Prof X, Pumping The Breaks?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

This question is directed at professor x, I remember a post a while back by Crou I believe that you responded to when people said he gained a little too much fat during a bulk. You said something about pumping the breaks and not totally cutting and ruining your progress.

Well Im kind of in the same boat, I recently bulked up to 230 at 6’1 and im somwhere between 16-18% bf. I was wondering how many calories I should eat to maintain or drop a little weight and hopefully get some sort of shirt to lean body mass.

If anyone knows how I could find out my maintenance calories or any tips in leaning out a little (I’m not gonna cut right now) I would appreciate it. I was thinking of cutting my rest while lifting to 30-45 seconds between sets.

I don’t want to lose too much muscle so I don’t want to do a lot of cardio as I have done in the past. Sorry for the long post, any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

[quote]Josh Martin wrote:
This question is directed at professor x, I remember a post a while back by Crou I believe that you responded to when people said he gained a little too much fat during a bulk. You said something about pumping the breaks and not totally cutting and ruining your progress.

Well Im kind of in the same boat, I recently bulked up to 230 at 6’1 and im somwhere between 16-18% bf. I was wondering how many calories I should eat to maintain or drop a little weight and hopefully get some sort of shirt to lean body mass.

If anyone knows how I could find out my maintenance calories or any tips in leaning out a little (I’m not gonna cut right now) I would appreciate it. I was thinking of cutting my rest while lifting to 30-45 seconds between sets.

I don’t want to lose too much muscle so I don’t want to do a lot of cardio as I have done in the past. Sorry for the long post, any help would be greatly appreciated.[/quote]

If you don’t have a rough estimate of how many calories you need to just maintain your weight, you need to take a week or two, eat consistently and monitor your progress. If your weight isn’t changing that is your maintenance range.

The first thing I would cut back on is carbohydrates. I would increase the protein intake. In other words, become more strict with your diet without actually cutting out over 500cals a day to the point that your weight starts to drop significantly.

I think maintaining your caloric intake along with increasing cardio “slightly” to lean out a little is also based on genetics when it comes to expecting any increase in muscle mass. Someone who struggles for any sort of muscle gains at all will simply stagnate which is pointless.

I use times like that to let my body adjust to a certain weight before I continue in either direction (up or down). I would keep cardio at about 3 times a week and adjust as needed.

3

[quote]Josh Martin wrote:
If anyone knows how I could find out my maintenance calories or any tips in leaning out a little (I’m not gonna cut right now) I would appreciate it. I was thinking of cutting my rest while lifting to 30-45 seconds between sets.

I don’t want to lose too much muscle so I don’t want to do a lot of cardio as I have done in the past. Sorry for the long post, any help would be greatly appreciated.[/quote]

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460331
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460327

4

THanks prof and !vic tjat hel[ed a lot.

5

[quote]Professor X wrote:

If you don’t have a rough estimate of how many calories you need to just maintain your weight, you need to take a week or two, eat consistently and monitor your progress. If your weight isn’t changing that is your maintenance range.

The first thing I would cut back on is carbohydrates. I would increase the protein intake. In other words, become more strict with your diet without actually cutting out over 500cals a day to the point that your weight starts to drop significantly.

I think maintaining your caloric intake along with increasing cardio “slightly” to lean out a little is also based on genetics when it comes to expecting any increase in muscle mass. Someone who struggles for any sort of muscle gains at all will simply stagnate which is pointless.

I use times like that to let my body adjust to a certain weight before I continue in either direction (up or down). I would keep cardio at about 3 times a week and adjust as needed.[/quote]

IMO great advice Ive been doing near this close to three years and added quite a bit of quality muscle. I dont even really change diet much Just wehn builking do an increase and you will stall at some poin if you keep it the same.

Well you will have added fat and muscle just maintain this level for a few weeks and I naturally lean out a bi to a level my body is comfortable any way then bump it up again and repeat.

Maybe Like pro said add a bit of cardio let the body adjust to even walking around a the new weight class LOL

Phill

6

Yeah I was getting to that point where I was started to just add fat and no more muscle. Does anyone else experience this? What do you guys think about eating a lot of protien and fat (From meat) and cutting carbs to 100 grams or less?

7

I think I experienced the same thing that you are talking about.

I went from about 195 to 230 (August 06-December 06).

At first I felt like a lot of it was good weight (newbie gains in part).

After about 225 though it was mostly fat I think. I have “put on the breaks” and leveled out at 225-230 for the last 45 days. It has helped.

It was tempting to try to drop some of it immediately but reading posts from some of the members here that I respect I decided to stay where I was.

This thread has helped reinforce this decision. Thanks guys.

Depending on the mirror I will probably stay at this weight through the end of February and then go from there.

Good luck with everything and thanks for a good thread

8

What about the famous formulas that use lean body mass to predict maintenance based on activity level?

Then again someone did say that the formulas overestimate BMR for someone who is a little more endomorphic, but you also have the BW(pounds)x(12-14) guideline for cutting (used by afterburn followers) which is probably more accurate for someone over 200 pounds.

