You can make specific areas of your body more toned and defined, as opposed to big and bulky, by lifting a light weight for high reps. Want your shoulders to be sculpted like scalloped seashells? Pick up a pastel-colored plastic-coated dumbbell and do front shoulder raises until you’re accused of being a member of the Schutzstaffel. Make your muscles burn so hard chlamydia seems like child’s play.

Do this for every major muscle group and you’ll look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club in no time…

or so the story goes.

Unfortunately, if lifting a light weight for high reps was an effective way to increase tone and definition, then childcare workers would have amazing bodies.

Because they’re constantly lifting babies. And bottles of wine. Light weights, you know? The last time I checked, childcare workers don’t have shrink-wrapped stomachs. Unless being toned and defined is like time travel, where going forward fast takes you backward in time? Maybe childcare workers are soft and squishy because they’re too toned and defined?

You’re welcome to test this theory out.

Until someone from the future tells me otherwise, I say lifting a light weight for high reps is dumber than daytime television. It won’t make you “tighter” or “firmer.” It won’t make you more toned and defined.

The best way to become more toned and defined is to —

Stop training for tone and definition.

Slap someone’s arm on a table and saw their biceps in half. You’ll see a big bone surrounded by muscle mass (steak) surrounded by body fat (mashed potatoes) surrounded by skin (plastic wrap). Your body composition is primarily a byproduct of these four variables. And so, to change your body composition, you have to modify the condition of at least one of them.

Obviously, you don’t wanna mess with your bone or your skin. The secret to building a hard body isn’t developing early-onset osteoporosis or skinning yourself alive. The two remaining variables are muscle mass (steak) and body fat (mashed potatoes), and here’s where things get trickier than rocking a rhyme.

You can’t tone or define either of these attributes.

Muscles can either grow and get bigger, or they can shrink and get smaller. Nothing will make your muscles grow more toned and defined as opposed to less toned and defined. (Not even sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.) In other words, you can’t tenderize your meat; beating your meat a certain way won’t make it firmer. There are bigger muscles. There are smaller muscles. There are no lean, toned, or defined muscles.

Same goes for body fat. You can either accumulate more body fat and get squishier, or you can dissolve the body fat you have and get harder. That’s all you can do. There isn’t a special kind of fat that will make you appear more or less toned and defined.

This begs the question:

If muscle mass and body fat can’t be toned or defined, how does one become toned and defined?

Appearing toned and defined is like Golden Corral’s business model. Quantity matters more than quality. You need a large-ish amount of muscle and a small-ish amount of body fat. If you’re missing the mark in either direction your chances of looking toned and defined will sink faster than Squints (if you don’t appreciate references to The Sandlot we can’t be friends).

Look at super-skinny runway models. They don’t have much body fat, which is good for tone and definition. Body fat is mushy, like mashed potatoes. If you lather a steak with mashed potatoes, you won’t be able to see the steak’s striations. Unfortunately, super-skinny runway models don’t have much muscle mass; they don’t have steaks. They have a few tissue-thin slices of salami stuck to their bones. There are no striations to see, so they look like conscious coat hangers. They’d look more toned and defined if they gained muscle.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are heavyweight powerlifters and off-season bodybuilders. (The legendary Doug Hepburn comes to mind.) They have a bunch of muscle mass, which is good for tone and definition. Big steaks are dense and detailed.

Unfortunately, heavyweight powerlifters and off-season bodybuilders also have a bunch of body fat; their muscles are covered in mountains of mashed potatoes. This suffocates the subtleties of the steak, so they look like swollen sausages. They’d look more toned and defined if they lost body fat.

Between both extremes exists toned and defined bodies, like that of Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Muscles are big enough to display detail and body fat levels are low enough to put the details on display.

Appearing toned and defined is a game of quantity more than quality: You need a big (enough) muscle and a low (enough) body fat percentage.

If you aren’t as toned and defined as you like to be, you have two options: lose fat or build muscle. Odds say you need to do both. For whatever reason, skinny-fat guys tend to overestimate how much muscle they have and underestimate how much fat they have. (I have something known as “personal experience” with this delusion.)

Of course, I could be wrong.

You might already have sizable steaks, which means you should focus more on fat loss. Or you might already have minimal mashed taters, which means you should focus on more muscle growth.

I don’t know.

But I do know this:

There are dead wasps inside of figs.

I also know this:

Training for tone and definition won’t help you lose fat or build muscle.

When knuckleheads actively train for tone and definition, they usually lift a light weight for high reps and try to make their muscles burn. In order for this kind of training to have an impact on tone and definition, it has to either (a) contribute to fat loss or contribute to muscle growth.

It does neither.

MUSCLE GROWTH?

I don’t care what the lady wearing yoga pants told you, lifting a light weight won’t trigger muscle growth no matter how many reps you do for the same reason tickling your skin with a feather won’t create a callus. The stress isn’t large enough to warrant adaptation.

Let’s just say if you’re moving a muscle through a rather large range of motion under a resistance 30 reps, then… How heavy? Good romantic, quant nerds upset, but sticky than springy…

To trigger muscle growth, you need to put down your sister’s plastic-coated dumbbells and lift heavier things. The resistance you’re opposing should make you more “sticky” than “springy.”

FAT LOSS?

Muscle burn is a byproduct of the lactic-anaerobic energy system, which uses glycogen within working muscle(s) to replenish energy. Glycogen is stored carbohydrates, not stored fat. In other words, when you feel the burn, you aren’t burning fat.

Don’t confuse sensations with outcomes. You’ll also feel the burn if you eat the grass-green jalapenos authentic Mexican restaurants put on their nachos. Doesn’t mean you’re losing fat (unless the discomfort makes you squirm around enough to inadvertently raise your metabolism through increased non-exercise activity thermogenesis — did I just invent a new diet!?).

To lose fat, you need to create an energy deficit, which is most reliably driven by diet, not the muscle-burn sensation.

And so, lifting a light weight for high reps is less effective than Goldeen in Super Smash Bros. 

The idea of training for tone and definition is downside up and outside in. You can’t train for tone and definition because you can’t spot reduce body fat. Increasing the size of a muscle and decreasing the amount of fat surrounding the same muscle (to a significant degree) with one single exercise of training technique is impossible.

Becoming (more) toned and defined has been and always will be a two-part process. You have to grow your muscles with “sticky” resistance training. You have to decrease your body fat levels with an energy deficit. If you aren’t doing either of these things, then you aren’t gonna be tightening or firming or toning or defining much of anything (except your hatred for your body).

This is a collection of UNO variants.

---

PRE

UNO is a basic barbell program for beginners designed to build strength and technical wherewithal within exercises that were hand-selected for a certain kind of physical development. Even though I don’t recommend altering the program (especially without reason), changes can be made without ruining its foundation.

UNO  ❉

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

UNO 2

For those who want a little less lower-body stimulation.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

This variant alternates between back squats and Romanian deadlifts, hitting the lower body hard only once per day. This is a decent variant if you do a lot of lower-body work outside of the gym and you want to keep your legs a little bit fresher. Keep in mind, this variant affects how you would approach DOS.

UNO 3

For those who can already do plenty of pull-ups.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Weighted pull-ups (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

This variant includes weighted pull-ups (or chin-ups) instead of bridge rows. Bridge rows are in the founding program as a means to build strength for pull-ups. Weighted pull-ups (or chin-ups) are the goal, but not many beginners can do multiple sets for reps, let alone weighted reps for sets. This is a good variant if you’re already a calisthenics king and have good relative strength coming into the program. Start weighted pull-ups without weight and add 2.5 pounds every session they’re trained.

UNO 4

For those who want to sacrifice some strength for size.

Friday’s Session

On the session before your two-day break, take the last set of your squat, upper-body press, and upper-body pull to one rep shy of failure.

This variant addresses one of the missing links for hypertrophy: effort. Taking one set to failure once per week will encourage more muscle growth. Keep in mind, this will have ripple effects. You will accumulate fatigue and stall earlier than you otherwise would. 

UNO 5

For those who want to sacrifice some strength for size with a little variety.

Friday’s Session

On the session before your two-day break, do one “recovery-friendly” exercise for every body part you want to grow. Do only one set to failure, aiming for 10-20 reps in the set.

Example exercises

Biceps: Barbell curls
Triceps: Overhead triceps extensions
Shoulders: Lateral raises
Legs: Bulgarian split squats
Hamstrings: Nordic curls

This variant addresses one of the missing links for hypertrophy: effort. Taking one set to failure once per week will encourage more muscle growth. The idea with this variant is to select an exercise that is easier to recover from. For instance, Bulgarian split squats are easier on the lower back and so doing one set of them will hit your legs hard but “spare” stress elsewhere. 

 

Zone progression.

if you don’t have fractional plates, you can scale reps within a zone. the biceps curl is the only exercise needing fractional plates (for now). instead of (3×8), do (3×8-10). start with the low end of the zone, which is (3×8). from here, add one rep to each set every training session. once you reach the top end of the zone, add five pounds and repeat the progression

• (3×8)
• (1×9, 2×8)
• (2×9, 1×8)
• (3×9)
• (1×10, 2×9)
• (2×10, 1×9)
• (3×10)
• (3×8) ADD 5 POUNDS

This is my training and nutrition journal. My training is based around CAKE EATER. My diet is based around TWO MEAL MUSCLE.

Tuesday June 20, 2023

Monday June 19, 2023

3Ds

Hyperhip stretch
90/90 battery
Jefferson curls
Seated good mornings
Step-ups
KOT lunge
Pigeon DL

BSQ 2×3@185
RDL 2×8@155
PISTOL 2×2@10
SI RDL 2×5@10
NGHR 1×20
NKEXT 1×20
HIP FLEXION 1×10
HIP EXTENSION 1×10

Lunch @ 1200 = restaurant salad (with unknown dressing); sardines, egg yolks, sauerkraut, and ground beef with mustard and hot sauce; Greek yogurt with banana

Snack @ 1530 = beef liver with honey cappings

Dinner @ 2100 = salad, cottage cheese, ground beef, egg yolks; Cuban sandwich, lunch-meat sandwich; banana and peanut butter with milk

–

First day back from a week-long family vacation. When I go on vacation, I go on vacation. Drank a decent amount of beer every day. I don’t get sloppy drunk. I don’t wake up with hangovers. Had no care for what I ate. Plenty of nachos and pizza slices are within me as I write this. No exercise on vacation, either. So I am a bit sloppy right now. Not mad about it. Just stating the situation.

Even though I took a week off, I am not fresh. Beach vacations zap me. Joints don’t feel right. Body probably inflamed from all the alcohol and processed foods. I don’t dive into training where I left off. I take a week or two to build back up. This saves me some soreness.

Wasn’t able to reach the weights I wanted today because my left knee was acting up. Hasn’t acted up in months, which sucks, but I know this pain: I went too hard on the 90/90 battery. My knee was doing things my hip was supposed to be doing. Should be fine in a week or two.

Softball today, hence the late dinner. Ate some vacation leftovers (sandwiches). Otherwise, decent. My liver needed a break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday June 9, 2023

Thursday June 8, 2023

Preparing for vacation in a few days. Not really stocking the fridge, so I’ve been eating a lot of beef that’s been overstaying its welcome in my freezer.

Phase 1

3-Ds

Super hip stretch
90/90
J curls
Seated GM
Step-ups & downs
KOT lunge
Pigeon DL

Phase 2

BSQ 1×5@235, 1×7@235
RDL 1×6@215, 1×15@215
PISTOL 3×3@10
SI RDL 3×5@10
NGHR 1×20
NKEXT 1×20

Food

Lunch: ground beef, sardines and sauerkraut with mustard and Tobascco; liver with cayenne and raw honey cappings; Greek yogurt with banana

Dinner: cabbage, avocado, cottage cheese; chicken breast, apple sauce, honey, 1/2 sweet potato, bacon, raw cheddar; cheesy potatoes

Snack: oatmeal, banana, peanut butter; Greek yogurt with honey

Started doing the Jefferson curls on cinderblocks for more elevation, really looking to expand my range of motion. Right now, after I get loose, I can get the bar to my toes. Looking to go further. Holding the bottom position for 10-20 seconds on the final rep.

Did low-bar squats today for the first time in a while. Felt okay. I stopped doing them moons ago because they gave me gnarly elbow tendonitis. Not sure if I’m going to go low-bar from here on out, but I’m throwing the idea around. I always like the idea of doing low-bar back squats and front squats. Seems like a good combo.

Overextended on the food. Nothing crazy, just trying to keep myself in the fat-loss mindset. Sort of broke today. Walked past some cheesy potatoes after dinner and chowed down (they looked at me the wrong way). Snack at night, who knows why. The yogurt and honey were my son’s bedtime snack he didn’t finish, so I gladly did.

Wednesday June 7, 2023

Another somewhat sad showing by me. Today was supposed to be a misfit/cardio day. Skipped some lower-leg work. Didn’t do cardio.

Phase 1

3-Ds

Font spine (1 set)
Rear spine (1 set)
Side spine (1 set)

Phase 2

Tib-bar hip flexion 2×10@10
Tib-bar ankle flexion 2×15@12.5

Food

Lunch: ground beef, sardines and sauerkraut with mustard and Tobascco; liver with cayenne and raw honey cappings; Greek yogurt with banana and applesauce

Dinner: cabbage, eggplant, and egg yolk with cottage cheese; ground beef and honey, mushrooms and cheese; banana, peanut butter, milk

 

I usually drink raw milk. Farm delivers to an area nearby once per week. I had a gallon in the fridge for a while. Only about 1/2 cup left in the gallon, but it sat there for a few days. Stamp said it expires on the 10th. Tasted like metal. Didn’t smell sour. Looks like my gut microbiome is gonna have a few new bacteria buddies to play with.

Tuesday June 6, 2023

Planned on doubling up, doing yesterday’s training with today’s training. Lower back didn’t cooperate. Could barely do one squat with 225 pounds, likely because of the side-spine work I did yesterday. Didn’t do much, but it was enough to make a dent. Was supposed to do two sets of squats at 235. First set, five reps. Second set, failure.

Phase 1

3-Ds

Super hip stretch
90/90
J curls
Seated GM
Step-ups & downs
KOT lunge
Pigeon DL

T-spine stretch
External rotation
Kelly snatch

Phase 2

BSQ 1@225

OA CHINS
CHINS 1×10@12
RING PUSH-UPS 2×6@5, 1×10*@5
BW ROW COMPLEX*
BW PUSH COMPLEX*

Food

Lunch: burger, sardines and sauerkraut with mustard and Tobascco; liver with cayenne and raw honey cappings; Greek yogurt with banana

Dinner: cabbage, zuchinni, burger, avocado, cottage cheese; eggs with cheese; bacon, burger, cornbread (pictured, but not eaten); Greek yogurt, granola, honey

 

I drink flavored Liquid Death after dinner sometimes. Only 20 calories and can prevent me from eating something I shouldn’t.

Monday June 5, 2023

Body is beat. Had softball Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Tweaked my groin. Nothing serious. Arm is dead, thanks to throwing. Again, nothing serious, but a nuisance. Did my warmup and couldn’t drag myself to lift.

Phase 1

3-Ds

90/90
Side spine

Phase 2

Nada

Food

Lunch: egg yolk, sardines and sauerkraut with Tobascco; liver with cayenne and raw honey cappings; chicken breast with mustard; Greek yogurt with raisins (ran out of bananas)

Dinner: eggplant, onions, and broccoli; chicken breast with bbq sauce, jalapenos, raw honey, cranberry walnut bread; (kids’ uneaten:) corn, ground beef, broccoli; ice cream

Weekend June 2-3-4, 2023

Weekend was subpar. Had five beers on Friday (combo of Modelo Oro and Coors Banquet). Softball team hung out on the field after the game. Don’t usually stick around. Made an exception this week. Saturday I played Smash Bros. with my old high school friends. We haven’t gotten together in years. More beers, skewed toward craft and IPAs. Sunday, also more beers. Wasn’t perfect taking pictures of my food, but I snapped some.

Was able to train Friday, but my Friday training schedule is messy. It’s a lower-body day. Doesn’t really have a direction yet. Do I push front squats? Do I attack Zercher deadlifts? I don’t know. Need to spend some time with my program on paper. Trained Saturday, but I only had 15 minutes. Did one set of weighted push-ups, barbell rows, guillotine presses, and murder rows to failure. This day could also use a tiny bit more direction.

 

DOS is the sequel to UNO, a minimalist barbell-based training program for beginners who want to get stronger and increase their muscle-building potential.

PRE

UNO is easy. You add weight to every exercise rather predictably. And since you start light, the first month or two doesn’t involve ball-busting labor. You’ll have to fight the urge to do more. Eventually, the weights will get heavy. And if you extrapolate the program ad infintium, you’ll eventually fail to complete the scheduled number of sets and reps with a certain weight. This is known as stalling.

I recommend transitioning to DOS before you sniff the stall. Defining a precise moment to make the move isn’t an exact science.  On one hand, if your UNO sessions feel easy, then you’re too early. On the other hand, if you’ve slammed headfirst into the stall, then you’re too late. Somewhere in the middle is a good time to think about DOS, when the reps become more sticky than springy.

Keep in mind, transitioning to DOS should happen lift by lift. Transition individual exercises to DOS when they start to feel more sticky than springy. For instance, your presses might be at the UNO level, whereas your deadlifts might be at the DOS level.

There’s no need to adopt 

If your squats feel easy, they should stay at UNO, 

1. The program

DOS has more variability than UNO. The look DOS ultimately takes depends on your specific situation. My vanilla DOS program looks like this:

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bodyweight row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Whip clean (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

2. The precedents

Every exercise in UNO was built atop a progression precedent.

• Squat, deadlift
  • +15 pounds every week
• Incline, overhead, barbell row
  • +15 every two weeks
• Bridge row
  • +15 every four weeks

DOS makes the program more palatable by decreasing these progression precedents (without uprooting the program’s foundation), giving the body more time to recover and adapt. There are two ways to accomplish this

First, add less weight to the bar. 

Instead of adding the weight defined by UNO, add less. This is where fractional plates come in handy. You might scoff at adding less than five pounds to the bar. A long-term outlook helps put things into perspective. Doing an exercise with two additional pounds every week means adding 500 pounds to a lift in 5 years.

Even though decreasing the weight jumps is a useful tool, there will come a time when every session feels heavy. And handling heavy weights every session will wear you down. This is where complementary exercises shine.

Second, add complementary exercises.

Complementary exercises are similar yet ever-so-slightly different from the exercises in UNO. They’re usually lighter on the body as a whole, although they may tax certain structures and muscles more than the initial UNO exercises.

Complementary exercises are approached identically to the initial UNO exercise: Find a starting weight and add weight every session in a slow incremental fashion. Adding them into the rotation unlocks more time for recovery and adaptation because an exercise’s progression pace is tied to its session frequency within the confines of this program.

3. The deadlifts

Doing heavy squats and heavy deadlifts three times per week is overkill once you start handling heavier weights. Alternating between deadlifts and a complementary exercise will help your body recover.

3a. Add whip cleans

Whip cleans are a perfect complement to conventional deadlifts. You’ll always be able to conventional deadlift more than you can whip clean, which means power cleans are an inherently “lighter” exercise. During whip cleans, you need to pull the bar higher and faster. This helps you build more power than you otherwise would. This power can benefit the conventional deadlift.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

You can add 5 pounds to whip cleans per session initially, but because of the speed component, you might be forced to switch to a lower rate of progress sooner rather than later. Conventional deadlifts have a high adaptation threshold and can stay at {+5} for now.

4. The squats

Giving the deadlift a complementary exercise will automatically help you recover from back squats because there’s a lot of crossover between conventional deadlifts and back squats. Eventually, however, back squats will benefit from their own complementary exercise.

4a. Front squats

Front squats are an obvious complement to back squats. For biomechanical reasons, you’ll always be able back squat more than you can front squat, so you’ll always handle lighter loads. Granted, front squats shift more stress to the quads and the thoracic spine, so expect some soreness in different places.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

You can add 5 pounds to front squats. Back squats have a high adaptation threshold and can stay at {+5} for now.

5. The presses.

Both presses in the UNO program already complement each other, which is why, for DOS, I prefer decreasing their rate of progression. Instead of adding 5 pounds to the bar, only add 1-2 pounds to the bar.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

5a. Parallel-bar dips.

P-Bar dips are a good complement to the incline press and the overhead press. FOR LOWER CHEST.

If you can do more than 10 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can

If you can currently do more than 5 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can begin to load them. The standard (3×5) works well, as does adding 2.5 pounds per session.

6. The pulls

In an ideal world, you would have done weighted chin-ups from day one in the UNO program. The pull-up is the king upper-body exercise for an x-physique. Alas, I realize not many beginners can do unweighted chin-ups, let alone weighted chin-ups. And so, the program starts with the bridge row to build strength in a way that would transition to chin-ups. Where go from here depends on your abilities.

6a. Barbell rows

Much like the presses, simply adjust

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+1-2}

6b. Weighted chin-ups

If you can do (3×6) sets of chin-ups or pull-ups, you can begin doing weighted pull-ups instead of bridge rows.

Session 1

D) Weighted chin-ups (3×6){+1}

Session 2

D) Barbell row (3×6){+1-2}

6c. Bodyweight rows

If you can’t yet do weighted chin-ups, you should transition bridge rows into bodyweight rows.

6d. Feet-elevated chin-ups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6b. Inverted row

6c. Bench pull

bench pulls are also a great back exercise. unfortunately, most gyms don’t have proper equipment for them. if you can do bench pulls, you should consider doing them. the standard (3×5) works, as does adding 5 pounds per session (initially).

6d. ALTERED CHIN-UPS (FEET ON BOX)

 

 

 

 

 

 

3b. Snatch-grip deadlifts

Snatch-grip deadlifts are another noteworthy complement. You’ll always be able to conventional deadlift more than you can power clean, which means snatch-grip deadlifts are a “lighter” exercise. The wider grip puts more stress on your upper back, which is good if you want to build an x-physique. It also forces a lower hip position, so your glutes and hamstrings work through a larger range of motion.

Because of the wide grip, you will need to use weightlifting straps. (3×5) works, as does adding 5 pounds per session.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Snatch-grip deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

 

3b. Romanian deadlifts

Romanian deadlifts are another noteworthy complement. They’re a more joint-friendly exercise. They strengthen the glutes and the hamstrings through a much fuller range of motion. I like them for this reason. (3×5) works, as does adding 5 pounds per session.

(EMPHASIZE USING A FULL RANGE OF MOTION?)

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

 

 

 

 

 

split squats SQUATS, NO. TOO DIFFERENT.

5. The presses.

The presses are unique, partly b/c complementary exercises are vast, but depend on mobility. Pick one biases toward growth or strength, but…

OR DON’T.

