Which template and should I cut some fat following SSNLP

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Based on what I’ve heard on few BBM podcasts and some other reading it seems as though I want Hypertrophy I but I’m not sure whether I should start a deficit or???

I’m 49 yo, 6’ 188 lbs, according to my whithings scale I’m somewhere between 25% and 27% body fat depending on how the stars are aligned. My waist measures 36”

18 months ago I was 168 lbs. and pretty lean from surfing several days per week. When I started SS in October I was 175 lbs and soft because we moved to MN and my activity level dropped. I recently (3 weeks ago) switched to a more hypertrophy styled program and I can feel that my body is responding well to the additional volume. I haven’t made drastic changes to my diet aside from cutting out beer and sweets.

I’m not happy about having a gut. On one of the podcasts the guys said that if you go on a cut when you start working out that you may be disappointed because you don’t really have any muscle mass underneath. This is my sticking point. Do I do hypertrophy for another 8 weeks to put on some more muscle or shed the gut, get down to 15% fat and build from there?

2

You could run any of the templates in a Calorie deficit. I do think that many people carry less muscle mass than they think, but that wouldn’t stop me from recommending weight loss if they were carrying excess body fat.

3

Thanks for responding. I bought Hypertrophy I for me and the full beginner template for my wife. I’m going to go through each of the workouts this week to figure out what weights I should be using since some of the exercise variations are new to me and RPE is new too. I did High Bar/OHP/RDL/Lunge this morning.