of 5, your muscles grew. They hypertrophied -- that's how they get stronger. Your now a bigger stronger man. And all you had to do was add 5 pounds to your squat and deadlift every time you trained for a few months.
Do you have the balls to stop looking for an easier way? Because that's what you're doing.
6-9 months.