What the fulk?
That was then (left), this is now (right)
The above pics are of a client and friend of mine named Phillip. For the sake of illustrating a point, I’ll let you guess his weight in both pics (hint: they are not the same). One thing that is almost universally agreeable is that he looks better in the right pic. Some of you might disagree, but most of you won’t. Another thing that’s hard to dispute is that he’s probably healthier in the right pic, as far as blood chemistry might show.
Bring on the pounds
To achieve the look of the left pic, Phillip fulked. That’s a word I made up that means he fat-bulked. Prior to my supervision, he perused the bodybuilding message boards and adapted a plan whose objective was to gain lots of size & strength quickly. His daily consumption was a pretty standard maintenance diet, but with an entire gallon of whole milk on top of that. Lots of strength was gained, and yes, a lot of weight was gained as well.
After the gain…
After the fulking stint, Phillip lost a bunch of weight due to an extended hiatus from the gym. This is when he sought my help. I put him through a progression that kept him within 10-15 lbs of his post-fulk deflation, but looking worlds better. I’d like to emphasize that Phillip is not genetically blessed in the muscle gain or fat loss department. He’s only had his monstrous work ethic to rely upon for results. I know I said I’d have you guess the weight difference between pics, but surprise, I’ll give it away right here: Phillip was 216 lbs in the left photo, and 176 lbs in the right one. That’s 40 fricking pounds! Does he really look 40 lbs lighter? I’ll let you be the judge. What’s more easily apparent is five inches less waist girth, and a magic chest lift.
Men: afraid to lose?
Everyone’s familiar with the common scenario where female trainees can gain a few pounds and start panicking, regardless of positive changes in body composition. Well, a lot of men have the opposite but equally irrational fear that weight loss automatically equates to unsightly results. This makes them seek out the fulking route, finding comfort in seeing pounds rapidly pile up on the scale. This can be a good or bad thing — depending on how you look at it, and of course, depending on the individual situation.
Keep in mind that I am not blanketly condemning rapid weight gain. What I’m trying to convey is that more isn’t always better when it comes to racking up pounds.
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- Link Time! Exercise Excuses, Choose You Blog, and More | Community Health Now
- Bulk or Cut? - YewHealth
- 6 minutes with Alan aragon (FUNNY)
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WOW! Big difference. How long did it take him to lose 40lbs? Did you do both the workout and nutrition plans? Great results.
Alan, awesome post. I would have never guessed 40 pounds! You’re right about men (and how it’s just the opposite of women).
Part of the problem, at least in my experience, is the knowledge that to put on muscle, you are likely to put on at least some fat. And, since we have a tendency to rely ONLY on the scale, we don’t know how much is muscle and how much is fat (we tend to overestimate the former and under estimate the latter).
THEN… when we lose, we are terrified of shedding muscle. We get used to being “big,” and don’t have the patience to do what it takes to shed fat while maintaining muscle.
Common problem – way to shed a little light on it. Keep fighting the good fight!
Ben (@benjamteal)
It is not that hard (especially if relatively weak and fat) to gain strength while losing weight. 90% of the fatties who blather about being worried about losing muscles are just making excuses to stay fat.
Was he actually following the Starting Strength program or was he just lifting and doing GOMAD? If following SS, have his lift numbers gone up or down since reaching his current weight?
To me, a lot of it depends on your fitness goals: General fitness, max strength, etc.
Jeez, I never would have guessed 40 lbs…maybe half that. It just goes to show how much weight loss is really necessary to achieve a dramatic visual transformation. Most of the 200+ lb guy on the internet have diluted themselves into thinking they only need to lose “a few lbs”, grossly underestimating their true girthiness.
Finally, could you provide Phillips height? At 216 he looked similar to my condition at that weight.
damn 40 pounds? I would of never guessed. This just gave me a reality check lol.
Do other factors come into play? For instance how much actual LBM one has.
I ask because whenever I used to get remarks on how skinny I looked whenever I dipped below 160. Always happened. I’d bulk up to about 165 and the comments would stop.
I’m also the guy who married the taller woman so, at least in pictures, you can see the how odd I looked whenever I dipped below 150 next to the tall woman.
