8/20/2019 LG Q&A

1/24

LG Q&A

1. I notice most of his clients were losing about 2 pounds a week. How manypounds per week were u losing? How much were your weekly deficits?

Martin says that you can lose this much and still retain excellentstrength/potentially gain some:

18-19% body fat: -1.7 lb/week 15-17% body fat: -1.5 lb/week 12-14%: -1.3 lb/week 9-11%: -1 lb/week

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

2/24

Tri Ext - 2x6-8 Leg Day Squat/Leg Press - 2x6-8 Hamstring curl machine - 2x6-8

Leg extensions - 2x6-8 Calves (any exercise) - 1x12-16

4. You're listing 2 sets for most of your exercise. Are these 2 sets RPT style(-10% weight, +1-2 reps)? If so, any reason why you don't do 3 like Martinoriginally outlined for RPT?

2 sets are what Martin gave me. I find them much better for RPTtraining than 3 sets.

Here's why: You only focus on lifting ONE SET to your MAX POTENTIAL

for each exercise. And if you know you only get 2 exercises per musclegroup per week (give or take), you know you better give it your all-out. That is why the 5-minute breaks are so helpful.

There is a structure for RPT. The first set is always within the reprange described (unless you're just starting the routine and went toolight. Don't go "oops, it says to do 6-8 reps, must stop at 8" if you cando more. If you can do more, do them for that workout, but adjustupward appropriately next week). The second set, without fail, is 0.9xweight, +1 rep . Do not do more than 1 extra rep.. even if you feellike you can.

Holding back like that is key to proper growth. You go all-out on thefirst set. All the way to failure. (What is failure? If you think you willdrop the weight on your next rep, stop before doing it). And on thesecond set, you drop the weight 10%, and do one more rep. Not two.Not three. Just one. It has to be one, in order for you to recover andpush more on the first set next week.

3 sets just defeats the purpose. If you go -10% again, and do another1 rep, the weight you're using is already so light compared to your topset that all it does is drain your CNS for the remainder of yourworkout. Stick with 2 sets. Works much better in the long run.

(I'm not talking out of my ass here. I've done all the routines thatinvolve 3+ sets, 5-6 days a week, etc. I have experience with it all.And in all honesty, what Martin advocates is the single best method Ihave ever used )

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

3/24

5. does this still apply to beginners on a 5x5 workout looking to build up asolid base and put on their first bits of muscle? i am a 6'3" skinny-fat at180lbs, the idea of 5x5's helping develop joints and everything else throughvolume sounded like a healthy method.

If you're an absolute beginner any non-retarded training routine willgive you a base. If you're a beginner, you don't need to worry aboutanything except being consistent in your workouts.

At the same time, I would not recommend doing 5x5 as a beginner. Iwould not recommend 5x5 to anybody. I think it's more of the BSpushed by people who don't really know what they're talking about.

Will it put mass on you? Of course. Most routines will. Will it put masson you better than RPT? Fuck no. And if you're a beginner, workingwith such low rep ranges for heavy compound lifts like squats anddeads is a prime way to injure yourself.

If I were to start again, this would be my choice of routines: RPT as outlined in this thread, but increase the rep range

by 4 on both ends (6-8 reps becomes 10-14 reps). This isso you learn the movement.

--OR-- A regular 5 day isolation work bodybuilding split. You

might not make as much progress, but you sure as hellwon't hurt yourself doing curls, tricep extensions, andmachine military presses.

No 5x5 anywhere. 5x5 is too much volume and too little reps forbeginners. Don't even try 5x5 until you've got 2+ years of solidprogression in the gym (meaning, you're nearing the totals I put upright now, adjusted to your weight)

6. What were your lifts like when he assigned you this? Do you still use this?Thanks for taking the time to answer questions. I've learned quite a bit fromreading your posts here.

Yes, still use the exact routine I posted to this day. As long as I canadd weights to the bar, why stop? (I'm talking about tiny increments

now, like 0.5lb-1lb every two or three weeks extra) Lifts before were less. I was still strong, but not as strong as I amnow. Only thing I remember is doing Incline DB Press for high reps (8-12) at 90lbs, and maxing all the back machines available.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

4/24

7. I'm having a hard time doing a Slowbulk on LG, what was suggested byMartin? what macros, how many calories surplus, did you keep working outfasted?

My consultation was for a cut. I've bulked very well using the exactsame principles, only a higher daily caloric intake.

Calorie surplus will depend on how much you want to gain. If you'refucking lucky and perfect (and natural), you can't gain more than 0.5lbper week without lots spilling over to fat. Just adjust your calories upevenly to get to that point.

On a bulk, every day was a surplus for me. But the % differencebetween the days was the same as the cut I've outline above.

8. How do you obtain most of your calories of protein from? How much ofthat is from whey/casein supplements?

My post-workout meal (which contains all my calories for the day): 1 box Kashi GoLean - 371g 1 carton soy milk - 1,890g 3 containers greek yogurt - 1,500g 1 bag frozen blueberries - 600g 1 TBSPN coconut oil - 10g Total Food Intake: 4,371g = 9.6lb 2756 cal, 313g protein, 274g carb (not counting fiber), 45g fat I eat it in about 24-40 minutes, and forget about food for the rest

of the day. In terms of protein: 1.5kg of greek yogurt has 152g protein GoLean cereal has 92g protein. The soy milk I use has 45g protein. Another 20g of protein come from ten Ultra 40 Desicated Liver tabs

(didn't list these in my original post). Remainder comes from blueberries.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

5/24

9. I am a former client of Martin as well from 2008. When I consulted withhim he had my set up with a pre-workout meal. Was this an option for youor did you prefer to train fasted? Thanks

I noted elsewhere, if you look at his blog, he refines his suggestionsover the years. 2010 is around the time he zones in on best practices.I'd say that what he gave me was a slightly more refined version ofwhat he gave you.

