Coming off a long diet like you are now is the BEST time to switch to hard mass gaining phase.
Eat, rest, grow dude. Its a looooooonng way to beach season dude, well atleast for us up here in Canada (lolol).
I’m embarrassed at my midsection now, but I have months till my next competition in may, then you better believe I wont be putting on a shirt for the summer months.
Sacrifice = Reward
You just cant stay as lean as you are and add muscularity.
Best of luck, -Dave
PS: You have a functionally 0% bodyfat lol… unless you cut hydration you aren’t going to get much more ‘dried out’ then you already are.
Thanks for the input and advice everyone, I’ve decided to dry out this week, using the shredded in 6 days article and take some photos on saturday (might be a nice xmas present). After this I’ll follow the suggestions and switch my focus to adding some mass - taking Bonez advice and focus on adding some mass to my abs. I’ll probably go at it hard for abput 10 weeks, gradually adding calories every week/fortnight and checking scale weight. After this I’ll cut for a short time for summer (around 10 weeks this time).
Im on my second day of depletion and the “fat” around my navel is already going. I guess I didn’t account for the fact that I was eaating 300+ grams of carbs each day. I’ll post after photos. Cheers again for the help guys.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
Thanks for the advice, I’d considered adding some calories back in, I almost feel like its a shame to come this far and not get to six-pack lean. Do you think there would be any negative consequence of continuing with low calories until the new year? [/quote]
Body fat isnt the problem. You dont have enough ab mass and/or your tendons arent deep enough to see deep separation in your abs. There are bodybuilders that diet down to 2% bodyfat and dehydrate and still dont have deep cut abs.
But you DO have visible abs. It is unlikely that they will get significantly better; slightly better? yea maybe.
I have full abs showing in the pic in my hub. Im about 10-11%. Youre leaner than me. My abs have deep tendons and are visible even when im able to pinch an inch of fat/skin on my stomach. And theyre thick from heavy lifting. Deal with it.
[/quote]
x2
Fill out more (muscle mass), and you’ll look 10x better.
What’s your routine like? Many of the big lifts will thicken your abs (e.g. chinups/squats/deadlifts) so make sure you’re not neglecting them…ultimately though, it’s down to genetics as to whether your abs “pop out” or not.
@ Professor X: I don’t understand the first part of your post.
Also, I never stated that I thought I was fat - I simply mentioned that after dieting for 7 months it seems a shame, in my eyes, to not be a little leaner. Of course these goals are personal and I appreciate many my think my priorities should lie elsewhere. That said, I intend to switch to a mass phase after drying out this week.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
@ Professor X: I don’t understand the first part of your post.
[/quote]
I know you don’t. You see being “lean” as a final result and not something that has many stages you will come and go out of as you make further gains. Why would you spend timer “drying out” right now? Are you getting ready for a show? A photo shoot? No? Then stop wasting time screwing with body water that is transitory.
I actually am drying out for a photo shoot on saturday to help one of my friends out whos doing photography- thats the only reason. I really appreciate your input. Would you suggest a gentle approach to adding size (increasing macros until scale weight rises slowly) or an aggressive strategy - large increase in calories right off the bat. I appreciate that there is increased partitioning with lower levels of fat but I feel also that you can’t force muscle gain but eating thousands of calories over maintenance - however I’m very unexperienced in this and am open to any guidance.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
I actually am drying out for a photo shoot on saturday to help one of my friends out whos doing photography- thats the only reason.[/quote]
I have no comment then. I would ask why someone at your stage would be posing shirtless outside of maybe doing those pics on the cover of underwear boxes at Walmart…but even those guys have a little more mass on them. Excuse my frankness. I don’t beat around the bush.
[quote]
I really appreciate your input. Would you suggest a gentle approach to adding size (increasing macros until scale weight rises slowly) or an aggressive strategy - large increase in calories right off the bat. I appreciate that there is increased partitioning with lower levels of fat but I feel also that you can’t force muscle gain but eating thousands of calories over maintenance - however I’m very unexperienced in this and am open to any guidance. [/quote]
You look like you are starving. You don’t need to choose any extreme approach whether that be eating too little or too much. You need to eat more and pay attention to the results seen. Yes, you can limit yourself too much because someonr at your stage with the right genetics could literally blow up if they trained right and gain far more than some of these guys here believe is some limit.
…and someone so scared of gaining fat that they don’t eat enough will miss out on that.
That is why your insistence on being even leaner than you are now before gaining is a red flag. Your abs look the way they do because you are skinny and don’t have that much muscle on you. You will have to gain quite a bit more size and overall body weight before being that lean starts looking impressive and not like you are sickly.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
I actually am drying out for a photo shoot on saturday to help one of my friends out whos doing photography- thats the only reason. I really appreciate your input. Would you suggest a gentle approach to adding size (increasing macros until scale weight rises slowly) or an aggressive strategy - large increase in calories right off the bat. I appreciate that there is increased partitioning with lower levels of fat but I feel also that you can’t force muscle gain but eating thousands of calories over maintenance - however I’m very unexperienced in this and am open to any guidance. [/quote]
Well, you didn’t say this earlier.
You should have stated why you are doing something that most here think is odd since you are already lean, then we would have been a little less puzzled.