This, at least in the past, caused me to find “fulking” solutions.
But for your friend Phillip, you are right, that doesn’t look like a 40lbs difference.
Thanks Alan for the write-up!
To answer a couple questions: I am 6’2″. It’s hard to comment on the strength aspect of it because I know my strength has gone down since losing 40lbs, but how much is hard to tell. After GOMAD and SS which are great for adding strength (not so much on appearance), I switched it up to an Upper/Lower consisting of 4 days a week. So it’s really hard to give exact numbers or percentages since I am not doing squats or deads for 5 reps. I would like to mention that my strength loss was nothing to be ashamed about. I can still put up good numbers compared to my PR’s on SS. How long did it take to lose 40lbs? Well, after I hit 216 in that picture, I took about 6 months off from diet/workout due to a few factors (moved = no more membership to same gym, summer vacations, and overall I felt strong and was almost to my goal of 225). I wanted to get to 225 and be “ripped”… hahaha far from it. I will admit I was scared to dip below even 195lb cause of fear of becoming “too skinny” or “weak”. Looking at it now, I am glad I did. I feel a lot lighter and more agile when playing sports. I might be a little weaker, but because of my weight I can far exceed pullup PR’s now, then when at 216. Overall 40lbs loss was over exactly a year. Sure I could have pounded it out a ton faster, but I was looking for permanent loss while trying to keep as much muscle as possible. As far as diet and workout goes, I followed what Alan prescribed to me. I lived it and breathed it. I gravitated towards Alan over others on BB forums because of his research background. I too enjoy research and love to debunk “broscience.” His diet plan is by FAR catered to the individual and EASY to follow. I will admit, some days/nights I had a few more beers that I should have or chowed on some fast food, but overall I kept things on track according to Alan’s plan. As far as the gym, yeah sure I missed a few days here and there as well. As far as supplements, besides a multi and protein powder to hit daily protein intake, there was nothing else. I have tried many of those supps in the past and found them to do nothing more than waste my money. Nothing can even come close to a balanced diet from an knowledgeable person like Alan.
If you stick to one plan (diet/workout), a good one, you will see amazing results. Don’t give up a few weeks into it thinking, wow, I am not seeing huge changes, let me go try another crazy diet plan (ie. warrior diet – did nothing for me after 3 months, to each their own right). They WILL come. Specially when you look back at progress pics.
I am open to any other questions except what my diet looked like or what my workout plan looked like because not only was it personalized based on me and my lifestyle, this is Alan’s area to help you.
What is your body fat percentage in the picture and where are you planning to maintain bf%?
RE: BF %
To tell you the truth, I don’t really know my BF% currently. I used one of those handheld machines at the gym the other day prior to working out, it said 11.8% all 3 times I did it. Then for fun, I decided to try it again after my workout and it said 7.6% all 3 times. Go figure? I know I am NOT 7.6%. Therefore I am more concerned about how I look in the mirror than trying to hit a target % per say. I can feel my abs but as you can tell, they still aren’t really popping out yet. In regards to maintenance BF%, I would still like to see visible abs.
I know there is a mobile truck that travels the west coast and pops by some local gyms. They do the tank submersion method of BF% testing. I might look into that. OR next time I’m in Alan’s neighborhood, have him caliper me.
Phillip — Thanks so much for taking the time to answer the questions. Getting the straight dope from the horse’s mouth can’t be beaten. I appreciate it very much.
All – I am buried under a tsunami of work at the moment, so my responses will be kinda scarce until I’m done.
Get a trainer at the gym to caliper you. It is a good method. Yeah, for your own sake, mirror is the important thing. But you are an interesting case, and knowing your bf% might help me make some estimates. I’m also interested in what bf% is reasonable for me to maintain. I’m 44, 165, 10% by Yahusz (sp?) 6-fold method. Gaining muscle at 1-2#/month. I don’t look as tight as you though. 8% might be more attractive, but I worry that it would inhibit muscle growth.
Congrats once again on your progress Phillip. I, too am 6’2” so no wonder we looked about the same at 216. Right now I’m maintaining about 190-193 lbs, but after looking at your pics, I’m not afraid to go down to the low 180’s if I have too. Getting past that metal block of being “too skinny” is difficult, but the leaner I get the better I look & feel, so the number on the scale doesn’t mean much to me anymore.