Presses will need to jump down progress, too!

5a. Parallel-bar dips.

P-Bar dips are an obvious complement to the incline press and the overhead press. FOR LOWER CHEST.

If you can do more than 10 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can

If you can currently do more than 5 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can begin to load them. The standard (3×5) works well, as does adding 2.5 pounds per session.

 

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

Session 3

B) Dips

 

5b. Weighted push-ups

 

5c. Behind-the-neck press

the behind-the-neck press is a good exercise for your shoulders if and only if you have the mobility to perform them correctly. the standard (3×5) and adding 2 pounds per session works.

 

 

7. The options

This is broad overview of how to tackle w/ friendliest options. Say friendliest b/c similar enough and also have similar loading patters. Ie; just add more weight. easy for beginner. This does not encompass all options, just gives you a hint. at same time, not “anything goes.” some complementary might be a little rough. for instance, bulgian well-known exercise great for legs.

adding into program as complement might be tricky though b/c groin.

art of picking complementary is similar so as to not be a complete curveball, stress-wise. This art of programming, in a sense, and something can’t quite explain on paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dding a complementary exercise into the rotation lessens the adaptation demand (among other things). for instance, take a look at the initial program. the back squat is done three times per week, adding 5 pounds to the bar each session. this means you’re gonna add 720 pounds to your squat in one year. this won’t happen. you’ll stall way before this. nevertheless, this number anchors the adaptation expectation.

now take a look at the incline press and the overhead press. these two exercises are complementary. you rotate between these two exercises every session during Phase 1. adding 5 pounds to each exercise every session, you’d only add 360 pounds to each press in one year.

when you rotate between two different exercises within the confines of this program, you automatically lower the progression pace, as the progression pace is tied to the frequency at which the lift is trained.

• squat expectation: 720 pounds / year
• presses expectation: 360 pounds / year

there’s less adaptation expectation for both the incline press and the overhead press built into the program… and for good reason. remember, your upper body has less load potential than your lower body. if you trained inclines or overheads with the same frequency as squats, you’d stall early. your body wouldn’t be able to adapt and recover. inclines are rotated with overheads to (hopefully) prolong linear progress on each exercise… but that’s not all. rotating between two complementary exercises also:

keeps volume up.

in theory, you could rotate between two non-complementary exercises. the impact on the progression precedent would remain… but the volume wouldn’t.

inclines hit (primarily) the chest, the anterior (front) shoulders, and the triceps. overheads hit (primarily) the shoulders (as a whole) and the triceps. in other words, some areas are getting stimulated both days, which makes their base volume across the week (9×5) — (3×5) multiplied by three.

if you rotated between inclines and squats, you wouldn’t have cross-stimulation, which would change the fabric of the program.

train different parts.

by rotating between complementary exercises, you stress more structures, which has an aesthetic benefit. for instance if you did just inclines, your shoulders probably wouldn’t grow as much as compared to rotating between inclines and overheads.

this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery. on your overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your incline press days, your rear-delts have a chance to recover (rear-delts aren’t hit very hard during inclines)…

 

 

people train their entire lives and still can’t press their body’s weight overhead, let alone 320 pounds.

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+5}

Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Snatch-grip deadlift (2×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

 

 

 

to make most sense, look at individually.

 

 

 

 

 

less wt

compliment

to make most sense, look at individually.

 

 

complement choices.

choosing a complementary exercise isn’t an exact science, but here are a few things to consider…

bottleneck.

consider bottlenecks. the bottleneck is an exercise’s limiting factor, which may not be the muscles you intend on taxing. take a look at the overhead squat. the overhead squat is a squat. duh. squatting taxes the legs, of course. but, during an overhead squat, your bottleneck is your ability to support weight overhead. in other words, if you can’t support a lot of weight overhead, you won’t tax your legs much during an overhead squat.

effect.

consider filling voids (if they exist). for instance, if you want a bigger chest, then your complementary pressing exercise should tax your chest more than your shoulders. in other words, you’d be much better off doing parallel bar dips, as compared to behind-the-neck presses.

load potential.

consider load potential. remember, we’re in this predicament because we’re struggling to adapt and recover. you don’t want your complementary exercises to be more taxing than the exercises currently in your program. thankfully, this isn’t that big of a concern right now, as almost every complementary exercise will be light… at first.

choo choo.

once you pick a complementary exercise, treat it as you treated the initial exercises in the program: find your starting weight and add weight slowly, in an incremental and predictable fashion. starting light will automatically facilitate more time for recovery and adaptation.

here are some examples…

 

PULL –

 

example.

let’s take a look at how these changes will look within the program. here’s the base:

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×8){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Biceps curl (3×8){+1}

now let’s assume things are starting to get heavy and you’re going to make some of the changes. you deload back squats and decrease their progression, and also add front squats. you alternate conventional deadlifts with Romanian deadlifts and power cleans (because you’re cool). you decrease your pressing progression and add parallel bar dips. you’re able to do pull-ups now, so you add them into the program.

WEEK 1 MONDAY: Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+2}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×8){+2.5}

WEEK 1 WEDNEDAY: Session 2

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1}
C) Power cleans (5×3){+5}
D) Biceps curl (3×8){+1}

WEEK 1 FRIDAY: Session 3

A) Back squat (3×5){+2}
B) Parallel bar dips {+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Weighted pull-ups (3×5){+2}

WEEK 2 MONDAY: Session 1

A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×8){+2.5}

WEEK 2 WEDNEDAY: Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+2}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1}
C) Power cleans (5×3){+5}
D) Biceps curl (3×8){+1}

WEEK 2 FRIDAY: Session 3

A) Front squat (3×5){+2}
B) Parallel bar dips {+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Weighted pull-ups (3×5){+2}

hopefully this gives you a good idea on ways you can twist and turn this program into the futre.

infinite options?

above is a very limited look at how you can modify this program as you get stronger. there are HUNDREDS of exercises out there. good mornings are a great hinge exercise. floor presses are a great press exercise. many dumbbell exercises and calisthenics can also complement the upper body. i could go on…

my hope is that, by explaining the programming principles behind the program, you’ll be able to modify things to best suit your needs.

pattern overload.

sprinkling complementary exercises into the program is a nice way to add variety and spice things up, but there’s a point of diminishing returns. rotating between too many complementary exercises gets messy. i’d be wary about rotating between more than three exercises per pattern.

premature.

you can sustain progress for a looonnnggg time if you’re smart and you use the strategies outlined above. add small amounts of weight regularly. add reps here and there. deload when things get too heavy. rinse and repeat.

few people that can

squat 2x bodyweight
chin-up 0.5x bodyweight
incline press 1x bodyweight

will be upset with their physique.

boring is boring.

even though you can sustain progress for a long time on this simple program, you’ll probably get bored doing so. after you finish Phase 1 and experiment with Phase 2, you’ve “graduated” and you have a world of options ahead of you.  you owe it to yourself to explore whatever interests you. you might be tired of full-body routines. you might want to try a split routine. you might be sick of 5’s and ready to experiment with higher rep ranges. you might want to become a powerlifter. you might…

options are aplenty.

 

you’re months into the program. you do (3×5)@265 for back squats on Monday. it was heavy. you barely got the reps. just about every session the past few weeks has worn you down; your joints are starting to ache.

you plan for (3×5)@270 on Wednesday, but you don’t get all three sets of five. you nail your first set for five reps. on your second set, you fail on your fourth rep. on your third set, you only get two reps. you’ve officially missed your first scheduled workload, but you didn’t stall… yet. after you miss a scheduled workload, you have a few options.

first, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim for the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270, so you’d try (3×5)@270 again. if you hit all sets and reps, continue on with the normally scheduled increase next session. if you miss the workload two sessions in a row, then you can assume you’re swimming near a stall… especially if your performance has decreased (example: you go 5, 5, 3 on Monday and 5, 3, 2 on Wednesday).

second, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim to add one additional rep to your failed volume until you build into the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270 like this:

5@270
4@270
2@270

and so, your next training session, you’d do

5@270
5@270
2@270

and then the following session you’d do

5@270
5@270
3@270

and you’d keep adding one rep until you reached (3×5), at which point you’d add weight and continue on.

chances are, you’ll be able to sustain progress for quite some time adding one rep to your workload every session. at some point, however, you’ll have to recognize when you’re too far removed from the roots of the program. for instance, if you aren’t even hitting 5 reps on your first set, you’ve stalled (for all intents and purposes). you should think about deloading.

deloading.

once you stall, you should “deload.” deloading is temporarily reducing the weight you’re lifting in an attempt to dissipate residual fatigue and give your body extra time to recover and adapt.

there are many ways to deload. for this program, subtract 10-15% from your work set weight and then redo the linear progression using the lesser (deload) weight as your starting weight.

say you stall on squats at 225 pounds. 10% of 225 pounds is around 20 pounds. so you go into the gym, throw 200 pounds on the bar, complete the workload, and then add 5 pounds next session.

Monday: (3×5)@200
Wednesday: (3×5)@205
Friday: (3×5)@210

deload don’ts.

deloads aren’t global. only deload the lifts that stall. if your bench press stalls, but you’re still making linear progress on your squat, then only deload your bench press.

second stall.

the first stall is a byproduct of months and months of accumulated fatigue. after the deload, you’ll be able to surpass your stall point because you won’t be as fatigued as you were the first time around. if your squat initially stalled at 225, you should be able to sustain linear progress past 225 after the deload.

nevertheless, you will stall again. after your second stall, you should deload once again… but you shouldn’t redo the progression. you should move onto Phase 2.

 

 

Next →

UNO is a minimalist barbell-based training program for beginners who want to get stronger and increase their muscle-building potential.

---

1. The program.

UNO is a three-day-per-week program. You lift on non-consecutive days with a two-day break after the third training day. The classic Monday-Wednesday-Friday works, as does any combination that respects the rule. There are two different training sessions in the founding program:

Session 1

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}

Session 2

A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}

You rotate between the two sessions every training day like this:

Week one:

Monday (A) – Session 1
Wednesday (B) – Session 2
Friday (C) – Session 1

Week two:

Monday (A) – Session 2
Wednesday (B) – Session 1
Friday (C) – Session 2…

On the third week, you’re back to the week one configuration.

2. The exercises.

Exercises must be performed in an effective and efficient manner. This means they must be performed through a rather full range of motion, and they must be smooth. The eccentric (lowering) phase should take two or three seconds. The concentric (lifting) phase should be powerful, yet controlled. The lifts should look graceful, not jerky.

Cracking into the technical tidbits of each exercise is an endeavor for another day. For now, the previews will have to suffice.

BACK SQUAT

Back squat: feet under shoulders; feet turned out 10-30 degrees; bar on upper traps (high bar) or rear delts (low bar); descend until the crease of the hip is at least below the knee; keep the entire foot glued to the ground; track the knees over the toes.

CONVENTIONAL DEADLIFT

Conventional deadlift: feet under hips; feet facing forward or pointed slightly outward; in the starting position, the shoulders should be higher than the hips and the hips should be higher than the knees; lower the weight with control, don’t drop the bar; the bar comes to a complete stop on the ground between reps.

INCLINE PRESS

Incline press: bench at 30 degrees; hands below shoulders; elbows track 30 degrees from the torso; descend until the bar touches the sternum; keep the upper back and butt glued to the bench.

OVERHEAD PRESS

Overhead press: hands under shoulders; elbows track 30 degrees from torso; shrug shoulders to the sky after the bar clears the head; don’t bend the knees or use the lower body to help lift the bar.

BARBELL ROW

Barbell row: hands slightly beyond the shoulders; hinge at the hips; torso stays parallel to the floor throughout the lift; shoulder blades squeeze together to initiate the lift; the bar is held frozen in the top position for a second; in the top position, the elbows are pulled behind the torso.

BRIDGE ROW

Bridge row: hands just beyond the shoulders; body somewhat horizontal to the ground throughout the rep; use belts or a backpack to add weight to your torso; pause each rep at the top, squeezing your shoulder blades together; in the top position, the elbows are pulled behind the torso.

3. The notations.

3a. Letters prior to the exercises state the order of operations. Do exercise A first. Complete all sets of A exercise before moving to B exercise. Start B exercise after A is finished. Complete all sets of B exercise before moving to C exercise…

3b. Numbers in parentheses state the number of work sets and reps you should do. I always use the (SETS x REPS) format, so (3×5) is three work sets of five reps. Work sets are the sets that drive progress and the ones you track over time. They’re done in sets-across style: You lift the same weight every work set. (3×5) means you do 3 sets with 5 reps at “x” weight.

(3×5)@95

Three sets of five reps at 95 pounds.

First work set: 5 reps @ 95 pounds
Second work set: 5 reps @ 95 pounds
Third work set: 5 reps @ 95 pounds

3c. Numbers and symbols in brackets state the method of progress for each exercise. In this founding program, you’re either adding five pounds {+5} or two-and-a-half pounds to the exercise every time it’s trained. This is known as a linear progression.

4. The unmentioned.

4a. Warmup. You should warmup prior to your work sets. Warmups should have at least two phases. The first phase prepares the involved joints for battle. Nothing does this better than 3-D joint rotations. The second (optional) phase increases the body’s temperature and gets the blood flowing. Can be done by skipping rope for a minute or two. The third phase is the most important and consists of performing the lifts in the scheduled session with lighter weights leading into the work sets. A few guiding principles:

First, warm-up sets start lighter with higher reps and finish heavier with lower reps. The early sets get the blood flowing. The later sets awaken the nervous system.

Second, always start warm-up sets with the empty bar or your body’s weight. If either of these is close to your work-set weight, you might need to warm up with light dumbbells or a different (easier) exercise that can help prepare the tissues for what’s to come.

Third, only use 10-pound, 25-pound, and 45-pound plates. Don’t meddle with the smaller plates. Too much precision for warm-up sets. Will only cause fatigue without impacting your readiness.

When you’re just getting started, you may only need 1-2 warm-up sets. Say you’re doing incline presses with 135 pounds on your work sets. To warm up, you start with 5 reps with 45 pounds (empty bar), then you do: 3-5 reps with 95 pounds and 1-2 reps with 115 pounds. This is a good warmup.

As you get stronger, you’ll need more warm-up sets. Say you’re doing back squats with 275 pounds on your work sets. To warm up, you start with 5 reps with 45 pounds (empty bar), then you do: 5 reps with 135 pounds, 5 reps with 185 pounds, and 1-2 reps with 225 pounds. (Depending on your personality, you might also benefit from doing 1 rep at 245 pounds.)

Warm-up sets are more art than science. Doing too many sets or doing too many reps with a heavier weight will drain you before your work sets. The golden rule: excite, don’t exhaust. As long as you’re trying to excite rather than exhaust, don’t be afraid to experiment.

4b. Rest between sets. Maximum rest between work sets is five minutes. You don’t have to wait five minutes between work sets. You should rest until you feel fresh enough to tackle the next set. Might only take 10-60 seconds during warm-up sets and 90-120 seconds during the first few week’s work sets. Eventually, as you get stronger, you will need more rest between work sets, but the cap is five minutes. Don’t cut your rest periods short in an attempt to feel the burn or make yourself winded.

5. The start.

Before you officially begin the program, you need to find your starting weights, which are the weights you’ll start each exercise in the program with (duh). Starting weights are specific to each exercise, but the process of finding them is universal.

You can find your starting weights by selecting a weight you know you can easily hit for the scheduled number of reps on a given exercise. For the most part, this means starting with the empty bar (weighs 45 pounds) or your body’s weight. (If you’re new to the gym and have no frame of reference, you’ll need to experiment. Don’t be afraid to play around and get familiar with the lifts for a week or two before officially starting. Also, if you can’t hit 5 reps with the empty bar or your body’s weight, you’ll have to start with dumbbells or substitute an easier exercise into the program.)

After you hit the reps, add 10-30 pounds to the bar (or your body) and do another set. The ease of your sets should dictate the weight increase. Continue this process, adding 10-30 pounds to subsequent sets, until either (a) your reps slow down and you start moving more sticky than springy, or (b) your technique deteriorates.

Subtract 20% from the final weight you lifted gracefully to find your starting weight.

Example:

Back squats with 5 reps

(1×5)@45
(1×5)@75
(1×5)@95
(1×5)@115
(1×5)@135*

*Speed slowed. 20% of 135 is around 25 pounds. Therefore, the starting weight would be 115 pounds (135 minus 25).

In general, you’re always better off with conservative starting weights. If you wanted to start every exercise with the empty bar, you could (if you’re patient). There’s little harm in starting too light. There’s great harm in starting too heavy.

Once you find your starting weights, you can officially start the program.

6. The progression.

Each exercise begins with their respective starting weight. From here, you add weight to every exercise every time it’s trained. This is known as a linear progression. The amount of weight you add on a session-to-session basis depends on the exercise.

The lightest plate in commercial gyms tends to be 2.5 pounds, which means the lowest improvement increment commonly available for barbell exercises is 5 pounds (2.5 pounds to each side of the bar). This is dumb. Eventually, you’ll want to get some fractional plates (click here for a reasonably priced set on Amazon). With fractional plates, you’ll be able to add 4, 3, 2, and 1 pound(s) to every exercise. This will be valuable in the future.

For starters, I recommend

adding 5 pounds to squats, deadlifts, incline presses, overhead presses, barbell rows.

adding 2.5 pounds to bridge rows.

7. The play-by-play.

Let’s assume you took one week (three training sessions), worked on your technique, and found your starting weights.

• 105 pounds for the squat
• 135 pounds for the deadlift
• 95 pounds for the incline press
• 45 pounds for the overhead press
• 45 pounds for the barbell row
• 0 pounds for the bridge row

Here’s what the first two weeks of training would look like:

DAY A MONDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@105
  • INC: (3×5)@95
  • CDL: (1×5)@135
  • BRIDGE: (3×6)

DAY B WEDNESDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@110
  • OP: (3×5)@45
  • CDL: (1×5)@140
  • BBROW: (3×6)@45

DAY C FRIDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@115
  • INC: (3×5)@100
  • CDL: (1×5)@145
  • BRIDGE: (3×6)@2.5

DAY A MONDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@120
  • OP: (3×5)@50
  • CDL: (1×5)@150
  • BBROW: (3×6)@50

DAY B WEDNESDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@125
  • INC: (3×5)@105
  • CDL: (1×5)@155
  • BRIDGE: (3×6)@5

DAY C FRIDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@130
  • OP: (3×5)@55
  • CDL: (1×5)@160
  • BBROW: (3×6)@55…

Your initial training sessions shouldn’t be challenging. Don’t do more. Complete your work sets. Pack your bags. Wait for the next session to come around. This program is a snowball. Keep on rolling. The intensity will ramp up in the future. Don’t rush the process.

7. The stall.

The weight jumps will become more difficult as the program progresses. Eventually, if you keep the movie going, you won’t be able to make a scheduled weight jump from one session to the next. This is known as stalling. I don’t recommend slamming UNO into a stall. You should transition to DOS a month or two into the program, moons before you sniff the stall.

---

Go to DOS

You’re skinny-fat.

You don’t want to be skinny-fat.

You’re lucky you found me.

This is my skinny-fat transformation philosophy. If you’re drop-dead ready to change your skinny-fat body for the better, check out the 60-day challenge.

PART 1 of 3

Skinny-fat syndrome isn’t a medical condition. The word “syndrome” is misleading. Skinny-fatness is nothing more than a distinguished physical appearance. You see an unclothed bystander with string-bean arms and larger-than-life love handles and say, “You’re skinny-fat,” the same way you see someone with bangs and say, “You have a bad haircut.” (Bulma being an obvious exception.)

A skinny-fat appearance is a byproduct of a unique body fat distribution atop a linear under-muscled frame. You probably have a few of the following attributes:

• Wide hips
• Thin wrists
• Narrow shoulders
• Rounded jaw structure
• Underdeveloped muscles
• Body fat accumulation in the chest, love handle, and belly-button regions

You can’t change your skeleton. You’re stuck with your linear bone structure. To this day, I can wrap my hand around the opposite wrist and touch pinky finger to thumb. You can, however, lose fat and build muscle. Doing either will eliminate your skinny-fat appearance.

If you build muscle, you’ll no longer have an under-muscled frame. Poof! Just like that, you won’t be skinny-fat anymore (but you’ll still be fat). If you lose fat, you’ll no longer have a unique body fat distribution. Poof! Just like that, you won’t be skinny-fat anymore (but you’ll still be skinny).

I know you don’t want to be skinny-fat, but, at the same time, I doubt you want to be bone thin or soft-serve fat. I’m guessing you want to be lean and muscular. Well-built. And if that’s the case, you need to lose fat and build muscle.

For some reason, skinny-fat dudes guys tend to overestimate how much muscle mass they have even though their upper arms look like cardboard paper towel tubes. (I have something known as “personal experience” with this delusion.) If you sucked the fat from your body and got six-pack lean right now, you wouldn’t look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. You’d look more like a prisoner of war.

You probably don’t want to be a bodybuilder (same), but you need to add some muscle to your frame to look somewhat respectable at a low body fat percentage.

Assuming you don’t want to look like a less-muscled Mick Jagger, you need to lose fat and build muscle. 

Your gut reaction to this news probably leans towards double-dipping: “How do I lose fat and build muscle at the same time?”

Losing fat and building muscle at the same time is known as a “recomposition” (“recomp” for short), which sounds stiffer than a teenage boy’s secret sock. It’s known as double-dipping around here, got it?

Double-dipping is the dream, but it’s generally considered a daring pursuit because losing fat and gaining muscle are often portrayed as physiological opposites.

Losing fat requires catabolism, which is taking big things and breaking them into smaller things, like dismantling a LEGO tower brick by brick. Building muscle requires anabolism, which is creating bigger things with smaller things, like building a LEGO tower brick by brick.

The internet’s greatest sci(fi)entists say you can’t lose fat and build muscle at the same time because you can’t simultaneously destroy something and create something. You can either dismantle the LEGO tower or build the LEGO tower.

The good news?

The sci(fi)entists are wrong. Losing fat and building muscle aren’t absolute opposites. You CAN lose fat and build muscle at the same time. (They’re two separate structures.) You MIGHT accomplish said feat if you follow my breadcrumbs.

The bad news?

The probability of double-dipping usually overshadows the possibility of double-dipping. In other words, it’s like having a threesome with your wife and her best friend. Possible? Sure. We’re not talking about regrowing a finger. Probable enough to risk the fallout associated with trying? Doubtful.

Double-dip hopefuls usually end up empty-handed: They don’t lose fat or build muscle. They get caught in purgatory. Few things in life are more demoralizing (one of which is clogging a toilet in an acquaintance’s house and not being able to find a plunger).

