Losing Fat on Starting Strength

[strengthstarter]

I am 31 and 6'4"/272# at about 30%bf and have been doing a Starting Strength workout for 9/2/09. I started with no experience with weights at a 115# Squat, 145# Bench, 175# Dead, 95# Press, and 95# Power Clean. Through linear progression and GOMAD I've increased that to 270# Squat, 195# Bench, 310# Deadlift, and 160# Power Clean (All 5RM numbers).

My goal when beginning Starting Strength was to establish a strength foundation and hopefully lose a bit of bodyfat in the process. I ended up gaining about 8 pounds in the two months (which is fine) but haven't noticed a change in body fat percentage at all.

Now, a few things have been going on during these two months: (1) a lower back problem has developed and is kind of coming in and out--lately its about 50% of the time in pain. I've been to a chiropractor about it and its just a small misalignment (2) My shoulders and elbows have started to hurt after squats, such that they interfere with bench press and press afterwards, (3) in the last two weeks I've shifted to a calorie deficit keto diet (so I went off the milk) with calorie restriction to try to burn some excess bodyfat. As a result of all of this, my workouts have started to be fairly frustrating in the last week because I am stalling out on everything, and I've even gotten a little dizzy after squats.

My question is this: I've made some good gains on SS and would like to maintain where I am at and shift to a phase where I focus more on getting my bodyfat percentage down to a reasonable level like 15-20%. What kind of program and eating would be appropriate for this? I feel like if I continue with SS, I might be pushing myself too hard, and my body might be telling me to take a rest anyway. My workout partner is considering shifting to CF Football. I am considering going with him, or maybe even something with even more cardio focus for a while. But I really want to minimize any losses in strength or maintain, whatever I end up doing.

Thanks for your time!

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you switch to CF Football, the program is strength-based and your losses will be minimal, if any. Any it should positively affect your bodyfat % IF YOU HAVE YOUR DIET UNDER CONTROL. It is important to understand that razor abs are always the result of diet and never solely training. Getting your BF% down can be accomplished on either program, but not without a lot of dietary restraint.

[Mcpie]

I hesitate to call it "Starting Strength" because SS is meant to get one to Intermediate lifting as fast as possible, but I've been following the SS program in terms of lifts, along with a strict Paleo diet and the fat has been dropping very nicely. I can't offer #'s because I don't weigh myself, but I am on the verge of throwing out a belt I bought early this year as its last notch is becoming useless.

I still try and lift as heavy as I can/I use microplates to up the poundage, but I am not very strong and need to fight for even 1-2 pound increases.

FYI I tried the LSD running, the crash dieting, all that nonsense, none of it worked at all for me. I am not an expert, but at least for me, lifting as heavy as I can, continuing to try and up the weights (albeit much slower), and watching the diet meticulously has made a huge difference.

[justinbass]

Any program (hell, no program) with a good diet will result in fat loss.

So eat better, and pick a program that lifts heavy things often to prevent strength loss. CF Football will keep you strong, and get you stronger. Eat more meat and veggies and less pizza and beer.

[Blairbob]

Another program to consider may be CrossFitWichitaFalls outlined by Justin L. Very similar to SS but with a bit of metcon. Not as much variance between the strength and daily WOD.

[strengthstarter]

If you switch to CF Football, the program is strength-based and your losses will be minimal, if any. Any it should positively affect your bodyfat % IF YOU HAVE YOUR DIET UNDER CONTROL. It is important to understand that razor abs are always the result of diet and never solely training. Getting your BF% down can be accomplished on either program, but not without a lot of dietary restraint.

Thank you for the feedback. I've noticed that you have previously suggested Paleo/Zone for those of us not looking to gain or trim some bodyfat. Based on this, dietwise I will head back in the Zone direction, keeping track of my calories and bringing them down a bit without taking a huge hit in the gym and see if that works out, and will cut back on the milk. And if that doesn't work, I'll go stricter Paleo until it does (I don't mind giving up the bread but I'll cling onto dairy as long as a possibly can damnit).

For my workout routine, I think I need to back off a bit on the strength training for a while and work on metabolic conditioning. So CF Football or something like it. I've been so shagged after working out I've not been very good at doing abs, and based on how I feel after huffing up 15 power cleans, I think some metabolic conditioning would do me good.

As for my abs, it would be a nice side effect of losing some bodyfat (if it happens), but my larger concern is that my doctor keeps telling me to shed these pounds. And I had no six pack even in college when I was 50 pounds lighter. Figure it can't be good for me to be carrying all this excess weight around in the first place.

Thanks again for your input. And thank you for your book!

[brobinson]

Hey Strengthstarter,

I just made my first post on the forum as well and our stats are very similar. I am also trying to get some of the fat off using Lyle Mcdonalds rapid fat loss plan. It's not fun but the idea is to provide just enough protein to maintain muscle and creates a sharp caloric deficit to get the fat off fast.

I've kept the same schedule as Starting Strength but I've cut the work sets down to one rather than three out of necessity.

I have great respect for everything I've read from on training from Rip and dieting from Lyle, so I'm hoping between the two of them I can get stronger while not looking like a whale:).

I'm very interested in seeing your progress in the weeks ahead.