Jordan – I use to be stuck on numbers. Weight and BF%. It took a LONG time to toss that out the window and go with my new friend Mrs. Mirror. She is a great friend of mine now 🙂 I have an “ideal” picture in my head of how I would like to look (body composition wise), and if it means weighing less than OR more than I imagined, so be it. I have also found that the weight factor is more of an Internet Forum E Stat and nothing more.
Side note: not that it matters a ton, but I am 29 years old.
40 pounds huh? Wow. I also would have under-guessed that, but then again, the pics do not show the lower body at all. Good job and keep up the great work ethic.
40lbs and looking great. Congrats Phillip and cheers for the hard work! I love hearing real world success stories from people. Alan, you are totally right about men and weight loss. I am always spooked when cutting that I am going to lose any muscle I gained over the season, even though I know I will look and feel better after shedding some extra winter fat.
Awesome job, Phillip! I’m sure almost every guy just shed a silent tear after they realized how off base they are in terms of their fat loss goals – self included =(
Whats next for you?
RE: Lower body – I have lost some mass, but I have always had good thighs and hams from track and sports growing up. I did lose the booty (GF points that out, haha) since I am not focused so heavily on squats anymore. I actually enjoy losing some of my upper leg mass because I had a HARD time fitting into jeans. I would have to size up on the waist just to get my thighs to fit 🙁 . So what I can say is that I don’t have pencil legs haha.
Whats next – Continue to work hard. Would love to focus on some upper chest and midsection and slowly continue to shed fat. I have found a happy area that I think I will stay in for a long time and just slowly continue to build muscle even if it takes time. Sucky part is my entire wardrobe is shot! I like fitted clothes and now all my clothes (mainly jeans) appear like I am borrowing my bigger brother’s hand me downs haha.
I will admit, when I was at 216, I had a HUGE misconception of what it would take to get “ripped”. I honestly thought that if I got down to 205-208 (yes serious) that I would look like I did in terms of leaness in the second picture. BOY WAS I COMPLETELY WRONG! This might have some shed of truth if I was genetically gifted, but I am not. I am also guessing since you are reading this forum and constantly expanding your knowledge, that you too are not crazy genetically gifted.
Advice: grab yourself a Myotape and keep track of your waist. I was at 182 for a good 2 months but lost over 2 inches while staying the same weight. Therefore, if I went by scale solely, I would have been VERY discouraged. I might have even drastically changed the plan or complained to Alan when things were actually working. But since I measured my waist, I knew what I was doing was working and to keep plugging away.
Phillip,
How much was the “bunch of weight” you lost before getting on Alan’s program?
Shooting from the hip here but once I went on my 6 month hiatus and dropped SS routine and GOMAD, I was in the 200-205lb range.
Phillip,
It sounds like you have decided what you want for fitness goals, which is what everyone shold do before embarking on a fitness programs. Chances are that are various times your goals will change.
Currently I’m switching to a more strength bias training and will use Starting Strength as a framework. That is what works for me. And at 6′ 2″ and 162 pounds putting on some weight won’t hinder me. Could some of that weight be fat? probably, but I know I can lean out afterwards if I want too. What is important to me is getting my strength up, especially my squat weight.
Great job, I would never think you were 40 pounds heavier in the left picture.
“RE: Lower body – I have lost some mass, but I have always had good thighs and hams from track and sports growing up.”
Yeah, just like all those soccer players and [insert running sport here] who already have big and strong legs and don’t need to squat or DL.
Can we get your numbers on the major barbell lifts (either 1rm or working weights, whatever):
-after running SS for 6 months
-after your 6-month hiatus (maybe a couple weeks in since prior strength gains come back rather quickly)
-your recent numbers
I’d like to get an idea of how your strength levels were affected and whatnot. Thanks.
Philip,
Do you have plans to continue with Alan’s general paradigm of dirty culking? It seems this was an endeavor targeted more toward fat loss. How have things changed since you finished up with Alan?
