Military Appearance (lengthy)

[Togniadn17]

Coach,

There is a Marine in my charge that has neglected healthy eating habits and physical conditioning for some time and is over the Marine Corps' bodyfat standard of 18% (he is at 25% according to the inaccurate taping method used by the Corps). I have had him on the novice program for the last two weeks and he has been progressing nicely. I planned to continue this and significantly increase his strength base over the next few months and upon completion of the novice phase I was going to add some metabolic conditioning to get rid of any excessive fat left over.

However, his military appearance has been on our command's radar for some time and they are just now deciding to intervene. Which means put him in a program where they will use the standard "run you into the ground for hours" method 2 times a day, everyday. This is also not good because I depend on him and another Marine to squat because of the lack of a power rack.

I have expressed to them how superior your program plus metabolic conditioning after completion of the novice phase is compared to the Marine Corps'. They are also aware of my knowledge of training (that I've acquired via this site and all of your books) because I have competed in powerlifting competitions. Surprisingly, they are giving me a chance. Every two weeks he has to either show an improvement in bodyfat % or a loss in bodyweight.

In SS:BBT it states that the fat guys will notice an improvement in body composition while body weight stays constant. We are currently deployed on a ship and I have him eating everything we can get our hands on. Three very large meals with four PB&J's spread throughout the day with extra peanut butter. I am wondering if the novice program untouched will be enough to please them consistently every two weeks until he is within standards once again.

In your opinion, should we continue with the caloric intake required to sustain strength gains and have faith in seeing an improvement in bodyfat composition due to the increasing strength, or should we prematurely cut some carbs out of the diet and add a day or two of met con to the program to appease our command for the time being?

His current stats and progress in 2 weeks:
Neck: 16"
Waist: 41"
Height: 73"
Weight: 236 lbs
Age: 23
Squat: 185x5x3 (Up 35 lbs)
Bench: 180x5x3 (Up 25 lbs)
Press: 110x5x3 (Up 25 lbs)
Deadlift: 225x5 (Up 40 lbs)
Not yet introduced to power cleans.

I know it pisses you off to see people concerned with fat loss this early in the novice phase and I agree wholeheartedly. However, it is imperative that I show them enough improvement with him in order to get them off his back so we can all continue as originally planned.

Thank you very much, coach.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Under normal circumstances we see an increase in bodyfat % as muscle mass is gained when the trainee starts off underweight, and a bodyfat loss when the trainee starts off "overweight", or over-fat. But we don't feed the fat guys the same way we feed the skinny guys. You may be overfeeding him, and since this is his actual ass we are talking about here, it might be better to hedge the bet by cutting down his carbs and holding him to 3500kcal/day, and adding one conditioning workout/week. If this doesn't drop his bodyfat, cut him down to 3000. Make sure he's not sneaking any sugar at all -- Cokes are verboten. Last resort is two conditioning workouts/week.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Ditto that from Mark, naturally fat guys like me and your buddy don't need to be force fed calories in order to grow and get stronger. Its both a blessing and a curse. Will be hard to do on ship, but keep him as close to paleo as possible for off days and most of the day on training days. Feed him some SIMPLE carbs just before and just after workouts.

[OITW]

As USMC, you know he has to MAX every PRT, anything less is trouble. I'm sure you are factoring that in.

And you have the advantage that his BF% is done by tape. Work the Hell out of the presses to build up his neck, and though they are entirely usless for his SS progression, don't hesitate to use bridges or any other tool to get some size into his neck. Not shrugs, just neck-only exercises.

[George Noble]

I'd do some direct neck work if I wanted to trick people into thinking I had a big neck.

[Togniadn17]

Very helpful. Thank you for the quick response.