Confessions of a Fats SSC

by Michael Jones, SSC | October 02, 2025

There’s a repute. A foul repute. A grimy cliché of a
repute that’s hurtful and unfaithful. Properly, largely unfaithful. And it’s
that we’re all fats. Sturdy and fats, a minimum of. And there’s a good
cause for it: many people are, or have been at one time. And there may be
a very good cause for that: beneficial properties.

When every of us started
our linear progressions we listened to our coaches. They advised us to
eat in extra via the LP, and even via the early, mid, and
even late intermediate phases of our coaching. Is 1 gram of protein
and carbs per pound of body weight actually that a lot (the FDA
recommends .8 for males)? Our coaches advised us that there shall be a
time for leaning out, growing our metabolic conditioning, and
wanting sexier bare. However now was not the time for it.  

First, we would have liked to turn into a part of the sticker club. That might be a begin to getting sturdy, and a very good baseline degree of
power. Nobody cares in regards to the opinion of a thin, weak barbell
coach.

I just lately ate my method
to a lifetime squat PR. It was true that if I didn’t get within the
meals, then my coaching wouldn’t go nicely. Finishing 5 triples of a
heavy squat is a nutrition- and recovery-dependent occasion. If I hadn’t
eaten that triple burger the day earlier than, then it was distinctly
doable that I might have struggled greater than mandatory on one in every of
the final reps late within the units, and will have been depleted sufficient to
miss a rep. And I don’t enable myself to overlook reps.

Nor miss out on a
strawberry milkshake. I’m not making a case for an excuse to eat
like an asshole. I used to be, nevertheless, consuming for PRs. And that takes a
dedication that the majority informal health fans don’t have in them.
I’m 38. I rise up in the midst of the evening to go pee. Throughout that
period of reaching for a brand new PR, the urge to alleviate my bladder was
additionally accompanied by ravenous starvation. So I used that chance to
additionally drink the protein shake that I ready the night earlier than.

Humorous issues occur after we do issues of this nature. An even bigger intestine
means our deadlift stance will should be widened. Which may imply
less-than-optimal leverages. But it surely additionally means a decrease heart of
mass, which could make the squat really feel simpler since that decrease heart
of mass can also be a extra ahead heart of mass, and meaning – all
different issues equal – we’d get to bend over extra to remain
balanced. And we’d even get a little bit of rebound off of stated intestine
towards the thighs out of the underside.

However we don’t have to
acquire a intestine on this endeavor. And I exaggerate about getting fats. When
I did this, I didn’t simply add in energy willy-nilly. It was a
gradual titration that yielded knowledge from which I then used to make
choices in my eating regimen. That late-night shake was doubtlessly
gratuitous, sure. However I used to be hungry on a regular basis and actually did get up
in the midst of the evening very hungry.

To admit, in these
first midnight fridge rendezvous I could have noshed on my
daughters’ snack meals earlier than I started making the shakes (16oz of
entire milk, 3 scoops of Fruity Pebbles-flavored protein powder, and
fill the remainder of the area within the shaker with on the spot oats, shake
vigorously, let sit). However after ingesting these shakes nightly for six
weeks and never seeing the lavatory scale budge indicated to me that I
was transferring in the fitting path for my targets: beneficial properties with out getting
fats.

The opposite items of knowledge that confirmed this have been my coaching
numbers, which have been transferring up persistently. I additionally wakened
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed each day, and my t-shirts have been tighter in
the arms/chest, and looser within the waist. CPAP and TRT probably helped
too – I’m 38, in spite of everything.

After we eat to achieve
muscle and power it helps to have it well-planned. We don’t simply
have an off-the-cuff day of consuming, then wolf a shake, however that may be a
doable state of affairs that may work. A median day of consuming in my life
seemed one thing like this:

• 4:30am: get up to
  coach
• 4:32am: protein bar and
  Greek yogurt (60 grams of protein)
• 8:45am: practice then
  drink Fairlife protein drink (40 grams of protein)
• 1030am: hen
  burrito, meal prepped (40 grams of protein)
• 10:35am: nap
• 12pm: coach
• 1:45pm: tuna salad,
  meal prepped (40 grams of protein)
• 3:15pm: decide up
  daughters, eat protein cereal with them (30 grams of protein)
• 6:30pm: dinner with the
  household (40-60 grams of protein)

I’m not together with in
this the each day banana, or the milk I drank when thirsty, or the stray
handful of Cheez-Its, roasted pistachios, or spoonfuls of peanut
butter. Or the midnight protein shake. Most of my meals are deliberate
out and repetitive. Two daughters and full-time teaching implies that
if meals should not deliberate, then I don’t get sufficient meals within the day.

The repetition of meals
does are available cycles, nevertheless. Generally it isn’t a burrito, however a
deconstructed lasagna I make with additional beef and cottage cheese,
typically a mash-up of beef and potatoes, and so forth. This stuff are
macronutrient dense. It additionally implies that I don’t actually need to
give it some thought in the course of the week since I meal-prep the whole lot on
Sundays.  

Then there may be my spouse’s cooking. We plan this collectively earlier than
grocery journeys on the weekends. And she or he helps my power coaching
endeavors (she trains as nicely). You will need to have a supportive
residence community once you embark on main well being and health targets. So we
at all times plan to purchase additional protein for the meals she makes – each to
have some additional meals in the course of the week simply in case, and to get sufficient
macros at dinner. I’ll inform you, it’ll make you a greater human
being when you’ve had her maple-glazed salmon, her butter-chicken
masala, or her chocolate mousse (made with chocolate protein powder).

Regardless of this seeming
extra, I used to be constant in not consuming like an asshole 95% of the
time. But it surely doesn’t take 95% compliance for many athletes. Possibly
80%. That’s really the place I see most of my shoppers fail – the
sleep and consuming compliance, and both going balls to the wall proper
out of the gate or not taking it sincerely sufficient. The coaching is
the simple half. They don’t embrace restoration and fueling as a form of
life-style, which is strictly what it’s – a way of life. I discover a
refined change of perspective is useful: I’m not doing all of this
as a result of I’m a power athlete. I’m a power athlete as a result of I’m
doing all of this.

Possibly doing these
issues feels like an excessive change from what it’s you’re
presently doing. Whether it is and also you need huge numbers and a powerful, attractive
physique, then it could be value re-examining your targets and whether or not they
are attainable based mostly on what you’re doing. If it certainly sounds
excessive and also you need huge numbers and a horny physique, then make small,
doable adjustments that you are able to do on a regular basis with out it disrupting your
peace of thoughts and each day established order. Try this for some time. Then add a
little extra. Repeat.

That’s how most of us
bought to the place we’re: small adjustments over lengthy durations of time.

I hate to finish on
platitudes, however that’s how we started this dialogue. Suppose 10 years,
not 10 weeks. It’s not straightforward. If it have been, everybody could be doing
it. Benefit from the heavy squat; benefit from the strawberry milkshake.

 For a extra tutorial therapy of diet see Bob Santana’s papers
and take a look at his podcast, Weights and Plates. And if you need additional assist, make use of a Beginning Energy Coach who’s
additionally a diet coach. Many people coach each barbells and diet.