RE: Strength
Prior to SS
– I never really maxed out in any of the below except bench (195lbs) as I was always unsure of my form. While doing SS I consulted with 2 local individuals, who are both good friends of Rips and actuall one of them is in most of the pictures in the lastest edition of SS book.
End of SS (1 rm)
– Squat (ATG) 164kg (gym used kg bumper plates) = 360lbs
– Bench 112kg = 246lbs
– Deadlift 183kg = 402lbs
6 month after
– Strength did decrease but how much I could not tell you as I didn’t keep track. Sorry.
Now after losing 40lbs
– Once again I am not working out the same and have yet done a 1rm for deads or squats. I am not even BB benching at the moment.
– I can currently do 85lbs DB’s for 4 sets of 5 (bench)
– I am curling 85lb BB for 4×5.
If I had to guess… my numbers are not crazy off from my ending SS numbers.
Taking all of this into consideration, you have to ask yourself what your goal is. When doing SS for me my goal was to gain strength and practtice form. My goal now is to get lean and keep as much strength ast possible.
RE: working with Alan and “dirty culking”
– I have never done anything dirty with Alan (insert joke here). This last diet/workout plan was NOT dirty and was focused on fat loss (not weight loss). I will always work with Alan in some capacity or another. How have things changed? They haven’t. I am still working with the same diet. I have switched up routines a little bit, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I am still seeing results. Once I stop seeing the results towards my goal, I will then work with him Alan again to refine a new plan to help me get to my next goal. I do not now what that is though.
It sounds like you aren’t doing squats, deadlifts or overhead presses at all on your current program. Is this correct? Are you doing non barbell variants for overhead presses as well?
If you are still doing them, I wasn’t asking for maxes necessarily, if you just have working set weights to give me that’s fine, I can guesstimate based off those numbers. Also, have you made progresses in strength since following Alan’s program and what were they?
Thanks. btw, those are nice numbers for 6 months on SS.
I am doing standing overhead BB presses. I am still progressing in weight but yesterday did 130lbs 4×5. My 1rm max at the end of SS for overhead BB press was 82kg = 180lbs. Hope that give you something to work with.
I can relate to this post. I went on my first major bulk, and went from the mid 180’s to 233 lbs over 16 weeks. Yeah, I gained a lot strength, but I put an undesired amount of fat. I’ll admit a treated the process as an experiment, and I wasn’t too concerned about fat gain.
I was quite uncomfortable at 233 lbs, as I had issues fitting into some of my clothes, which sucked. 🙂
I’m now at comfortable lean 192 lbs, and have more muscle definition than I’ve ever had. I’m currently trying to get leaner.
The lesson learned is that I’ll never to such do such an aggressive bulk ever again. Slow, and steady will my motto.
Considering he dosent have much muscle the weight differences in the two pics are not that drastic.
Storm — I’m not sure if I can make heads or tails of your comment. Perhaps you meant to say something different, but it came out ass-backwards?
Phillip — Thanks once again for the communication w/the audience. It’s been really helpful to me & all involved.
All — Thanks for the feedback!
Congrats on the transformation. I’m still trying to figure out where all those 40lbs came from. Yes, I’m in denial. You must have had a morbidly obese ass. And as the kids would say, no homo.
Did you have to include cardio or any other form of exercise besides lifting? And did you ever reach any plateaus when stuff had to cut down (food) or shaken around big time?
Could you please repeat this process without 6 months off training in the middle.
Or repeat with bf tests along the way to determine muscle loss.
rad — since I’m not deleting your post outright, let me suggest you extract your cranium from your nether-region.
RE Cardio: NONE! I understand the importance of cardio for just that, cardiovascular health. I would rather focus on a solid diet plan to lose fat. I know many might diasagree, but that’s the beauty of life, we all have opinions. So to me, I would rather consume 300 calories less in my diet than run for 30 mins on a treadmill.
RE Plataeus: We all reach them. I just tweaked little things here or there in my diet or workout and pushed through. The hardest part is when you reach one, you feel like giving up. Like you have reached your potential. It’s at that point when you HAVE TO keep focusing on your end goal and those plataeus will subside.
Rad – Yeah let me get right on that. Can you go to the grocery store and pick me up 30lbs of steak and about 25 gallons of milk? Then I will do this all over again just for you buddy!
