Skinny Fat (Muscle Gain or Fat Loss)

Confused.

You WANT to be skinny fat?

I don't have a problem with it per se.

The adequacy of a program always depends on the person in question. If you haven't been training at all for a while... something like this can be a perfectly reasonable entry into things.

I'll say this...

Physique optimization really boils down to minimizing fat mass and maximizing muscle mass. Most people are pretty good at minimizing fat mass (not keeping it off is something entirely different). We're really good at creating deficits via reduced food and energy-wasting exercise.

It's the whole muscle preservation thing, while living in a deficit, that tends to trip a lot of people up. Compared to the energy-wasting stuff that helps contribute to a deficit, the muscle preserving stuff tends to need more specificity and deliberateness.

But again, coming full circle, if you've not been doing much of anything than the benefit is pretty much anything can preserve muscle... the program you outlined being no different.

If it were me, though, I'd personally prefer for a more balanced attack plan that utilized external loads... this would help bump the challenge up a bit, help ensure muscle maintenance, and help promote potential muscle growth even in the face of a deficit. Now I'm making the assumption that you're not using external loads... so when you say squats you're referring to squats with solely your body weight. Correct me if I'm wrong please. If you do have some equipment at home I'll throw some more suggestions at you. For example... you're not hitting your posterior chain much and there are ways of doing that at home with things like RDLs, hip thrusts, etc.

Confused.

You WANT to be skinny fat?

"Anyone fought the Skinny Fat war and won?"
"Muscle Gain or Fat Loss" (Deciding whether to bulk or cut first)
"I am trying to choose the best path for skinny fat" (To be read as "for tackling skinny fat")

What room is there for confusion? He clearly wants to get rid of it.

I don't have a problem with it per se.

The adequacy of a program always depends on the person in question. If you haven't been training at all for a while... something like this can be a perfectly reasonable entry into things.

I'll say this...

Physique optimization really boils down to minimizing fat mass and maximizing muscle mass. Most people are pretty good at minimizing fat mass (not keeping it off is something entirely different). We're really good at creating deficits via reduced food and energy-wasting exercise.

It's the whole muscle preservation thing, while living in a deficit, that tends to trip a lot of people up. Compared to the energy-wasting stuff that helps contribute to a deficit, the muscle preserving stuff tends to need more specificity and deliberateness.

But again, coming full circle, if you've not been doing much of anything than the benefit is pretty much anything can preserve muscle... the program you outlined being no different.

If it were me, though, I'd personally prefer for a more balanced attack plan that utilized external loads... this would help bump the challenge up a bit, help ensure muscle maintenance, and help promote potential muscle growth even in the face of a deficit. Now I'm making the assumption that you're not using external loads... so when you say squats you're referring to squats with solely your body weight. Correct me if I'm wrong please. If you do have some equipment at home I'll throw some more suggestions at you. For example... you're not hitting your posterior chain much and there are ways of doing that at home with things like RDLs, hip thrusts, etc.

Stroutman81, you ought to be commended for being among the few here who are both savvy and can deliver information with clarity. Nice.

Confused.

You WANT to be skinny fat?

"Anyone fought the Skinny Fat war and won?"
"Muscle Gain or Fat Loss" (Deciding whether to bulk or cut first)
"I am trying to choose the best path for skinny fat" (To be read as "for tackling skinny fat")

What room is there for confusion? He clearly wants to get rid of it.

I don't have a problem with it per se.

The adequacy of a program always depends on the person in question. If you haven't been training at all for a while... something like this can be a perfectly reasonable entry into things.

I'll say this...

Physique optimization really boils down to minimizing fat mass and maximizing muscle mass. Most people are pretty good at minimizing fat mass (not keeping it off is something entirely different). We're really good at creating deficits via reduced food and energy-wasting exercise.

It's the whole muscle preservation thing, while living in a deficit, that tends to trip a lot of people up. Compared to the energy-wasting stuff that helps contribute to a deficit, the muscle preserving stuff tends to need more specificity and deliberateness.

But again, coming full circle, if you've not been doing much of anything than the benefit is pretty much anything can preserve muscle... the program you outlined being no different.

If it were me, though, I'd personally prefer for a more balanced attack plan that utilized external loads... this would help bump the challenge up a bit, help ensure muscle maintenance, and help promote potential muscle growth even in the face of a deficit. Now I'm making the assumption that you're not using external loads... so when you say squats you're referring to squats with solely your body weight. Correct me if I'm wrong please. If you do have some equipment at home I'll throw some more suggestions at you. For example... you're not hitting your posterior chain much and there are ways of doing that at home with things like RDLs, hip thrusts, etc.

Stroutman81, you ought to be commended for being among the few here who are both savvy and can deliver information with clarity. Nice.

I would personally up the calories, and hit the weights hard! People usually make the most gains the 6 months of weight training, I would take advantage of this window and try to put on as much muscle mass as possible. Inwoukld worry about cutting down later, it should be easier to cut down with the added muscle mass. This would be the route I would take. Just my prefferance...

That's a fair approach.

For me, in my experience, the novice window of opportunity is open, surplus or not. I see people new to lifting put on muscle in the face of a deficit quite frequently - especially if they have some fat on them. And in this particular case, once he decided to turn the deficit around and move into surplus territory... there would still be some "newbie oomph" to run with for the maximization of muscle growth.

Novice or not, when it comes to my male clients, assuming the primary goals are aesthetically based and assuming they're drug free, I'm not bulking until they're down around 10-12%. Starting north of that general zone, give or take some points, promotes too much fat accumulation for my personal liking. It'll merely lengthen the time required to shed the fat later on thus potentially interfering with some of the muscle gains acquired.

But I can appreciate your point.... maximize it while you can isn't something I'd consider as bad or wrong advice. There are a lot of ways you can skin a cat.