Ive never had luck losing significant fat dieting unless I am very hypo-caloric. At my size I need to come in under 2,000 cals a day consistently to see the scale move. I’m thinking Im safer to do that and maintain LBM while on TRT. I guess you agree bkb333.
Same here, man – 29 in my graduating class. It’s definitely a different world. I wish we had a lifting class! So jealous of guys who got started that early. I was so motivated to get in shape in high school, but resources were limited.
Yeah, I think the 2K calorie mark is a good threshold. I’m around the same. I’m eating 2K right now and dropping weight, but eating even 100-200 more, I was staying steady. If you have your TRT dose and protein on point, I don’t think you’re at risk of losing more than like 1 lb of muscle, even eating 1800-2000. I was eating 1800 by the end of my cut last year.
Our lifting class was not very serious after about a month. Everybody benched, and did curls at least.
The teacher was trying to learn the banjo, and would sit in his folding chair and practice while we lifted. Do you know how distracting someone learning the banjo can be while trying to lift?
Sounds very uninspiring. Nonetheless, you’re lucky you had access to the equipment. I begged my parents to get weights, but we were too broke. I just ended up running and doing calisthenics, which got me wiry and lean AF but no muscle mass.
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This is a good point. I seem to lose weight in the form of fat more so than I did before (it is a good amount of muscle).
I am on what I would call performance TRT (200 mg a week), so we well see what happens as I am trying to lose fat now.
Hey, you’re in the right place. I’m all about performance TRT!
Yeah that is my dose right now as well. I upped it about 5 weeks ago and am just now leveling off after the initial water weight gain. Not sure if weight will drop back down to where I started around 215. Sitting at 220 now coming down from 222. I will let this ride for a few more weeks before I chose what’s next. Probably a cal dip down to 2200 and just tightening the reigns a bit. Id guess Im around 2600-3200 cals a day with some days around 2000 and others around 4000. Ive been having sweets a few times a week lately, and a fair amount of potato chips occasionally, but still getting my protein close to 200g. No alcohol and a ton of sleep lately with the gyms closed. And honestly very little stress so it probably all balances out. Im hitting cardio via hilly walks 3 days a week (indoor and out) and getting in 3 days of resistance training (45-60mins) though limited without real equipment but still working up a sweat each day and managing to get some DOMS with the new exercises.
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What kind of exercises are you doing and equipment are you using? I’m thankful to have this in my garage.
Ive got a 70lb kettlebell, bosu ball, and various bands. Im also taking the time to work on mobility and allow niggling injuries to heal up like shoulders, forearms, etc. I mean honestly, personally, after this SARS-CoV-2 virus thing is “behind” us I should be better than ever and ramp up strength pretty quickly.
You’ve got a decent setup there for a workout. Do you deadlift? Do those thin rubber mats protect your cement floor? Funny, your plates are the same ones I used to have. Standard set came with the power rack I had and the others were Dick’s purchases.
I might have to get something more with my government check. Stimulating the economy AND my muscle fibers. Win, win.
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That’s the right attitude to have, brother. The obstacle is the way. Too many people are focusing on the downsides of this thing. Obviously it’s brutal, and all of us are negatively impacted in some way (my wife lost most of her income), but gotta look for the silver linings.
Yeah, I love this setup. I’d love to have some machines in the future, but for now it has everything I need. Yep, the cheap ($20) and thin rubber mats do a perfect job protecting the floor while I deadlift. The weights are a hodge-podge but they get the job done. The Dick’s plates are solid. I’ll get more someday.
Get those corona gains!
On the topic of adding mass, squats of all forms are going to be king. They can add mass to almost all parts of the body, some parts more than others obviously.
Deadlifts are also really good.
Upper body is going to grow with presses and rows and chins.
Lately I’ve been doing arms a bunch on my off days with quarantine. This will not add mass like the previous exercises, but who doesn’t want big arms (women mostly)
The biggest factor of being bigger and stronger is going to be doing more over time. More weight, higher reps. Progressive overload.
This is my mantra, and got me setting PRs at least monthly this year, following 5/3/1. That being said, I am 48 years old and a forced recovery month (or two) will do me good. I can’t keep hitting PRs like I was without injury. This will give my tendons etc a chance to catch up a little and heal.
Recovery is super important with age. A friend of mine competes powerlifting at 54. He is always doing recovery work. He also uses platelet injections, bpc-157. Even with that he is always fighting injuries.
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The good thing is once you bust your ass and get a decent body it doesn’t take near as much work to maintain it. So if you already have a good foundation before kids and before life in general gets super stressful you’ll have a much easier time staying in that shape. People who have been out of shape for a while who then decide to try and change it whilst also having kids and entering a more stressful period of life will have a much more difficult time getting there and/or keeping it. That’s the good thing about where we are currently. When life starts changing with kids and all that we’ll have a leg up on the masses especially since we are already on TRT and have that somewhat figured out.
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I’ve noticed a lot of people don’t put emphasis on shoulders. To me shoulders are one of (if not the) most important things for looking larger as well as looking skinnier. I see many Instagram type guys whose chest and back are on point but their shoulders just aren’t anything special. Women especially love broad shoulders. When those delts pop you better hide yo girl.
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That’s a good point. I definitely tend to overlook shoulders but have decent ones. I put on a tank top yesterday for the first time this year and my wife instantly was all over me. I rarely see her that horny. Shoulders/arms definitely have that appeal to women.
I’m on my way to getting lean. Once I am, I’ll post an updated photo. I’m debating switching from the Israetel chest/back program to his shoulders/arms at that point – I think chest has come along nicely, and back has always been my strong point – so I’ll ask for input. Spending a whole year focusing on one modality can 1) get boring and 2) lead to an unbalanced physique. Don’t want to fall prey to that.
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That’s exactly what I’m thinking, brother – this is the time in life to really invest in physical improvements and laying that foundation. Then, once you have the base, the little tweaks when you have kids and a more demanding life won’t require so much effort.
This week I decided to test my strength, just for fun, because it had been ~4 months. I was reminded that heavy lifting is a skill. It’s dangerous if you don’t practice it regularly. The Israetel program I’m following is all about form, time under tension, etc. I almost messed myself up on heavy deadlifts.