Holiday weight gain, supplements for muscle, and preventing shoulder injuries.

Timestamps:

0:55 – Charity Shirt Announcement

3:35 – I started a cut in April of this year. I started reversing in November. I lost about 20-25 pounds and have 16% body fat. I look and feel pretty good. I am slowly upping my calories and progressive overloading so I can build muscle. Although I look lean I don’t look as shredded especially in my abs that I wanted. I want to look leaner but don’t want to get too low of a BF%. Should I continue with the reverse diet for a while and then cut again? Tips?

11:00 – Best strength program for someone who has only ever trained for aesthetics?

19:17 – I’m an advanced lifter of 7+ years. I typically switch from a bro/bodybuilding split to a full body functional hypertrophy every 12-16 weeks through the year. This usually negates any joint issues that the volume of a bodybuilding split can induce. I’m generally a Very healthy and injury free lifter (don’t deal with any joint pains and haven’t seriously injured myself in my lifting career). However, for the last 3 years I, for the most part, avoid any barbell Bench Press or direct overhead pressing variations. Seems to keep my shoulders healthy. Any time I start to go down that path of doing any direct overhead work or bb bench press, I notice some discomfort that lingers and I leave it alone. Not a big big deal.. However, One thing I find to be interesting since I started the Tailored trainer (im on FB hypertrophy 5 day split) is the fact that despite all the direct or indirect shoulder work (bb bench press, bb OHP, 1/2 kneeling landmine press) my shoulders are feeling healthier and stronger than ever as I go into week 5 of 7. Now I credit this to your top of the level elite programming, however, I am curious why this is the case? Is it just the right amount of volume, or what would your thoughts be?

33:15 – Due to my current schedule I am only able to manage weight training three consecutive days in row often Friday- Sunday. What approach would you recommend taking to make the most out of these three days, taking into account I have minimal recovery time and would like to keep a full body focus?

39:21 – Do you have certain supplements you recommend for building muscle mass? I’ve entered my off season and I’m looking into some supplements to aid my process.

44:50 -Hey Cody… Love what you do, listen to your podcast, read your blogs, and currently in week 6 of Functional Muscle 2.0.  I started a cut in August and in the last month, I’ve been reversing out and hit my maintenance just before Thanksgiving.  I took a couple days off from tracking around Thanksgiving to enjoy family and not stress over numbers.  In the end, I gained 5 lbs.  I know that’s not a significant increase but after working so hard in my cut and getting my weight down to my goal it’s hard to see that number.

My question is, will I lose that 5 lbs at my maintenance or do I need a mini cut?  On average, how long does it take to drop water retention weight (might be an it depends answer)?

49:50 – Could you briefly give me a run down of what a day’s eating looks like for you?