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In the past, I’ve done CrossFit and trained for marathons/half marathons. How does this program compare with others you’ve tried? When you remove the complexity, it just becomes a question of will. I think people overthink fitness, and Bigger Leaner Strongertruly breaks it down into a simple science. It’s simple to follow and it works quickly. For the last four years or so, I was in a phase of my life where I didn’t want to be intentional or restrictive with food, so it took me a while to come around and realize how much more joyful life can be when you aren’t just constantly seeking pleasures and satisfaction. I found peace in balancing daily discomforts and challenges with allowed rewards and times of rest. I had attempted the program in the past, and I knew that for me, being intentional with my food was the hard part.
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What, if anything, almost kept you from buying the book or starting the program? I did abs twice a week in the evenings, cardio 3-4x per week on the recumbent bike (20 – 30 minutes of HIIT), and I also played hockey once a week. I did chest Monday, back Tuesday, shoulders Wednesday, legs Thursday, arms Friday. I used a 5-day split (it might not even be in the latest version of the book!). You’d think dieting would do the opposite – not on the Bigger Leaner Strongerplan! What workout split from the book did you use? I actually had a (small) increase in bone density/bone strength from the 6 months of cutting. On top of that, as a bonus, DEXA scans show bone density. However, I kept with the heavy lifting during the cut and was blown away that my DEXA scans showed I only lost 0.7 pounds of lean mass. I plan to just keep these reverse diet weekly carb increases going until I’m at the correct macros for a lean bulk.īecause I have had a few years of heavy lifting under my belt, I didn’t expect to get stronger during the cut (and I didn’t), but what I did expect was to lose a good chunk of lean mass. I’m in the middle of that as I type this, but the next goal is a lean bulk. After that, I began a reverse diet to slowly transition into maintenance calories. I cut from July of 2018 to January of 2019 and lost over 60 pounds. So, I guess you could say that I “bulked” lazily for a few years while piling on body fat! That is when I decided to actually follow through on the cut. I ended up leaving the Bigger Leaner Stronger principles, joining a trendy cross-training gym, getting injured and getting a couple of joint surgeries (yikes, I know).Īfter that, I did revert to the lifting wisdom from Bigger Leaner Stronger(without the eating wisdom) and gained a lot of strength over the years leading up to July of last year.
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I read Bigger Leaner Stronger (first edition) long ago, but never successfully used the program to bulk up to where I wanted or cut down to where I wanted to. Still 60+ pounds any way you slice it! What has happened so far on the program? The math makes more sense with the one from the DEXA as official ending weight.
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My home personal scale said 187.4 that same day, but the one from the DEXA said 191.4. I did DEXA scans, so I have some cool extra stats.īefore picture is at 253.0 pounds body weight, 30.1% body fat percentage, 176.9 pounds lean mass, 1.565 g/cm^2 bone density.Īfter Picture is at 191.4 pounds body weight, 8.0% body fat percentage, 176.2 pounds lean mass, 1.584 g/cm^2 bone density. 6 Months How many months’ progress do your pictures represent? What were your stats for each picture?
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