I have been a lurking this site for quite some time and decided that it was time to create an account. I have always been involved in sports especially running but, got started lifting weights almosta year ago, about 7 months following a plan and eating right. Here are some before and afters. I will try to get some back/leg shots up. Legs are a bit lacking due to running.
I always followed some sort of push/pull lower rep routine, because I was still playing sports and did not want soreness to be a real issue. Recently I have switched over to CT’s type of push/pull training and have implemented some of his new ideas. The results have been great so far.
I am a bit over 5’10 under 5’10.5 and usually weigh around 175-180 LBS started off at about 130-135 LBS. At my haveiest I was about 190 LBS.
Now this is the reason I was not sure if creating a profile was right especially in a BB site but, recently I feel like I have come to a fork in the road. Though I have been lifting consistently I have also kept running long distances and though I have made alright progress(IMO)I feel like I could have made much better progress if I had not ran at all. Problem is I love running/conditioning, unfortunately I think I have reached a point where I have to make a decision because food has become expensive and gains have stalled a bit. There have been lengths of time where I was eating 6k-7k calories a day.
So, I am not sure if I should stop running/a lot of conditioning or have a new goal that combines both. Anyone else face a similar problem?
Secondly: This should have been posted in the beginners section or in the performance photos section FYI.
Thirdly: Should you stop your running/conditioning? Well that depends on what you ultimately want to be? Do you want to be a big muscular guy? Or do you wanna be a long distance runner guy? Pretty easy really… just figure out what your goal is and focus on that.
[quote]gregron wrote:
Thirdly: Should you stop your running/conditioning? Well that depends on what you ultimately want to be? Do you want to be a big muscular guy? Or do you wanna be a long distance runner guy? Pretty easy really… just figure out what your goal is and focus on that.
[/quote]
This. x a hundred bifty zillion dude.
And I’m going to throw this in before the thread possibly goes in an entirely different direction… YES. You can still gain muscle while staying fairly lean(ish) and keeping your conditioning tight. You may be surprised by how little conditioning shit you actually have to do in a week to stay in good condition, especially if you’re lifting intensely and being smart about your foods.
[quote]gregron wrote:
Thirdly: Should you stop your running/conditioning? Well that depends on what you ultimately want to be? Do you want to be a big muscular guy? Or do you wanna be a long distance runner guy? Pretty easy really… just figure out what your goal is and focus on that.
[/quote]
This. x a hundred bifty zillion dude.
And I’m going to throw this in before the thread possibly goes in an entirely different direction… YES. You can still gain muscle while staying fairly lean(ish) and keeping your conditioning tight. You may be surprised by how little conditioning shit you actually have to do in a week to stay in good condition, especially if you’re lifting intensely and being smart about your foods.[/quote]
I do not really care about staying lean. I guess I just stayed rather lean due to all the extra work. I do a lot of running/conditioning because I like feeling I get, a type of high from feeling your lungs and legs giving out.
I guess I was just wondering if anyone has gone through this. I am in a position similar to those who do not know whether to lose fat or gain. I can not make a decision and this has led to a stall in both gaining and conditioning.
[quote]-EROS- wrote:
I am in a position similar to those who do not know whether to lose fat or gain. I can not make a decision and this has led to a stall in both gaining and conditioning.
[/quote]
I know exactly what you are saying. I’ve had the same situation a few times, the most recent was a few months ago. I really wanted to work on my vertical and try to be able to dunk. I was working on my explosiveness but realized I would have to drop some weight if I was gonna be able to dunk. after about of month of that I thought “F that. I wanna get bigger more than i want to dunk” so i stopped (after dropping about 8lbs) and started working on getting bigger and stronger.
You just have to figure out which goal is more important. As far as the “lungs burning and legs giving out” feeling… you can definitely get that from weight training. Work in some high rep squats and do some circuit cardio stuff after your lifting and you’ll definitely get the legs burning. Look at the thread for Alphas Training Log… he does these “inserts” and “extracts” that are a kick in the balls. I do something similar but only as an extract because I feel like the “insert” before would take away from my lifting. You’ll definitely get the lungs burning.
