I've been stuck hovering around 17% body fat for a while now.

I'm so close I can't wait till I am below 15%.

5'11 about 175lbs. My ideal weight is maybe 185-190

I know there is some controversy with running, but after completing a biking marathon that involved climbing staircases carrying your bike, my genetically tiny calves were the only muscles to be in actual pain the next day.

So now I combine cardio with targeting my calves and it seems to be working.

My routine has been to buy a weight vest and march up and down stairs engaging my calves as much as possible and damn it feels good to actually see some muscle on them!

I do this exercise mostly to bulk up my legs but the cardio part doesn't hurt!

Honestly if you're going to do running you should buy a weight vest (mine is 33 lbs) and get the most bang for your buck.

I like to joke that I am cheating on my workouts by adding more weight.

If anyone who took the time to read this has any input on my regime I would love to hear it.

I got more pussy when I was overweight and didn't give a fuck. I must have had a for real alpha attitude or something though, like seriously comfortable in my own skin. Now that I have abs and shit, I get so critical of my own physique every time I look into the mirror. IDK, I think fitness is important but the sexiest thing a woman sees in a man is boldness combined with happiness.

Intermittent fasting. It's how I cut. I love it

My friends always tell me I'm full of shit, but I can tell 100% of the time when a girl is into me.

Why?

I used to be fat. as. fuck. I still can't believe how differently I'm treated even though I lost 50 lbs and got jacked 3 years ago. If anything, starting out fat was a blessing. I still have a great personality (everybody loves fat funny guy), but now I realize how the world works.

The Red Pill clicks for me because I've lived it. People are nicer, friendlier, more deferential, more sexually attracted, more servile, and more attentive to you when you're hot. I can pick it out, always, because it used to be the exact opposite. It was life on Hard Mode.

I wish the world was different, like SJW's, White-Knights, Blue Pills (whatever the fuck you want to call them) want. I really do.

But it's not.

Remember how long you've been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you, and you didn't use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring;

• Marcus Aurelius

RUN. if you don't run then you better start! The human body was built for running. 20 mins a sessions is fine. Start slow and watch how fast you make progress. I started at 3.5 miles/hour for 10 mins now im at 6miles/hour for 20 mins and it feels great.

Running isn't so useful. In all honesty you don't burn the calories you could burn doing other things, other than that it's almost a waste of time vs other things you could be doing.

With that said, if that is all you can do then yeah, fucking run. I'd still say wind sprints or any other sort of lift would be much more beneficial. The biggest change needs to be diet though.

Sounds about like me right now, I work out at least 4 times a week, often more. Have pretty big muscles and good definition after lifting for a year and a half. But I have about ~20lbs I need to lose and I know that will make all a huge difference. I already get a lot of looks from woman but I know it will only increase. Woman aren't really a huge concern right now, got kinda of annoyed with my last plate and just decided to take a break but I need to lose the weight.

I can most times tell when a woman is attracted.. and people around me let me know as well.

My favorite is when I hit up a fancy mom & pop coffee shop and the cute little hippy chick starts to gush while pouring me a coffee, telling me all about what she is up to after work ( HINT HINT )

Fuck that feels good man.

Google Leangains

Intermittent fasting on a disciplined schedule/diet works wonders

A an NFL lineman out of shape? How about an Olympic powerlifter?

Nope. Those guys would make half of the guys on this forum with 10% body fat feel like manlets.

Having abs doesn't mean you're in shape, it means your body fat is low. Being scrawny with skinny boy abs is almost as bad as being a fat MF'er

If someone who isn't decently muscular cuts to 15% you're doing them a disservice. Most people need to be in a bulking phase. That you look great @ 15% is great but don't forget that you got there by bulking. Given this is the reason you bulk and cut but you can't skip the buiking part. The order goes sknny < big < muscular. Muscular is better than just being big, just being big is better being skinny. Skinny is the worst. So if you're skinny, you need to be bulking up and hitting the gym hard. Cutting will stall your progress.

Count calories and then times by 1.10. Chances are you are under counting calories. Had a fried eggs? calories in an egg are ~70. But you didn't include the olive oil etc.

