I have been lifting weights for about 8 years on and off, only two very seriously however. I was hoping for any suggestions or advice. I am currently 25, I weigh 190-195 lbs, am 6 foot and around 10% BF. My goal for the past two years has been to be 200 lbs and 5% BF. I have been training the last 6 months leading up to a trip Im going on in exactly two weeks. I’ve been attempting to get more cuts and generally lose body fat while maintaining my muscle during this time.
Not only have I seemed to stall out completely, but I’ve noticed that whether Im bulking or cutting, my fat and muscle gain/loss seem to be nearly exact. Another problem i notice is when I start cutting, i immediately lose an inch off my arms, even before I lose any noticable subcutaneous fat on my abs or pecs. While bulking it seems to be the same thing…any muscle I add, seems to be matched with a similar amount of fat.
I really just want to lower my body fat while consequently increasing mass and seperation and have been having little success…maybe Im just being impatient, but I feel as though my effort isnt being matched with results.
I always lift upon waking as I know my test and gh levels are at their highest in my wakeful day then. One nutritional strategy I have tried was waking up, consuming whey isolate + creatine with 10-15 grams of simple carbs, lifting, coming home and immediately consuming around 50 grams of protein, half whey isolate, half casein with around 50 grams of simple carbs and creatine. The remainder of the day I would only get my carbs from things like yams, brown rice etc while getting a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight spread out through 5-6 meals a day. My problem was i think that large insulin spike was adding fat so I stopped doing that.
The past 7 weeks or so, I have been carb cycling with three days, high, low and no carbs. The only carbs I ever eat are things like brown rice, yams, vegetables etc. I mainly get my protein from beef, chicken, salmon, and powders. I have been eating fruits on my high and low carb days and a lot of green vegetables on my no carb day. I am still getting at least 1 gram of protein/ lb of body weight, consume the same amount of protein in shakes before and after lifting but no longer consume any simple carbs as I seem to be sensitive to them.
Before bed, I also consume around 50 grams of casein with about 6 grams of fish oil. I have also been experimenting with avant labs sesathin. I have not been taking a multivitamin, which i realize is a huge mistake, but i just bought one yesterday and am now taking them regularly.
My lifting routine is a 5 day split mon-fri taking sat and sunday off: chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs. Sometimes I wonder if I have been overtraining, I am almost always in the gym for 1.5 hours, sometimes slightly longer. I always start each exercise with a 15 rep warm up, then increase the weight and drop the reps to 10-12, then 8-10 then heavier with 6 reps. Most days consist of around 16-20 sets.
I dont regularly do cardio. I have also been battling injuries lately, as my strength dropped off pretty quickly from cutting and yet I was still attempting to increase my weights like an idiot.
I realize this is a lot of bs info to read through, but I figured if someone actually wanted to give any advice, they should have the pertinent information as well. For those of you that read all the way through it and have some ideas, thank you very much for any suggestions you may have and the time you spent reading my novel.
