I’ve just completed a 6 month fat loss phase where I dropped about 50 lbs, followed by a 1 month V-Diet phase where I lost about 20 lbs… Due to vacation and what-not, I’ve put about 10 of those V-Diet lbs. back on, but overall I think I’ve improved quite a bit…
Now I’m clearly not happy with my physique, but I’m kinda at a loss of what to do. When I search these threads, I see guys that I think are still chubby, but the forum consensus has them bulking a bit before more fat loss due to insufficient muscle.
What do you guys think I should do? These aren’t professional pics or anything, so if I have the lighting wrong or if I’m flexing and I shouldn’t, try to be gentle.
I’m a little “bloated” due to the diet immediately preceding these pics; I just got done with eye surgery and haven’t been able to train for a week and my eating has been less than on spot.
My goals are to put on SOME muscle mass, albeit I don’t want to get huge. I would eventually like to get back in to kickboxing and BJJ, and the heavier you go, the bigger weight class you get into… At 5’6" I would have a hard time competing with 215-230 lbs. men that are 5’9" to 6’, ya know?
I would optimally like to end up at about 180-190 at about 10% or less bf. I am mostly interested in strength and a well defined physique.
I guess I forgot to mention that I’m about 175 lbs… Any guestimate on what my current bf percentage is?
Assuming you have cleaned up your diet. Dispense with the notion of “bulk” and “cut” ie gain muscle then go calorie deficit for a long time and lose strength. Eat just above maintenance and pick a program like WS4SB III, OVT, TBT, Max-OT, Eric Cressey Maximum Strength, Waterbury’s Summer Project. All good workouts.
Okay… So I agree with you. The “cutting” and “bulking” notions are old news. But there has to be some targeted goal, doesn’t there? I mean, if I eat slightly above maintenance, do some energy systems work, and do these programs on the site, I should have some goals go to with that, right?
Absolutely. Goals are good to have and necessary to keep you on the right track. But… they’re yours to come up with. Your end goal is competing kickboxing then, so build some intermediate goals around that. And some short term goals to make sure you’re moving in the right direction.
How about gaining 15 lbs in 15 weeks as a short goal?
Eat clean foods, stay the hell away from the things that got you fat in the first place. soda, desserts, breads, pastas, beer, etc etc. Slow weight gain or maintaining weight while gaining strength should help you get more muscle while maintaining most of your previous fat loss.
As a guy who’s lost a significant amount of weight, you should be careful with your food choices and choices of carbs (and timing of carbs) because you will be more prone to gaining fat back initially. However, the more time you spend at a leaner state, the more habituated to that your body will become, and the more muscle you get the better you’ll be at burning fat too. So if you spend a year or so in a consistently lean state, your body will be more tolerant of carbs after that point.
This isn’t to say you can’t or shouldn’t gain weight. Just that for the time being you should be careful about how you go about gaining the weight.
I’ve been on circuit style training for quite some time, so I was thinking about doing a 5x5 type routine for a while with some HIIT and kb sessions on off days with some moderate cardio on training days for about 8 weeks, then jumping into something like Meltdown training… Any reason why John Davies’ workouts aren’t available on T-Nation anymore?
So I guess going on a program that gets me some more mass at a moderate calorie level does seem to be the best choice here, huh? I was curious as to what my bf level is just for reality check purposes. I really thought that I was about 16, so if the >20 is more accurate, then there you go… I just want a realistic view as to where I am.
BF% does not matter at your size, you are not morbidly obese nor are you at competition level. As you get more muscled you bf% should drop if you maintain weight. Just get on a program read up about nutrition, if you want record what you eat. Just…