Unnecessary, calculate what you're cooking it with and quit being lazy, or don't worry about it at all. There are 0 calorie olive oil sprays out there and they're great.
Nutritional facts are based on a raw product, cooking generally results in LESS calories.

Eventually you reach a point where Women can't help themselves. They start becoming almost goofy about it.

Sprints. Run fucking sprints. They not only shred fat, they improve your explosiveness. Explosiveness=more strength. More strength=Dem Gainz.

Learn how to run properly. All this "Running is terrible for your joints" should be changed to "Running is terrible for your joints...if you don't do it right". Just like most body builders' "squats". Yeah, they're bad for the knees because their knees shoot forward instead of hips coming back and knees going out.

By the way, I'm at about 22% body fat but I'm pretty damn strong. Though it's not the best look aesthetically, it's way better than being skinny. Especially when I pick girls up, throw them over my shoulder, and squat while they're up there. Sounds stupid but they all love it.

That might be true to some degree but i can say since getting sub 15% bf i have clearly noticed women are checking me out and if i haven't my girl friends or guy friends have told me when one was.

I agree - when women like you, believe me, they will let you know.

Women aren't shamed for checking guys out or complimenting them, and even catcalling is encouraged, so they've less inhibitions in expressing their enthusiasm for a guy.

[deleted]

"RUN. if you don't run then you better start! The human body was built for running"...

Really bro? Running without the abundance of food we have now would have killed you. You were built to preserve energy at all costs. Why do you think there are so many fat people around?

Running is a suboptimal, unsafe and frankly a boring way to get lean.

I believe as long as you are big and lean enough to show some veins, youll be aight.

Just a reminder that if you want to cut to 15% body fat, that's fine. But I honestly don't think it matters unless you're walking around with no shirt on for any noticeable amount of time (like trying to bang women at the beach or something).

Another thing is, any guy reading this, make sure you have a good amount of muscle before you do this. If you're like 7 months into working out, cutting to 15% bodyfat is dumb because you'll just look scrawny again. This kind of goal only works if you already have decent amounts of muscle and you've exhausted your noob strength gains.

For me, personally, this kind of goal is good but I wouldn't become obsessive about it. Some guys want to be like 4% bodyfat and that's just fucking stupid. I don't know my BF % but I've had very cute girls tell me I have "abs for daaaayyyyzz" when you can just see a faint outline of them while I flex. Of course, I have chest and shoulder muscles too so it enhances that. I would never go below 10% bf unless your job or sport calls for it, and most women will be happy as long as you got muscles and they can see decent definition. But hey, that's just my take on it, I'm not knocking any guy that wants to get to that bodyfat and I understand why they would.

I am glad you have realistic protein recommendations though. Too many guys overdo that part.

I got myself a Kettlebell and a Road bike am biking to work instead of driving which is faster and doing kettlebell swings every day.

I'm well on my way to my fitness goals.

If you're natural, and you want to look like you lift with a shirt on, you need to be a relatively high bf %. No point being ripped as hell if you're wearing long sleeves etc.

I actually REALLY like point 3. Nobody should be cutting on the border of a starvation diet anyway, so accommodating an extra 10% shouldn't be a massive issue.

Can also concur that sub 15%bf (or slightly higher if you have massive shoulders,) women have absolutely no intentions of masking checking you out. They're not sitting there considering something like "Oh his butt's cute, but he doesn't quite make it to the vagina." They are trying to will you over with their eyes.

I think my new sense of style is helping a tad, too. Shaved my head, grew a beard and donned some minimalist glasses (instead of contacts.)

This is true if you are already somewhat muscular and your goals are not strength related. I don't think it applies to beginners or people trying to build strength.

I was skinny-fat (6', 175) before I started lifting . I did a hard bulk (up to 190) for about 8 months then a cut until I was 170-172 lbs with 14%-15% bf. The cut took a little over 3 months.

What you said about girls noticing is definitely true, but it just wasn't enough for me because I was still small. I kept thinking about how every day I was losing strength I was sliding further from my ultimate goals (bigness) for the sake of instant gratification (attention from girls).

I would recommend a few years lifting prior to going on an all-out cut if you started with very little muscle mass, just based on my experience and how I felt. I am just now breaking the maxes I set during my first bulk and I'm certain I would be happier with bigger lifts now instead of the couple months of rippedness I had.

