Stats
Start: 174.5lb, estimated 12%bf
Current: 179.8lb (+5.3lb), estimated 14-15%bf (could not caliper as I'm out of town)
Photos (left is start, right is current):
View attachment 158456View attachment 158457View attachment 158458
General thoughts:
Diet: Going in I was eating 1800cals/day in an IF (20h fast/4h eat) on most days, with relatively low carbs and one major cheat day per week. Once starting the program I was transitioned to a plan that included eating through the day, as well as significantly higher carbs and overall cals. Over the first few weeks, the diet was a 100% baseline diet which they clearly give to all their clients to start (different calories I believe to some degree, but overall similar) before beginning to tweak things. As of week 6, I have had 2 diet adjustments, one being just yesterday and the other at week 4. Food changes have been relatively slight and more so they give guidelines rather than very specific details unless explicitly requested. The original base diet did not even have calorie or macro targets, only food options and a general meal schedule (break/snack/lunch/etc) until I asked what I should specifically be aiming for. Since then, I have been getting plans that have calorie and macro targets, but I often find typos and have to ask questions about parts of them as they usually are incorrect or unclear as first posted.
Positives - calories are FAR above what I have ever been able to eat and fat gain has been reasonable (outside of the initial "burst") considering the increase. The last 2-3 weeks seem to have been fairly consistent as far as fat gain goes (kept to a minimum) and calories have been consistently over 3k/day. Food choices are right up my alley but I also have very basic tastes and require no variety to be happy ha.
Negatives - Base diet could be very bland for anyone not "into" the classic BB/"Clean" foods. Issues with clarity of the plans each week have to be confirmed, clarified, and vetted with my coach, which sometimes can take a day or two leading to some meals being guessed at. Original plan had no calorie or macro targets, leaving a lot of room for caloric swings (which would make "baselining" impossible for the coach).
Training: Each workout has been completely unique until this last setup which is 2 weeks long of the same 5 workouts each week. Sets, reps, volume, and workout days have varied dramatically week to week and even workout to workout. There has been anywhere from 3 to 5 training days, and workouts lasting anywhere from 40min to 90min, mostly based on overall volume. The plans seem to be standard programs and there does not seem to be any custom tailoring or adjust for specific individuals (even based on feedback).
Positives - unique plans each week makes every training session exciting and different. set and rep range variables help to hit the muscles differently each time and I have been relatively sore far more often than I have in awhile. Different exercises than I had been doing before that also hit new angles and such.
Negatives - Very difficult to schedule as you get the program at midnight Sundays and it starts on Monday. As well, the fact that you never know how many days/week or how long the workouts will be makes it hard. There seems to be little or no customization from the prescribed or defined plans they have regardless of feedback or results. I have seen this from comparing to the other guys logging here who have different goals.
Other aspects:
Communication - very limited and really only when I go out of my way to ask things or a change is being made. throughout the weekdays there is at most 1-2 messages (via the app) and always only when I start the conversation. I have not had any conversations via text or phone since the original pre-starting/interview phone call. Even the communication that I do get is typically very short and seems to be at best only slightly personal. I honestly expected FAR more from a coached program.
Other - one of the biggest aspects that is hyped/pitched is the "team" mentality and support... this is literally non existent. I ahve had zero contact with any other members of the team and the team facebook group is 100% useless with the exception of one post that Carl had last week that included a giant list of restaurant options with macros and cals listed (this was actually REALLY good). The rest is either random motivational meme's or some guy telling everyone to like/share mind & muscle sales and posts. To say the "team" aspect and support is poor would be an understatement (as evidenced even further by the fact that none of the reps are even involved in any of the logs going on here, which is borderline insulting...)
Overall - Thus far I have been mostly unimpressed with the program and its results. While I am thrilled beyond reason to be eating as much as I am, I have clearly gained significant fat and do not feel that I look measurably bigger in terms of lean mass to offset that. We will see how the next 6 weeks go as I really think that i am just getting to the more dramatic portion with the new carb backload, but at this stage color me unimpressed. The diet and exercises are relatively basic and nothing someone with modest knowledge could come up with (for free) so paying $125/mo would be crazy. One of my main points and goals was to try to limit fat gain as I do not want to have to spend all spring cutting and basically start back at zero come summer, so we will see if the program leads me to a significant improvement in mass gain prior to the end, as at this stage the mass to fat ratio is not what I would like and certainly not something I would pay for or recommend to others.
All that said, 6 more weeks (or possibly more if what my coach said holds true - working to a desired look and not just the 12wk deadline) and we will see. I expect some relatively big changes coming up, but leanness at the end and overall body comp will be the final measuring stick. You can all make your own judgments based on the pics and stats.
