Are you talking about the muscle mass beyond the first 20-40 lbs?

yes, the beefed up guys/gals in the infomercials are past the newbie stage, some are well off into the upper intermediate levels and a few are advanced. Those people need consistent strength training to maintain their mass. It’s just not possible to maintain that level of aesthetics without the proper stimulus. That’s why the infomercials are misleading – making one think that body is achievable with body weight resistance only.

Those first pounds stay on with any type of resistance. In fact, that small amount of mass is all I ever aim to keep.

while that may be true, many of the people I work with want to improve their physique beyond the initial newbie gains which requires more than just body weight stuff when alternating hypercaloric and hyopcaloric phases. Would I incorporate body weight/GPP stuff into a fat loss program? Sure, but it won’t be the only type of resistance because it won’t fully serve them.

However it’s all about individual goals. You are obviously happy with your development and that is just wonderful. It’s awesome to be comfortable in your level of accomplishment. thanks for your input JE

If you are losing strength on a diet, it’s highly likely you are losing muscle mass. If you are squatting 405lbs for reps and have some huge glutes and quads because of it, how are you going to recreate that resistance using nothing but body weight stuff?

Actually why don’t you try a cutting phase using only these types of circuits to see what happen.

I have experimented(on accident) in the past. I lost muscle mass. The only way I have ever been able to maintain my lbm was by focusing on keeping the strength I built during a hypercaloric period.

“While I think it’s a bit over done, I know of guys that have gotten pretty lean by following the program. Now these same guys were also doing intense strength training while following the program to preserve their LBM whilst cutting calories. They would’ve shriveled up had they only been doing the body weight workouts suggested by the infomercial.”

You don’t shrivel up with resistance training, bodyweight or bar. Ever heard of Craig Ballantyne? This guy maintains (but did not necessarily build ) his muscle mass with these type of circuits. And remember, you maintain muscle mass even at extremely low calorie intakes, as long as resistance is there.

Actually why don’t you try a cutting phase using only these types of circuits to see what happen. If you lose some mass, you know how to gain it back, but you most likely won’t. And no you won’t turn into a twig, the absolute worst that can happen is that you end up looking like a pro swimmer.