[quote]w83emuscle wrote:
Honestly man i would go and get blood work done to check everything out. I would def get testosterone levels checked. Estrogen may be jacked also.[/quote]
Really? You don’t think this guy should maybe try eating/lifting with a purpose for a bit before he jumps on the whole hormonal thing and goes running to the doctor? C’mon.
[/quote]
Knowledge is power… if i were having problems with strength, muscularity, etc i would like the piece of mind knowing that all of my hormones were in check. obviously he is having issues or he wouldn’t have posted… just my thoughts. its not like i was telling him to get on TRT.[/quote]
Didn’t mean to come off as a dick, which I kind of did. We’re all just offering our opinions here. I guess I just didn’t want to see the OP throw up another mental barrier (i.e. concern about hormones, time/expense of testing etc.) before he got down to the business of lifting and eating like he means it.
If I had problems with strength and muscularity despite having training and nutrition in line for a meaningful period of time, I would start looking a little deeper. However, if I wasn’t training/eating enough I wouldn’t really be surprised/alarmed if I wasn’t strong and muscular. Just a case of looking for the most obvious solution I suppose.
Then again that’s just me, I’m not too smart so I like obvious things.
[quote]w83emuscle wrote:
i can see where your coming from batman… [/quote]So do I. Seriously. It’s almost guaranteed that this guy is not having any problems at his age that some passably intelligent hard work and manfood won’t fix. I was 157 pounds at 6,2 the first time I stepped into a gym at 27 years old. I knew literally nothing about weight training. I pushed n pulled real hard on stuff, ate burger king and made gains noticeable to me in less than 2 months. I was shocked. I didn’t even have a plan. Never occurred to me it might actually work. Was scrawny my whole life.
You have a high body fat percentage because YOU HAVE NO MUSCLE.
Train your arse off, get stronger, get bigger, decimate the local chicken and cow population.[/quote]
Totally agree! Lift heavy with volume, and eat, eat, eat good clean food. Don’t forget you’re conditioning - do sled work, hammer a tire, loaded carries for time/distance, jump rope and avoid what I call “chronic cardio” - stay with sprints if you just have to run.
[quote]Ace2012 wrote:
I don’t think I can just eat eat eat, of course I will lift, and generally I do lift with intensity, incorporating compound movements…
Therefore does the following seem reasonable?
I will eat a clean diet at maintenance, getting at least 1 g of protein per pound of bodyweight
I will do this for at least 6 months, I do hope to gain strength and will evaluate how I look.
If I still have high bodyfat, I will cut. If it is in a manageable region, then I will continue.[/quote]
Sounds ok. Not the best, but ok. Just as long as by “maintenance”, you mean that you’re actually eating enough. You will need additional calories above your BMR to deal with your training in the gym. You will need additional calories to deal with the fact that you have more muscle on your body.
But if your weight is staying constant, and your lifts are going up, then you’re putting on more muscle and decreasing bodyfat. You should start looking much more muscular.
It would probably be better if you intentionally focused on eating an excess amount of calories than maintenance… but your goals are your goals.
[quote]Ace2012 wrote:
I don’t think I can just eat eat eat, of course I will lift, and generally I do lift with intensity, incorporating compound movements…[/quote]
Exactly what kind of training do you plan on? One way to keep bodyfat gains in check is to include some easy-ish cardio a few days a week. Not a hardcore fat-burning routine, just something to boost calorie burning. Something like 15-20 minutes of low to moderate intensity work either on your off days or right after lifting.
Solid start. Focus on the foods in the article I linked above. Don’t be scared of carbs or fats, but if anything, you can consider scaling down the carbs a bit on days you don’t lift.
You don’t wait six months before evaluating your progress. Strength should be increasing each week, body composition (fat levels as judged by pics/mirror/clothes) should monitored every week or two. If you go six months straight without seeing if things need adjustment along the way, then you run the risk of ending up in a bad spot. Check bodyweight every week or two as well. If it’s dropping, you know you’re slacking in the kitchen. If bodyweight is going up significantly faster than strength in the gym, dial the food back a bit.
If you eat everything in sight and that includes bad/dirty foods then you will gain fat. You probably will also eat way above calories without even feeling it.
If on the other hand you bulk and only eat clean you will gain size, strength and loose fat. Why loose fat? because clean, calorie dense foods are very satisfying. There is a lot of volume to them. You simply wont be able to over indulge.
OP try eating 5,000 calories of crap foods in a day and then try eating 5,000 calories of clean foods and you’ll get my point. I’m sure you don’t need a list of what these are. Aim for about 250-500 above maintenance, which IMO is probably around 2,200. See how it goes and adjust as appropriate.
Listen to everyone and don’t even think of cutting, for a year. If you cut now, you’ll go from skinny-fat to just skinny. Make some gains, all kinds of gains.