You’re better off single-scooping. You can either bulk and prioritize muscle growth, or you can cut and prioritize fat loss. If you happen to double-dip along the way, great. If not, no big deal. At least you’re making progress in one of the two verticals, which is better than a double-dip disaster.

Should you bulk first, or should you cut first? Does it matter?

At first glance, this question looks more innocent than Riley Reid in plainclothes and the answer probably seems more obvious than Botox in a boomer: Solve the bigger insecurity.

What keeps you up and night? If you’re sick of your stomach having the consistency of mucus, then cut first. On the other hand, if you can’t forget about that time your six-year-old niece opened a pickle jar you couldn’t, then bulk first.

Attacking the bigger security isn’t a bad idea and may ultimately hold the hammer, but the situation is more of a Sophie’s choice than it appears because these two insecurities aren’t mutually exclusive and they’re volatile. It’s almost as if each insecurity sits on opposite ends of a seesaw. When one goes down, the other one goes up.

As mentioned, you won’t gain boatloads of muscle mass during a cut. Even if you double-dip, I doubt you’ll gain enough to fill out your frame. Granted, there are exceptions. You might. I don’t want you to build yourself a false ceiling. However, my pessimism forces me to undersell, always; I’d rather surprise than underwhelm. The easiest way to exceed expectations is to have low expectations.

There might (might!) come a time during your cut when you’re finally able to see what was hiding underneath your inner tube of insulation: not much. You don’t have as much muscle mass as you thought you did (I warned you). This makes your muscle-related insecurities skyrocket. You aren’t as lean as you’d like to be (you still jiggle when you jump), but you fear what you’ll become (nothingness?) if you continue to lose fat.

Fat insecurity decreases
Muscle insecurity increases

With this future played out in front of you, it might make sense to bulk first. Build a bunch of muscle so that you’ll reveal a strong-shaped silhouette as you cut down.

Well.

Body fat accumulation is a common side effect of bulking. You gain muscle, but you also gain fat. Are you ready for that?

I doubt it.

Muscle insecurity decreases
Fat insecurity increases

This seesaw traps a lot of skinny-fat guys. They cut, initially. They stop cutting and start bulking soon after because they hate how gangly they’re becoming, and then, two months later, they stop bulking and start cutting because they hate how rotund they’re becoming, and then, two months later, they stop cutting and start bulking because they hate how gangly they’re becoming, and then…

They’re caught in a rundown. They’re doing lots of work, but they don’t commit to a direction long enough to get anywhere.

There isn’t a perfect solution. Neither bulking first nor cutting first is 100% foolproof. Both require swallowing consequences you’d probably rather spit. But, in my opinion, one tastes a little more like Belle Delphine’s bathwater than the other.

I recommend cutting first unless (UNLESS!) your muscle-related insecurities 100% outweigh your fat-related insecurity.

For instance, when I was skinny-fat, I just wanted to be skinny. Losing fat meant more to me than building muscle. I would have inhabited a methhead’s body at the flick of a switch. If someone would have told me to build muscle first and get fatter, I would have shut down.

If you want to become a mountain of muscle and you don’t care if your body has the consistency of mashed potatoes, then maybe you should bulk first.

As.
Long.
As.
You.
Bulk.
Correctly.

Muscle growth requires a motive, money, and materials. This manifests strategically as (a) exposing your body to supergravity stress and then (b) eating an abundance of food in order to give your body the money (energy) and materials it needs to build muscle.

The bottleneck in the sequence above is motive. Without motive (supergravity stress), much of the money (energy) you feed your body will get stored as fat instead of used for muscle growth.

Call me cynical (because I am), but I don’t think you have enough gym experience to justify a full-fledged bulk. I could be wrong. In the event I am, here’s something else to consider:

Fat loss requires an energy deficit. Your energetic expenses are higher than your energetic income, which forces your body to use its savings (body fat) to pay its bills. Body fat is a reserve of excess money (energy).

If you’re giving your body a motive to build muscle, your body can break down its fat stores and use the resultant energy to pay for muscle growth. In other words, you’ll double-dip. The odds of this happening are much higher when you’re cutting and underfeeding as opposed to bulking and overfeeding.

Overall, cutting first is more practical. There’s a bigger potential upside and a wider margin for error. For instance, you don’t even need to exercise to lose fat. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t exercise. You should, just like you should rinse your dishes directly after dinner so the debris doesn’t coagulate and take 10x longer to clean than it otherwise would.

BUT.

The fact remains, you don’t have to exercise. You can lose weight through diet and diet alone. Here’s how:

 

Part 2

Losing fat is simple. Unfortunately, “simple” ain’t “easy.” Many things make losing fat tougher than a sirloin steak served at Denny’s, like an unholy obsession with craft beer. Not that I’d know anything about that. I’m not drunk right now. Are you drunk right now? Don’t tell me I smell like motueka hops. You smell like motueka hops. Stop projecting.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to become a cardio queen and jog jog jog your life away in order to lose fat. The driver of fat loss is (and will be) your eating habits, otherwise known as your “diet.”

Some people don’t like the word “diet,” as we’ve been conditioned to think of “diets” as temporary weight-loss interventions involving crippling deprivation and rabbit food. The real definition of “diet” is less sinister and simply refers to the kinds of food you habitually eat. If you eat an entire box of Toaster Strudels every day, that’s your diet. There are no weight-loss connotations attached to the word “diet.”

Your diet drives fat loss because it has a bigger influence on energy balance, which is the relationship between energy supply, energy demand, and internal energetic material. If you’re unfamiliar with energy balance, you should read Body Comp Basics.

Body Comp Basics contains the first principles of fat loss. Here’s a ten-point synopsis:

1. Energy demand is the amount of energy your body requires to perform all given tasks. Expenses.
2. Energy supply is the amount of energy you consume. Income.
3. Internal energetic material is stored inside of you and can be broken down for energy when needed. Savings.
4. When supply is greater than demand you have a surplus of incoming energetic material, which results in an increased amount of stored energetic material.
5. When demand is greater than supply you have a deficit of incoming energetic material, which results in a decreased amount of stored energetic material.
6. Body fat is a form of internal energetic material, which means losing fat requires an energy deficit. (There’s no such thing as spot reduction. Your body will burn fat from wherever it pleases.)
7. This makes it seem like you can eat whatever you want and lose fat, as long as demand conquers supply. This is somewhat true, but the situation is a bit more complex because energy isn’t the only substance we derive from food that’s essential to our survival.
8. We also get (and need) nutrients from food. You can die of scurvy before you die of starvation. Nutrients do things energy can. Your body uses nutrients to grow your muscles and keep your teeth intact (along with thousands of other things). Energy is manpower, nutrients are materials.
9. Losing fat is a juggle between consistently supplying less energy than your body demands and also keeping your body nourished.
10. On one hand, these objectives are divergent because food, energy, and nutrients are linked. The more food you eat, the more energy you can potentially supply, and the more nutrients you can potentially deliver. For fat loss, you have to limit your energy intake, which means you’ll inherently limit your food intake and potential nutrient intake. On the other hand, these objectives are convergent because many of the foods you should eat to control your energy supply are packed with nutrients.

To summarize, a good fat-loss diet does two things: (1) creates an energy deficit large enough to cause meaningful fat loss in a realistic time frame; (2) creates an energy deficit small enough to allow you to keep your body nourished.

There are more complicated and less complicated ways to work toward this objective. Considering most people can’t diet past Monday, I’ll start on the simpler end of the spectrum with a one-eyed look at my “lazy” dieting strategy.

If you want to lose fat without trying you should first focus on quality and not quantity.

In other words, you should eat mostly Mother Nature’s foods, which are things that can be found in nature and consumed almost immediately, with minimal preparation. Things like fruits, plants, and animals. These foods tend to be the most nutrient-rich foods in the world.

Almost every other food requires some kind of processing in order to become edible. Processing isn’t inherently evil; cooking is technically a form of food processing. There are levels to processing, though. It’s one thing to char salmonella off a turkey leg or turn a cow’s tit juice into cheese. It’s another thing to create a handheld stay-fresh-forever chocolate cake designed to deliver an intense dopaminergic spike in the name of consumer addiction. And so, it’s useful to distinguish between two types of processed foods.

Low-processed foods are derived from Mother Nature’s materials and have few ingredients. Things like cheese, yogurt, rice, and grains.

High-processed foods are derived from processed materials and have a lot of ingredients. Things like chips, candies, crackers, cookies, cakes, and, of course, protein bars.

One of the easiest ways to distinguish between low-processed foods and high-processed foods is to look at how long the food has existed. Low-processed foods have been around for ages. High-processed foods were created within the past century or two.

Eating an abundance of high-processed foods will make it more difficult to lose weight. High-processed foods are easier to break down and digest. Your body doesn’t undergo as much “digestive exercise.” You end up absorbing more energy. For instance, some research showed 38% of the fat in peanuts passed through the body unabsorbed, whereas all of the fat in peanut butter was absorbed. In other words, eating 400 calories of peanut butter has the potential to make you fatter than eating 400 calories of peanuts.

Research also suggests it’s easier to overeat high-processed foods. In one study, researchers broke participants into two groups. One group was fed high-processed foods. The other group was fed low-processed foods. The meals they gave each group contained the same amount of calories, sugars, fibers, fats, and carbohydrates. They were allowed to eat as much or as little as they wanted. End result, participants in the ultra-processed group ate around 500 calories more per day than the participants in the low-processed group.

Odds say the more overly processed foods you eat, the more difficult time you’ll have with fat loss. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not impossible to lose weight with a diet high in high-processed foods. A nutrition professor at Kansas State University named Mark Haub ate mostly junk food for ten weeks and lost 27 pounds. Similar stories exist. However, the people that lose weight eating a large portion of ultra-processed foods also seem to rigorously track their energy intake.

Since I’m approaching this from the opposite perspective (losing fat without trying), I say the bulk of your food intake (around 80%) should consist of Mother Nature’s food (and her low-processed variants) that serve a nutrient end with minimal negative side effects. Example: blueberries are full of vitamin K, vitamin C, and manganese alongside antioxidants and other compounds that protect against cell damage.

The remaining 20% can creep into the high-processed world as desired. These are foods with minimal nutrient yield and potentially undesirable side effects. Typically, these foods are eaten purely for pleasure. Example: table sugar doesn’t contain nutrients beyond carbs and may increase inflammation.

If you want to lose fat without trying you should also avoid most calorie-containing liquids. 

Drinking things is much different than eating things. Liquids bypass most of our satiety circuitry. This is why I’m not a huge fan of “healthy” drinks, like green smoothies. The ingredients may be healthy, but you’d never eat the ingredients of a smoothie the way you drink them.

Here’s the recipe for a green smoothie:

1 cup pineapple chunks
1 ripe banana
1 cup frozen mango cubes
1 cup coconut milk
4 cups baby spinach
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
3–4 Tablespoons flax meal or chia seeds

You blend these ingredients and suck down the resultant liquid without thought. Would you ever eat all of these solid ingredients as a meal?

No.

When solid food becomes liquid food, you put things into your body you otherwise wouldn’t.

Sugary soft drinks and (most) juices are chock full of energetic material with no real nutrition. This one-two punch is made more dangerous when you consider these liquids don’t contribute to satiety and satiation the way solid foods do.

If you drink a small bottle of Mountain Dew, you’re eating fourteen tablespoons of sugar. Eating fourteen tablespoons of sugar is similar to eating two potatoes. What’s going to feel better in your belly: 8 ounces of liquid or two potatoes?

Reserve your energy intake for foods that will fill your belly by drinking mostly water. (Water doesn’t contain energetic material. I hope you know this.) There are sensible low-calorie beverages that aren’t water, like black coffee and plain tea. There are also sugar-free sodas and flavored seltzer waters. (Studies show artificial sweeteners aren’t the wretched hive of scum and villainy people once thought they were.)

Drinking beverages that contain energy isn’t the end of the world. (I drink raw milk almost every day.) You just have to respect them as if they were solid food. (Next time you see someone drinking a Mountain Dew, imagine them eating a baked potato.)

Following these two “lazy” dieting suggestions will likely trigger fat loss if you’ve never dieted with fat-loss intent before.

Instead of eating a cream-cheese-covered bagel and drinking a glass of orange juice for breakfast, you eat some eggs and drink some black coffee. You put 300 fewer calories into your body and you didn’t have to rise before the rooster and run six miles in sub-zero temperatures (in recently purchased above-the-knee-shorts).

The next big concern is protein intake. Protein is one of three macronutrients (the others being carbohydrates and fats). The macronutrients get a lot of press because they’re the nutrients we can extract energetic material from. The rule(s) of thumb:

proteins: 4 calories / gram
carbs: 4 calories / gram
fats: 9 calories / gram

even though macronutrients steal the show, there are worlds below the macronutrients you shouldn’t ignore. there are micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), phytochemicals, bacteria, and other things i’m not smart enough to pretend to know about. catering to the sub-macronutrient world can be overwhelming. it’s one thing to keep an eye on carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. it’s another thing to keep an eye on the 10+ vitamins and 20+ minerals you need.

the best way to take care of your sub-macronutrient needs without trying to take care of your sub-macronutrient needs is to eat mostly Mother Nature’s food. who would have thought the things that have sustained human life for millions of years would contain the very things humans need to survive?

proteins are the Ron Burgundy of macronutrients because of their role in muscle growth and repair. you need nitrogen to build muscle; trying to build muscle without proteins is like trying to build a house without wood. proteins are the only macronutrient containing nitrogen.

if want to boost your odds of double-dipping, you need to eat plenty of proteins. even if you don’t double-dip, you’ll do a better job retaining muscle tissue. (the only thing proteins can’t do is play the jazz flute.)

this is something ignored earlier: yeah, you can eat tons of junk food and lose weight, but weight is different than fat. chances are, Haub (and the others) lost a larger percentage of muscle tissue than he otherwise would have if he ate plenty of proteins and other nourishing foods.

old school bodybuilders and strength enthusiasts used to say you should eat one gram of protein for every pound you weigh. in other words, if you weigh 205 pounds, then you should eat 205 grams of protein. (rule should be modified if you’re obese.)

science says you probably only need 0.7-0.8 grams of protein for every pound you weigh. i don’t care what science says. i’m superstitious. i waste hours of my life in the gym every week trying to build muscle. i don’t care about eating a pinch more protein than what may be physiologically necessary, especially considering there’s no downside.

protein’s presence should dominate every feeding.

reaching your protein requirement is easier if you eat meat, eggs, and fish (don’t shy away from organ meats like liver and heart). dairy can also help. milk, yogurt, kefir, and cottage cheese are staples.

Cheat codes: First, Greek yogurt tends to be higher in protein. Second, Fairlife milk has more protein than other milk

(whey protein power is a convenient source of proteins, but you want the majority of your proteins to come from Mother Nature’s foods.)

if you don’t eat meat, eggs, fish, or dairy for religious or personal reasons, you have an uphill battle. you won’t have a lot of variety in what you can eat because you’ll have to eat foods high in protein; you can’t afford to eat a lot of foods that don’t have proteins.

 

 

when eat chicken breast, which mostly proteins, can eat w/e carb u want regardless of proteins b/c have energy. when you eat split peas, well, have to eat fucking split peas. can’t not eat them

 

even more, proteins aren’t as likely to be broken down and used for energy. your body would rather use the bits and bytes of pulverized proteins for other things. although i’m not dumb enough (or smart enough?) to say the energetic component of proteins doesn’t “count,” i don’t classify them as an “energy” nutrient.

 

Even though no food (to my knowledge) will permanently halt fat burning, you should:

Eat mostly Mother Nature’s food.

Parts of creatures that formerly had heartbeats, fruits, and plants. Don’t eat laboratory experiments stuffed inside vacuum-sealed plastic bags.

Drink mostly water and no-calorie beverages.

Stay hydrated. Your pee should be a pale-yellow color, not a neon-mustard color.

Place proteins at the center of every meal.

if you eat three meals per day, eat at least two hockey-puck-sized portions of protein with every feeding. at minimum. this won’t be enough, but it’s a start.

Forget about the battle between carbs and fats.

fats are essential, meaning we need them to survive, yet we can’t produce them ourselves. in other words, if you don’t eat fats, your body won’t be very happy (or alive, for that matter). your life will be 10x better if you eat sardines.

carbs aren’t essential, meaning we don’t need them to survive. doesn’t mean they’re bad. in the late 1930s, Dr. Walter Kempner put his patients (many had high blood pressure and kidney issues) on a strict diet consisting mostly of white rice, fruit, juices, and sugar. in one study of 106 patients, everyone lost at least 99 pounds.

as long as you’re eating low-processed foods, what matters most is controlling your energy intake.

 

 

PART: EXERCISE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is stupid.

This is like…

You walk into a car dealership. You meet a khaki-clad manager named Mark (there are mustard flakes stuck in his brown mustache). He says, “All of the vehicles in the lot are 99% off.”

You wouldn’t believe him.

You’ve seen PUNK’D (unfortunately).

You know quality has cost.

No one picks the cheapest plastic surgeon in town by choice.

As a bounty hunter, I typically use this knowledge to my advantage.

This time, I am not.

I am building a magnificent digital library of physical transformation resources containing the strategies I have used (and am using) to build an athletic, lean, and bulletproof body.

For instance, there’s…

1. The two-meal diet
2. The hard “straight-strong” use to build muscle in rt. places.
3. The soft “stretch-strong”
4. The warm-up
5. The “z2b” frame to diagnose, saving you from doing exercise body not built and breaking down… and this just the beginning.

   even though list all as seperate, come together like Voltron and lock into place to create large cohesive system.

 

 

 

You’d be foolish to ignore the Atlantis-sinking discount

 

 

took me a while to get here; missing pieces… for instance, missing soft work and broke the fuck down.

((took me a while to formulate and didn’t come without price. when first, sold my soul to change skinny-fat and all about aesthetics. obsessed w/ six-pack and even though solved, was a wreck. chronic knee pain, eating disorder, etc… recently, shift, to stretch strong.))
big misconception that just happens, but not case. byproduct of things i’m doing.
other people my age are dying and complaining. i’m out here feeling great and doing it with a beer in my hand.
in some ways, i created exoskeleton for myself. imagine myself not having and not doing and i’d be in bad shape.
way i see have three,
first, continue on be miserable chronic pain. see “just how things are”
second, buy exoskeleton. those suckers cost about $85, certainly an option.
third, put there urself.
arcade how i’ve done the third.

begin turbulent task of taking all i have and putting together in digestable way. this takes time. and instead of going quick, thought i’d open doors and give glimpse.
now, i realize monthly sub w/ no content about as fun as finger in butt, and so to curb, what i am doing…
and giving u chance to get access at stupid price for one simple:

not finished.
and instead of rushing everything and putting out subpar product, thought i’d try something different. open doors to those truly interested who want to have behind the scenes. as perk, automatic entry. as bonus, for those early, since no definitive resources published, get access to my private training and nutrition.
training; see training on paper and also videos
nutrition; see what i do and pictures
updated daily and honest look at day to day, how i juggle.
admission to Arc is $10/mo w/ one-time $100 fee. since early and nothing to see, waive the $100.
this offer only applies to
housing all of my physical transformation
You can get lifetime access to
i’m giving u chance to unlock permanet foever access to my resources for Atlantis-drowning discount of…

the way i see it you have two choices.

first, buy an exoskeleton

second

 

 

I sold my soul to get semi-muscular and six-pack lean (pixelated).

I used to be a skinny-fat nerd.

 

Just a few years ago, I looked great and I felt strong, but I was a nightmare. I was strong in weight room, but not irl. Also, I had a mega eating disorder.

 

 

This is stupid.

This is like walking into a car dealership, meeting with a khaki-clad manager named Mark (equipped with mustard residue in his brown mustache), and being told all of the vehicles being sold are 99% off.

You wouldn’t believe him. You’ve seen PUNK’D (unfortunately). Ashton Kutcher could be hiding behind one of the cars (or inside the unreasonably large animal-based mascot at the center of the showroom).

You know quality has cost.

This is why Whole Foods went from being the butt of every joke (Whole Paycheck) to being a grocery store even the poor find themselves browsing through every once in a while.

Making fun of $8 apples was a hoot

A cheap car can’t be a good car.

A cheap plastic surgeon can’t be a good plastic surgeon.

 

Which is why this is stupid:

I’m offering you lifetime permanent access to the strategies I used (and currently am using) to build a pain-free

 

To say these strategies changed my life is an understatement.

I am thirty-six years old, and I feel better than I did when I was seventeen years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

for past x years been obsessed. started young, skinny-fat. and now kids and fatherhood.

 

 

 

i have my ways.

and from inside looking out, my ways diff from many ways i see. i don’t think i could handle their.

how much would you pay to swipe and have body? to get rid of pain?

wouldn’t believe $$$ i’ve dropped. socks!

Entire life mind remodeled w body, almost like exoskeleton and those babies going for x in military.

Unfortunately, my not exo bc involves work, much in same way recipe. Go fuck all Emeril have to cook, have to be in kitchen.

And not one of those fake… Gary Vee inspired won’t make it.. burnibg and if have that, then can have my recipes. Things I’m doing. Talking about…

 

 

 

i’m giving u chance to unlock permanet foever access to my resources for Atlantis-drowning discount of…

hold on.

something u should know before get too hot and bother by the idea of entering this digital haven: not yet finished.

under construction.

the walls are up, but nothing hung. i have plans. things are in progress. talking about

X

Y

Z

just to name a few.

 

 

 

 

You use price as a tool to discern quality because that’s what capitalist overlords taught you to do so they could make places like Whole Foods and sell an apple for $8. They know you won’t look at label and see salad dressing, it Whole Foods so must be good.

unlike CAP OVERLORDS, HAVE CONSCIOUS AND ALTHOUGH NOT ABOVE CHARGING, AM ABOVE CHARGING FOR NOTHING.

As a bounty hunter looking to fetch the highest price for my wares, I normally use this ____ to my benefit.

This is not one of those.

The reason I’m being stupid

 

You’re skeptical.

The deal is too good to be true.

You’ve lived long enough to know quality has a cost, which is why you shop at Whole Foods now. Maybe not every day. Sometimes, though. Without second-guessing yourself, either, even though, five years ago, the place made you queasy. You were appalled by anyone who was willing to pay $8 for an apple.

 

So does Whole Foods. You think the stuff on their shelves is better than the stuff at “other” supermarkets? Ha! Same shit filled with seedoils.

 

 

 

Except for rn.

… when considering how to price my transfo recipes.

 

how much would you pay to have my secrets downloaded into your cranial socket?

trick question.

the price is… invaluable.

I broke foot in 5 places and still spend on shoes.

You can have all for low low price of, wait a minute.