Of course there was an option for a pre-workout meal. He noted thatin his experience with clients, most prefer doing 10g of BCAA instead.He also says that if you had your choice between training completelyfasted, training with BCAAs, or training with a preworkout meal, thefirst best option is BCAAs, followed closely by a preworkout meal. Hedoes not recommend completely fasted training.

But in my experience, a preworkout meal fucks everything up for me. Iwould rather train fasted than with a preworkout meal. BCAAs are farand away the best option, though.

10. General consensus is 1g protein/lb bw on both rest and workoutdays. Somewhere between 30-60g of fat on workout days andsomething like 70-100g fat on rest day. And however many carbsdepends on if you're bulking or cutting.

More protein on both days. Bottom threshold for fats should be higheron workout days, lower on rest days.

Most help for everybody involved, I think, is if I give the macros I'musing right now on my cut (2 weeks in). These are the ones

I started with and essentially the same as what Martin recommends tohis clients: Workout Day: 2756 Calories. 313g Protein. 274g Carb. 45g Fat. Rest Day: 1768 Calories. 259g Protein. 88g Carb. 74g Fat. That is for somebody at 200lbs. If you want to know what your macros

should be, just adjust based on your weight. For example, you weigh180lbs and want to cut? Multiply my macros by 0.9 to fit your weight.

This will NOT differ significantly based on your daily activity level,unless you have some ridiculous on-your-feet-all-day type of job(mailman). And anyway, stressing about the perfect amount ofcalories is overrated. You start at a good estimate. This gives you that.From there, you adjust your intake based on your weekly progress.The adjustment is key.

Why do your rest day macro totals = 2054 calories instead of the 1768you mention?

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

6/24

o Because a majority of those carbs come from insoluble fiber. I just did the calculation using my food, and all but 30g of carbscome from insoluble sources.

10. My protein intake has been closer to 1 g/lb bodyweight. Whatadvantages do you see with a higher protein intake (ie ~1.5 g/lbbodyweight in your case)? Here is what I said in the thread I posted yesterday on here (Question

was, "Does 300 grams of protein do anything special compared with200?"):

Probably. Makes you think about your food choices more. Makes itharder to cheat on crappy foods. It's a lot more satisfying than carbs.

In terms of body composition.. not in the way you hope. It has ahigher TEF so you get slightly less calories at the end of the day. Butit's not drastic. 100 extra grams of protein (comparing 200g with300g) might save you 80cals/day compared to 100 grams of carbs orthe equivalent in calories of fat.

It doesn't do anything like make you stronger, leaner, or whateverbullshit people hope for. It's not magic. In the end, it's just a choicebased on the foods I enjoy.

Then the guy asked: "Nice. Most people struggle to eat that muchprotein therefore my question. So what's the level beyond where moreprotein is useless for muscle gain/preservation?"

And I said: On a cut, get 40-55% of your calories from protein. On a bulk, get around 40%. You can probably make do with 1g/lb of

BW, but I like to stay high for the reasons I listed above. When Ibulked to my current weight, I had some days where I ate over 500gof protein. Did I gain more muscle because of it? No. But did I enjoymy diet a hell of a lot more? You fucking bet.

Remember, the best diet is the one you can stick to. Eating like this, at

a deficit, I don't even feel like I'm cutting. Even though I went from208lb around July 14th to 199lb this morning.

11. Did you notice anything different if you ever deviated from the macrooutlined by Martin? I.e. lower fat = lower libido

I didn't deviate from the macros because I made myself two dietdays and followed them to a T.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

7/24

It reduces the mental energy you spend thinking about food to almostzero when you know you're going to eat the same thing in the samequantity every day. It doesn't have to be boring food. I use myfavorite foods both days.

But, from past experience (trying to diet down in my teens with fats at10-20g/day), lower fat diets definitely have a shit ton of negatives.Most noticeable is a horrible mood and dead/dying libido.

12. Care to share your 2 diet templates? REST DAY

o 7 sticks lean pepperoni (840 cal, 98 pro, 21 carb, 56 fat)700g egg whites (364 cal, 76 pro, 5 carb, 1 fat)1 can tuna (90 cal, 20 pro, 0 carb, 1 fat)10 liver tabs (80 cal, 20 pro, 0 carb, 0 fat)680g soy milk (160 cal, 16 pro, 8 carb, 8 fat)40g Hershey cocoa (80 cal, 8 pro, 24 carb, 4 fat)900g zucchini (154 cal, 11 pro, 30 carb, 3 fat)

o TOTAL: 1768 Cal, 249 Pro, 88 Carb, 74 Fat o (majority of carbs are from insoluble fiber so if you add the

numbers together you'll get higher cals than what is listed)

WORKOUT DAY o 1,890g soy milk (450 cal, 45 pro, 23 carb, 23 fat)

1 box kashi golean (980 cal, 91 pro, 140 carb, 7 fat)1,500g greek yogurt (857 cal, 154 pro, 51 carb, 0 fat)600g blueberries (290 cal, 3 pro, 60 carb, 4 fat)10x liver tabs (80 cal, 20 pro, 0 carb, 0 fat)11g coconut oil (99 cal, 0 pro, 0 carb, 11 fat)

o TOTAL: 2756 Cal, 313 Pro, 274 Carb (not counting fiberthis time), 45 Fat

o Here's what I said about fat intake before: Bottom threshold for fats should be higher on workout

days, lower on rest days. That's regarding the macro ratios that are usually thrown

around on this sub reddit. If you follow the generalstructure I outline for my diet, your workout day fats will

never be that low.