[quote]Phill wrote:
Professor X wrote:

If you don’t have a rough estimate of how many calories you need to just maintain your weight, you need to take a week or two, eat consistently and monitor your progress. If your weight isn’t changing that is your maintenance range.

The first thing I would cut back on is carbohydrates. I would increase the protein intake. In other words, become more strict with your diet without actually cutting out over 500cals a day to the point that your weight starts to drop significantly.

I think maintaining your caloric intake along with increasing cardio “slightly” to lean out a little is also based on genetics when it comes to expecting any increase in muscle mass. Someone who struggles for any sort of muscle gains at all will simply stagnate which is pointless.

I use times like that to let my body adjust to a certain weight before I continue in either direction (up or down). I would keep cardio at about 3 times a week and adjust as needed.

IMO great advice Ive been doing near this close to three years and added quite a bit of quality muscle. I dont even really change diet much Just wehn builking do an increase and you will stall at some poin if you keep it the same.

Well you will have added fat and muscle just maintain this level for a few weeks and I naturally lean out a bi to a level my body is comfortable any way then bump it up again and repeat.

Maybe Like pro said add a bit of cardio let the body adjust to even walking around a the new weight class LOL

Phill

[/quote]

9

Thanks Prof X, good post. I have been essentially doing that for the past few weeks to strip some fat and it’s been working great. Simply adding a half hour of cardio after lifting and cutting out breads and grains has been enough to get noticeably leaner.

10

[quote]rbpowerhouse wrote:
What about the famous formulas that use lean body mass to predict maintenance based on activity level?

[/quote]
Those are ESTIMATES. Anyone using those formulas as if that is the end of discussion and there is no need to notice whether it actually applies to them has missed the point. Your metabolism is different than the guy in the gym next to you even if you both weigh exactly the same.

11

Final note to anyone else reading this thread. Once you’ve bulked and put on a decent amount of muscle, don’t cut right away, if you’re like me you’ll lose 60-70% of it. This is my 3rd time in the 220’s+, and this time I’m not gonna lose it all trying to get abs.

12

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Josh Martin wrote:
This question is directed at professor x, I remember a post a while back by Crou I believe that you responded to when people said he gained a little too much fat during a bulk. You said something about pumping the breaks and not totally cutting and ruining your progress.

Well Im kind of in the same boat, I recently bulked up to 230 at 6’1 and im somwhere between 16-18% bf. I was wondering how many calories I should eat to maintain or drop a little weight and hopefully get some sort of shirt to lean body mass.

If anyone knows how I could find out my maintenance calories or any tips in leaning out a little (I’m not gonna cut right now) I would appreciate it. I was thinking of cutting my rest while lifting to 30-45 seconds between sets.

I don’t want to lose too much muscle so I don’t want to do a lot of cardio as I have done in the past. Sorry for the long post, any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you don’t have a rough estimate of how many calories you need to just maintain your weight, you need to take a week or two, eat consistently and monitor your progress. If your weight isn’t changing that is your maintenance range.

The first thing I would cut back on is carbohydrates. I would increase the protein intake. In other words, become more strict with your diet without actually cutting out over 500cals a day to the point that your weight starts to drop significantly.

I think maintaining your caloric intake along with increasing cardio “slightly” to lean out a little is also based on genetics when it comes to expecting any increase in muscle mass. Someone who struggles for any sort of muscle gains at all will simply stagnate which is pointless.

I use times like that to let my body adjust to a certain weight before I continue in either direction (up or down). I would keep cardio at about 3 times a week and adjust as needed.[/quote]

To find a rough estimate of how many calories you need you can use the equation (this one is gender specific for males):

66.0+(13.7* bodyweight kg)+(5.0* height cm)-(6.8*age) = RMR

That is an estimate of baseline calories needed for basic metabolic functions (which account for about 50-70% of your total daily EE depending on how sedentary you are).

If you would say you are moderately active, you can try multiplying your RMR by anywhere from 1.6-1.8.

When I started dieting down at the beginning of Jan, I used this formula (the woman version) and multiplied my RMR by 1.4 (rest day) and 1.75 (active day). That would put my range at around 1800-2200kcal/day. My average caloric intake per day for the month of Jan was 1792, which resulted in a 8lb weight loss, a 1.25" loss off of waist, hips, and thighs, .5" off my arms, a 3% decrease in bodyfat, and absolutely no decrease in strength (my lifts are still exactly the same as when I started). I also train aerobically and anaerobically for anywhere from 30minutes to 2 hours depending on the day of the week (I play rugby so some days are more intense than others). So a suggestion would be that you wouldn’t have to stay near the lower portion of the range because you said you aren’t into doing that much cardio. Just some info and thought you might like a jump start on figuring out an estimate of how many calories you may need instead of having to wait a couple weeks!

Good luck!!

PS - I forgot to mention that my goal is to maintain muscle mass while decreasing my bodyfat %