Ok ladies I think I know what I want to do. I have to pick a side and stick to it and I can’t do everything at one. Looking at my pic, and considering we are going into a cooler time of year, I have determined what I want to do. I want to GAIN muscle and MAINTAIN strength and body fat.
I am going to keep doing the big 3 lifts(4 if you count overhead press), but I won’t feel pressured to do them every workout. I will try more rest days between big lifts, per Nlmain’s suggestion. On days I can’t squat but still want to train legs for example, I am going to do stuff like hack squats and leg press, per MIM’s suggestion. I won’t really sweat my maxes going up at this point, so the cardio stays in. Ok, now to figure out my diet…
YAY! I think that’s a brilliant plan! And congrats on sussing that out.
I’m in the same boat really - in season I plan on doing very little heavy lifting and clearly much more cardio (which might result in catabolism, i know). But come December I plan to do the heavy lifting again w/ a surplus diet (wont call it bulk cuz i ain’t looking to get too soft…).
Clearly you’re far more advanced than i am in regard to lifting - but its sounds like a brilliant idea. Can’t wait to see what the diet looks like! If it works for you i’ll follow suite.
Thats cool you have a plan…you must feel relieved!
I’m fairly certain though that in order to gain muscle you will also gain strength
How many days a week are you looking to train? (have I already asked that?) I was going to suggest an ABA BAB type split…
so it would it be upper/lower/upper one week
lower/upper/lower, another…thats only three training days. Theres also push/pull/legs which sounds like it could work.
Maybe CC can weigh in here and give you some pointers…I’m certainly interested myself!!
I was thinking 4-5 days/week(including a day just for arms), but if you think I may see better results/better recovery from 3 than I am willing to give that a whirl. I just feel very compulsive about wanting to go to the gym all the time, but I am wondering if less is more. If I do train 4-5/days I will need to make sure I spend less time at the gym, just for my own sanity. Cardio is every day unless I have other plans or need a day off. I am certain too I will gain strength, it just may not be as straight forward as when my gains were linear and trackable week by week.
Why are you doing cardio if you want to gain muscle? Is it going to be a short, steady state session just because you like it?
Anywho, it’s awesome that you came up with a plan. Smart to bulk during the winter so you can come out like VA-VA-VOOM in the spring,
Not that you’re not already VA-VA-VOOM
Its not what I think…just throwing idears out there
For muscle gain(bb’ing purposes), typically I think anywhere from 4-6 days is ideal Buuuut for busy professionals or busy mommies like me, for ex, sometimes it’s not.
It’s one of things where you gotta experiment to find out what works. Sometimes it just takes awhile to figure out. Whatever you do, remain consistent without changing too much at once. That will allow you to see noticeable progress(or not enough!)
Nikki, the cardio is to theoretically raise my BMR so I can eat more for gains without gaining a whole buncha fat, so I will keep this up at least until I know if its working.
Here is my newby little plan. I am sure much tweaking will ensue:
Monday: Squats or legs including calves
Tuesday: arms
Thursday: Chest and tris
Friday: Back with calves
Sunday: Chest and shoulders
I am going to deadlift every other week, but should I do it on back day or leg day?
On the days I will train I will aim to burn 250-300 cals with cardio and on the days I don’t I will aim for 350-400. I am going to aim for 100-120g protein/day. I am going to estimate my BMR at 1400kcal and eat according to the amount of calories I burn in the day. When I burn 250, I will eat 1650kcal. If I start to gain weight, I will eat less, if I have NO energy I will eat more accordingly.
If your goal is to gain muscle and maintain strength, I would definitely recommend against so much cardio. Did you really say every day? From personal experience, I can say that I cannot gain muscle (or strength) if I’m doing more than two cardio sessions a week. Maybe your body is different?
I just can’t fathom the low calorie counts you girlies take in.
I would keep the cals clean, hit it hard in the gym and save the cardio for when/if you think you need it.
Give yourself and your body a chance to see what happens!
Owlie, what is your BMR estimate based off of? Although you are not as tall as say an NBA point guard, you do have quite a bit of muscle already, which will raise your BMR above the standard calculators that just go off of height and weight without taking into account your squatting awesomeness. Just from a glance I think you may need more calories than that, especially since muscle is so “metabolically expensive”, if you are constantly at a caloric deficit your body decides that your muscle is the best thing to break down.
Yeah those calorie counts may not be 100% accurate especially considering I work 3x/week in a warehouse so my maintenance on those days has to come up a couple hundred at least. I don’t know if I necessarily gain fat easily, but I do gain muscle AND fat easily and it seems like anything I put into my body ends up ON my body somehow. I feel like the extra cardio allows me to eat more which should burn off the mess I am making by eating at a surplus. I know its easy to say just eat clean, but since I don’t see an end in sight like a contest or something it is hard for me to commit 100% and be super strict. I would say that I have about 5-6 cheat meals a week out of 42 total meals. I never eat doughnuts or dairy queen or anything but I admit will hit the Indian Buffet or Tex Mex place for a breakfast taco every once in awhile. I think the cardio gives me a sort of safety net and allows me to not be completely obsessed about food. I never notice cardio bothering my upper body gains or my deadlifts(I am kind of back dominant on theses) but I will admit that if I put too much mileage on my legs it can get in the way of squats. I think the idea of squatting less frequently may help with this though. I wonder if maybe I should maybe look into a Westside method.
I wish I could be more addicted to cardio. I have to admit it out loud,and say that I NEED cardio and probably for the rest of my life. Then maybe I can have those rice crispy treats
I just don’t do it, but need to start, blah. I gain fat super duper easily.
So, still not certain on what to do training wise?
i can’t hate on cardio much–there is a definite place for it. even ss. i say go with your gut,you’re smart and in tune with your body.you’llget toapoint where allyou might want todois cardio–at least i dosometimes,and that’s fine! then you’ll get a point where you are over it–at least i do–and then you’ll go back to other stuff.
my experience is that your strengh will come back, it might take a bit but its not going to disappear,orit might even simply plateau.
if you wanna have a attack of cardio bunnyness-- I say nothing wrong with that. even though its not technically kosher, who cares?!
just enjoy whatever you’re doing. for me cardio was a huge help getting rid of some serious anxiety, madness, and pounds.
i was flabbeier after but smaller after. and i find i can fill out the muscle again as training with wt’s returns. you’ll be fine whatever you do, just be happy and your body will respond in kind. as long as you don’t injure yourself you have years of the wts to return to.
Thanks Sindie!! I think you have kind of picked up on my currently chaotic state of mind. I am just going to go with it and I figure as long as I keep an open mind I will find my answers. I did train this week even though you wouldn’t know it by reading my log lol
Thursday:
Incline press
100x3x6
some dumbbell stuff I forget, it was short
Friday:
dumbbell incline press
40x8
dumbbell overhead press
35x6x6
dropsetted last set with 25x6, 20x6
20x20
lateral raises
15x8x3
some machine for my rear delts
cardio
Saturday:
Cardio
Max UR Bench
barx10
95x5
115x3
125x2
135x1
140x1
145x1
150xf
Hey not so bad considering I haven’t really benched heavy in 4 months. I called it here and didn’t make any additional attempts.
Had to show off my new T shirt because I thought it was in the spirit of PW and some of you all might appreciate it. The mini skirts and dresses are fun, but this is more in the vein of what I wear on a day to day basis anyway.