13. And a follow up question to this. I think it's pretty clear what macros should bewhen cutting (posted before by other clients as well), but what's never talkedabout, is what to do when done cutting. You can't keep cutting forever. Whenyou're happy where you're at, do you continue to keep fat low on workout days?I'm not so sure this is good in the long run.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

8/24

When you're done your cut: 1. Look at your weight loss average over the last three

weeks. That gives a baseline for what your running deficitis.

For example, if you lost 0.8lb in week 14, 0.7lb in week 15, and 0.5 inweek 16, your total weight loss over 3 weeks = 2lb.

1. One pound of fat is ~3500 calories. You lost two poundsover three weeks, so your deficit was 7000 caloriesspread over 21 days.

2. That means your daily deficit averaged 333 calories.3. Now, you know that you can add a total of 2333 calories

(333cals*7days) to your week to switch to maintenanceand keep your weight stable.

4. Martin's recommendation: "Think about the days you are

more hungry and distribute calories appropriately." Stickto the same macro composition as before, but giveyourself a 5% leeway to make adding foods easier. 5%leeway in the percentage intake, NOT the calories!

For example, if your diet was 45% protein on your trainingdays before, make sure it's within 40-50% now thatyou're maintaining.

5. No food experiments, no changing the types of food youate for two weeks. Martin: "Ideally, you should eatthe exact same foods you ate during your fat loss

phase, just more of them."

14. Did you do any cardio? Was it suggested by him? If so, what type andwhy? I do cardio on off days. Only as a way to get some physical activity.

And only to improve compliance with my diet. On workout days, Ibreak the fast after my workout. I spend literally no time thinking

about food before the gym. If I sit around at home on rest days, Idon't have that psychological barrier, and it becomes much easier to justify eating earlier. But if I know that I can only eat after I walk for45-60min, or play some light soccer, basketball, street hockey,whatever, it has the same effect as a workout.

Key is to keep cardio low intensity and light. Don't use it to burn extracalories--although that's obviously a nice side effect. Use it to helpdietary compliance.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

9/24

Martin's suggestion was 45 minutes on the two rest days that aresandwiched between workouts, and 60 minutes on the two rest daysthat come together (assuming an ON-OFF-ON-OFF-ON-OFF-OFFschedule).

In reality, the main point of rest day cardio is to free your mind fromthinking about the fast. If you walk for 45 minutes, you might burn,what, 200 total calories? And you have to remember to subtract yourBMR from that, which is what you would have burned just by sitting onyour ass. If I'm at 200lb and my maintenance is 2756, I burn 114calories each hour. That's 86 calories in 45 minutes. So the "extra"calories burned from the walk end up being a mere 114 for the day.But it helps with dietary compliance for sure.

does walking really count as cardio? I guess it depends on who youask. most people are just looking for any excuse not to do any form ofconditioning or they're really neurotic about "losing gains"o It's not for conditioning, neither is it for the calorie burn. It's for

dietary compliance. That was Martin's initial reasoning for it.o Compare: sitting around at home all day, knowing you have nothing

you need to do. Easy to justify breaking your fast earlier and maybenot sticking to your macros.

o Or, knowing you have to go for a walk or call a girl over for a fuckbefore you can think about food. You might delay the walk,lengthening the fast, shortening your feeding window, and makecheating less likely. But you still have to do it when you eat. Samething for sex. You got to wait on someone else

15. What distribution did you use for cutting? -30/-10(Rest Days/WorkDays)? -20/0? -30/10? And for how long?

Check my post above for my exact macros. Adjust to your weight bymultiplying by the appropriate ratio. Then you'll know. FYI, myworkout day was at maintenance.

How long? However long it takes to get to the BF you want to be.Check out the other thing I posted about progression based on BF%

The only protocol you see on leangains is the recomp +20% / -20%.What Protocol does Martin use for bulk / cut?

o That protocol will have you spinning your wheels and goingfucking nowhere. Part of the reason for wanting to do this AMA isto get people's heads on straight.

Yes, so can you tell me what protocol you used for your cut? Do youknow what Martin recommends for a bulk?

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

10/24

o I don't think in terms of percentages like that. For me, it's moreof knowing what my weekly deficit is. I eat at maintenance on 3workout days (so 0, I guess), and want my weekly caloric intaketo be ~4000 calories under maintenance.

Depending on your weight, that will make your percentage differ. Apound of fat on me (I'm 200lb) and a pound of fat on someonewho's 150lbs will take the same weekly caloric deficit to lose. Thatis why I think percentages are useless.FOR ME, however, I guess I'm around -35% to -40% on rest days,0 on workout days. But that only matters because that iswhat I need to get to my weekly 4,000 cal deficit.

I didn't mention this on your post, but I actually do planches and frontlevers on two of my rest days. It took me a few months of training(mostly balance), but now I can do 60-seconds or more of each easily.I do them to work my abs. I hate abdominals work where you have tomove. Stuff like this is fun. But it's not a substitute for a propertraining routine. I think that was your biggest misunderstandingwhen you started. As an aside, I can definitely do more than sixtyseconds of each by now, but I don't, because I don't want to hamperrecovery for my weight training on a deficit. Good luck.

16. Any advice or insight on how to properly set up the calorie split andmacros with 4 workout days instead of the recommended 3? I prefer 5/3/1which I currently do 3 days a week, but I would like to switch to doing it 4days a week like it is meant to be performed.

