Here's how to Get Jacked while Staying Lean
"The long road is the shortcut"
I started a lean bulk in February of this year. The general idea: build muscle while minimizing fat gain (some fat will always come along for the ride - you have to accept that or you will never build real muscle).
Results at 6 months: Total weight gained: 17.41 pounds 96.6% of that is Lean Mass. Only 3.4% is Fat Mass. Body fat % actually DECREASED - started at 13.3%, now at 12.4%.
And I certainly have not given up my pizza and beer. I've inhaled ~100 slices of pizza and crushed ~200 beers during the 6 months.
The keys to my success were relentless consistency and WORKING WITH A COACH. Yes, coaches need coaches as well. There's absolutely no way I would've made nearly as much progress without my coach by my side.
Working with Charlie made me realize a massive benefit of coaching that I don't think is talked about nearly enough: CERTAINTY OF EXECUTION.
Showing up alone isn't enough, especially as you move towards more advanced levels of fitness. Tracking your food in any capacity will benefit you, but you need more than that. What if you're eating the wrong foods? What if your calorie and macro targets aren't properly aligned with your body composition goals? How frustrating would it be to commit to tracking your food for an extended period of time, but not get results because your programming was off?
Same idea with training. If you're going to group fitness classes 4x per week expecting to build serious muscle, it's not gonna happen. If you're hopping around the gym turning your weightlifting routine into cardio sessions to get a proper sweat in, you're not gonna get very far.
No amount of work scares me. But wasting my time is a huge fear. Working with a coach removes that voice. You just gotta put your head down and execute. Whenever questions or doubts creep in, your coach will be right there to reassure you and course-correct as needed.
I'm pushing to 205 pounds by the end of the year. Then a cut starting late January. A couple months after that I'll look like an absolute MONSTER.
Happy Football Sunday, Hal the Health Coach
