I have been doing powertraining for a few years now over the last year and a half i have gained strength and bulk but the biger and the stronger i have become, the biger my belly is geting, i don’t have much fat anywhere ellse on my body accept for my gut. It is great to be big and strong but i don’t want to end up with a monster tank hanging off me and just looking stupid.
My diet is clean no junk or softdrinks. I don’t really know what i am doing wrong, if anything.I want too keep gitting biger and stronger without the tank can anyone giv me some addvice.
Even though you’re eating “clean”. I suspect you’re eating ALOT. Track your meals for awhile and I’ll bet you find times you’re overdoing the food intake.
If you want to lose the belly you have start dropping calories until the tape measure shows a loss. By the time you get to an ideal shape you’ll know about what you have to do to maintain it.
Bottom line is that any calories your body doesn’t use to build muscle is going to get stored as fat. You don’t need that surplus so you must find the sweet spot where you’re just above maintenance. Tracking your caloric intake and macro-nutrient profile is the only way to do this. After a while it will become second nature and you won’t have to keep a log.
Yeah i am eating a lot.About 4 to 5 thousand cal a day. If i cut down the amount of food i eat will i lose strength and will the muscle growth slow down.
[quote]Aussiepower wrote:
Yeah i am eating a lot.About 4 to 5 thousand cal a day. If i cut down the amount of food i eat will i lose strength and will the muscle growth slow down. [/quote]
It’s always a bit of a trade-off man. The guys over at elitefts.com always say to gain more weight on your bench you should add 10lbs to your frame. Haha that’s why there’s Rhodestown where you have to be 300+ pounds. Not too mention the belly helps with bench since it reduces your ROM.
At 5,000k a day you’ll put on some fat man. Just a matter of what do you want more, that elite total or to look better?
Cycle your training you may not have to go though a year long continuous builk just to add strength. Also decide what weight you want to be at.
As crew said theres always a little trade off, but if you cycle your nutrition and training you don’t have to gain that much fat. You will not lose strength or muscle over night, if you switch to maybe 2 or 3 nights a week increase protein reduce carbs or fat you can reduce calories and pretty much keep your muscle and energy. As someone else said check out beradi.
Last note I know its hard to give up that strength but if you feel that way about your guy now, keep going and you will feel worse in a few months. Pick a goal weight to stop at.
-When you train with a belt, pushing out your abs hard against it, your torso from wiast to sternum will thicken fast, even with a moderate food intake. Things you can do include using your belt only when required(i use mine only on box squats when i am wearing suit bottoms, ME full gear squats, some rack pulls,and benching in a shirt. DLs except in a meet are raw as are GMs, warmup squats, and overhead pressing.)You can also do vaccuum exercises for your abs…unloaded of course and these are actually good recovery work for your low back.
-If you want to keep your food intake up add in some 30-60 minute hikes, and strongman style conditioning like tire flips, sled/truck drags/pushes, farmers walks, stones, etc., or you can add in KB/db snatches.
I Guess id rather be strong than look pritty.You can’t have it all.Its not that bad now but i just don’t want it to get any worse. anyway thanks for your advice…
[quote]Aussiepower wrote:
I Guess id rather be strong than look pritty.You can’t have it all.Its not that bad now but i just don’t want it to get any worse. anyway thanks for your advice…[/quote]
There is a fine line to walk if you want to be strong and still have a lean body. I train more like a powerlifter and the times I gain strength and weight is the winter so I add a little more than I like around the middle. No fat in my arms, chest or even legs. When it comes time for spring I tend to cut my diet and train with less weight and higher volume. So in that aspect I kind of have a bodybuilding outlook to dieting with a bulk and cut.
My point is that if you truly want to be a powerlifter than train and eat like one and forget what a ripped six pack looks like. If you want to be a bodybuilder than keep your diet strict and workout like a bodybuilder. Don’t try to squat the house.
Like I said before I am in the middle so I guess I am not training myself to be successful in either sport. But since I have no plans on doing a powerlifting meet or a bodybuilding show having a little of both worlds suits me fine.
Haha… ya bro… i love my squatter pouch!
I would hate to think about how much my squat would go down without it. Its all about what you want man… I was a bodybuilder for yrs… but the iron had a different calling for me. I dont give a shit what I look like anymore.
Fuck man… look at Gene Richlock. He’s what? 400lbs? He looks absolutely awful, but he’s one of the strongest men in the powerlifting scene today. I’m not saying its right… but it works for him.
And it is a trade off. If you want to be swole, you gotta have a gut. The West Point powerlifting team would be one of the best teams in the country, but they have to keep under 9% bodyfat. Its all about leverage, and the gut helps with that.
Fuck man… look at Gene Richlock. He’s what? 400lbs? He looks absolutely awful, but he’s one of the strongest men in the powerlifting scene today. I’m not saying its right… but it works for him
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No he isn’t… he’s one of the strongest benchers.
THe funny thing is if you look at the OTHER top benchers, Kennelly, Mendy, Winters, Luyando etc they’re all thick as a bull and not too far away from lean.