Easy. Figure out your rest day and workout day calories based on theinfo I gave above. Add them together to get your calories for a week.That's your total. Pony it up among your 4 workout days and 3 restdays. Workout days will be higher. Rest days will be lower.Keep protein high throughout. 4 days a week is definitely not ideal,and will make it harder to stick to your diet. But do it if you must.Remember: the best diet and training routine is the one you can stickto for the longest amount of time and progress on. Everything else is

just semantics.

Thank you, that is what i was thinking too. i was planning on onlymoving to 4 day a week training while bulking and/or maintenance. Iknow that a lot of the success of leangains comes from the carbcycling aspect as well as the intermittent fasting. do you recommendthat i stick to high carbs on all workout days and low an rest days. orshould i do a High, Mod, Low,High, Mod, Low, Low type carb cycle? ihave just recently hit sub 10% BF range and have 4 more weeks left in

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

11/24

my cut. I am wondering if I am insulin sensitive enough to handle theconsecutive high carb days on a bulk to stay fairly lean.o Most people who think they are insulin resistant are not. I thought I

had poor insulin sensitivity before working with Martin. A few cupsof rice would knock me on my ass. Now, I have upwards of 300gcarbs in 20 minutes post-workout and I don't even yawn.Do high/low. I've tried High/Med/Low in the past. It was the secondbest diet I've ever tried (I've done keto, CKD, regular 40/40/20,ultimate diet 2.0, velocity diet, etc.). The best is Martin's carbcycling, bar none.And to adjust my advice a bit: keep your workout days atmaintenance. Only have a deficit on rest days. You won't havemuch to eat on rest days (I'm guessing somewhere in the ballparkof 1,200 calories, or so), but that's what you have to do if you insiston training 4x a week. Low calories aren't bad, per se, either. It'slow calories combined with intense cardio where people run intotrouble. So if you do cardio at all, make sure it's no more than 45-60 min LISS, only on your rest days, and only for the reasons Italked about doing cardio elsewhere in this thread.

So the TLDR of this is that I get to eat at -20/+6 instead of -30/-10.Which is brilliant. I’ve been eating 100 less g's of protein than the Berkwould've recommended for about a month now. Makes sense as towhy I have felt like shiiiiiiiit.

o Yup. Make sure your fats match what I put up above, too. This means your fat must be very low on rest days though, don't you

get bad consequences from that?o My fat on rest days is at 74 grams. Not low. Not super high like

people advocate on here, either, but not low enough to breakyour hormone production cycles. Even if you weigh 150lbs(compared to my 200lb), your fat intake will be ~56g on restdays, using my template. That's enough for somebody at thatweight.

For the amount of calories that I would eat based on the numbers you

have given n( I am 166 lbs.) I would be eating at -20 on rest days andlosing .4 pounds a week. so you are saying that you eat -30ish andthen maintenance? so -30ish/0?

o Here's the thing. Don't reduce your workout day calories. Keepthem at maintenance. If you want to hit the -4,000cal marker,cut calories from your rest days. But keep protein around the220g mark on those days.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

12/24

Actually if I eat mostly veggies then it will probably be more like -.5 or-.6 lbs. a week I suppose.

o That's a solid rate of weight loss. Check out the guidelines Iposted above based on your BF%. You can probably do more.The key is not to reduce on workout days. Your body needs thecalories to recover and grow. But you can cut down your restday calories to pretty miniscule amounts, even if you keepprotein at 220 and fats above 50. Don't do it with intense cardio,though. That's where the trouble begins.

17. What were your top three protein sources? I noticed you said in yourmacros you ate ~260-320g protein/day. That seems really tough to mewithout lots of shakes. I am curious how you managed to cram all thatprotein down your gullet.

Not a single shake. On rest days, I eat lean peperoni sticks, egg whites, andtuna to get my protein. On workout days, I eat Kashi Golean, greek yogurt,and soy milk. It's fucking easy to get protein. I've had up to 500g per day ona bulk before. Did it help body composition compared to 300g? Fuck no. Butit made my food so much more satisfying. Just change your mindset. Proteinis easy to get once you know the foods that are high in it. Browsecalorieking.com for ideas based on things you have in your kitchen. Youdo NOT workout fasted. You break the fast right before your workout with10g BCAA. It makes a huge difference in your strength.I trained for a few months completely fasted, after training with BCAAs. Itsucked. When I switched back to BCAAs, I felt like a million bucks.Other than that, I get all my calories post-workout.

18. Did it matter the types of carbs PWO (simple or complex)? No. As long as you don't go full retard mode and have all your carb

calories from fruit or something like that.19. What was the exact routine you used? Also could you lay out what youate? Like a template for a day

I have my workout day foods listed above. Here is my rest day:

7 sticks lean pepperoni (840 cal, 98 pro, 21 carb, 56 fat)700g egg whites (364 cal, 76 pro, 5 carb, 1 fat)1 can tuna (90 cal, 20 pro, 0 carb, 1 fat)10 liver tabs (80 cal, 20 pro, 0 carb, 0 fat)680g soy milk (160 cal, 16 pro, 8 carb, 8 fat)40g hershey cocoa (80 cal, 8 pro, 24 carb, 4 fat)900g zucchini (154 cal, 11 pro, 30 carb, 3 fat)TOTAL: 1768 Cal, 249 Pro, 88 Carb, 74 Fat

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

13/24

(Majority of carbs are from insoluble fiber so if you add the numberstogether you'll get higher cals than what is listed)

20. How about fruit?

Fruits are fine. I have 600g blueberries on my workout days. As longas your workout day carbs aren't ALL fruits, you're good to go.Something sweet is probably good for you if you have a sweet tooth. Idump sucralose powder in both my cereal and Greek yogurt to satisfythat, myselfPS: Yes, pure sucralose. Not the splenda shit that's spiked withmaltodextrin and gives you calories.