 

 

you can’t consciously change your body composition. i wish all it took to get six-pack abs was to yell, “Go Go Gadget Gains!”

and six-pack abs would appear. this isn’t how it works.

there’s a lizard inside of you, dictating the development of your body composition based on the clash between real-world experiences and historically hardwired hopes, dreams, and fears.

the lizard doesn’t think the same way you do. to you, big muscles and a low body fat. to the lizard, not so much.

effecive need to account for and pander.

this where supply and stim come into picture.

supply is feed, aka, eating.

stim is what do, aka exercise.

both of these are weapons, only tools we have, to change signaling which how lizard… 

 

losing fat and building muscle are algorithmic. they can be distilled into a set of step-by-step instructions, much like a recipe in a cookbook.

you don’t need to know why the recipes yield the results in order to follow them. if you can shut off your brain and follow orders like _______, you will win.

this is easier said than done.

if you have a nerd brain, the odds of you following a recipe without a rationale are low. want to know why? of course you do. you have a nerd brain. my point is proven.

this guide, Body Comp Basics, unpacks the first principles of fat loss and muscle growth.

 

 

 

 

to change your body composition you need to understand supply, stimulation, and signaling.

• supply: what you feed your body
• stimulation: what you do with your body
• signaling: what the lizard inside of you commands

of the three, signaling is the most important. you can’t consciously trigger fat loss or muscle growth. if you could, you’d be able to say, “Go Go Gadget Gains!” and six-pack abs would appear. this isn’t how it works.

the lizard inside of you determines what will be done in any given circumstance. you can do everything within your power to build muscle and lose fat, but if the lizard doesn’t comply, you’ll stay skinny and sloppy. Unfortunately, you can’t directly change signaling (unless you take steroids or similar drugs). You can only nudge signaling, indirectly, with stimulation and supply.

 

your body comp is a byproduct of the muscle mass and body fat you have atop your skeleton. to change your body composition you have to adjust the amount of muscle mass and/or body fat you have.

You can’t consciously trigger fat loss or muscle growth. If you could, you wouldn’t need to go to the gym. You’d be able to say, “Go Go Gadget Gains!” and six-pack abs would appear. This isn’t how it works.

there’s a lizard inside of you in charge. what the lizard commands is signaling. this lizard has hopes dreams and fears much diff. and effective needs to consider and pander and influence.

 

 

 

–

 

 

losing fat and building byproduct of changing

 

signaling is

 

• Supply: what you feed your body
• Stimulation: what you do with your body
• Signaling: what the lizard inside of you commands

Of the three, signaling is most important.

The lizard inside of you determines what will be done in any given circumstance. You can do everything within your power to build muscle and lose fat, but if the lizard doesn’t comply, you’ll stay skinny and sloppy. Unfortunately, you can’t directly change signaling (unless you take steroids or similar drugs). You can only nudge signaling, indirectly, with stimulation and supply.

Stimulating and supplying for fat loss is almost identical to stimulating and supplying for muscle growth. There’s only one tiny difference.

• Fat loss: supply less energy
• Muscle growth: supply more energy

And so, with this in mind, I suppose uncovering the energetic aspect of our existence isn’t a bad place to start.

---

whether you realize it or not (you don’t), everything you do requires energy. not just movement visible to the naked eye. everything. your heart needs energy to beat. your brain needs energy to think. your liver needs energy to squirt bile into your intestines to help you digest the chocolate-covered piece of bacon that didn’t taste good but you pretended to enjoy because it was $7.

many people think their bodies are only using energy when they’re doing deliberate exercise. this is homerun wrong. most of your body’s energy demands stem from non-deliberate physiological processes: stuff your body would do even if you were in a coma. going for a 30-minute jog is cute, but your diaphragm (a muscle above your belly) is expanding and contracting every second of every day to help you breathe.

you’re always “exercising.”

if you’re sedentary you’re like an idling car: you’re churning through fuel even though you aren’t moving. deliberate exercise increases the amount of energy your body would otherwise use idling but not by much (certainly not as much as treadmills and WHOOP watches suggest).

the amount of energy your body needs on any given day for bare-minimum essential physiological functions is known as basal metabolic rate (BMR).

in other words, BMR represents the amount of energy you’d need if you were comatose. you’re not comatose (i hope). the amount of energy your body uses on any given day is higher than your BMR. even if you’re sleeping-pill sedentary, you’re still somewhat active. i mean, you bend over to tie your shoes, don’t you?

you can estimate how much energy your non-comatose somewhat active self actually uses on any given day, something known as total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), with this equation:

BODY’S WEIGHT (IN POUNDS) x 13-15 =
AVERAGE TDEE (IN CALORIES)

and so, if you weigh 180 pounds, you can assume your body uses an amount of energy equivalent to 2340-2700 calories every day. this is an estimate. individual metabolic rates can vary for reasons beyond weight. this is also an average. even though your TDEE hovers around a certain value, it’s not like your body uses the same exact amount of energy every single day.

by the way, calories are not “fattening” or “sugar” or negative in any way.

calories are simply a unit of measurement for heat energy, much like degrees are a unit of measurement for temperature. there are no good or bad calories, just as there are no good or bad degrees (although i’m sure many liberal arts majors would disagree).

if you’re not American, you might measure a food’s energetic properties in joules. unfortunately, i’m American and i assume the world revolves around me, so i’m going to ignore joules and hit you with this useless information instead:

the “calories” you’re (probably) familiar with are big-c Calories. big-c Calories are “kilocalories,” which equals 1000 small-c calories. this distinction is rarely made. when chatting about calories, it’s safe to assume everyone is talking about Calories, which is to say “kilocalories,” even if the c is lowercase.

your trivia team can thank me later.

there are fancy TDEE calculators that take into consideration your body fat percentage, your activity levels, and how often you sneeze.

although many things do influence your TDEE, accounting for every conceivable variable often backfires thanks to invalidity and inaccuracy. for instance, those cheap at-home step-on scales that measure your body-fat percentage (by way of sending an electrical current through your body) are super sensitive to non-fat factors such as hydration. in other words, if you drink a glass of water before you step on the scale it will say you’re fatter than you really are.

there’s also our own bias to consider. when you’re asked to estimate how active you are, you’re probably going to protect your ego: TRUST ME BRO, I EXERCISE “VIGOROUSLY” AND NOT “MODERATELY.” 

after accounting for all of the errors within the extra variables of consideration, you’ll end up with a downside-up estimate of your TDEE.

no bueno.

the only way to get an accurate estimate of your TDEE is to convince a scientific establishment to lock you inside a vacuum-sealed room capable of measuring the amount of heat that radiates from your body. you don’t have access to one of these rooms, so just assume your TDEE is somewhere in the neighborhood of BWx13-15 and use common sense. if you’re an eighteen-year-old high-school three-sport athlete, you’re probably closer to BWx15. on the other hand, if you’re a seventy-year-old retired writer without a physical past, then you’re probably closer to BWx13.

your body gets the energy it needs by doing what every thirteen-year-old boy dreams of doing: lighting things on fire.

there are a finite amount of red firecrackers floating inside of you. when your body needs energy (which is always), it ignites a firecracker and, upon explosion, energy is released and used in spectacular fashion to fuel every microscopic move you make (of which farting is included).

once an internal firecracker explodes and releases energy, it’s useless. a roll of Wolf Pack firecrackers can’t explode twice. once they go, they go. this is of great concern considering your body has limited quantities of them and you need energy available every split second of every split second.

fortunately, by the power of the gods (both old and new), your body is able to repair its internal firecrackers with the food you eat. your intestines strangle every last crumb you consume into microscopic miso and use some of the resultant biochemical soup to repair its firecrackers so they can explode once again.

with a little detective work, you can estimate how much energetic material you consume on any given day.

long ago, some scientific pyromaniacs discovered three different compounds in foods, each of which gave off a standardized amount of heat when burned. this amount of heat was (and still is) assumed to equal the amount of energetic material contained within the substance (even though it’s not).

these three compounds are known as macronutrients and they are fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. their standardized heat yield upon incineration:

fats: 9 calories per gram
proteins: 4 calories per gram
carbohydrates: 4 calories per gram

this is one of many discoveries that gave rise to nutrition facts labels, which can be found on most packaged foods. nutrition fact labels tell you how many calories are in one serving of the food in question (among other things) based on how many grams of each macronutrient it contains. this is assumed to equal the amount of energetic material your body has available after digestion and absorption (even though it’s not). and so, if you track how many servings of food you eat, you can estimate how much energetic material you’re tossing into your intestines.

if there’s no nutrition facts label on the package, you can usually find a food’s nutrition facts on the internet. the salmon i bought yesterday is wrapped in white butcher paper. says there are 0.8 pounds of salmon inside, but there are no nutrition facts. after alley-ooping “salmon nutrition facts” into Google, i see three ounces of salmon contains roughly 177 calories. there are 12.8 ounces in 0.8 pounds, so the hunk of salmon i have contains roughly 700 calories.

easy.

even though your body needs free energy available every second of every day, you don’t need to eat at the same pace. 

occasionally, my pessimistic brain pokes into my thoughts (like Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny!” scene in The Shining) and reminds me that, at any moment, Earth can murder us. if oxygen vanished from the atmosphere for seven consecutive minutes tomorrow, most humans would die.

fortunately, we can survive longer than seven minutes without eating food despite needing free energy available 24/7 because we have the ability to store energetic material. similar to how a car has the ability to store fuel: cars don’t have to be connected to an electrical outlet in order to function (like vacuum cleaners). cars store energetic material inside their shells, to be used when needed.

you’re similar.

your body stores energetic material in a few different places with three notables being: liver, muscle, and adipose cells.

liver and muscle store glucose (sugar) in the form of glycogen. glucose comes primarily from the breakdown of carbohydrates, but your body can also transform proteins into glucose when necessary.

adipose cells (adipocytes) store fat in the form of triglycerides. triglycerides are derived from fats, but your body can (and will) transform carbs into triglycerides when the storage facilities for glucose are full. this is common. the liver and the muscles aren’t super spacious compared to adipose cells; adipose cells are the king of storing excess energetic material. there are tons of them and they can stretch and expand like a balloon to hold gross amounts of energetic material.

finding a home for every last drop of energetic material was a useful quirk to have long ago when food (apparently?) wasn’t hyper-available; a large pool of energy reserves widens the gap between “i can’t find food” and “i’m dead.”

at any given moment, you have energetic material floating inside of you that’s more available, sort of like keeping cash in your pocket to pay for things. when you’re running low on readily available energy, your body breaks down its reserves, sort of like pulling money from a bank account to replenish on-hand stores.

in general, you have enough energetic material inside of you to survive without food for at least three weeks. (so much for being “hangry,” Steve, shut up and get back to work.)

the ebb and flow of energy often described by ebal equation. says

supply, demand…

demand, supply…

 

this is useful info if u want to lose fat b/c, as may know or have guess, energy in adipose cells is body fat.

jiggly squishy things gives us crevices 

have distaste for body fat but actually quite useful.

if u dind’t connext, body fat is synonymous w/ adipose cells. jiggly shit around waist and arms, pent up energetic material. micrcopic ballons jiggling around. ACCUMULATING ACROSS UR ENTIRE LIFETIME!!

full of wonderful energy, prize posession, waiting to be used.

TO LOSE, QUITE SIMPLE…

BODY HAS TO USE FOR ENERGY AND DON’T FILL BACK UP.

USING FAT ISN’T DIFFICULT. ALL U HAVE TO DO IS EXIST.

MANY ppl overlook this and lean into exercise, cardio in particular. cardio aka aerobic weapon of choice b/c smart ppl know fat used for fuel. seems obvious, but kind of shortsifhted.

for starters, many ppl that do this don’t account for other half, which not filling back up. aka, run then eat donuts shit, and

sadly, ex not powerful enuf to guarantee. eating allways has upper hand. like bagel at panera 3000, take hour of carido.

only way to guarantee is to cap supply… and if you cap supply, don’t have to do cardio b/c existing uses fat. suppose cardio could (a) allow u to eat more or (b) help lose quicker, but…

(remember, energy can be transformed, so cap supply of all energetic material, really, to ensure…)

in an indirect way, this makes it seem as if the energetic component of food is the only thing that matters; it doesn’t matter what you eat, the only thing that matters is how much energetic material you mash into your maw. there’s a finger of truth to this. a nutrition professor named Mark Haub ate mostly junk food (like Doritos and Hostess cakes) for ten weeks and he lost 27 pounds. perhaps an even wilder story is that of Anthony Howard-Crow: he consumed nothing but ice cream, alcohol, and protein shakes for 100 days, and he lost 32 pounds.

energy balance may be the coup de grâce for fat loss, but there’s a catch: only living organisms can lose fat.

and in order to be a living organism, your body` also needs to extract nutrients from food; we need nutrients just as much as we need energy. even pants-pooping preschoolers know the pirates died of scurvy before they starved to death.

the three macronutrients are, indeed, nutrients, but this rabbit hole runs round and round. food also contains micronutrients like vitamins and minerals as well as phytochemicals, bacteria, and miscellaneous microscopic matter science hasn’t yet discovered. our bodies need these things to feel good and function well.

what we eat is important for our survival and general well-being because different foods contain different nutrients. and if what we eat is important for survival and general well-being, then what we eat is also important for fat loss independent of energetic material.

in a similar yet opposite direction, another consideration of supply is avoiding harmful “foods” (if you want to call them that). for example, synthetic trans fats were added to countless food products in the 1990s and early 2000s. research has since found trans fats to be so destructive inside of us, they’ve been “banned” (even though trace amounts are still permissible, which makes total sense).

and so, for fat loss, what you eat may not matter as much as how much energetic material you eat, but, in the long run, what you eat matters a great deal because nutrients (other aspects of food) affect your health and well-being.

the need for nutrients one main reasons slow and steady approach likely better.

(SAID THAT “CONTAINS” 3500…)

fat loss at odds. decrease energy, auto decrease nutrients. less u eat, less feed. can combat by eating nourishing foods, but point where need to eat enuf to nourish.

if sink too much, will be bad… and also likely kickstart a bunch of negative metabolic adaptations.

OF WHICH MUSCLE LOSS INCLUDED.

unlike body fat, muscle tissue’s primary function not energetic. in certain situations

it can be broken down and used for energy-recycling purposes, but this isn’t its primary function. muscle tissue helps you run, jump, scratch, and kick. without it, you’d be soup. you wouldn’t be able to hunt, scavenge, or defend yourself. these are important skills. from an evolutionary lens, you wouldn’t have a long life expectancy without them.

to understand why your body would “sacrifice” muscle tissue (for energetic purposes) and become a weaker (less able-bodied) organism, an analogy helps:

your body handles energy similar to how a smart accountant (not the one employed by MC Hammer) handles money.

• energy = money
• supply = income
• demand = expenses
• body fat = savings
• reserves = other stashes of money and anything you own that can be transformed into money

when expenses are larger than income, you need to find money to pay your bills (or else the mafia will murder you and your entire family). one way to get money is by reaching into your savings account. you put money away in safe storage for this exact purpose: to stay afloat when income is lackluster. you can pay your bills for a little while without having to change your lifestyle; there’s no immediate panic.

pulling from savings keeps you alive, but there’s a catch: your savings are finite. and once you run out of savings, you die. your body doesn’t want to die. sucking your savings dry like a gambling addict is a short-term band-aid (in response to an energy deficit), not a viable long-term solution.

what would you do if your expenses consistently eclipsed your income? if you were regularly pulling from your savings?

you’d probably lower your expenses to match your abysmal fixed income: sell your possessions and change your lifestyle, cancel the premium cable package, set the thermostat at a higher temperature during the summer, cancel the Brazzars subscription (where’d that come from?).

your body does the same thing during an extended energy deficit. shrinking the gap between supply and demand keeps you alive longer. FIND WAYS TO …

your body doesn’t know the difference between getting six-pack shredded and struggling to find food.

your body doesn’t know you won’t let yourself starve to death. so when an energy deficit is chronic, your body has no reason to assume the energy crisis will resolve in the near future. and so, to stave off starvation, your body uses alternative methods to settle (or try to settle) its debts.

using muscle tissue for fuel instead of body fat as previously explained is just the beginning.

a. your body can find ways to use less energy both at rest and during exercise, which will decrease your energy needs. a chunk of your energy demand is a byproduct of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is the energy you use throughout the day when moving and fidgeting: bobbing your head to music, picking your nose, walking to the beer fridge, flipping pancakes in the kitchen. during a chronic energy deficit, non-exercise “spontaneous” activity levels may decline, which will decrease your energy demand.

b. your body may make you hungrier, which will increase your cravings. you’ll be sitting at your desk at work and your stomach will rumble early and often. you’ll only be able to think about food. delicious food. you’ll search for the best barbeque joints in your area. you’ll drool. you’ll want to place an order. you won’t. you’ll eat the lunch you packed. you’ll be disappointed. you wanted barbeque. you wanted cornbread. you’ll get depressed. you’ll quit your fat-loss diet soon after.

c. your body may blunt satiety signaling, making you feel less full and satisfied after meals. you’ll eat dinner. you’ll be hungry afterward. you’ll want to snack and eat something you shouldn’t. you’ll resist at first. you’ll crumble eventually.

d. ur body can

chop down muscle tissue and use it for energy-recycling purposes. this does two things:

first, it spares body fat stores. you’ll pull money from two accounts instead of one, which will prolong the length of time it’ll take for either to run out. in other words, you’ll live longer.

second, it makes you more energy efficient. muscle makes you a bigger creature. bigger creatures require more energy. with less muscle, your daily energy demand (cost of living) will decrease and you won’t burn through energy reserves as quickly as you otherwise would.

the upsides of sacrificing muscle tissue outweigh the downsides; it’s the smart thing to do to survive the energy crisis… sometimes.

 

when your body uses muscle tissue for energy-recycling purposes, it’s a calculated decision based on perceived need. on one hand, without as much muscle, you won’t be able to move as well (or as comfortably) as you once did. on the other hand, without as much muscle, you’ll be more energy-efficient and better able to survive in a world with less energy.

this decision isn’t made in a vacuum; your body doesn’t pull an answer from a hat. if your body thinks muscle tissue is important and necessary for survival, it won’t be as quick to get rid of it.

SEGUE? and so, have to influece perception which can be done w/ superg.

no matter how scrawny you are, your body probably has some semblance of muscle mass. if you break your wrist tomorrow, a doc will put your arm in plaster. two months later, when the doc cuts your cast off, your arm will be less muscular.

your body doesn’t like wasting resources. if you don’t use your arm muscles, your body assumes they aren’t needed. no reason to waste resources keeping them around. why pay $12 every month for a Netflix subscription you never use? (i ask myself this every month. good thing my body isn’t as dumb as i am.)

assuming you’re sedentary, you built the muscle you have without trying thanks to gravity. gravity is easy to ignore. like water to a fish according to what Princess Ruto told me inside of Jabu-Jabu’s belly. to avoid further ignorance, let’s give gravity a face. one that doesn’t spit three-dimensional floor tiles at us. (i’m looking at you, Andross.)

you go in a zero gravity chamber. you’re weightless, suspended in spacetime. people wearing white lab coats enter the chamber. they puncture holes in every one of your bones. they thread ropes through each hole, and then they attach the ropes to the floor. they give each rope a specific downward pull that corresponds with its connecting bone’s mass: less mass, less aggressive pull; more mass, more aggressive pull. (in case you flunked physics, “weight” is mass multiplied by Earth’s gravity.)

this staples you to the ground; you’re no longer floating. you’re like a marionette doll, only with the strings going in the opposite direction. in order to move, you have to overcome the resistance of the rope(s) tying each particular body part to the floor. this requires muscle tissue.

you’re lifting “weights” every time you move because certain parts of your body have to maneuver other parts of your body through Earth’s gravity.

for example, when you raise your hand in the air, your shoulder girdle has to lift the weight of your upper arm, forearm, hand, and fingers. or when you do a bodyweight squat, your legs have to lift the weight of your torso, head, upper arm, forearm, hands, and fingers.

you’ve been lifting “weights” ever since you were born. this is how you built muscle without trying. talk about an ouroboros: by regularly governing the weight of your anatomy, your body assumes governing the weight of its anatomy is important for survival, and thus your body gives you what you need (muscles) to govern the weight of your anatomy.

if you stopped governing the weight of your anatomy tomorrow, your body would get rid of its muscle tissue. astronauts spend six months in a zero-gravity world and their bodies melt like fondue.

governing the weight of your anatomy signals the need for some muscle, not infinite muscle because there are bottlenecks in both directions. Earth’s gravity doesn’t change, and neither does the mass of your body parts (to a significant degree once you reach adulthood). and so, your body builds enough muscle to comfortably move the weight of its anatomy in ways it believes are essential CONGRUENT W/ RESOURCES.

this is why you don’t look like the Hulk: gargantuan muscles would be a waste of energy… unless your body regularly overcomes an ever-increasing amount of mass.

MUSCLE STOPS B/C BODY BELIEVES ENUF, BUT CAN INFLUENCE. JUST AS ASTRO GO ZERO G AND LOSE, CAN ENTER HIGHER G AND BUILD.

unfortunately, there are no Popo-piloted hyperbolic time chambers. you can’t enter a supergravity world. you have to create supergravity scenarios by manipulating your muscles’ mass-lifting responsibilities. there are two ways to do this.

first, make your muscles maneuver more anatomy than they’re currently accustomed to. your (sedentary) shoulder girdle is primarily responsible for lifting the weight of your arm, thanks to you regularly waving your arm through the air for various tasks. want to maneuver more anatomy? do push-ups and force your shoulder girdle to lift more weight (the weight of your torso).

second, add external mass to a movement. your (sedentary) shoulder girdle is primarily responsible for lifting the weight of your arm, thanks to you regularly waving your arm through the air for various tasks. want to maneuver more anatomy? hold a dumbbell and force your shoulder girdle to lift more weight (the weight of the dumbbell).

this is an oversimplified example of what supergravity scenarios entail, but it will suffice for now…

a certain flavor of supergravity stimulation sends a specific signal to the body: “we need more muscle tissue.”

WHETHER BODY LISTENS OR NOT, WELL, DEPEND A GREAT DEAL ON SUPPLY.

