Getting Fat

[Randy Scheingold]

Jordan,

I did 3 months of SS until gains ended, and have followed up with a 4 day split of TM. I’m starting to get a bit fat…so am looking for guidance on macros & conditioning. I have read To Be a Beast, but am not sure how to apply it to my situation.

Summary Stats:

39 year old male
5’6”
Former fatty (was 215lb and 32% BF 1 year ago)
Started SS in May at 175lb and 14% BF
Currently at 198 and 20% BF…(all BF done through calipers…by me….so may not be exact)

Lift progress over last 9 months (includes a few months before I started the program:
Squat 95x3x5 to 285x1
Press – 85x3x5 to 155x1
DL – 135x5 to 345x1
BP – 155x3x5 to 225x1

I’m not diligently counting anything buy Protein right now.

Goal: Get very strong, without become a total fatass…..don’t care about abs at all right now. But would like to stay below a 34in waist (currently at 35in)

Questions are:

1) Should I follow the recomp plan or the fat loss plan?...or something else?
2) I tend to like fatty foods and carbs tend to make me want to eat more...bloat me. Any tweaks I can apply given those factors?
3) Is it possible for a 39 year old man to make gains on TM….without eating a surplus….given that I am by no means skinny?
4) Would 3 rounds of HIIT a week be too much for me (either C2 or Road bike on resistance trainer) and start to kill my gains?

Thanks,
Randy

Note: If too much, let me know and I will PM you for a consult.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

What are your working set's weight and number of sets total on squat, bench, press, and deadlift? Also, who do you train with?

[Randy Scheingold]

These worksets are about 1 month old, as I did a reset after the SS Fall Class. I should be back to these and then past them in a few weeks.

Note: I know I ended LP with rather pathetic numbers, but I was having recovery trouble. I have progressed much better with my first cycle of TM (especially on Press). And I had some squat depth issues, that are now fully resolved.

Squat - 240x5x4
Press - 135x5x5
DL - 300x5
Bench 215x5x3 (note: I have not prioritized bench for about 3 months....also working on healing some AC Joint arthritis)

I work with Dave Abdemoulaie in Chicago. I get to him about once every 3 weeks or so.

thanks again

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

So Texas Method is a young man's program. It's really hard to fit in time wise and recovery demands are super high. I think the best way it would work for a person in your demographic is to do a split method, i.e. something like:

Day 1:
Bench 5x5
Optional: Press x 8 x 3

Day 2:
Squat x 5 x 5
Chins

Day 3: Off

Day 4:
Squat x 5
Bench or press x 5
Deadlift x 5

Or:

Day 1:
Bench x 5 x 5
Press x 8 x 3


Day 2:
Squat x 5 x 5


Day 3:
Bench x 5
Chins

Day 4:
Squat x 5
Deadlift x 5

Also, I think you need to start with the recomp macros and see how they work for you, then titrate down as needed to get your body comp where you want it. I'd only condition 1x/wk at first with the possibility of adding a 2nd session later on.

[Nate7out]

Just wanted to add a data point for Randy. I am 37, similar height and weight, married, small child, etc. I am doing the TBAB recomp macros. I am following a 3x week HLM template. I also prefer fats to carbs similar to your point #2, but have adjusted my life to eat more carbs and less fat. You really have to be careful where you get your protein from; it is very easy to go over on fat if you are used to a lot of cheap fatty beef and pork cuts, even eggs add up the fat quickly. Also, after counting macros I realize I must have been getting a ton of calories from fat, I was never shy with nuts, bacon, butter or coconut oil previously. I have been doing this about 4 weeks and have lost 5 lb and my lifts are still progressing. I also had one really bad weekend that set me back a bit.

[zinedine kilbane]

Hey Jordan if you had someone doing this but they had a tight schedule one week and had to miss a session what would your plan be? I'm thinking merge the intensity days so you can keep the volume for the week?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Hey Jordan if you had someone doing this but they had a tight schedule one week and had to miss a session what would your plan be? I'm thinking merge the intensity days so you can keep the volume for the week?

Yea that's pretty much what I would do.

[ithryn]

I am following a 3x week HLM template. I also prefer fats to carbs similar to your point #2, but have adjusted my life to eat more carbs and less fat. You really have to be careful where you get your protein from; it is very easy to go over on fat if you are used to a lot of cheap fatty beef and pork cuts, even eggs add up the fat quickly. Also, after counting macros I realize I must have been getting a ton of calories from fat, I was never shy with nuts, bacon, butter or coconut oil previously.

Seconded this. Once I started tracking macros I realized I was eating a shit ton of fat. I've come from years of carb shaming, carbs are bad, avoid bread/potatoes/rice when you wanna eat right, etc etc. My normal diet would include a lot of beef, pork, nuts, eggs, etc. Embrace the carbs dude, especially if as you say you're having trouble recovering. My theory is a high fat diet will certainly put you in a caloric surplus (which is good for our purposes) but without giving you enough carbs to fuel / recover from your workouts (bad) and without giving you enough protein to properly fuel MPS (obv also bad). Basically a ticket to fat and weak.

I still eat a LOT of beef, pork, nuts, and eggs, of course, but I temper it with a higher proportion of lean protein like egg whites, chicken breast, and whey, and lots of filling carbs like rice, brown rice, veggies, fruit, etc. If it fits my macros.