You can probably have fruits on rest day. But you'll likely find yourselfwanting more. Fruits are packed with calories compared to vegetables.I'd stick to vegetables only on rest days. But it's just a preference forme. For example, I have 2lbs (907g) of raw zucchini on rest days.That gives me 150 calories. If I subbed in blueberries instead, I'd onlyget 300g. And they go down faster.It's all about the bulk volume of food, for me.

21. Do you consume any cheat meals, or any type of refeeds?What about alcohol?

Don't ever feel the need for cheat meals because I love my fuckingfood. If I run out of food, I do substitute (like on days when I am toolazy to go grocery shopping). But it's always less than ideal.No refeeds. Refeeds are stupid, because most people can't handlethem properly. Everyone uses them as an excuse to gorge themselvesfor an hour or two. I know. I used to do this.My training day calories are at maintenance. Hence, I don't even need"refeeds".Alcohol is fine. No problem. On days I drink, I reduce my cals from

carbs/fat (in a 1:1 ratio) by about 500. I can drink however much Iwant and wake up the next morning looking leaner (fromdehydration). And alcoholic calories don't really work in the same wayto hinder weight loss. So even if I have more than 500 cals of alcohol,I'm still good to go for the week, always. People who gain weightbecause of frequent drinking do it not from the alcohol calories, butfrom the extra-food calories they consume the same night due to

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

14/24

lower inhibitions (easier to justify stopping for a slice of pizza on theway home and eating the whole thing instead)

22. Did martin ever give a reason as to why the protein is so high? Satiety?TEF? Lean muscle retention? A bit of each?

Protein is high for satiety, TEF, and dietary compliance. It's a lotharder to eat shitty food when you know you need to get 300g ofprotein in a day. It also takes a lot more time to chew that type offood. That gives you better compliance. In terms of muscle retention,it helps. How much? Probably minimally, Mostly it's to increase yourTEF a bit (300g vs 200g of protein per day will burn an extra 80 cals)and make you eat good foods.

23. I've been lurking on this sub for the past few months and the shit people

recommend on here is ridiculous. What have you seen recommended that isridiculous? Lots of people have a flawed understanding of the proper training

protocol needed to be successful. They also don't really understandhow you need to adjust your calories once fat loss stalls. One thing Ialways see is people recommending diet breaks. That's fuckingbullshit. The only reason you'd need a diet break is if you're goingaround in circles (like most people on here are) for months, and needit from a psychological stand point. Otherwise, upping your calories fortwo weeks will not magically "restart" your weight loss.

Been there, done that.They need to track their weekly intake, track their weekly weightaverage, and adjust calories downward by 5-6% when weighloss stallsover two weeks . Not freak out when it stops for one week.There's tons more. Lots of misinformation. A lot of it comes from agood place, ie, people genuinely want to help others. It's just that theyhaven't the slightest clue of what they're talking about.Andy is a prime example in my mind. He's been training for... howlong? And he still looks the way he does? Look at the recent sidebaraddition on his website. How many of those transformations are"spectacular"? Most of the people there look like smaller, slightly-less-fat versions of themselves.I'm not saying Andy isn't trying to help. Of course he is. As iseverybody else who puts their recs on here. But it's all misguided.I think the best help for everybody would be if someonecondensed all the info I've given out on this thread into a PDFor FAQ or something. I've given you everything Martin would give

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

15/24

his clients. Martin gets the best results. Bar-none. It's a shame he left,but that's part of the reason I'm doing this AMA. I want people to havea definitive source they can look to for their questions about leangains.

24. I understand that you don't eat anything until you work out on workoutdays, what about rest days. Do you practice 16/8-20/4 on rest days?

I eat my food in less than 30 minutes on workout days. It takes a bitlonger to chew the pepperoni's on rest days because they're so dry, soI eat for a bit longer on those days.I don't think 16/8 or 20/4 make a lick of a difference. All it is, in theend, is getting your weekly calories right. Assuming the properdistribution of macros related to your split.So my workout days are like 23.5/0.5. My rest days might be 23/1.That is 0.5 hours and 1 hour spent eating each day, total.

Some people like to break it up. I don't. I eat once a day and forgetabout it for the rest.Check out what I said about doing cardio or some activity on restdays. It makes you delay the start of eating, and helps withcompliance.

25. You don't fucking get it. The 0.9x multiplier was for somebodywho weighs 180lbs. You are supposed to apply the multiplier to m ym a cr o s . 0.9 x 2756 for YOUR workout day calories. 0.9 x 1768 forYOUR rest day calories.You adjust by 5-6% when weight loss stalls over a two week period .Losing weight does not decrease your metabolism. Even if you lose10lb's of pure muscle, that will only reduce you daily BMR by~97cals. (Kvatch-McArdle Formula). If you train and diet the way Ioutlined, you will only lose fat.The calories I outlined for myself are a starting point for everybody inthis thread. Adjust them to your weight, track your progress, and ifweight loss stalls, reduce by 5-6%. K n o w i n g h o w t o d o t h e f u ck i n ga d j u s t m e n t i s t h e k e y p o i n t . Not on having the perfect estimation ofyour BMR at the start.

26. Didn't notice anyone ask what your fast is a like. In my case it's just stillor fizzy water but nothing else not even tea or coffee or diet sodas or otherzero calorie items. Just a personal choice that I like. What's your fastingwindow like? Just water?