“So to me, I would rather consume 300 calories less in my diet than run for 30 mins on a treadmill.”
Amen! 🙂
woah… it stinks up there.
I just think that if you still had your SS strength when you started you re-comp/cut, things would have been a helluva lot different???
quote Phillip:
“- Squat (ATG) 164kg (gym used kg bumper plates) = 360lbs
– Bench 112kg = 246lbs
– Deadlift 183kg = 402lbs”
Phillip,
Please start eating more again as you look so much happier in the left photo, lol.
Impressive, I need to take a leaf out of your book and stop the Fulk! I guess i get too tied up in the poundage I’m lifting to pull the calipers out often enough.
Rad,
No one knows who you are or cares what you say. If you want to make derrogatory statements, it just makes you look like the bitter emo fellow in the corner who never got much attention.
Nice job, Phillip! Thanks for the education and the inspiration!
There will always be people on the anonymous internet that will take time out of their day to try and bring success stories down a couple of notches. Back when I first benched 405 raw (natural), I had a few people immediately refer to my bodyweight of 242 lbs as a reason why my lifts were a lot stronger than theirs. Philip, in the end, all that matters is that YOU lost 40 f’ing pounds which is more than I can say for 85% of the bodybuilding board members out there that magically plateau after a ten pound loss, then blame the program first LOL. Or look in the mirror and completely panic their 165 lb asses off because they look like a scarecrow.
I’m a client of Alan’s as well. I’ll already be on track for a 13 pound total loss this month. Strength has maintained 100% which surprises me still considering the loss. Part of the reason why I chose Alan (aside from his extensive background AND reputation) was due to his writing style. I knew he had a way of explaining things so that when I do break away and free-ball lol, I’ll know exactly what I need to do. Take this article. Was this written as a way to pat himself on the back? Or did this have more to do with trying to educate other bodybuilding enthusiasts out there by using Philip as an example – Much like how he oftentimes uses scientific studies to further prove his points above the anecdotal strawman arguments many others use.
Finally, when success gets posted on the internet, shit happens. 🙂
I wasn’t trying to troll or knock Phillip in any way in either of my posts but I realised after the fact that my first one could easily have been misinterpreted.
“woah… it stinks up there”, referred to Alan Aragon’s reply to my first post and then I tried (unsuccessfully) to make my point more clear.
I seriously don’t know how my second post was misinterpreted, but whatever???
I’ll go back to just reading 🙂
Thanks again to everyone for the positive comments. Don’t worry Rad, I don’t get upset over the internet or take ecomments too serious. All good brotha. Dan was right though, Alan talked to me about posting my story in hopes that it would help others in the same boat and not to brag about an individual/client. I think this has been successful. People often say “if my story will help just one person,” well screw that, I want to help as many as I can 🙂
Dan – I fully agree with you on why Alan is The Man. His ability to teach at the same time really gives you the knowledge and understanding to sustain a program for the long haul. Working out is a lifestyle and not something you try for a few months and then forget about. I think many people fail when they reach a plateau because they are following a cookie cutter/fad workout plan or diet plan and don’t have the knowledge to make small tweaks and really understand WHY the plan is designed the way it is.
The educated comments are also a testament to his educated followers!
I’m always curious of Alan’s other clients, especially after the article where he wrote what he learned in 09 about his online clients. He’s done a spotlight on a client in the AARR and done it here. I kind of want to know what makes his online clients stick out, in his mind.
I worked with Alan for a few short months and I’m still following the nutrition plan, with some modifications he gave me toward the end. And it’s the best money I’ve spent since I’ve started lifting. What you learn is pretty much worth it’s weight in gold.
And, in my last post I did forget to give Phillip some well deserved kuddos. Good job man.
Yeah, echo Eric on that one. Phillip, what kind of diet did Alan actually prescribe to you? How restricted were the calories and what was the macronutrient breakdown, if any?
Great question Clement! It’s definitely worth asking for specifics just in case Philip forgot what he wrote towards the end of his opening post! Hopefully he gets it in before Alan deletes it. I should post what he gave me too so we can all collectively compare the diets Philip and I paid for!
