Modifying Caloric Intake on 'Low Stress' Weeks.

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
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Hi BBM Team,

Just ran week 8 of Beginner Template and I’m ready to move onto week 9.

During my time running the programme I’ve been eating in a caloric surplus, trying to gain ~0.5lbs per week, in order to try and increase lean body mass. Would you guys suggest dropping my calories to around maintenance during the low stress weeks in order to reduce any extra ‘fat gain’? My reasoning behind this would be that perhaps the lower stress wouldn’t be driving as much hypertrophy as the other weeks of the programme and therefore any weight gain during this week might be unproductive.

P.S. Is it normal that I haven’t been able to run any of the repeat weeks of the template? More than 1 of my lifts have ‘stalled’ before or by weeks 4 and 8. (Sorry, I know this is a more training related question in the Nutrition form).

Let me know your thoughts. :slight_smile:

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SMCN11,

I wouldn’t drop Calories on your low stress weeks, as energy expenditure is likely the same overall- exercise doesn’t really increase energy expenditure when performed chronically. From a hypertrophy perspective, I wouldn’t expect any significant difference in a week.

As far as the repeat weeks, if all of the “priority” lifts (the 1st exercises performed each day) are going up week-to-week, then you could continue to repeat that week. If we expand the search for a stalled lift to any lift we’re currently doing, I wouldn’t expect you to be able to do any of the repeat weeks. It’s not “wrong” to do it one way or another- just providing insight here.

-Jordan

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