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

16/24

I wake up, shower, brush my teeth, jerk off, whatever. I work for afew hours from home. Weigh myself maybe 2 or 3 hours after I wakeup so that I piss all the built up water out. Don't drink or eat anythingbefore then.(You don't have to wait to weigh yourself. Just do it at the same timeand under the same conditions each day.)After I weigh myself I'm usually starting to get kind of thirsty. I downmaybe 2 or 2.5 L of water. Usually it's flavored with Crystal Light.Sometimes with Mio. I prefer the Crystal Light flavors more.Work some more. Some days this means I leave the house, others itdoesn't. Whatever. If I get bored/lose focus, I grab a diet soda anddrink one, or two, or three. Like I said, I've got a huge sweet tooth.Everything I eat/drink tends to be sweet.I don't like coffee. Too bitter. Don't like tea much, either, but I have it

sometimes if the day is cold and I want to warm up. You bet your ass Idump sucralose in there ;)I chew gum sometimes during the fast. It's sugar-free. I stick to under20g/day.And that's it. I devote no time thinking about food. I like my flavoredwater and diet sodas a lot, though.

27. What about take ~1 scoop Whey Protein instead BCAA's for fastedtraining?

I'm sure that's acceptable. Martin says it is. The only difference Iwould make is to have it a little earlier (30 minutes before), and tocount those calories. I don't count the BCAA calories. 10 grams isgoing to be 40 cals -- not enough to make a difference. But 1 scoopwhey clocks out at 120 cals or so. Make sure to track it.

28. What would be, if any, modifications for females? It appears that most ofthe transformations seen with LG are for guys.

Yes, this is all for guys. I actually wanted to put a disclaimer upthat all my advice is geared towards men. I have no idea how

any of this will affect women. That said, I think the basis for most things are going to be the same:ie, you'll need a caloric deficit to lose weight, you'll want to track yourweight to know when to make adjustments, and you will still need totrain hard in RPT style.The bodyweight multipliers for the key lifts I posted are going to belower.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

17/24

Maintenance calories will differ -- it won't be as easy as plugging yourweight into the spreadsheet eur0pa made. You'll have to account foryour menstrual cycle when keeping track of your weight, so you mighteven want to figure out your average every three weeks and makeadjustments from there.

Protein will need to be kept high. A lot of women are afraid of this.And you will not grow bulky muscles if you lift hard. I trained for sixyears to the best of my knowledge during peak levels of growth (lateteens) and barely had seven pounds of muscle to show for it. And I'ma guy.

Female here, hope you don't mind I'm going to piggyback on thiscomment.From what I've seen, the following things appear to be true forfemales:

o Maintenance calories at the same bodyweight tend to belower as females have less LBM than maleso As 31minutes said, bodyweight multipliers for the lifts will be

lower, especially for the upper body movementso As females tend to be smaller than males in general, a

woman may have to accept a bit of a slower rate of weightloss than a man, especially if she's already in pretty goodshape and just trying to lose the last couple pounds

But if you've read Martin's site you know this already. She's really notgoing to grow bulky muscles at all unless she takes drugs. Also,

speaking from experience, the emotional connection to food is big for alot of women.

29. Did Martin outline a set of cable crunches per week? Were the rep ranges 6-8rather than 4-6 for most lifts other than deadlift?

Yes. Totally forgot about them. Probably because I don't do them.6-8 is the rep range he suggests for most lifts, not 4-6. At least, that'show it was for my consultation.Does it make a difference, though? No. Stick to the rep range youprefer and know you do well on. Some people like less reps. Some likemore. As long as you don't go crazy and start doing 20-rep squats ona cut, you can make minor adjustments.

30. What is your opinion about body recomposition? Do you think it is necessary tocycle bulking and cutting or do you think body recomposition is possible?

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

18/24

Recomposition is a fucking joke. Nobody should be doing it exceptmaybe those who are already very lean (7% or lower).If you're above 16%, cut. Start at 10% for your bulk. But don't bulklike you see people on bodybuilding.com recommend. Aim for 0.7-1lbper MONTH . That is the max amount of muscle you're going to build.I've done predominantly high frequency training before working withMartin. 5 days a week, usually 6. Burning myself out with 90-120minute workouts each time.As soon as I switched to RPT training 3x a week, everything becameso much better. I had way more time. My lifts, which were stalled foryears, started going up. And I had fantastic enthusiasm for the gymagain.My biggest fear before I started was "not working out enough." Ithought I'd shrink and melt. Nothing could be further at the truth.

31. In terms of training on a bulk, everyone disregards RPT as beingpainfully slow and lacking volume etc. Did you increase rpt volume orchange anything at all?

"Everyone" is retarded. Are they lifting 2.5x their bodyweight in deadsfor 5 reps? 1.5x their bodyweight in bench for 5 reps? 1x BW for OHPfor 5 reps?No? Then keep doing RPT. When you're on a bulk, you recover better.This does not mean that you need more volume. It means that theweights you do from week-to-week can go up faster. But if youmistake your improved recovery with a need to do more volume, you'llfind yourself stuttering and making little progress.In essence, it comes down to this: people don't push themselves hardenough on RPT while bulking. I take 5 minute breaks between everyset, at a minimum . During those 5 minutes, my heart's going crazy,I'm breathing heavily, and I feel fucking exhausted. That's the type ofintensity you need to progress. Anything less is a waste of time. And,when you stall, switch to lower volume . Not higher. It will give yourbody more time to recover. Focus on the 5-7 core lifts. Anything elsehinders recovery (if you're on a cut) and you don't need the accessory

work at your stage of development.