FOR STARTERS, MUSCLE GROWTH AS PROCESS REQUIRES ENERGY. ALSO, MAKES YOU BIGGER CREATURE AND INCREASES EXPENSES.

as mentioned in Part 2, muscle has a metabolic burden. larger muscles make you a bigger creature and bigger creatures require more energy. because of this, your body doesn’t build muscle without considering the cost; in order for your body to feel comfortable building muscle, it needs to know it will be able to support the higher cost of living associated with bigger muscles.

in some sense, building bigger muscles is like upgrading from a Corolla to a Hummer. Hummers are more expensive. they’re less fuel efficient. you won’t upgrade to the Hummer unless you think you’ll have enough long-term funds to support the transaction. otherwise, you’ll have to resell it on the secondary market at a loss. no one wants to do that.

pandering to the metabolic burden of muscle growth, most people say you need to consume a surplus of energetic material in order to foster a sense of financial comfort.

this has a downside: this is also a recipe for body fat accumulation. and so, gaining fat is usually a side effect of trying to build muscle.

usually.

there are ways to minimize fat accumulation when trying to build muscle, with the most obvious being: don’t over overeat.

although energetic stability helps with muscle growth, there’s a point of diminishing returns. at some point, more money won’t make you more comfortable purchasing something expensive. likewise, twice as many calories won’t yield twice as much muscle. it’ll just make you fat.

you need enough to reassure your body that building muscle won’t be a wasted expense, yet not enough to grow so large you become a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

ANOTHER IMP FACTOR IS PLENTY OF PROTEINS.

FAT LOSS ENERGY IS EVERYTHING, FOR MUSCLE GROWTH, NOT SO MUCH… FILLING BALOON, REAL MUSCLE GROWTH BYPRODUCT OF SKIN. REQUIRES MATERIALS.

assuming you’re nourishing your body, the most important nutrient for body composition is protein.

proteins are important because they contain nitrogen, and nitrogen is necessary for muscle growth; trying to build muscle without proteins is like trying to build a house without wood.

Old-school bodybuilders and strength enthusiasts recommended eating one gram of protein for every pound you weigh. in other words, if you weigh 205 pounds, then you should eat 205 grams of protein. recent research says you probably only need 0.7-0.8 grams of protein for every pound you weigh.

science can suck it. using a one-gram-per-pound standard makes the calculation easier. besides, i don’t care about eating a pinch more protein to ensure i’m giving my body the nutrients it needs, especially considering there’s no downside (proteins won’t damage your kidneys unless you have a pre-existing medical condition).

EATING PLENTY OF PROS WILL CREATE MOST FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT, ENCOURAGE AND NUDGE THE LIZARD.

AND ASIDE FROM ENERGY, THIS IS ALSO THE BEST WAY TO PREVENT THE BODY FROM USING MUSCLE TISSUE WHEN DEFICIT FOR FAT LOSS.

AND SO, WHEN YOU ZOOM OUT AND TAKE ALL OF THIS INTO CONSIDERATION, THE RECIPES FOR FAT LOSS AND MUSCLE GROWTH ARE ALMOST IDENTICAL .

SUPERGRAVITY STIM IS CONSTANT. FOR MUSCLE GROWTH, NECESSARY. WON’T CONVINCE LIZARD TO DO OTHERWISE. FOR FAT LOSS,NOT NECESSARY, BUT REALLY USEFUL IF YOU WANT TO RETAIN MUSCLE.

(AND JUST TO FLOAT IDEA, POSSIBLE TO BUILD. BODY CAN USE FAT, BUT NOT REALLY PREDICABLE…. AND CERTAINLY BETTER IF PROS,

EATING PLENTY OF PROTEINS TO SUPPORT

NOURHSING W/ QUALITY FOODS AND AVOIDING BAD.

ONLY DIFF LIES IN ENERGY.

FOR FAT LOSS, SUPPLY ENERGETIC MATERIAL LESS, BUT NOT TOO MUCH. AVOID DAMAGE.

FOR MUSCLE, SUPPLY ENERGETIC MORE, BUT NOT TOO MUCH. AVOID FAT.

MIGHT WONDER WHAT LOOKS LIKE, EXACTLY?

and general is to pick objective and pursue.

fat loss, small daily deficit, plenty of prteins, supergravity. might wonder about negative adaptations..

 

 

PRE

 

 

 

 

---

Diet is linked to fat loss, muscle growth, and health. These three circles converge more than diverge. The biggest chasm is between fat loss and muscle growth. In the end, however, the chasm is child’s play. There’s only one small difference between dieting for fat loss and dieting for muscle growth.

• Fat loss: supply less energy.
• Muscle growth: supply more energy.

Once the system is set, we can turn the dial in the appropriate direction with ease.

Speaking of ease, I created a calculator that handles the math that follows. You enter your weight and you get an estimate of what you should eat based on your goals. What follows is how the sauce is made. Don’t let the numbers distract you. Focus on the concepts.

If you’re returning to this and want to teleport to the calculator click here. (Not recommended unless you’ve already read through the rationale.)

NOOBTRITION is a first-principles approach to eating for a better body composition.

PRE

The first principles of eating for a better body composition have universal application. Everyone under the sun must obey them.

 

This is not a diet. This is a list of irreducible principles underpinning every successful body-composition-based diet.

Diets are recipes. They’re specific instructions you’re expected to follow in order to create a specific outcome with a specific set of ingrients.

 

 

Diets are littered with particulars. 

Particulars should consider your personality and your preferences.

What time should you eat? How many meals should you eat? What specific foods should you eat? The answers to these questions are particulars. They don’t impact the outcome enough to have black-and-white answers. Your personality and your preferences should

Not everything is as negotiable.

The principles of a diet are…

And what did, foundation of NOOBTRITION, is to pull out the first-principles of most successful body-composition based diets.

 

 

You don’t second guess what you eat when you’re young. You eat food that you think tastes good. And then, one day, you learn how food affects your body composition. Everything changes. You second guess everything you put into your body.

 

This is not a diet. Diets are recipes. The list of ingredients is the foods that are acceptable to eat. The are step-by-step instructions are the rules that tell you exactly what you should do with the ingredients

I have nothing against diets. I have my own diet called Two Meal Muscle. My diet is my diet.

NOOBTRITION attempts to tackle that question starting superficial and going granular. This bot a diet so much a collection ofl principles that basis of every successful bcomo based deit. The reason NOOBTRITION not supersoecif bc the nitty gritty of most diets are matter of preference more than matter of truth.

At least as far as

This is the backbone of my diet strategies. There’s no glitter. Just the stuff you need to get the results you want. It’s boring. By design.

PRE

Diet is linked to fat loss, muscle growth, and health. These three circles converge more than diverge. The biggest chasm is between fat loss and muscle growth. In the end, however, the chasm is child’s play. There’s only one small difference between dieting for fat loss and dieting for muscle growth.

• Fat loss: supply less energy.
• Muscle growth: supply more energy.

Once the system is set, we can turn the dial in the appropriate direction with ease.

Speaking of ease, I created a calculator that handles the math that follows. You enter your weight and you get an estimate of what you should eat based on your goals. What follows is how the sauce is made. Don’t let the numbers distract you. Focus on the concepts.

If you’re returning to this and want to teleport to the calculator click here. (Not recommended unless you’ve already read through the rationale.)

---

 

---

 

5. Symbolize

Transforming numbers into symbols.

Knowing the calorie ceiling and the protein target, you can get a better picture of what you should eat. There are many ways to do this. The “gold standard” leans into math and a nifty algorithm that says: “Eat this many grams of proteins, this many grams of carbohydrates, and this many grams of fats.”

My approach is a little more user-friendly.

At least, I think it is.

First, recall the ceiling.

The calorie ceiling is the anchor.

CUTTING: WEIGH 180 POUNDS x 12 = 2160 CALORIES
BULKING: WEIGH 180 POUNDS x 15 = 2700 CALORIES

The energetic consequence of your target protein intake falls under the umbrella of this calorie ceiling. One gram of protein “contains” four calories. (Granted, I have beef with this standard and I question how much energetic material proteins actually yield, but best practice says you should consider the energetic component of proteins.)

Second, calculate the energetic component of your target protein intake.

Take your weight, which is your target protein intake in grams, and multiply it by four.

EXAMPLE: WEIGH 180 POUNDS x 4 = 720 CALORIES

This represents the minimum energetic impact of your protein intake. As mentioned, foods that contain proteins usually contain either carbs and/or fats, so the actual energetic impact of your protein intake will be larger. We will deal with this soon. For now, roll with the minimum.

Third, find your “remainder” energy intake.

Subtract the minimum energetic impact of your protein intake from your calorie ceiling. This yields your remainder energy intake, to be split between carbohydrates and fats.

CUTTING: 2160-720= 1440 CALORIES
BULKING: 2700-720= 1980 CALORIES

I don’t play favorites. Eating a mixture of carbohydrates and fats is best, and a 50/50 split is a fine place to start. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is respecting the ceiling. Carbohydrates and fats are alternating pistons. Both can be in the middle, but when one is high, the other one better be low.

Fourth, set the symbols.

We could translate the remainder-energy-intake ceiling into more specific targets: grams of carbohydrates and grams of fats. I don’t. I like thinking about:

• Grams of proteins.
• Calories of “remainder” energy.

Instead of turning your remainder energy intake into grams of specific macronutrients, I break it into 100-calorie chunks which are symbolized by one ⚡ lightning bolt.

1440 CALORIES would be roughly 14 bolts.

• ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

1980 CALORIES would be roughly 20 bolts.

• ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

Think of a banana. In general, bananas contain 100 calories. Boom. There’s one ⚡. Making oatmeal? The nutrition facts say one cup contains 300 calories. You make one cup. Boom. There are three ⚡⚡⚡. Putting cheese on your eggs? Thanks to Google, you know 1 ounce of cheddar cheese contains a little over 100 calories. Also, you never realized cheese contained so many calories, which is why you put 500 calories worth of cheese on your eggs. Boom. There are five ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡.

I find working with ⚡ and thinking of my carbohydrate and fat intake in 100-calorie chunks to be insanely user-friendly.

Proteins get broken into 25-gram chunks, symbolized by a 🥩 steak.

180 GRAMS OF PROTEINS would be roughly 7 steaks.

• 🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩

In general, a hockey-puck-sized portion of protein-rich foods contains around 25 grams of proteins. (Think about a can of tuna — that’s the size.) This shortcut only applies to protein-rich foods.

Protein-rich foods’ macronutrient distribution skews toward protein, and there are two different categories of protein-rich foods.

First, lean proteins.

Lean proteins contain mostly proteins; their macronutrient distributions are heavily skewed in favor of protein.

Here are examples of lean proteins: chicken breast, beef liver, tuna, turkey breast, buffalo, elk, mahi-mahi, pork tenderloin, venison, scallops, shrimp, 90/10 (or higher) ground beef, greek yogurt, sardines, etc…

I discard the minuscule energetic component of lean proteins and symbolize a hockey-puck-sized portion of them with one meat symbol.

🥩 = 25 grams of lean proteins

Second, chubby proteins.

Chubby proteins contain a decent amount of protein alongside a decent amount of energetic material; their macronutrient distributions are split (somewhat) in half between proteins and carbs/fats.

Here are examples of chubby proteins: pulled pork, turkey legs and thighs, chicken legs and thighs, cottage cheese, salmon, most unflavored and unsweetened yogurts, eggs…

Because of their energetic burden, a hockey-puck-sized portion of chubby proteins get symbolized with one meat symbol and one lightning bolt.

🥩 = 25 grams of lean proteins
⚡ = 100 calories of energy

There exists a third category of proteins called purgatory proteins, which contain a small number of proteins alongside a higher amount of energetic material; their macronutrient distributions are skewed against protein.

Examples of purgatory proteins: black beans, almonds, peanut butter, sausage, milk, most cheeses

Although the proteins in these foods “count,” they usually contain too much energetic material to be relied on for the bulk of your protein intake under “normal” circumstances. If you’re a vegan and you don’t eat meat, you have to rely on purgatory proteins, which will restrict your food choices. You’ll have to make sure the carbohydrate- and fat-dominant foods you eat also contain some semblance of proteins.

Fifth, symbols to foods.

Now we need to turn the symbols into specific foods and meals, which is something I refer to as “diet design.”

This isn’t an exact science. Your personality and preferences are important.

1. General principles:

First, frequency.

Not long ago, everyone thought eating frequent small meals increased metabolism, leading to better fat loss. This has been debunked. The quantity of food consumed across the day matters more than how often you eat. In other words, it doesn’t matter how often you eat… for fat loss.

For muscle growth, there’s some evidence suggesting 3-4 meals might be ideal as long as…

Second, proteins.

Protein should be at the center of every feeding and you should split your protein intake somewhat evenly across your meals.

The reason 3-4 meals might be ideal as long as they’re centered around proteins

goes back to the old adage about the body only being able to use a certain amount of proteins in a certain period of time.

by “pulsing” you give body enough, not too much, then later, more receptive.

However, most research in this area is done with protein supplements, which have a notoriously fast absorption rate.

Whole-food proteins take longer to digest, especially when mixed with other foods. Also, certain factors influence how many proteins your body can use in a certain period of time. For instance, your body might be more receptive to a surge of proteins after a muscle-based training session or after a period of fasting.

Personally, I haven’t eaten more than two meals per day since 2011. And during the most muscularly-prosperous time of my life, I was only eating one meal per day. (Of course, there’s no way to know if I would have gained more muscle if I was eating more often.)

If you want to live and die by the (somewhat qestionable) science, eat 3-4 meals and split your protein intake evenly across those meals.

I say, for starters, eat however many meals you want as long as you eat respectable portion of proteins every meal. Far more important than meal freq is…

Third, consistency.

Select a meal frequency and schedule you can see yourself sticking to. For instance, as mentioned I eat two. If love breakfast then elim, too much resistance.

in the end, structure you want to settle into eating same number of meals daily and eating those meals at the same time.

Your body will regulate hunger and appetite around your schedule. If you eat breakfast every day at nine o’clock, you’ll be hungry (or, at least, you’ll want to eat) every day at nine o’clock.

Avoid unplanned feedings. Eat when you’re supposed to eat. Don’t eat when you aren’t supposed to eat. Snacking shouldn’t be impulsive. If you like to snack, it should be accounted for ahead of time.

–

peri-workout nutrition.

overblown.

 

My ideas:

composition.

In general, each meal should have [1] at least one protein-dense food, [2] some plant carbs and/or fruit, and [3] an appropriate portion of energy carbs or fats.

Fifth, boring.

Eating the same meals every day makes life easier. You’ll know what to buy at the supermarket every week. You’ll learn how to prepare and cook your meals in a time-efficient matter. Everything becomes more habitual, and thus easier. If you need variety in your diet, I suggest making one meal a misfit meal. In other words, eat the same breakfast daily and the same lunch daily, but vary your dinners every day.

 

 

but before we do we need to talk logistics.

First, meal frequency doesn’t really matter.

 

Here are things that should sway:

First, when do you enjoy eating?

Second, consistency.

More important than how many meals you eat is having a schedule and being consistent.

 

 

 

Transforming these symbols into

 

 

2. Personal particulars:

First, foods.

Identify foods you can afford and can see yourself eating regularly within each core category. Here are my foods:

Proteins: chicken breasts, chicken thighs, ground beef and muscle meats, organ meats (specifically liver and heart), salmon, sardines, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, kefir, and milk.

Energy carbs: raw honey, fruits, potatoes, and rice.

Plant carbs: cabbage, sauerkraut, carrots, broccoli, onions, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus.

Fats: cheeses, olive oil, butter, and peanut butter.

Your list should look different. My list looks different every year. I wasn’t eating liver or sardines a few months ago. I couldn’t stomach them. I learned to like them because of their health benefits.

Eat what you can eat.

Second, meals.

Combine the foods from the exercise above into appetizing meals. Of course, “appetizing” is subjective. I eat sardines and sauerkraut for lunch. I don’t expect you to do the same. Remember the template:

• Protein-dense food
• Plant carbs and/or fruit
• Sane portion of energy carbs or fats

Be sure to consider the logistics of each meal. For instance, if you don’t have time to cook in the morning, don’t plan on eating steak and eggs. Or if you eat lunch in a crowded break room, don’t plan on eating loud-smelling tuna.

3. Sloppy specifics:

I can’t create meals for you, but I can give you an example of what all of this might look like atop three square meals.

Assume a weight of 180 pounds:

🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
♾️🥦

Breakfast

Six eggs 🥩🥩⚡⚡
Banana (or other fruit) ⚡
Kefir 🥩⚡

Lunch

Sardines (or chicken breast) 🥩
Apple (or other fruit) ⚡
Carrots (or other plant carb) 🥦

Dinner

Ground beef 🥩🥩⚡⚡
Steamed broccoli (or other plant carb) 🥦
Small bowl of rice (or other energy carb) ⚡
Cottage cheese 🥩🥩⚡⚡
Blueberries ⚡

For variety, you can keep the template intact and change some of the foods. For instance, for dinner:

Salmon 🥩🥩⚡⚡
Steamed broccoli (or other plant carb) 🥦
Baked potato (or other energy carb) ⚡
Cottage cheese 🥩🥩⚡⚡
Blueberries ⚡

There are many ways you can move things around to better suit your personality. For instance, I like eating a bigger dinner. I’d opt for leaner proteins at breakfast (instead of eggs), which would give me more energetic freedom at the dinner table.

In the end, this matters most:

🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
♾️🥦

How you put it into play should pander to your preferences and your personality.

 

 

 

, important to settle some logistics matters.

First, meal frequency doesn’t really matter. Not long ago, boost metabolism, no. For fat loss, quantity matters more.

Now, there’s some nuance here b/c if you ate all before bed, tummy upset.

some evidence suggesting for muscle growth, maybe better off spreading and putting protein. LEUCINE THRESHOLD

in general, just say, doesn’t matter how many, just make proteins center and, in general, should consist of something else, too. protein shake not really “meal.”

w/ this, here things to consider.

first, convenience.

second, consistency.

third, post workouts?

Few people like hearing this but best to know what and when and to stick with the plan. Spontaneity is enemy. Routine helps. Helps everything from…

This isn’t to say eat same things. Helps, but not difficult to create meals for each day that hit. Point being

 

 

 

 

CUTTING:

180 GRAMS OF PROTEINS
🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩
1440 CALORIES OF ENERGY
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

BULKING:

180 GRAMS OF PROTEINS
🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩
1980 CALORIES OF ENERGY
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

 

 

 

 

5. Logistics

Before we talk about specific foods, important to settle some logistics matters.

First, meal frequency doesn’t really matter. Not long ago, boost metabolism, no. For fat loss, quantity matters more.

Now, there’s some nuance here b/c if you ate all before bed, tummy upset.

some evidence suggesting for muscle growth, maybe better off spreading and putting protein. LEUCINE THRESHOLD

in general, just say, doesn’t matter how many, just make proteins center and, in general, should consist of something else, too. protein shake not really “meal.”

w/ this, here things to consider.

first, convenience.

second, consistency.

third, post workouts?

 

 

 

8. Picture

Turning symbols into foods

 

From here, we have a nice drag-and-drop framework to work with. The only difference between cutting and bulking is the amount of remainder energetic material.

 

CUTTING:

180 GRAMS OF PROTEINS
🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩
1440 CALORIES OF ENERGY
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

BULKING:

180 GRAMS OF PROTEINS
🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩
1980 CALORIES OF ENERGY
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

cramming into however many meals you decide to eat and then applying specific foods.

tips?

This something you have to do for yourself.

For instance, I eat

 

 

–

how to put into day? well, depends on personality. and prerefences. from afar, matters most. to see how i use, two meal muscle.

 

 

Here are some things to consider when selecting specific foods to eat to reach this protein quota:

 

What foods do you enjoy eating? You won’t get very far if you’re eating foods you hate every meal. Of course, extending beyond your comfort zone for health purposes isn’t a bad thing (eat liver!), but you should look forward to eating most of your meals.

What foods can you afford? You don’t have to eat steak every meal. I eat sardines every day for lunch. They are cheap. (But not as cheap as canned tuna.)

What foods are convenient and match the mood of your meals? Does your lunch need to be handheld? Portable?

What’s the nutrient yield? Canned tuna is cheaper than sardines, but sardines are 10x healthier. Beef liver is nature’s multivitamin. Grass-fed beef is chock full of good stuff.

What’s the energetic consequence? Unfortunately, proteins aren’t foods. Foods that contain protein

 

 

 

select number of meals. spread proteins somewhat evenly.

 

5. Algorithm

Knowing the calorie ceiling and the protein target, a nifty algorithm arises to help us solve the remainder of the puzzle. Luckily, computers can work through algorithms with ease. What follows is how the sauce is made. Afterward, there’s a calculator that will do all of this math for you.

1. CALORIE CEILING

Find your calorie ceiling by multiplying your weight by twelve for fat loss or by fifteen for muscle growth.

BWx12 = CUT
BWx15 = BULK

I weigh 180 pounds, therefore my calorie ceiling for fat loss is 2160 calories. For muscle growth, it’s X

2. PROTEIN TARGET

Multiply your weight by one.

BWx1

I weigh 180 pounds, therefore my target protein intake is 180 grams, regardless of my goal.

3. PROTEIN’S IMPACT

Calculate the minimum caloric impact of your protein intake by multiplying your protein target by four.

(BWx1)x4

My target protein intake is 180 grams, therefore the minimum caloric impact of my protein intake is 720 calories. This is labeled “minimum caloric impact” because macronutrients are foods. Foods contain proteins, but they also contain carbs and/or fats.

And so, as a consequence of reaching your protein quota with real foods, you will most certainly consume more than 720 calories. This is okay. Just calculate the minimum for now.

4. REMAINDER CALORIES

After factoring out the minimum caloric impact of your target protein intake, delegate the remainder of calories evenly between carbs and fats.

CALORIE CEILING – PROTEIN CALORIES

My calorie ceiling is 2160 calories and the minimum caloric impact of my protein intake is 720 calories. This means I have 1440 calories remaining to be split equally across carbs and fats. This means 720 calories go toward carbs and 720 calories go toward fats. 

NOTE:

Wars have been waged over both of these macronutrients. Not long ago, fats were demonized. CHOLESTEROL KILLS! EGGS ARE BAD FOR YOU! FAT MAKES YOU, UHHH, FAT? Energy carbs have also walked the plank. INSULIN IS EVIL! ANTI-NUTRIENTS! FRUIT IS SUGAR! YOU DON’T NEED CARBS TO SURVIVE!

Eh.

The Okinawans eat mostly carbs, specifically potatoes. They have one of the longest reported life spans of any culture and they aren’t nearly as fat as carbohydrate-conscious First World goobers. The Inuits eat mostly fat, specifically whale blubber. They rarely ever get heart disease.

I don’t have the audacity (stupidity?) to condemn energy carbs or fats without valid medical reasons. (If your throat swells up and you almost die when you eat bread, then, yeah, maybe you shouldn’t eat carbs.) Both energy carbs and fats are useful.

Fats are essential, meaning we need them to survive, yet we can’t produce them ourselves.

FAV FATS?