I'm trying to cut but I keep fuckin' up. I'm weak brahs...

Good advice. If you're above 20% BF go consult a physio / kinesio before running as you may (probably) fuck up your knees.

Cut all the processed food and sugars out. Fat melts off leaving veins popping through chiseled mass

[deleted]

Ive been trying to start bulking. At 15% as of last week. It's hard to give up a recent weight loss. But i want to get slightly bigger... Can i just eat at maintenance?

I definitely agree with running. Running on a regular basis has helped me out a lot. However, my biggest problems are eliminating the sugar and alcohol.

[deleted]

Personally I find that I have better luck with women in my off seasons from sport when I'm not trying to maintain my weight class and I run steroids that bloof me out a bit and make me hold water. I easily look around 15% bodyfat (although my actual bodyfat is lower taking into account water bloat). You can pull of the less lean look if you genuinely are a big muscular guy. Also goes down great with the type of woman I like to date since I'm not all that tall (5'10) but prefer women around my height. Goes a long way to a dominating presence and I find this important when dealing with tall girls.

It's important to realize that there's a delicate balance when it comes to cutting and bulking. Cutting will give you a lean look at some point but keep on mind that you are, at best, just maintaining what you already have. Bulking is absolutely necessary to look less like a twig, and this means conceding that lean look in order to build muscle for up to a year or more. As such this process requires patience AKA monk mode to reach your goals. Remember that you're doing this for yourself in the long term and not for the immediate tingles you'll give some CC whore.

When you start dropping body fat percentage people will say "wow dude you look like youve put on a lot of muscle" or "you look huge dude" because you can actually see what you already had.

Corollary: Don't cut if you have no muscular base, its a waste of time

1. Don't run. Running is terrible for your joints and other things too. It's a good dose of cardio, but find better healthier ways to do it (eg rowing, very hard cycling, uphill treadmill).

2. Don't times by 1.10, count your calories fucking properly. If you factor by 1.10, you'll lie to yourself and claw that 10% back somewhere else. Aim to nail it dead on, like with everything in life.

Everything else - totally agreed. Sub 15% fat is easier, faster and will look better than gaining muscle. But do fucking lift, it helps with fat loss as well as muscle gain.

How do you maintain energy on a cut to go to the gym and lift heavy? Caffeine, other stimulants?

I've found BCAAs to be great for lifting endurance.

[deleted]

I've noticed it a function of having mass more than bf% so-far. Perspective of a shorty, 5'6" with thick soles. Over the past few months I've made a pretty big change, and am getting flirted with by many more people than before. 6-7's are my new 5 who were my old 8-unattainable, type thing.

As I've added mass I've also been dirty with my eating and drinking (33% beer, 67% gin and soda) and would put myself at probably 18%, now being 150 after being around 130 and 13%. Previous point was from a caliper in a trainer's office, I don't have my current one.

Obviously can't say it's just that. But in addition I've also established a core wardrobe that fits very well; dry cleaned shirts every day, etc (2 dollars, just do it). Fun: the same clothes fit better at 150 than 140 as I've recomposed. Even t-shirts are incredibly flattering.

Dropping to 15% with more mass is going to be fucking awesome, 'till then I'm packing a little more.

Thanks for the content, very good tips suggestions.

I'm trying my first cut at the moment, after a longer bulk, and I can't really lose weight. I eat well below my TDEE (-400-500), but my weight stays exactly the same for two weeks now.

is there an easy way to measure the bodyfat?

Any recommendations for a 40 something who is just about plateauing on my 5x5's?

I maxed out at:

210 squats 245 deads 175 bench 130 ohp 135 row

I went from 165 to almost 195 at 5'11 but bodyfat is around 22% now and I'm in dad bod territory although I am stronger than I've been in my life (not saying much) but definitely get compliments from people I haven't seen I a while.

With thanksgiving / Xmas coming in inclined to stay on the bulk and see how far I can push my lifts. Then after all my partying and eating is done after New Years go full anorexia mode until I can see abs (haven't seen those in 15 years)

Another thing I'm wondering, while cutting, is it worth moving to a 3x5 program or should I go the other way and do higher reps. Or does it even matter?