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Yep, it's pretty difficult to gain strength on a caloric deficit, who would have thought that? 

(BTW, a quick Google search of "losing fat while gaining strength" literally gives you a metric fuckton of information on this topic).

Quote from: adarqui on November 10, 2012, 08:53:21 pm

Quote from: hyperdunk1 on November 10, 2012, 05:41:11 pm

My diet is very rich in protein and good fats, and carbs post workout.  I definitely eat very good.  Lots of seafood, chicken and steak.  However, my body doesn't seem to like to burn all this fat I have around the belly, chest, and mid body.  My legs are starting to look like olympic lifters, but I have so much fat stored up in upper body.

The problem is, the second I start to eat on a calorie deficit, my strength goes down.  For example, I was able to do 5 x 255 x 3 full paused 2 sec squats.  Then, I lost 3 lb in a week, and I could barely do 1 set of that now... on the 2nd set or 3rd set, I'd fail at rep 4 or 5 and get pinned.

i had the same issue.. what i had to do was:

1) eat high protein + moderate./high fat + low carb throughout most of the week <-- increased egg intake, ~2 cheat days
2) increase my low intensity cardio (long walks (1-2hr) etc)
3) reduce overall workload in weight room -> shorter workouts (1 or more workouts of ~30min or less)
4) minimize milk intake
5) don't perform intense cardio

regardless tho, sometimes it is better to just deal with the fat and add lots of real muscle.. much easier to strip fat off once you add alot of muscle.. but that approach obviously isnt going to work too great if you're in a need of high performance right now.

peace

5) don't perform intense cardio -- that would include intense bball games right?

well 3+ games of intense bball would be ya.. one ~15 min game isn't that much of a prob.. but im just talking about really focusing on body composition to reduce body fat & maintain lean mass... high intensity cardio for significant duration is going to make you want to EAT and it's going to tap into recovery..

also what did you mean by your last sentence, that the approach won't work too great if i'm in need of high performance?  Do you mean that it is hard to perform on the bball court or weight room?

thanks mane

i meant, if you're 'in season' or performance is an important issue, stuffing your face with disregard is obviously a problem.. if that doesn't pertain to you, then by all means, try and really focus on strength/muscle gain in the hips/legs and don't worry too much about the fat, as long as you're still eating clean... as you gain more muscle, when it comes time to try and focus on leaning out, it'll be much easier to get lean now that you have a higher resting metabolic rate (due to lean mass increase etc).

pC

My diet is very rich in protein and good fats, and carbs post workout.  I definitely eat very good.  Lots of seafood, chicken and steak.  However, my body doesn't seem to like to burn all this fat I have around the belly, chest, and mid body.  My legs are starting to look like olympic lifters, but I have so much fat stored up in upper body. 

How long have you been eating like this? Because if you're talking about less than 2 weeks then of course you haven't got shredded yet. Give it time. Give it a few months. BE PATIENT! The other thing is, if you're high teens, low 20s, or even as high as 25% - then you won't appear not-fat for a long time. That's just how it goes. Body pulls fat out from where it wants, not where you want. So it might start with the fat between your organs (visceral, you can't pinch it) and then move onto the subcutaneous (that you can pinch with your finger). TLDR, just cut, don't ask questions which don't affect the answer which is keep cutting.

The problem is, the second I start to eat on a calorie deficit, my strength goes down.  For example, I was able to do 5 x 255 x 3 full paused 2 sec squats.  Then, I lost 3 lb in a week, and I could barely do 1 set of that now... on the 2nd set or 3rd set, I'd fail at rep 4 or 5 and get pinned.

yea it happens, work around it, train better/smart/harder