Granted, fats have over twice the energy as an equivalent amount of carbs. It’s easy to overeat fats, which is why I can’t be within a ten-foot radius of pistachios. This doesn’t make them “evil,” though.

The primary argument against carbs is that they are non-essential, meaning we don’t need them to survive. True. But this doesn’t mean they’re dangerous. In the late 1930s, Dr. Walter Kempner put his patients (many had high blood pressure and kidney issues) on a strict diet consisting mostly of white rice, fruit, juices, and sugar. In one study of 106 patients, everyone lost at least 99 pounds.

FAV CARBS; FRUITS, POTATOES; HONEY

Beyond recognizing different foods have different nutrients, when it comes to carbohydrates and fats, the most important thing is keeping overall energy intake aligned with your goal.

For starters, I delegate the remainder of calories across carbs and fats equally, 50/50, but you can distribute them however you want as long as you respect your ceiling.

5. CALORIES TO GRAMS

Turn the caloric allotment for carbs and fats into grams. There are four calories in one gram of carbohydrate. There are nine calories in one gram of fat.

CARBS CALS / 4
FAT CALS / 4

I can eat 720 calories of carbs, which equates to 180 grams of carbs. I can eat 720 calories of fats, which equates to 80 grams of fats.

6. SYNTHESIZE

ENERGY CEILING: 2160 CALORIES
PROTEIN TARGET: 180 GRAMS
CARB ALLOTMENT: 180 GRAMS
FAT ALLOTMENT: 80 GRAMS

7. AUTOPILOT

Getting these numbers is so easy the computer can do it for us:

CALCULATOR ~

The difficult part is turning these numbers into foods and meals.

 

 

 

Pick proteins wisely.

pro plays center and so important to pick. beyond enjoyment, “other.” macros aren’t foods and so baggage…

 

 

Increasing your protein is a bit more complicated than “eating more proteins” because many foods that contain proteins also contain carbs and/or fats. As long as you’re eating Mother Nature’s foods there’s nothing inherently negative about carbs and/or fats attached to proteins, however, overall energy intake is the dial determining the direction of your diet.

• More energy = muscle-growth focused
• Less energy = fat-loss focused

And so, “secondary” energy accompanying protein sources can’t be ignored, especially if you’re trying to lose fat. For instance, wellness websites (with pastel color schemes) often list peanut butter as a good source of proteins, but the overwhelming majority of peanut butter isn’t protein.

Here are the specific nutrition facts, according to Google, per one serving (two tablespoons):

Fat: 16 grams
Carbs: 6 grams
Protein: 8 grams

In order to get 100 grams of proteins via peanut butter, you’d have to eat around 12 servings, which would also amass 192 grams of fat and 2256 total calories.

Peanut butter contains protein, but it’s not a protein-dense food. Relying on peanut butter for a large portion of your protein intake will amass a bunch of extra energetic material. Usually not good.

In order to better navigate “secondary” energy accompanying protein sources, we can crack proteins into three different categories:

Lean proteins.

Foods that contain mostly proteins are lean proteins.

Here are examples of lean proteins: white meat chicken breast, tuna, lean turkey (breast), buffalo, elk, mahi-mahi, pork tenderloin, venison, scallops, shrimp, 90% lean or higher beef, unsweetened and unflavored Greek yogurt, etc…

Look at chicken breast:

• Serving: 3 oz
• Calories: 128
• Proteins: 26 g
• Fats: 2.7 g
• Carbs: 0 g

Chubby proteins.

Foods with a decent amount of proteins alongside a decent amount of energetic material are chubby proteins.

Here are examples of chubby proteins: pulled pork, dark meat turkey, cottage cheese, dark meat chicken, sardines, salmon, unsweetened and unflavored yogurt, eggs…

Look at cottage cheese:

• Serving: one cup (225 g)
• Calories: 222
• Proteins: 25 g
• Fats: 10 g
• Carbs: 8 g

Purgatory proteins.

Foods that contain a small number of proteins alongside a decent amount of energetic material are purgatory proteins.

Here are examples of purgatory proteins: milk, kefir, cheese, nuts (peanuts, almonds, pistachios), seeds (sunflower, chia, flax), grains…

Look at almonds:

• Serving: 1/4 cup
• Calories: 170
• Proteins: 6 g
• Fats: 15 g
• Carbs: 5 g

Categorizing protein-containing foods in relation to their accompanying energetic material is useful, especially when you’re trying to keep your protein intake high and energy intake low (ideal for fat loss). Even when you’re bulking and you have more energetic leeway, you don’t have infinite leeway; you need to keep an eye on your energy intake. In general, no matter your goal, lean and chubby proteins will anchor your protein intake.

 

ultimately pro matters most, but ..

fat loss; lean toward lean

muscle growth; little more lax…

this just general rule and preference. could fully eat lb fatty ground meat and chill if down. imo, more variety and in order to have leeway, leans important

Choose carbs with care.

w/ pro, have idea that macros really not great, and can also see w/ carbs. subset of carbs

The foods usually associated with “carbohydrates” are what I refer to as energy carbs.

ENERGY CARBS

Energy carbs contain higher levels of starch and sugar.

Examples of energy carbs: potatoes, oats, rice, grains, pasta, bread, flour-based products, corn, fruits (apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, kiwis, grapefruits, kumquats, pears, pineapples, grapes…), berries (blueberries, raspberries…)…

Look at potatoes:

• • Serving: 200 grams
  • Calories: 154
  • Proteins: 4 g
  • Fats: 0 g
  • Carbs: 34 g

PLANT CARBS

Plant carbs contain lower levels of starch and sugar.

Examples of plant carbs: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, celery, eggplant, onions, asparagus, sprouts, lettuce, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini…

Look at broccoli:

• • Serving: 200 grams
  • Calories: 68
  • Proteins: 5 g
  • Fats: 0 g
  • Carbs: 14 g

Plant carbs are complex fibrous foods with a skewed volume-to-energy ratio. They don’t contain much energetic material. For instance, you can eat three times the amount of broccoli (in volume) as you can potatoes, for the same caloric yield.

• 200 g raw broccoli = 68 cals.
• 200 g red potatoes = 178 cals.

Factoring out fiber (5 grams), 200 grams of broccoli contains closer to 50 calories. (Fiber is a type of carbohydrate your body can’t digest, which means it doesn’t yield energetic material.)

Given the opportunity to eat unlimited broccoli, you’ll probably hit a point of fullness (or boredom) before you’re able to amass a bunch of energetic material. Most plant carbs follow the same trend. This isn’t to say the energy in broccoli (or other plant carbs) doesn’t “count.” It does. But, in general, because of their volume-energy-fiber ratio, you can eat a lot of them without worrying about amassing excess energetic material.

Drink ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

==

As a crude estimation, one hockey-puck-sized portion of lean proteins and chubby proteins contains around 20-30 grams of protein. (Think: 5-ounce can of tuna.) Using this shortcode, you can estimate what your real-food protein intake should look like.

I weigh 205 pounds, so I need to eat around 7-10 hockey pucks of protein-dense food every day. Let’s make this a bit more tangible:

🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩

Each hunk of meat represents around 20-30 grams of protein-dense food. (Some of these foods may have accompanying energetic material. We will deal with this later.)

My favorite sources of proteins are chicken breasts, chicken thighs, ground beef and muscle meats, organ meats (specifically liver and heart), salmon, sardines, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, kefir, and milk.

Contrary to popular belief, meats and protein-dense foods are some of the healthiest foods in the world. Liver is nature’s multivitamin. I eat 1-3 ounces of liver almost every day. (Liver is so nutrient-dense, you don’t have to eat much; eating too much liver might result in overconsumption of certain nutrients and minerals, especially if you’re taking supplements.) Sardines are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and they aren’t contaminated with metals like other canned fish. Kefir is great for your gut health.

Fourth, pattern.

Center your meals around proteins; spread your protein intake somewhat evenly across your meals.

 

 

 

Much more important than meal frequency is meal patterning. Create a feeding schedule and don’t deviate unless absolutely necessary. Avoid snacking and unplanned eating.

Eat breakfast at the same time. Eat lunch at the same time. Eat dinner at the same time.

body will regulate hunger appetite, everything around schedule. really helps to have one and stick. more chaotic, tough.

 

 

MAKE A LIST OF PROTEIN-RICH FOODS YOU CAN SEE YOURSELF EATING AT EVERY MEAL.

NUMBER, ENERGY.

 

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO REGULATE ENERGY:

THERE’S A LAZY WAY AND THERE’S A ____ WAY.

GONNA GO B/C I FIND USEFUL AND

—

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned (many times), we derive energetic material from the three macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Here are the standards:

• Fats: 9 calories per gram
• Proteins: 4 calories per gram
• Carbohydrates: 4 calories per gram

Based on the calorie-per-gram breakdown of each macronutrient, you’d be inclined to say proteins and carbs contain less energy; they have less than half the energy of fats.

You’d be right.

You’d also be wrong.

The macronutrients’ calorie-per-gram standards are somewhat misleading. For instance, they don’t account for the thermic effect of food: Your body uses energy to digest food (digestion is like exercise for your intestines). And different foods and substances require different amounts of energy to break down and process. For example, you need more energy to digest and absorb proteins as compared to both carbs and fats.

• Proteins cost 20-30% of their calories
• Carbs cost 5-6% of their calories
• Fats cost 3% of their calories

In other words, if you eat 100 calories of carbs, you’ll have 95 calories of energetic material leftover to use, whereas if you eat 100 calories of proteins, you’ll only have 70-80 calories of energetic material leftover to use.

Fats and carbs yield more energetic material than proteins, even when eaten in the same (exterior) caloric quantity.

Adding to this, your body doesn’t really like to use proteins for energetic material. (I’ll try keep this explanation brief.) Your body and brain have two primary energy-recycling substances. First, glucose, which comes from broken-down carbohydrates. Second, triglycerides, which come from dietary fat and potentially carbohydrates. (When glucose storage facilities are full, your body will transform free-floating glucose into a fatty acid for storage. Your body can store waaaayyyy more fat than glucose.)

In order to use proteins as energy-recycling substances, your body has to convert them to either glucose (carbs) or triglycerides (fats). Your body only does this when absolutely necessary.

I’m not dumb enough (or smart enough?) to say proteins can’t or won’t be used for energy-recycling purposes. However, don’t think it’s a stretch to say accumulating energetic material is more difficult when eating proteins (specifically lean proteins) as opposed to carbohydrates or fats… unless the type of carbohydrates in question are plant carbohydrates.

 

—

HEADLINE

Lean proteins and plant carbs are lower-energy foods. Chubby proteins, purgatory proteins, energy carbs, and fats are higher-energy foods.

Higher-energy foods aren’t inherently unhealthy.

 

 

 

=====================

 

The gold standard for keeping tabs on energy intake is keeping a tally of what you eat. generally, best results use this in conjunction w/ lazy.

calculating, then weighing and measuring.

algorithm stays the same, only major diff is calorie ceiling.

FOR FAT LOSS want conservative deficit, which set your body’s weight (in pounds) by twelve. Low enough to facilitate fat loss, high enough to keep you nourished (assuming you eat nourishing foods). You should lose at least one pound per week. If you weigh 180 pounds, your calorie ceiling is 2160 calories. Generally lose around 1 pound per week. Perhaps more in early thank to fluid, but long run average.

FOR MUSCLE GROWTH want conservative surplus, which much trickier. Generally start at 15-16.

generally gain around 2 pounds per month. gaining more, most likely getting fat. this is a tricky line to walk b/c bw can fluctuate by pounds, so one of those things might have to get adjusted. aka, if start and one month sam average, maybe increase tiny. if you start and 4-5, maybe decrease slightly.

w/ celing set, remainder of algo stays the same. one gram, and c/f split as long as ceiling, okay.

 

FAT LOSS CALCULATOR

Notes

One gram of pro: symbol. Each repreents 20-30, hockey puck sized portion.

non-starchy, unlimited. toggle the other if nnot working

energy; in form of starchy sugary or fats OR CHUBBY.

if any previous MEAT SYMBOL is chubby, attach bolt. once that, have remainer which can split between or however you prefer. each bolt represents about 100 cals.

 

MUSCLE GROWTH CALCULATOR

Notes

 

 

NEXT PART: TRANSFO

 

 

NEXT PART: Q & A

 

STRATEGY (LAST CATEGORY) CUT FOR EXTENDED PERIODS, THEN BULK… OR ALTERNATE.

 

 

 

Fat loss: less

Muscle growth: more

Thus far, we’ve established a crude system for each direction.

No matter what:

• Stay hydrated
• Eat Mother Nature’s foods
• Eat plenty of proteins

For fat loss:

Rely on lean proteins and plant carbohydrates. Be measured with chubby proteins, purgatory proteins, energy carbs, and fats (eat some, don’t go overboard).

For muscle growth:

 

 

alas, a bit too vague. b/c reality is less, but not too much. and on flip side, more but not too more. best w/ narrow window and best to put more precise numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

zoomed in.

center each feeding around proteins and either plant carbs or fruits. eat a hockey-puck-sized portion of proteins and a baseball-sized portion of either plant carbs or fruits. eat energy carbs and fats with meals as desired. eat until satiated. don’t eat until stuffed.

still not losing fat?

first, eliminate some of the non-lean proteins, fats, and energy carbs (fruit should be the last energy carb eliminated). use only one bun for sandwiches. fry eggs in less butter. making a few small changes like this every meal will shrink energy supply.

second, substitute foods with lean proteins and energy carbs. substitution is easier than elimination. this is why people trying to quit smoking find something else to do instead of smoke (eat pretzels).

Eating pulled pork?
Replace it with pork tenderloin.

Eating red meat?
Replace it with turkey or chicken.

Eating rice?
Replace half your serving with broccoli.

easy.

Haley Joel Osment saw dead people. i see energy.

• lean proteins 🥩: not energy
• plant carbs 🥦: not energy
• chubby proteins ⚡: energy
• fats & energy carbs ⚡: energy

you can use this heuristic to decode what you eat, to see how much energy you’re eating, and thus how likely you are to gain or lose fat.

cereal with milk for breakfast?
cereal = ⚡
milk = ⚡

turkey sandwich and chips for lunch? 
bread = ⚡
mayo = ⚡
turkey = 🥩
chips = ⚡

with this, if you want to bias your diet toward fat loss, you can either eliminate some energy-dense foods or replace them with lean proteins and plant carbs.

problem.

with lazy fat loss, it’s easy to undereat. undereating can trigger undesirable metabolic adaptations. you have been warned. i am absolved of liability. this is my approach. i am not recommending this approach.

reality.

at some point, you’ll probably need to keep an eye on everything you put into your body.

 

 

 

 

 

Aligning nutrients to muscle growth (by eating one gram of proteins per one pound of weight) has an energetic consequence.

 

 

assuming 205, 205 grams would yield x cals at minimum. in reality b/c foods aren’t macros and most prots have other, would give more.

however, these “standards” are somewhat misleading.

 

 

 

considering proteins set at one gram, accomplishing automatically increases b/c proteins have cals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

–

 

 

 

as u can see, meat and dairy. if by chance ur against… (more later, q and a)

 

 

LEAN, CHUBBY, PURGATORY

 

 

 

 

 

Thirst is different than hunger. Hunger is an itch for energy and nutrients. Thirst is an itch for liquids and hydration. There’s some overlap between these two sensations, but there’s a reason we have them both.

We thirst for liquids (and not solids) because liquids do a better job of hydrating us.

Imagine putting your favorite meal into a blender and drinking the resultant liquid. Not the same experience. Drinking things is different than eating things.

Liquids bypass our satiety circuitry. We don’t treat them the way we treat solid foods, which is a problem. Do your best to reverse-engineer liquids into solid foods and treat them equally.

Put your favorite meal in a blender

Ultra-low-calorie beverages like black coffee and tea are fine. Sparkling water is also fine (avoid plastic bottles if you can). As with foods, low-processed liquids are better than high-processed liquids. Milk and kefir are 10x better than sugar-soaked sodas.

If you’re addicted to sugar-soaked sodas, ween yourself from them with sugar-free sodas. Studies show artificial sweeteners aren’t the wretched hive of scum and villainy people once thought they were. (Don’t get me wrong, you’re better off without artificial sweeteners in your diet, but, at the same time, it’s probably better to drink sugar-free sodas as opposed to sugar-full sodas. Especially if you’re trying to lose fat.)

You can drink calorie-containing beverages as long as you reverse-engineer them into solid foods and are mindful of quality.

Even if you account for the energy inside of sugar-soaked sodas, they still aren’t good for you.

Sugar-soaked sodas aren’t good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

NUMBER, MUSCLE

much debate over muscle. old school bulk, more and more slight surplus, 200.

 

 

 

VANILLA STRATEGY:

Fat loss until solid.

Slight surplus for muscle, gain slow, until six-pack abs fade.

Return

 

 

 

 

Underneath the umbrella of Mother Nature’s food, there are certain foods that contain more energy and certain foods that contain less energy. Based on the calories-per-gram breakdown of each macronutrient, you’d be inclined to say proteins and carbs contain less energy; they have less than half the energy as fats.

You’d be right.

You’d also be wrong.

Overt calorie yield doesn’t tell the whole story. For instance, the chemical soup leftover after your body digests proteins isn’t ideal energy recycling material. Your body can and will use the broken bits and bytes for energy when necessary, but, when given the choice, your body would rather use carbohydrates and/or fats for energetic purposes.

Proteins also have a higher thermic effect than both carbs and fats, which is to say: proteins require more energy to digest. In other words, fats and carbs yield more calories than proteins, even when eaten in the same (exterior) caloric quantity.

Eating plenty of proteins will help you control your energy intake.

Unfortunately, you can’t eat proteins. Macronutrients aren’t foods. There’s no such thing as “protein.” There are only foods.

Some foods contain proteins. Many of these same foods also contain “other.” Proteins may not be easily converted to body fat, but “other” probably will be. Peanut butter is a great example.

 

Fiber.

Fiber is a type of carbohydrate your body can’t digest, which means fiber can’t be used for energy-recycling purposes. There are 20 grams of carbs in 1/2 cup of black beans, but 7 of those 20 grams come from fiber. In other words, black beans only have 13 grams of “useable” carbs, which means they don’t yield as many carbs (and thus, calories) as the raw numbers suggest.

(Still, even after accounting for fiber, black beans are still a non-lean protein…)

Carbs.

Since you’re (now) familiar with fiber, this shouldn’t be surprising: not all carbs are equal. When you think of “carbs,” you probably think of starchy-sugary carbs.

Examples of starchy-sugary carbs: potatoes, oats, rice, grains, starches, pasta, bread, flour-based products, corn, apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, kiwis, grapefruits, kumquats, berries, pears, pineapples, grapes, etc…

There’s a big difference between starchy-sugary carbs and non-starchy carbs.

Examples of non-starchy carbs: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, celery, eggplant, onions, asparagus, sprouts, lettuce, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini…

Non-starchy carbs are complex fibrous carbs with a skewed volume-to-energy ratio.

Check this out:

• 200g raw broccoli = 68 cals.
• 200g red potatoes = 178 cals.

You can eat three times the amount of broccoli (in volume) as you can potatoes, for the same caloric yield without even factoring out fiber. Chances are, if you go H.A.M. on broccoli, you’re going to hit a substantial point of fullness (or boredom) before you’re able to amass a bunch of energy.

Most non-starchy carbohydrates follow the same trend: They have a low energy yield per their volume and they’re loaded with fiber and other beneficial nutrients. You can eat a lot of them without worrying about amassing excess energetic material.

If you eat lean proteins and non-starchy carbs you will keep your energy consumption to a minimum.

Sort of like how you’ll automatically keep your spending on a leash if you shop at DollarTree instead of Best Buy.

Question:

Are you eating plants and proteins? Specifically lean proteins? Or are you plowing a bunch of energy into your piehole?

 

 

 

 

third, proteins. one gram

fourth, c and f…

fifth, my system.

sixth, modulate energy

 

 

FOR FAT LOSS

 

conservative.

to minimize muscle loss and undesirable metabolic adaptations, i recommend using a conservative calorie deficit. in general, a conservative calorie deficit is 500 calories below your average daily energy need.

if you’re maintaining your weight, you can assume your energy feed is on par with your energy feed. to reach a conservative deficit, you’d eat 500 fewer calories than you currently are. alternatively, you can calculate a conservative calorie ceiling by multiplying your weight (in pounds) by twelve.

if you weigh 180 pounds and you want to lose fat, then you should eat 2150 calories per day.

 

math.

upon creating a daily 500 calorie deficit, the numbers suggest you’d lose around one pound of fat per week.

• Sunday: (-500)(-500)
• Monday: (-500)(-1000)
• Tuesday: (-500)(-1500)
• Wednesday: (-500)(-2000)
• Thursday: (-500)(-2500)
• Friday: (-500)(-3000)
• Saturday: (-500)(-3500)

of course, the math isn’t this clean in real life, but this isn’t a bad expectation to have.

 

this is a guide to linear-progress programming, which is a strategic (yet simple) way to express more strength every time you lift.

---

linear-progress programs are the simplest and most straightforward way for a beginner to get stronger. most people in the gym would be better off ditching whatever program they’re on and starting a linear-progress program.

on a linear-progress program, you express more strength every time you lift. there are a few ways to express more strength. the two most overt ways: using more weight or doing more reps.

linear progress can be milked for a long time if you know how to dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation. learning the steps of this dance is easiest to do in the shadow of a specific program. with that in mind, let’s take a look at Starting Strength.

Starting Strength is one of the most popular linear progression programs on the internet.

i teethed myself on Starting Strength in 2007. i was a Starting Strength junkie. Rippetoe was my god.

things are different now. unless you want to be a competitive powerlifter, i don’t recommend Starting Strength. (reasons are aplenty, now isn’t the time to indulge.) still, i’m going to use Starting Strength as a vehicle to explain the basics of linear-progression programming.

keep in mind, the thoughts that follow are mine (even though they heavily are informed by my former obsession with Starting Strength). the horse’s mouth is a combination of Starting Strength and Practical Programming, which are physical books (the horror). both are worth your money if you’re in this game for the long haul.

i’m butchering both books here, instead of simply pointing you in their direction because i’m arrogant enough to think my perspective and portrayal of linear progression programming is easier to digest and unique enough to stand alone.

 

 

during Phase 1 of Starting Strength, you rotate between two different training days.