32. Have you noticed any difference between your IF bulking and atraditional bulking?

IF bulking is much better. Probably because I learned my lessons andwent slow. But freeing your mind from thinking about food for 90% ofthe day is the most liberating feeling in the world. Especially if you

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

19/24

were (like me, before) stuck in the trenches of traditional bodybuildingthinking for years.

33. When you list chin-ups as 4-6 reps, their weighted right? How many repsdo you think one should be able to complete in 1 set before moving ontoweighted chin ups?

Of course weighted. If you're just starting out, I'd work up to 15 repson a single set with BW before you move on to adding lbs. But as soonas you add pounds, switch down to 4-6 reps. The leeway between repranges makes it so that when you add weight, you won't feel like apussy by holding a five lbs. dumbbell between your legs. You shouldbe able to manage 20-30lb, at least.

34. Could you give me the calories/macros you used on your bulk?

Exact same foods, exact same ratio of macros. Rest day was 100calories over maintenance (~2856 cals). Workout day was 450 calover maintenance (~3206 cal).That gave me a weekly surplus of 1750 cals. About half a poundgained per week.

35. Do you monitor your sodium intake? Also it sounds like you don’t reallyeat out much. What do u do when u do? How do you count macros?

Don't eat out. Why would I? I know what I like and I get it at home.

Sometimes I end up getting dragged along to a restaurant orsomething. I just chill with a drink and enjoy the company. I don't eat.I know I can when I get home.RE: Sodium. Nope. I don't think it really matters unless your diet iscomplete shit (mine's not)

36. From your experience, do you believe it is optimal to have a pre-workoutmeal or train fasted w/ 10g BCAAs? ps thank you for taking the time out toprovide us with such quality advice.

To address the question more specifically: I found it better to trainwith 10g BCAA no matter if I'm bulking or cutting. Like you, I triedhaving a pre-workout meal a few times when I bulked. I was so usedto training fasted at that point that I hated it. The other downside isthat the meal I get after my workout was a lot smaller, which sucked.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

20/24

The hierarchy goes like this, for me :o Train with 10g BCAA

2) Train completely fasted3) Train with a pre-workout meal

Obviously this works well for you with the one meal setup. Whattime do you train? What do you think for people that train atdifferent times than you i.e. early morning, midday, evening?

o I mentioned this yesterday: my training falls sometimebefore I eat.

o As in, I'm not rigid about it. The past few weeks I'vebeen training anywhere from 3pm to 9pm. I eat my foodfor the day when I get home. That's it. It's not morecomplicated than that. Just get the 10g BCAA pre-workout.

o I've trained mornings (10am) on this schedule, too.Usually I do it if I have some long commitment that day.I would take in 10g BCAA, train around 10am, thenforget about food until I got back home 12+ hours later.You feel a little hungry for maybe 30 minutes after yourworkout, but it fades.

37. My question: if training doesn't change between a bulk and a cut, howdo you change progression? i.e. on a cut, do you just make sure yourstrength doesn't decline, whereas during the bulk, you try and up the weight

by 2.5-5 lbs. every week?

Your capacity for recovery is increased on a bulk. Use that betterrecovery to increase your weights faster, not to increase volume. Inessence: you're always trying to progress upwards, bulk or cut.Increasing calories just makes you get stronger faster.

38. So, 2 sets RPT. Are you doing a warmup set or two of each exercise priorto the two sets?

I only warmup before the first exercise of each workout. Warmup forme = blood flowing through the muscles so I don't injure myself. Inthe winter, when it's cold, sometimes I bike for like 5-7 min so that mybody's generating some heat.

I don't need to warmup before subsequent exercises because my musclesare already gtg from the first one.**the only exception to that rule is doingbiceps curls on chest day. I warm up with lighter weight for the curlsbecause my bis weren't activated in the pressing movements before.

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

21/24

39. Am I misunderstanding the idea that your TDEE varies based on BF%and LBM, e.g. a 200lb person at 20% has a lower TDEE than a 200lb personat 10%? If this is true, would your numbers still work for someone at thatweight and BF or should they be adjusted downwards?

No, you understand correctly. The thing is, I'm probably under-estimating my TDEE with my diet. I've been losing way more than 1lbper week, as would be predicted. Remember, a 10lb difference inmuscle mass only equals a ~97 difference in calories per day (Kvatch-McArdle Formula). My numbers give a starting point. You don't needmore than that to begin with. From there, you need to adjustdownward once weight loss stalls as I described in this thread.Adjustments are what keep progress moving.

40. Here are a few questions I have:

What was your workout routine and did you do it to the letter or did youhave off days / try different things out?I don't understand the correlation here:That is for somebody at 200lbs. If you want to know what your macrosshould be, just adjust based on your weight. For example, you weigh 180lbsand want to cut? Multiply my macros by 0.9 to fit your weight.Why 0.9 at 180lbs? I am new to leangains and just researching it at themoment, if this is something I can just get from the guide then let me know.Did you get given a meal plan or were you just told your macros and thencame up with meals yourself? What was your go to easy meal after aworkout? If you have time to add any other meals you think are quick andgood, please do.How did following this plan affect your social life? Did you still go out for adrink and a meal or did you miss out on things to stick to the plan?

200 x 0.9 = 180

41. What was your workout routine specifically?Did you supplement and drink coffee pretty regularly? (more curious aboutthe impact of coffee as a weight loss aid, not so much the hunger

suppressant)How did you keep track of your calories? Did you use a notebook, website,etc?What was the best and worst food you had to eat every day to make thoseprotein numbers?

