Leangains people, any advice?

[Bronan the Barbarian]

Martin says more carbs and a caloric surplus on training days, fewer carbs, more fat, and a caloric deficit on rest days. How should I structure my macros and caloric intake if I am training 5-6 days per week? I am 6'1'', 206, around 15% bf. My goal aside from maintenance is perhaps a slight recomp--lose a couple more percentage points of fat, gain a bit of muscle. Here's my program in short:

M: barbells
T: bodyweight stuff and running (intervals or a couple of miles)
W: barbells
Th: bodyweight stuff and running (intervals or a couple of miles)
F: barbells
S: rest or bodyweight stuff and running depending on how I feel
Sun: rest

[Mr.City]

You could always run it the same, and just go high fat on the bodyweight days. I mean, how much recovery do bodyweight exercises require?

[Carlos Daniel]

You shouldn't train 6 times per week on leangains, probably.

[Mr.City]

Yeah, what is the reason behind that programming?

[Bronan the Barbarian]

You could always run it the same, and just go high fat on the bodyweight days. I mean, how much recovery do bodyweight exercises require?

One of my goals for the last few weeks has been to gradually work bodyweight stuff and short conditioning into my baseline of activity so that they don't really draw on recovery ability too much. My thinking is that if people can work landscaping, construction, or do judo, bjj, etc. and still lift barbells a few times per week, then I can do a little running and some chins on non-barbell days. It seems to be working. After a few weeks of this, I'm not sore at all the day after, say, a 2-mile run and 50 or more chins. That was not the case when I first started experimenting with this idea.

[Subsistence]

That programming is completely at odds with leangains. Cut out all this running and bodyweight stuff. If you haven't finished off Starting Strength yet then do that for programming (Martin recommends it too). If you have finished your LP (at your current caloric intake at least) then switch to RPT training. He has a big article on his blog about it. Read it so you know what I am talking about. Sample RPT program (cut and pasted from a previous post of mine):

Mon
Deadlifts RPT 2x3-5
Weighted Chins* RPT 3x4-6
Pendlay Rows** 3x5

Wed***
Bench Press RPT 3x4-6
Overhead Press RPT 2x4-6
Weighted Dips*,** 3x5

Fri
Squats RPT 3x4-6
Calves****
Abs****

*For weighted chins and dips if you can't do weighted yet just to body weight and switch over when ready
**Notice dips and rows are not RPT, these are just 3x5 sets across like in Starting Strength, and you increase the weight when you get all the reps just like in SS. Doing everything RPT can be too draining.
***If you really wanted you could alternate between doing the press and the bench press first, to keep the focus on each of them equal like in SS
****Throw in some calves or abs if you want here. Keep the work intense (for instance, do 3x6-8 heavy cable crunches for abs, not 200 variations of body weight crunches). Martin doesn't directly train abs, but others like Lyle McDonald recommend it for hypertrophy and it really can't hurt.

[Bronan the Barbarian]

You shouldn't train 6 times per week on leangains, probably.

There's a thought.

[Carlos Daniel]

I'd try it just with the regular lifting stuff, and seeing how you do. It was my experience that the fat loss is quite satisfactory on leangains. If stuff is going well, you can either not try to fix what isn't broken, or slowly add the bodyweight stuff and HIIT.

[Subsistence]

I'd try it just with the regular lifting stuff, and seeing how you do. It was my experience that the fat loss is quite satisfactory on leangains. If stuff is going well, you can either not try to fix what isn't broken, or slowly add the bodyweight stuff and HIIT.

I think adding in HIIT is a sure way to fuck yourself on fat loss. ESPECIALLY if things are already not going well. Martin has written before that a caloric deficit is a recovery deficit, as we all know. So if you fuck around with HIIT and the like then you are likely to find yourself under-recovered for your resistance training. Recovery becomes a very serious issue when in a deficit and maintaining intensity in the weight room is key to muscle retention. If fat loss isn't happening then eat a little less and if you lose cardio walk a little more. HIIT is great for conditioning, but less so for fat loss. I'd save it for a time where you are not focusing on your body composition.

[Bronan the Barbarian]

Yeah, what is the reason behind that programming?

Military. Trying to achieve excellence on the Marine Corps PFT while also pursuing my own desire to be a beast with the barbell. So, trying to have it all haha. Also, I am currently fascinated by the idea of gradually ratcheting up one's total work capacity a la the Bulgarians, Broz, and Jamie Lewis's wild ravings on Chaos and Pain.