Day A

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Bench Press (3×5)
C. Deadlift (1×5)

DAY B

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Overhead Press (3×5)
C. Deadlift (1×5)

(if you’re used to body-part splits, the look of this program might give you shell shock. suspend your disbelief. stick with me.)

you lift three days per week on non-consecutive days. there’s a two-day break after the third training day. the classic Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule works, as does any combination that respects the rule.

you rotate between the two training days like this:

Week one:

Monday – Day A
Wednesday – Day B
Friday – Day A

Week two:

Monday – Day B
Wednesday – Day A
Friday – Day B

on the third week, you’re back to the week one configuration.

notations.

the numbers in the parenthesis refer to the number of sets and reps you do. i always list sets before reps, so (3×5) is three sets of five reps. (it makes more sense to list reps before sets, but i’m too old to correct myself.)

the letters prior to the exercises dictate the order of operations. do exercise A first, complete all sets. do exercise B second, complete all sets. do exercise C third, complete all sets.

work sets (across).

the sets and reps listed for each exercise in the program refer to work sets. work sets drive progress. they’re the sets you track over time.

the work sets in Starting Strength are done in a sets-across fashion, meaning you lift the same weight for every work set. (3×5) means do 3 sets of 5 reps at “x” weight.

(3×5)@225

three sets of five reps at 225 pounds.

first work set: 5 reps @ 225 pounds
second work set: 5 reps @ 225 pounds
third work set: 5 reps @ 225 pounds

you should also do warm-up sets in addition to your work sets.

warm-up.

you should warm up prior to your work sets.

optional: increase your body temperature and get your blood flowing in a generalized manner. spend a few minutes on a bike, a treadmill, or a rower… or do some jumping jacks.

recommended (by me): prepare the joints involved by controlling them through a full range of motion. in other words, do three-dimensional joint rotations.

essential: perform the lift with lighter weights (start with the empty bar), gradually increasing the weight on the bar toward your work-set weight. as the weight nears your work-set weight, drop the reps to stay fresh.

say you’re doing bench presses and your work-set weight is 135 pounds. you can do a set of 5 reps with 45 pounds (the empty bar), then a set of 5 reps with 65 pounds, then a set of 2-3 reps with 95 pounds, then a set of 1-2 reps with 115 pounds. of course, this might be overkill for you. you might be better off ditching the 95-pound set or 65-pound set or…

warm-ups are more art than science. the golden rule: warm-up sets should excite, not exhaust. with this in mind, do 2-4 warm-up sets before your work sets, and always start with the empty bar (or your bodyweight).

starting.

in order to begin the program, you need to find your starting weights for each exercise. to avoid unnecessary complexity, i’m saying the starting weight for every exercise is the empty bar (45 pounds).

the first time you perform each exercise, use the empty bar. from here, add weight to every exercise every single time it’s trained. once again, to avoid unnecessary complexity, i’m saying the weight increase on every exercise is 5 pounds; add 5 pounds to every exercise every time it’s trained. 

here’s what the first two weeks of training would look like:

DAY A MONDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@45
  • BP: (3×5)@45
  • CDL: (1×5)@45

DAY B WEDNESDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@50
  • OP: (3×5)@45
  • CDL: (1×5)@50

DAY C FRIDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@55
  • BP: (3×5)@50
  • CDL: (1×5)@55

DAY A MONDAY =

• • BSQ: (3×5)@60
  • OP: (3×5)@50
  • CDL: (1×5)@60…

you’ll be able to sustain this consistent linear increase in weight on every exercise. for a little while, at least (longer than you think you can).

stalling.

eventually, if you play this program into infinity, you’ll stall. in other words, you’ll fail to make a scheduled weight jump on an exercise. the weight will get heavier and heavier and the reps will get harder and harder. one day, your body won’t be able to finish a set with all 5 reps. example: you were supposed to do squat (3×5)@245, but you only got three reps on the last set.

you can’t avoid stalling, but you can prolong the stall if you understand stress, recovery, and adaptation.

 

 

PART 2

 

strength science.

getting stronger is a delicate balance between stress, recovery, and adaptation. the easiest way to conceptualize this is to think about how a funnel “works” with water.

first, there’s the stress. expressing a degree of strength you normally don’t is stressful. this is like pouring water into a funnel.

second, there’s recovery. this is like water filtering through the funnel. when the funnel is clear and free of liquid, you’re recovered. when there’s liquid in the basin of the funnel, you’re stressed.

third, there’s adaptation. as the stress-recovery cycle repeats, you unlock the ability the pour more water into the funnel. you Level Up. the first day, your pour fills a thimble. as time passes, your pour fills a shot glass, then a rocks glass, then a pint glass, then…

Level 1.

when you first walk into the gym, you’re Level 1. you can’t express much strength relative to your Level 99 genetic potential; you can’t pour much liquid into the funnel. thanks to funnel engineering, small pours flow through rather quickly. assuming sane workloads and sane adaptation expectations, noobs can turnover in 48 hours. this explains the Starting Strength schedule.

training days are 48 hours apart to facilitate enough recovery and adaptation. the 72-hour break after Day C is a formality in order to create a consistent weekly schedule.

take a look at the squat. you go to the gym on Monday and do some squats (pour some water into the funnel). you go back Wednesday, recovered and potentially adapted, which means you’ll be able to lift a little more than you did Monday… and so you do. you go back Friday, recovered and potentially adapted, which means you’ll be able to lift a little more than you did Wednesday… and so you do…

not Level 1.

as time passes, you Level Up. you increase the amount you can pour into the funnel, which rams you into two physiological realities:

first, you need more time to recover. larger pours take more time to filter through the funnel. you’ll eventually be pouring an amount that can’t filter through within the initial 48-hour time frame.

second, you need more time to adapt. going from Level 55 to Level 56 takes more time than going from Level 2 to Level 3. some Olympic weightlifters (like, Level 97) train for four years, just to increase the amount they can lift by 10 pounds.

these two realities ruin linear progress. the delicate dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation decays over time. eventually, you’ll struggle to add weight to every exercise every session, either because you’re too fatigued or unable to adapt within the 48-hour window.

stalling.

you can’t avoid the stall, but you can prolong the stall because many aspects of your lifestyle impact your ability to recover and adapt including how much (and what) you eat and how much sleep you get. you’ll sustain progress longer if you sleep well and eat well. devout followers of Starting Strength drink a gallon of whole milk a day (GOMAD) to ensure they’re eating enough energy and proteins.

alas, some detrimental aspects of your life may be beyond your (realistic) control. maybe you have a Shang Tsung soul-sucking job. maybe you have two toddlers running around the house that get sick every other week and subsequently get you sick every other week. you shouldn’t quit your job or sell your kids on Craigslist (tempting).

even if you do everything in your power to prolong the stall, you’ll still stagnate.

load potential.

different exercises will stall at different points. after controlling for external factors, when an exercise stalls (during a sensible linear progression) is largely determined by an exercise’s load potential.

certain biomechanical realities influence how much weight you’ll be able to lift when you’re near max strength.

1. Smaller muscles aren’t as strong as bigger muscles. When bigger muscles are the primary drivers of an exercise, you’ll have a higher load potential.
2. Fewer muscles working together aren’t as strong as more muscles working together. When more muscles are working during an exercise, you’ll have a higher load potential.
3. More range of motion means more work than less range of motion. When an exercise has a small range of motion, you’ll have a higher load potential.
4. More torque creates more tension without an increase in the load. When an exercise has minimal torque, you’ll have a higher load potential.
5. Technical demand reduces the degree to which you can rely on strength. When an exercise has minimal technical demand, you’ll have a higher load potential.

there are more factors i could list, but here’s the general shakedown:

(A) Upper-body lifts typically have less strength/load potential than lower-body lifts, meaning they’ll stall earlier.

(B) Single-joint isolation lifts typically have less absolute strength/load potential than multi-joint compound lifts, meaning they’ll stall earlier.

if you do a bunch of barbell exercises thrice per week and add 5 pounds to every exercise every session, here’s when each lift would stall (with the conventional deadlift being able to sustain linear progress the longest):

1. 1. Barbell curl (stall first)
   2. Overhead press
   3. Barbell row
   4. Incline press
   5. Bench press
   6. Front squat
   7. Back squat
   8. Conventional deadlift (stall last)

dance.

Starting Strength juggles stress, recovery, and adaptation to unlock a brief period of smooth and easy strength gains (which you will look back on and glamorize). the goal is to reach the highest Level possible in the simplest way possible. it works because of the applied workload and the expected rates of recovery and adaptation. if any of these variables change, the entire system changes.

• if you don’t apply enough stress, you won’t spur adaptation. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
• if you apply too much stress, you won’t recover in 48 hours. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
• if you don’t recover adequately, you’ll be fatigued. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
• if you don’t adapt between sessions, you won’t get stronger. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.

if you used insane workloads (if you did 10 sets of 10 reps for every exercise) or you had insane adaptation expectations (tried adding 30 pounds to every exercise every session), the program wouldn’t work the same way. you wouldn’t milk linear progress. you’d stall early. instead of reaching Level 34, you’d only reach Level 17.

subtle details.

with the importance of stress, recovery, and adaptation in mind, some of the finer details of Phase 1 are easier to understand.

deadlift volume:

the deadlift is done for only one set instead of three because doing more would make it difficult to recover from. doing one set is enough to trigger adaptation. a big factor in this is the (3×5) squat volume, as the squat and the deadlift tax similar muscles and structures.

press alteration:

the squat and the deadlift are done every day, whereas the bench press and the overhead press are alternated. this is an odd aspect of the program. it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Starting Strength is a powerlifting-based program.

powerlifters compete in the squat, the bench, and the deadlift. why include the overhead press in the program? why not just do the squat, the bench, and the deadlift three days per week?

for the squat and the deadlift, adding 5 pounds to the bar every time each lift is trained, you’re scheduled to add 720 pounds to each exercise in one year. this won’t happen. you’ll stall way before this. nevertheless, this number anchors the adaptation expectation.

for the bench press and the overhead press, adding 5 pounds to the bar every time each lift is trained, you’re only scheduled to add 360 pounds to each exercise in one year.

• squat & deadlift expectation: 720 pounds / year
• presses expectation: 360 pounds / year

when you rotate between two different exercises (within the program’s overarching structure), you automatically lower the progression pace, as the progression pace is tied to the frequency at which the lift is trained.

(one of the reasons) the overhead press is added to the program because it lessens the adaptation expectation. remember, your upper body has less load potential than your lower body. if you trained the bench press with the same frequency as the squat, you’d stall early. your body wouldn’t be able to adapt and recover. the overhead press is added to milk linear progress on each exercise.

(3×5):

this is enough volume to spur adaptation for continued strength gains and not too much to interfere with recovery between training days. Starting Strength is a powerlifting-based strength program. its main objective is to increase how much weight you can squat, bench, and deadlift. (3×5) is a reflection of this.

headline.

 

 

PART 3

 

easy street.

the early days of Phase 1 are easy. you add weight to every exercise rather predictably. you are a novice lifter: someone able to recover from subjected stress within 48 hours. otherwise said, someone that’s able to add weight to every exercise in the program every time it’s trained.

as mentioned, if you extrapolate the program into infinity, you’ll eventually stall. stalling is your body’s way of saying: i can’t keep the pace; i can’t recover and/or adapt from the stress you’re subjecting me to quickly enough to express higher levels of strength within the time frame you’re asking of me.

i don’t recommend running Phase 1 headfirst into the stall. you can adjust the program before it sours to sustain linear progress. there are a few ways to do this, the first way being to add complementary exercises to the program.

complementary exercises.

as mentioned, the inclusion of the overhead press is an oddity of the program. it’s less odd when you realize it lessens the adaptation demand and facilitates further linear progress. it’s even less odd when you realize it complements the bench press.

complementary exercises support or enhance exercises already in the program. this (typically) means two things:

first, complementary exercises train similar structures to an exercise currently in the program, but perhaps different qualities.

the overhead press trains the entire shoulder girdle and not just the anterior shoulder (like the bench press). according to Rippetoe, this keeps the shoulder healthy; if you did nothing but bench press, you’d run into shoulder problems.

second, complementary exercises are “lighter” in some ways and help with recovery.

as mentioned, the overhead press has a lower load potential than the bench press. you can bench press more than you can overhead press. because of this, some parts of your shoulder won’t be worked as hard when you overhead press as compared to when you bench press. and so, on overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your bench press days, your rear delts have a chance to recover (rear delts aren’t hit very hard during bench presses).

progressive phases.

you can see complementary exercises in progressive phases of Starting Strength. for instance, in Phase 2, deadlifts are alternated with power cleans.

Day A

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Bench Press (3×5)
C. Deadlift (1×5)

DAY B

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Overhead Press (3×5)
C. Power Cleans (5×3)

power cleans complement deadlifts. even though they both stress similar structures, power cleans will always be “lighter” than deadlifts. power cleans are performed through a larger range of motion and are more technical. you’ll always deadlift more than you can power clean. power cleans are also more explosive in nature and train rate-of-force development more than deadlifts. this can benefit your deadlift.

in general, this is what complementary exercises do: facilitate recovery and increase proficiency in whatever lift they’re complementing.

(power cleans are done for five sets of three reps instead of the normal three sets of five so fatigue doesn’t interfere with technique. the total number of reps — fifteen — remains the same.)

more complementary exercises appear in further phases of Starting Strength. for instance, in Phase 3, chin-ups are added to the deadlift-and-power-clean rotation. front squats can be added to the program in some capacity to complement back squats (even though this is something Rippetoe usually doesn’t recommend because he thinks doing front squats interferes with the development of proper back-squatting technique, but that’s a story for another day).

complement care.

when possible, complementary exercises are approached identically to the exercises in Phase 1: start with a manageable weight and add 5 pounds to the bar every time the exercise is trained.

as for when they should be added to the program and in what capacity: it depends. their primary purpose is to reduce the progression precedent and give you more time to recover, to sustain linear progress. same can be said for adding less weight to the bar.

add less.

another way to prolong linear progress is to add less weight to the bar, which is known as micro-loading. there’s nothing special about 5-pound jumps, it’s simply the lowest weight increment available in most gyms (the lightest plates being 2.5 pounds).

you can buy fractional plates online and add 1, 2, 3, or 4 pounds to an exercise. this is particularly useful for upper-body exercises with lesser adaptation potential; instead of adding 5 pounds to the bar every time you overhead press and bench press, only add one or two when things get heavy.

you might scoff at adding only 1 pound to the bar, but within the confines of this program, it equates to adding 5 pounds to a lift every month at minimum. at this rate, you’d add 60 pounds to every lift in one year and 320 pounds to every lift in five years. (these numbers are added on top of the strength you already gained during Phase 1.)

people train their entire lives and still can’t press their body’s weight overhead, let alone 320 pounds.

progression precedent.

both complementary exercises and micro-loading adjust the progression precedent.

During Phase 1:

• Squat & deadlift
  • +15 pounds every week
• Bench press & overhead press
  • +15 pounds every two weeks

During Phase 2:

• Squat
  • +15 pounds every week
• Deadlift & power clean
  • +15 pounds every two weeks
• Bench press & overhead press
  • +15 pounds every two weeks

as you get stronger, the progression precedent has to decrease in order to continue making linear progress — a consequence of your body being exposed to a higher level of stress. larger pours of liquid require more time in the funnel.

the degree to which the precedent needs to drop (and when) depends on all of the factors that influence your body’s ability to adapt and recover. if you have thin bones and subpar genetics, you might need to drop the precedent more. same goes if you’re not eating enough.

premature regression.

why not drop the progression precedent from the start? the tortoise wins the race, right? why not add 1 pound to the bar instead of 5 pounds from the onset of the program?

if you have the patience, maybe you should. i don’t know. the reality is you will stall at some point, no matter how slow you go. and i’m not sure how much later you’ll stall if you start with a snail-pace progression precedent.

being able to add 5 pounds to the bar without hiccups in Phase 1 is a sign you’re adapting and recovering just fine given the applied stress. decreasing the precedent might just be a waste of time. crunch the numbers.

add 1 pound to the bar; three months in:

• start at 45 pounds, now lifting 80 pounds.

add 5 pounds to the bar; three months in:

• start at 45 pounds, now lifting 180 pounds.

snail-paced progress is probably better for your body in the long run, for obvious reasons, but i’m not sure many people have the slow-motion mindset required to pull it off.

Phase X.

to give the rest of this conversation some glue, let’s establish Phase X (not an official Starting Strength phase):

Day A

A. Back Squat (3×5)+5
B. Bench Press (3×5)+2
C. Conventional Deadlift (1×5)+5

DAY B

A. Font Squat (3×5)+5
B. Overhead Press (3×5)+2
C. Power Cleans (5×3)+5

you spent a bit of time in Phase 1. things were starting to get a little bit heavier. you didn’t stall yet. you wanted to make adjustments prior to stalling. this resulted in Phase X.

highlights:

deadlifts alternated with power cleans; back squats alternated with front squats; overhead presses alternated with bench presses, but only 2 pounds are added to the bar every session.

this is a rather fair regression, as the initial progression precedent of every exercise in Phase 1 is halved.

stall wall.

eventually, Phase X will run you into one of two different scenarios: (1) one of the lifts in Phase 1 will get heavy enough that you’ll stall; (2) all of the lifts in Phase X will start to feel heavy.

let’s push the first scenario aside for now and focus on the second. what should you do? add more complementary exercises? decrease the weight jumps? run headfirst into the stall?

linear progression starts to break down here. for instance, decreasing the weight jumps without adding complementary exercises makes every day a “heavy” day, which can be taxing. if you add decent complementary exercises, the fabric of the program will remain (adding weight to every exercise every session), which keeps things simple. however, choosing a solid complementary exercise isn’t as easy as it was after Phase 1.

all of the pairings in Phase X are “easy.” making a good pairing isn’t as easy now because complementary exercises can be different enough to have ripple effects. for instance, unilateral squats (like rear-leg-elevated squats), hit your groin harder than bilateral squats. if you use them as a complementary exercise, their stress signature might be different enough to take a bite out of you; when you back squat (or front squat) on Friday after doing unilateral squats on Wednesday, your groin might be tender and vulnerable. not good for heavy squatting.

the stakes are higher near the end of Phase X because you’re stronger all around. going from Phase 1 to Phase X is easier because you’re still a relatively untrained novice with lots of unrealized potential.

Phase X².

if you wanted to try to milk further linear progress and avoid stalling on Phase X, you’d be best off making Wednesday a “light” day. Mondays and Fridays become “heavy” days because you have the long weekend break to help you recover.

you can make Wednesday a light day by adding another complementary exercise to the program.

• squat: overhead squat if you have enough mobility to do them correctly (most don’t); zercher squat; etc…
• deadlift: power snatch; snatch-grip deadlift; good morning; seated good morning; etc…
• press: behind-the-neck press if you have enough mobility to do them correctly (most don’t); incline presses; etc…

you can also do one of the exercises from Phase X at a reduced volume and/or intensity, but since this changes the fabric of the program, i won’t entertain this option.

stall wall.

regardless of whether you try Phase X² or not, you’re going to stall at some point; you’re going to miss a scheduled weight increase on an exercise two sessions in a row.

sometimes you can climb out of a stall by adding singular reps every session. for instance, if you’re supposed to bench press 225 for (3×5) and you only get 3 reps on your last set, you can try to get 4 reps on your last set next session, and then 5 reps the following session. once you get to (3×5), you can bump the weight up and proceed as if nothing happened.

adding reps to sets every week is another way to maintain some semblance of linear progress, however, a telltale sign you’re biting off more than you can chew: your performance is decreasing (example: you go 5, 5, 3 and then next time you go 5, 3, 2).

once a lift stalls, the program isn’t over. you can reduce the weight and restart the progression. this is known as deloading. deloading dissipates residual fatigue and gives your body extra time to recover and adapt.

the most common way to deload is to subtract 10-15% from your work-set weight and then restart the linear progression using the lesser (deload) weight as your starting weight. (you should be able to add five pounds to the bar every session after the deload for a bit, before needing to micro-load again, assuming you were micro-loading prior to the stall.)

this is a lift-specific process; only deload the lift that stalls. if your bench press stalls, but you’re still making linear progress on your squat, then only deload your bench press.

slingshot after stall.

stalling is a byproduct of months and months of accumulated fatigue. after the deload, you should be able to slingshot past your first stall point because you won’t be as fatigued as you were the first time around. for instance, if your squat initially stalled at 275, you should be able to sustain linear progress past 275 after deloading (assuming you use a similar style of progression).

nevertheless, you will stall again. and when you approach (or reach) a second stall, you can throw away your diapers. you’re a big boy now. it’s time for more advanced programming.

 

 

 

 

PART Q

after you stall, deload, and rebuild most of your lifts, you’re no longer a novice. you’re now considered an intermediate lifer. in other words, you’re able to stress yourself to a degree that requires a longer recovery and adaptation window. this requires more advanced programming, which isn’t the same as more complex programming. everything still revolves around stress, recovery, adaptation, and the progression precedents that have been created and sustained to this point.

yeehaw.

many Starting Strength graduates are (blindly) led toward The Texas Method. although The Texas Method is malleable, here’s one of the more common iterations:

Monday (heavy volume)

A) Back Squat (5×5)@90% of 5RM
B) Bench Press alt w/ Overhead Press (5×5)@90% of 5RM
C) Conventional Deadlift (1×5)@90% of 5RM

Wednesday (light)

A) Back Squat (2×5)@ 80% of 5×5
B) Overhead Press alt w/ Bench Press (3×5)@ 90% of 5×5
C) Chin-up: (3xBW)

D) Back Extension or Glute-Ham Raise (3×10)

Friday (heavy intensity)

A) Back Squat (1×5)
B) Bench Press alt w/ Overhead Press (1×5)
C) Power Clean (5×3) or Power Snatch (6×2)

translation: on Mondays, you squat and press (5×5) with as much weight as you can, adding weight to the bar every week in some fashion. Wednesdays are light days. Fridays you try for a new squat and press 5RM and look to add weight to the bar every week in some fashion.

gtfo.

i show you The Texas Method to show you how stress, recovery, and adaptation can be tweaked to sustain small incremental predictable progress. i don’t recommend The Texas Method. you’ve tortured yourself with enough 5-rep sets and enough thrice-per-week squats and enough…

get out.

now.

before you ruin yourself (like i did).

beat down.

Starting Strength is simple. a little too simple, for how well it works. however, it can warp your perspective and make you feel like you’re a loser unless you add weight to the bar. when you’re deep in the culture, you’re shamed if you stall early. you’re told you did the program wrong or you didn’t eat enough or…

i destroyed myself on The Texas Method more than once, fighting for new personal records (PRs) every week, ruining my joints in the process. at some point, you need to know when to fold.

one of the adjustments i made in later years, after in learned from my mistakes, is keeping the heart of predictable progress alive, yet being a little less aggressive.

 

 

x

 

PHASE

wrap up

 

customization?