I kept track of calories by taking an hour to make my two diet daysbefore I started using calorieking.com. I used the foods I love and fit

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

22/24

them to the macros. After that, it's just a matter of eating exactly thesame thing each day. I don't mind, because every meal is made up ofmy favorite foods.

42. No eating out with friends, family, social events? I go out, enjoy the company, and have a drink or two. I don't eat.

There's no point. I enjoy the food I make at home, know I can down iteasily in half an hour before I go to sleep, and don't have to worryabout macros or calories or anything like that by eating "off-diet"outside at restaurants. But that's just my preference. If you can'thandle the social pressure, I'm sure you can make adjustments.

Learn to abstain. People will eventually get the point. Especially if theyare true friends and family. I probably don't get shit anymore becauseI have the best physique pretty much anywhere I go out of the wholecrowd. But I stopped eating out when I started dieting at age 15.Some people who don't understand will give you grief, but you learn todeal with it. Better yet, eventually you realize it doesn't matter whatthey think. You're the one who's improving, not them. (I don't think inthose terms anymore.. but that mindset helped a lot when I was ateenager just starting out in this game)

43. I have two brief questions for you:1. If you could, what advice would you give to your fifteen-year-old

self (read: to those just starting to become interested in lifting) interms of achieving all the results you now have?

2. Along those same lines, would you advise new lifters to follow aprogram such as RPT or stick to SS/SL type programs? Fifteen is tricky because you're still growing. So your weight loss/gain

will not be linear as predicted by calories.1. Some background on me: I started at 200lb, age 14, about 5'9".

A fucking fat ass. By age 15, I hit a growth spurt to 6'0" (1 inchoff my current height), and dieted down to 145lb with goodcaloric restriction.

2. Given that, I wouldn't have changed anything in terms of myfirst diet. 145lb at 6'0" is a fucking stick, but it's better thanbeing 200lbs at 6'0" with the difference only coming from theamount of fat I carry.

3. I would have cut down to 145lb. Then I would have started thisRPT routine. My only goal would have been to increase theweight I use each week. Progressive overload.

4. I wouldn't have "bulked" like I did. I would have been justslightly above maintenance for years (200cal or less of a

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

23/24

surplus). And all I would have focused on is adding weight andreps to the bar each time.

5. I would have done RPT over SS and SL.6. And I would have gotten a fucking personal trainer to watch my

squat and deadlift form. I would have realized that because I'mtall, I'm not made for squats, and substituted in leg presses (likeI do now). But deads are perfect for me.

44. to people concerned about the amount of soy I take in and theeffect on estrogen:

It has none. At least, not to me. I was also worried that too much soymight sky-rocket my estrogen levels before I started my bulk (I washaving 4L soy milk per day and 2 boxes Kashi GoLean, where all theprotein comes from soy). So, I did the smart thing: I ordered

bloodwork from LabCorps before I began. I got the Male HormonePanel, which includes testosterone, LH, FSH, estradiol, and someothers. Cost was less than $200. All my hormones were in range.Three months later, after 90 days of 4L soy and 2 boxes Kashi, I didthe same bloodwork again. My estrogen levels were exactly thesame. (In truth, they were marginally lower. Not a significantdifference. Accounted by regular hormonal fluctuations.) No ill-effectson any other hormones, either. That eased any worries I had lurking inthe back of my mind.The lesson? Take everything you read with a grain of salt, and form

your own conclusions. We live in an age where everybody hasunparalleled access to medical science. Use that to your advantage.Get private bloodwork. Get DEXA scans. Figure out how the thingsyou're doing affect your body. There doesn't need to be any guesswork.

45. One other thing that I think is important to note, but nobody has askedme about: HUNGER

I get hungry once a day without fail. It doesn't matter if I'm on a bulkor on a cut. It comes around 12 hours after I finish my meal. Usually,I'm asleep at that time. I don't know what the hell causes it. Mystomach feels empty and it's screaming at me to eat. Usually it wakesme up. If I hadn't done a bulk on my first IF attempt, I would havemistaken that hunger for not having enough food. And it is very likelythat I would have caved in and eaten something. But since I knew Iwas, in every sense of the word, in a caloric surplus, I was assuredthat the hunger was 100% mental. Its intensity does not change

8/20/2019 LG Q&A

24/24

whether I bulk or cut. It lasts anywhere from 5-15 minutes. I usuallydeal with it by flipping over to lie face-down, shoving a fist where mystomach is (to compress it), and taking deep breaths until it passes.It's not intolerable. But if you're just starting out, I bet anything youwill succumb to it and indulge yourself in some food. Don't . I don't get

hungry throughout the day. I don't even get hungry when I've gone28+ hours without eating. I feel a little tired and worn out, maybe, butnever hungry in the traditional sense of the word. On my previous 6-meal a day diets, I would get hungry every few hours. It would be aravenous hunger. I never experience that feeling anymore.

46. Can you explain the macros on the cutting diet? You keep the training day at maintenance - 0. Then adjust the

rest days as low as needed to get the weekly deficit you want forthe BF range you're in (9-11% - 1lb a week - 3500kCal weeklydeficit).Adjust the carbs for the rest days to only 7% (you can overshootthis number with fibre but it doesn't count). That way the fatratio is larger. These numbers fit in accordance to 31minutesnumbers.The rest days seem brutal but I think I like it. It means the cutwill be over quicker. I thought I was going to have to start mycut soon to get shredded in time for summer, but using theprojected numbers (I set it up -37%/0) I can have an extramonth or so bulking and then do the ruthless cut for 12-14

weeks and be ripped... (in theory).