“I am open to any other questions except what my diet looked like or what my workout plan looked like because not only was it personalized based on me and my lifestyle, this is Alan’s area to help you. – Philip”
I can actually see that 40lbs – but mostly I’m looking at his face. In the left it is round and filled out, where the right is showing some serious cheekbone.
Now, I’m a proponent of lean/light men, so I heartily approve. My brother is 6’1″ and 155-160 with serious lean muscle. 🙂
is it possible to know how much you weighted before the fulk ? and how long did you stay on a gallon of milk per day ? since the strength coachs that recommend a gallon of milk recommend it for a short period of time any way….
WOW huge difference. I’ve been told to eat and eat to stay at 175 6ft.
Are you saying that one doesn’t have to eat 2800+ cals to look as good as “phillip”? If thats the case, GREAT ! cause I hate eating soooo much.
Great work Phillip !
Your story bears a lot of resemblance to my progress with the help of Alan.
In 2009, I reached the 220-lbs point (I am 6’2”) while weight-training, but I could see I was packing on as much undesired padding as anything else.
By making some adjustments myself, I was able to slowly grind the flab back to 200, but a lot of mass also went out the window. That made me question the very use of the last several months of traning that I had done. And in hindsight, I now understand that I was still carrying quite a bit of extra water weight and my nutrition simply wasn’t on target.
Then Alan happened.
In a quick 4 months, I went from 200 lbs at 18% BF to 182 at 12%. By looking at the numbers, one might be tempted to think that I’ve shed quite a bit of mass in the process, but frequent progress pictures and most importantly my perfomances in the gym are saying a different story. I saw and quite literally felt that a lot of water and fat had been shed.
Quite simply, I’m in the best shape of my life, I’ve never been leaner and stronger and my training numbers keep cranking up.
Alan, thanks again.
And Phillip, keep up the great work !
P.S. This wasn’t meant as a hijack, just wanted to give some due credits.
What the fulk from a Fulk! i am 6′ 4 and used to weigh 212 now I weigh 190. Lost it all thru eliptical and lite weight training….I don’t pay attention to numbers, drink this do that ( I did cut out all meat in diet) all I know is I feel better and fit into my 32 waist pants!
If Alan or Phil are still checking this, serious question. Is the magic “chest lift” basically due to fat loss or was there a lot of incline press / fly work going on?
ds1973 — This is due to fat loss. The fat concentrated in the chest/nipple area literally pulls things down, giving the appearance of a nipple droppage. When fat is decreased, gravity has less leverage upon the mass in question, and the “magic chest lift” occurs. It has nothing to do with upper chest development.
Cool. Thanks for the response Alan! Just ordered your book yesterday, can’t wait to get it.
Thanks bro 🙂
I feel like I’m in the same boat as Philip, and I’m guilty of “fulking”. Fulking-A man!
How do I get in touch with Alan to have him design a program for me. His email address on the “consulting” page looks a little goofy. “alanaragon.com@gmail.com”? Is that the right one?
I figure the amount of money I save by not buying worthless supplements (I’m a supp’ junkie, and I’m seeking treatment obviously), and not buying muscle-tech ad laden magazines, I can afford to have Alan dial in my diet. I don’t seem to be doing a good job of sorting out my diet by myself.
Alan, what’s your ethnic background? You look like a bro’… bro! (Asian-American like me)
I cannot see his legs.
Love the conclusions.
But a gallon of whole milk?? Can I replace this with a gallon of icecream?
Srs. I must know.
I’ve read this post a few times, but still don’t understand the point. He basically bulked to 216 and then cut to 176 (involuntarily during time off the gym and then with Alan’s guidance), which seems like a totally normal bulk/cutting cycle. If anything, the pictures seem to defend a bulk/cutting approach because he gained enough muscle during the “fulking” part, so that cutting down to 10% BF didn’t make him look skinny. Or did you, Alan, use your culking approach that helped him put on muscle, which he presumably lost during his time off, and still leaned out?
btw, he does look good in the right picture and must have put in a lot of work, but I don’t understand why he is presented as a counter-example to bulk/cut?
Funniest thing is that most rippetoists who look like he did think that they are 10% bodyfat.