 

as mentioned, Starting Strength is a powerlifting-based program. it’s designed around squatting, pressing, and deadlifting the most weight you possibly can. the entire ecosystem is built around this objective.

if this isn’t your objective, then you don’t have to force yourself to do Starting Strength. you can take the principles of stress, recovery, and adaptation and create your own linear progression program; as long as you respect stress, recovery, and adaptation, you will be able to sustain some semblance of linear progress.

for instance, maybe you only want to squat twice per week for (3×5). will you be able to add five pounds every workout? maybe. what if you wanted to replace one of the exercises in the program with a different one? could you? maybe. what if you wanted to add an exercise (like a direct back exercise)? could you?

the linear progression program i created is for those that want to get strong, yet also skew toward aeshtetics and building an x. (also adjust knowing my demo prolly not gonna eat the house.) the “core” not terribly different, but the principles remain.

perhaps you have different desires. now that you have a better understanding of what makes linear programs tick, you can ..

if you try something and it doesn’t work out, you know you’re failing to dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation.

one of the benefits of following Starting Strength (and why i used it to explain the ins and outs of linear progress): there’s a large pool of empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness. it has been fine-tuned. for instance, i can imagine, long ago, the program was simply squatting, benching, and deadlifting for (3×5). and then, over time, with trial and error, the deadlift volume was decreased and the overhead press was included. (i believe Starting Strength was modeled after Bill Starr’s 5×5 program which consisted of back squats, bench presses, and power cleans.)

for this reason, Starting Strength is a good “base” model to modify, as well as a useful comparison tool. if you’re on a custom program and doing an exercise for more than 15 heavy reps (3×5) and failing to recover and adapt in 48 hours, you’re probably doing too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

first, we’ll unpack what running into the stall entails.

you’re months into the program. you do (3×5)@265 for back squats on Monday. it was heavy. you barely got the reps. squats have beaten you down for a few days now. you plan for (3×5)@270 on Wednesday, but you don’t get all three sets of five. you nail your first set for five reps. on your second set, you fail on your fourth rep. on your third set, you only get two reps. you’ve officially missed your first scheduled workload, but you didn’t stall… yet. after you miss a scheduled workload, you have a few options.

first, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim for the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270, so you’d try (3×5)@270 again. if you hit all sets and reps, continue on with the normally scheduled increase next session.

second, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim to add one additional rep to your failed volume until you build into the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270 like this:

5@270
4@270
2@270

and so, your next training session, you’d do

5@270
5@270
2@270

and then the following session you’d do

5@270
5@270
3@270

and you’d keep adding one rep until you reached (3×5), at which point you’d add weight and continue on.

chances are, you’ll be able to sustain progress for quite some time adding one rep to your workload every session. at some point, however, you’ll have to recognize when you’re too far removed from the roots of the program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

train different parts.

by rotating between complementary exercises, you stress more structures, which has an aesthetic benefit and also a health benefit. for instance, if you did just bench presses, your shoulders probably wouldn’t grow as much as compared to rotating between benches and overheads.

this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

complementary exercises are similar (yet different) to the initial exercises in the program. in general, they share the same joint depth (single-joint isolation or multi-joint compound) and pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

complementary exercises.

in addition to lowering the rate of progression, you can also add complementary exercises to the program. this is already a feature in Phase 1: alternating between the bench press and the overhead press. as mentioned, adding a complementary exercise into the program lessens the adaptation demand (among other things).

complementary exercises are similar (yet different) to the initial exercises in the program. in general, they share the same joint depth (single-joint isolation or multi-joint compound) and pattern.

there are four primary barbell exercise patterns:

• • Squat pattern:
    • glutes, quads
    • hips up and down
    • knee extension
    • hip extension

The back squat falls in the squat pattern, as does the front squat, overhead squat, leg press, split squat, etc…

• • Hinge pattern:
    • glutes, hamstrings
    • hips back and forth
    • knee flexion
    • hip extension

The deadlift falls in the hinge pattern, as does the power clean, snatch deadlift, good morning, Romanian deadlift, etc…

• • Press pattern:
    • chest, shoulders, triceps
    • arm flexion
    • elbow extension

The incline and overhead press fall into the press pattern, as does the behind-the-neck press, incline presses, push-up, etc…

• • Pull pattern:
    • back, shoulders, biceps
    • arm extension
    • elbow flexion

There are no pulling exercises in Phase 1 of Starting Strength (for some reason?) Pulling exercises include chin-ups, barbell rows, lat pulldowns, biceps curls, etc…

beyond lowering the adaptation demand, complementary exercises also:

keep volume up.

in theory, you could rotate between two non-complementary exercises. the impact on the progression precedent would remain… but the volume wouldn’t.

bench presses hit (primarily) the chest, the anterior (front) shoulders, and the triceps. overhead presses hit (primarily) the shoulders (as a whole) and the triceps. in other words, similar areas are getting stimulated both days, which makes their base volume across the week (9×5) — (3×5) multiplied by three.

if you rotated between benches and squats, you wouldn’t have cross-stimulation, which would change the fabric of the program.

train different parts.

by rotating between complementary exercises, you stress more structures, which has an aesthetic benefit and also a health benefit. for instance, if you did just bench presses, your shoulders probably wouldn’t grow as much as compared to rotating between benches and overheads.

this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery. on your overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your incline press days, your rear delts have a chance to recover (rear delts aren’t hit very hard during inclines)…

 

 

novices.

the term “novice” is used to describe someone new to lifting that’s not yet adapted enough to stress themselves enough to be unable to recover within 48 hours.

when you get to a point where you can only add weight to the bar once every week or two, you’re considered “intermediate.”

there’s a gray area between “novice” and “intermediate” known as “advanced novice.” this is when you can add weight maybe two times per week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

here are the four big movement patterns most barbell exercises fall into:

 

 

 

 

you can transition out of Phase 1 prior to the stall when your lifts start feeling heavier and you think you could use more time to recover and adapt between sessions. regardless of when you transition out of Phase 1, you need to understand this: every exercise in the program has been built atop a progression precedent.

• Squat & deadlift
  • +15 pounds every week
• Bench press & overhead press
  • +15 pounds every two week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

phase change.

you can transition out of Phase 1 prior to the stall when your lifts start feeling heavier and you think you could use more time to recover and adapt between sessions. regardless of when you transition out of Phase 1, you need to understand this: every exercise in the program has been built atop a progression precedent.

• Squat & deadlift
  • +15 pounds every week
• Bench press & overhead press
  • +15 pounds every two week

remember, stalling is your body’s way of saying: i can’t keep the pace; i can’t recover and/or adapt quickly enough. and so, Phase 2 is all about making the program more palatable by giving your body more time to recover and adapt without uprooting the foundation of the program. there are two (primary) ways to do this:

add less.

you can add less weight to the exercises every session. instead of adding 5 pounds to the bar for squats, maybe only add 2 pounds. or maybe only add 1 pound to the bench press and the overhead press.

you might scoff at adding only 1 pound to the bar, but this equates to adding 5 pounds to a lift every month at minimum. at this rate, you’d add 60 pounds to every lift in one year and 320 pounds to every lift in five years. (these numbers are added on top of the strength you already gained during Phase 1.)

people train their entire lives and still can’t press their body’s weight overhead, let alone 320 pounds.

complementary exercises.

in addition to lowering the rate of progression, you can also add complementary exercises to the program.

complementary exercises are similar (yet different) to the initial exercises in the program. here are the four big movement patterns most barbell exercises fall into:

• Squatting:
  • glutes, quads
  • hips up and down
  • knee extension
  • hip extension

The back squat falls in the squat pattern, as does the front squat, overhead squat, leg press, split squat, etc…

• Hinging:
  • glutes, hamstrings
  • hips back and forth
  • knee flexion
  • hip extension

The deadlift falls in the hinge pattern, as does the power clean, snatch deadlift, good morning, Romanian deadlift, etc…

• Pressing:
  • chest, shoulders, triceps
  • arm flexion
  • elbow extension

The incline and overhead press fall into the press pattern, as does the behind-the-neck press, incline presses, push-up, etc…

• Pulling:
  • back, shoulders, biceps
  • arm extension
  • elbow flexion

There are no pulling exercises in Phase 1 of Starting Strength (for some reason?) Pulling exercises include chin-ups, barbell rows, lat pulldowns, biceps curls, etc…

complementary impact.

adding a complementary exercise into the program lessens the adaptation demand (among other things). for instance, take a look at Phase 1. the back squat is done three times per week, adding 5 pounds to the bar each session. this means you’re scheduled to add 720 pounds to your squat in one year. this won’t happen. you’ll stall way before this. nevertheless, this number anchors the adaptation expectation.

now take a look at the bench press and the overhead press. these two exercises are complementary. you rotate between these two exercises every session during Phase 1. adding 5 pounds to each exercise every session, you’d only add 360 pounds to each press in one year.

when you rotate between two different exercises within the confines of this program, you automatically lower the progression pace, as the progression pace is tied to the frequency at which the lift is trained.

• squat expectation: 720 pounds / year
• presses expectation: 360 pounds / year

there’s less adaptation expectation for both the bench press and the overhead press built into the program… and for good reason. remember, your upper body has less load potential than your lower body. if you trained benches or overheads with the same frequency as squats, you’d stall early. your body wouldn’t be able to adapt and recover. benches are rotated with overheads to (hopefully) prolong linear progress on each exercise… but that’s not all. rotating between two complementary exercises also:

keeps volume up.

in theory, you could rotate between two non-complementary exercises. the impact on the progression precedent would remain… but the volume wouldn’t.

bench presses hit (primarily) the chest, the anterior (front) shoulders, and the triceps. overhead presses hit (primarily) the shoulders (as a whole) and the triceps. in other words, some areas are getting stimulated both days, which makes their base volume across the week (9×5) — (3×5) multiplied by three.

if you rotated between benches and squats, you wouldn’t have cross-stimulation, which would change the fabric of the program.

train different parts.

by rotating between complementary exercises, you stress more structures, which has an aesthetic benefit and also a health benefit. for instance, if you did just bench presses, your shoulders probably wouldn’t grow as much as compared to rotating between benches and overheads.

this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery. on your overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your incline press days, your rear delts have a chance to recover (rear delts aren’t hit very hard during inclines)…

progressive phases.

you can see the integration of complementary exercises in progressive phases of Starting Strength, where deadlifts are alternated with power cleans (Phase 2) and even chin-ups (Phase 3). when the back squat gets heavy, you can throw front squats into the mix. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

complement choices.

choosing a complementary exercise isn’t an exact science, but here are a few things to consider…

bottleneck.

consider bottlenecks. the bottleneck is an exercise’s limiting factor, which may not be the muscles you intend on taxing. take a look at the overhead squat. the overhead squat is a squat. duh. squatting taxes the legs, of course. but, during an overhead squat, your bottleneck is your ability to support weight overhead. in other words, if you can’t support a lot of weight overhead, you won’t tax your legs much during an overhead squat.

effect.

consider filling voids (if they exist). for instance, if you want a bigger chest, then your complementary pressing exercise should tax your chest more than your shoulders. in other words, you’d be much better off doing parallel bar dips, as compared to behind-the-neck presses.

load potential.

consider load potential. remember, we’re in this predicament because we’re struggling to adapt and recover. you don’t want your complementary exercises to be more taxing than the exercises currently in your program. thankfully, this isn’t that big of a concern right now, as almost every complementary exercise will be light… at first.

choo choo.

once you pick a complementary exercise, treat it as you treated the initial exercises in the program: find your starting weight and add weight slowly, in an incremental and predictable fashion. starting light will automatically facilitate more time for recovery and adaptation.

here are some examples…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the initial training sessions won’t be challenging. you’ll feel like you aren’t doing enough. don’t do more. go to the gym. complete your work sets with good technique. pack your bags. wait for the next session to come around.

this program is a snowball. keep on rolling. the intensity will ramp up in the future. don’t rush the process.

 

 

Warm-ups for non-main exercises:

on multi-joint exercises

if you’re doing single-joint exercises typically don’t need many (if any) warm-up sets.

You can make specific areas of your body tighter and firmer. You can make them toned and defined as opposed to big and bulky by lifting a light weight for high reps.

Want sculpted shoulders that look like scalloped seashells? Pick up a pastel-colored plastic-coated dumbbell and do front shoulder raises until you’re accused of being a member of the Schutzstaffel. Make your muscles burn so hard chlamydia seems like child’s play.

Do this for every major muscle group and you’ll look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club in no time… or so the story goes.

Unfortunately, if lifting a light weight for high reps was an effective way to increase tone and definition, then childcare workers would have amazing bodies.

Because they’re constantly lifting babies. And bottles of wine. Light weights, you know?

Alas, childcare workers don’t have shrink-wrapped stomachs. Unless being toned and defined is like time travel, where going forward at a suicide speed will take you backward in time. Maybe childcare workers are soft and round because they’re knock-dead toned and defined.

Doubt it.

Lifting a light weight for high reps is dumber than daytime television. If you want to become more toned and defined, here’s what you should do: Stop training for tone and definition.
[continue reading…]

Stance

Shoes off, please.

there are four components to stance. you’re best off barefoot. get rid of your shoes. your feet will thank you.

first, hip width.

draw a straight line down to the ground from your hip socket. this is where you plant your feet.

 

second, feet forward.

face your feet forwards. same direction your nose points.

 

third, knees straight.

your knees should be straight. if you squeeze your quads (muscles on the front of your thighs) as hard as you can your knees will be locked out. this is not straight. if you ease off the contraction and slowly push your knees forward until you have a visible bend, this is also not straight. keeping your legs “straight” means keeping them in between these two extremes: lockout and bent.

 

fourth, tripod.

carry your weight evenly across your tripod and your toes, especially your great toe. (ideally, you’d also have gaps between your toes, but, if you don’t, that’s okay.)

your tripod consists of the three bony protuberances on the bottom of your foot. the top two points (yellow and green, below) are the forefoot. the lone point opposite of the forefoot is the heel.

 

help?

of the four components to stance, you’ll struggle most with carrying your weight evenly across your tripod and your toes. most people (myself included) have lackluster feet, thanks to socks and shoes. if you put your arm in a cast, your arm will shrink and die. shoes and socks are casts for your feet — a socially acceptable form of Chinese foot binding.

your feet and your toes are supposed to be more like your hands and your fingers. your pinky toe shouldn’t be smashed and tucked underneath your foot. you should be able to move your toes independently. your feet should be wide, not narrow.

perhaps i’ll devote a future drop to rebuilding your feet. until then, use the following sequence to help you carry your weight across your tripod and toes better.

 

first, lift your toes.

lifting your toes to your nose will expose each point of the tripod and give you better tactile feedback.

 

second, spread the floor.

from the toes-to-nose position, you want to balance your weight evenly across your tripod. for most people, this involves a conscious shift towards the outside edge of the foot. (most people are “overpronators.” they carry weight towards the insides of their feet and have somewhat collapsed arches.)

shift weight towards the outside edge of your foot by “spreading the floor apart” with your feet. this will activate your hip rotator muscles.

 

third, toes down.

after you spread the floor and distribute your weight evenly across your tripod, set your toes down.

i like going from pinky toe to great toe, setting them down one at a time. they should join your tripod as weight-bearing structures, with your great toe taking on the most weight.

three important notes:

first, if your aren’t making contact with the floor after you set them down, you’re probably twisting (inverting) the ankle to hit the outside edge of the foot. not good.

second, when you set your toes down, they should lay flat. they shouldn’t claw. DO NOT CLAW YOUR TOES.

third, your arch should be active. your arch is NOT a weight-bearing structure.

 

recap.

• Feet under your hips.
• Feet straight.
• Knees straight.
• Weight distributed across your tripod and toes.

when your stance is neutral, your hips will track over your knees and your knees will track over your toes. your arch will be alive and active. this “neutral” alignment sets a solid foundation for your pelvis. speaking of which…

Pelvis

Don’t spill.

your pelvis is the giant bowl-shaped muscle your spine funnels into. a neutral pelvic position is a centered bowl that won’t spill water. for simplicity’s sake, we can boil not neutral into two different tilts (in the sagittal plane): anterior pelvic tilt and posterior pelvic tilt.

anterior tilt.

an anterior pelvic tilt is when the front of the pelvis is rotated forward towards the floor. water would spill out of the front of the pelvic bowl. the lower back (lumbar spine) contracts. it goes into extension. lower back (lumber) extension is also known as arching. when you arch your lower back, your abs stretch, which makes the front side of your body weak and vulnerable. you wouldn’t be able to take a punch to your gut. this position also elongates the hamstrings.

 

posterior tilt.

a posterior pelvic tilt is when the front of the pelvis is rotated backwards towards the sky. water would spill out of the back of the pelvic bowl. the lower back (lumbar spine) goes into flexion. lower back (lumber) flexion is also known as rounding. when you round your lower back, the abs the and hamstrings shorten.

 

neutral pelvis.

a neutral pelvic position is between an anterior tilt and a posterior tilt; the bowl is level and won’t spill water. your lower back (lumbar spine) will assume its natural (slightly concave) curve.

 

buttgut.

the best way to assume a neutral pelvic position is with the buttgut (a drill I invented). make sure your stance is solid:

1. Feet under hips.
2. Feet forward.
3. Knees straight.
4. Weight across tripod and toes.

from this position:

1. Rise onto your tiptoes.
2. Squeeze your butt as hard as you can.

physically punch your butt, in order to ensure you’re squeezing. and while you’re on your tiptoes, with your butt squeezed, take note of your abs.

chances are, your abs will be “on.” they will have some tension, and you’ll be able to take a punch to the gut. if your abs are soft and vulnerable, then give them some tension. poke and punch yourself in the gut, to ensure you’re contracting your abs.

when you’re on your tiptoes and you have tension in your butt and your gut, it’s almost impossible to have an anterior or posterior pelvic tilt. you’ll be close to neutral.

you want to take this feeling to a regular standing position. so from your tiptoes with your butt and abs tense, slowly lower your heels to the ground, while trying to maintain tension in your butt and your gut. once your heels are on the ground, reduce tension in your butt and your gut to around 25%. you don’t want to be as tense as possible, but you do want some firmness in both areas.

 

recap.

your pelvis should be centered and still. water shouldn’t spill out of your bowl. this allows your lumbar spine (lower spine) to adopt its natural (slightly concave) curve, which will set a solid foundation for your upper spine. speaking of which…

Shoulders

Set ’em and forget ’em

the shoulder blades (scapulae) are the triangular-shaped bone on your back. your shoulder blades connect to your collar bones and create the cavity your upper arm sucks into. shoulders are Neutral when they are “set.”

 

setting shoulders.

you set the shoulders by pulling your upper arms into their sockets. imagine looping a band around your shoulders. the band squishes your shoulder blades together, forcing your shoulder blades into a protracted position. in other words, your shoulder blades will be crushed towards the front midline of your body

the opposite of this (and how most people incorrectly try to fix their so-called “bad” posture) is retraction of the shoulder blades, which squishes them towards the back midline of the body.

in order to set your shoulders, think about becoming as wide as possible; stretch the band horizontally, as far as possible, without moving your upper arm. imagine if someone had a measuring tape going across your collar bones. the objective would be to stretch the measurement as far horizontally as you could.

you’d do a motion akin to trying to break free from the rope around your shoulders. your chest should puff up a tad (without putting your lower back into extension — maintain the same neutral lower spine position). you’ll probably have some scapular depression and some retraction, pending your current posture, but it won’t be MAXIMUM.

for perspective, look at the difference between the two photos below. you can see the muscular differences between setting the shoulders and retracting the shoulder blades.

 

recap.

set your shoulders in their sockets by pulling and stretching your collar bones horizontally. when your shoulders are set, your thoracic spine (mid-back) will adopt its natural (slightly convex) curve, which will set a solid foundation for your neck. speaking of which…

Neck

Pack your bags.

the neck is also known as the cervical spine. you get your neck in a neutral position by packing. 

 

neck packing.

there are two useful cues, to help with packing your neck. first, imagine there’s a string tied to the crown of your head, which is being gently pulled towards the sky.

second, tuck your chin into your neck, and then retract your head. you want to make sure that your head is centered over your body. don’t let your forehead fall forward.

falling forehead is common when you’re just starting to get a feel for packing. you can gauge this by dropping a vertical line from your ear. your ear should be above your shoulder, not ahead of your shoulder.

 

recap.

pack your neck by pulling the crown of your head to the sky and retracting your head. when your neck is packed, your cervical spine will adopt its natural (slightly concave) curve, which finalizes your spinal foundation, allowing us to take a closer look at the arms…

Arms

Anti-ape adventures.

you get your arms into a neutral position by screwing your upper arms into their sockets. first, let’s separate the upper arm from the lower arm.

two arms.

the lower arm is usually referred to as the “forearm.” the upper arm typically gets the “arm” label. understanding the difference between the two is important because your forearm rotates independently of your upper arm.

forearm rotation consists of wrist pronation and wrist supination. if you bend your elbow at a 90° angle and rotate your wrist to hold a bowl of soup, you’re supinating. if you rotate your wrist to swat a fly, you’re pronating.

rotation of the upper arm is different and is easiest seen by looking at the elbow cavity, which is also known as the eye of the elbow.

if you pronate and supinate your wrist, the eye of the elbow won’t move. if you rotate your upper arm, your eye WILL move. check out the picture below. i’m rotating my forearm. the green arrow pointing at my elbow cavity doesn’t change location, yet my wrist position does.

on the contrary, when i rotate my upper arm, the green arrow DOES change location.

 

screwing.

your arm is in a Neutral position when the eye faces forward. pending your current flexibility and mobility, this may happen without thought. most people, however, need to externally rotate their upper arms in order to reach neutral, thanks to sitting in chairs, typing on keyboards, and fiddling with phones,

rotating your upper arm, screwing your arm into its socket while keeping your shoulders set, will bring your elbow cavity to a more forward-facing position.

 

recap.

your elbow cavity should be facing forwards. this will affect your wrist position. speaking of which…

Wrists

Wrist watch.

your wrists are the final piece to Neutral Posture. don’t cry. i’m sad this is ending, too…

watch your wrists.

your wrist is neutral when, if you’re holding a pen, the pen would face forwards. so after you screw your upper arm into its socket, make whatever adjustment is necessary to get your wrists into this position.

 

Recap

Ohhh, I ‘member.

we’ve covered a lot. here’s the information above in chunks for easy future reference.

Stance:

feet under your hips.
toes forward.
knees straight.
tripod and toes.

Pelvis:

centered bowl.
buttgut.

Shoulders:

set in sockets.
widen collar bones.

Neck:

packed.
crown to clouds.

Elbows:

eyes face forwards.
screw arms into sockets.

Wrists:

pen point forwards.

What now?

as mentioned, Neutral Posture is a specific orientation that helps establish a universal language.