I’m not Prof X, but I would gradually increase calories/macros, weekly or every other week. Start at a number you think will elicit some gains, but not a very high number and slowly increase accordingly. At your weight/leanness, you won’t or shouldn’t be hitting any weight plateaus soon, so I think this approach will work well.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
I actually am drying out for a photo shoot on saturday to help one of my friends out whos doing photography- thats the only reason. I really appreciate your input. Would you suggest a gentle approach to adding size (increasing macros until scale weight rises slowly) or an aggressive strategy - large increase in calories right off the bat. I appreciate that there is increased partitioning with lower levels of fat but I feel also that you can’t force muscle gain but eating thousands of calories over maintenance - however I’m very unexperienced in this and am open to any guidance. [/quote]
Well, you didn’t say this earlier.
You should have stated why you are doing something that most here think is odd since you are already lean, then we would have been a little less puzzled.
I’m not Prof X, but I would gradually increase calories/macros, weekly or every other week. Start at a number you think will elicit some gains, but not a very high number and slowly increase accordingly. At your weight/leanness, you won’t or shouldn’t be hitting any weight plateaus soon, so I think this approach will work well. [/quote]
@ Professor X: Thank you for being honest. I appreciate that my physique may not fit with some people’s preferences - these are entirely personal. I feel I am very much a beginner and still learning; I agree that I have a long way to go. However, I am not entirely convinced that it’s necessary to say that you think I look starving/sickly etc - this is more an insult than constructive criticism In my opinion.
I also feel that, in some ways, the criticism is flawed, firstly you are presuming my goals are to be huge and ripped, this may not be the case for everyone, secondly, you assume that my potential to gain size is limited by a fear of gaining fat, I never explicitly stated this. This aside, thanks for helping, i do appreciate your help as I recognise that you are well respected in this community, constructive help and pointers is what I was after.
@ ebomb5522: sorry i didn’t outline this earlier, in retrospect it would have made things clearer. Thanks for the advice - i’ll implement this approach.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
@ Professor X: Thank you for being honest. I appreciate that my physique may not fit with some people’s preferences - these are entirely personal. I feel I am very much a beginner and still learning; I agree that I have a long way to go. However, I am not entirely convinced that it’s necessary to say that you think I look starving/sickly etc - this is more an insult than constructive criticism In my opinion. I also feel that, in some ways, the criticism is flawed, firstly you are presuming my goals are to be huge and ripped, this may not be the case for everyone, secondly, you assume that my potential to gain size is limited by a fear of gaining fat, I never explicitly stated this. This aside, thanks for helping, i do appreciate your help as I recognise that you are well respected in this community, constructive help and pointers is what I was after.
@ ebomb5522: sorry i didn’t outline this earlier, in retrospect it would have made things clearer. Thanks for the advice - i’ll implement this approach. [/quote]
No problem man. Good luck with whatever you’re doing this weekend. If you’re serious about this, make sure you don’t diet or lean down like this for a long time. By a long time, I mean years. Gradually adjust calories accordingly, eat dense foods, and be consistent.
[quote]jonny142 wrote:
@ Professor X: Thank you for being honest. I appreciate that my physique may not fit with some people’s preferences - these are entirely personal. I feel I am very much a beginner and still learning; I agree that I have a long way to go. However, I am not entirely convinced that it’s necessary to say that you think I look starving/sickly etc - this is more an insult than constructive criticism In my opinion.
I also feel that, in some ways, the criticism is flawed, firstly you are presuming my goals are to be huge and ripped, this may not be the case for everyone, secondly, you assume that my potential to gain size is limited by a fear of gaining fat, I never explicitly stated this. This aside, thanks for helping, i do appreciate your help as I recognise that you are well respected in this community, constructive help and pointers is what I was after.
@ ebomb5522: sorry i didn’t outline this earlier, in retrospect it would have made things clearer. Thanks for the advice - i’ll implement this approach. [/quote]
Dude, this is a bodybuilding forum. While not everyone has the goal of looking like a pro bodybuilder, the people SHOULD be looking to stand out in a crowd. Bodybuilding is NOT about being average but being super lean. Sorry. You are simply in the wrong forum if you are against gaining a lot more muscle than you have now.
The goals of this forum should not change just because you don’t want big muscles.
Bro whether your goal is to be huge or to look good you have to build a foundation, I’m sure that is not what you wanted to look like when you dropped bodyfat. You take a pro bodybuilder at 3% bodyfat and a skinny kid at the same and the one with more muscle is gonna look more ripped, even though they have the same relative amount of bf. What is your height? because you don’t wanna make your goal to weigh around 80 kg.
@professor X: I agree with you.However, I did state in my first post that the only reason I was posting in this forum was to get advice from people familiar dieting in single digit bodyfat this doesn’t mean it’s ok to insult my physique, goals or achievements because they are not in line with conventional bodybuilding. Equally, again you have assumed I “don’t want big muscles” - I simply stated that my goals are not to be huge - from my perspective. Afterall physique improvement is largely a personal endeavor - I am seeking advice, not approval.
@ Meymz: 80kg is not my goal - I stated that i would be commencing a mass phase at the end of the week.
[quote]jonny142 wrote: @professor X: I agree with you.However, I did state in my first post that the only reason I was posting in this forum was to get advice from people familiar dieting in single digit bodyfat this doesn’t mean it’s ok to insult my physique, goals or achievements because they are not in line with conventional bodybuilding. Equally, again you have assumed I “don’t want big muscles” - I simply stated that my goals are not to be huge - from my perspective. Afterall physique improvement is largely a personal endeavor - I am seeking advice, not approval.
@ Meymz: 80kg is not my goal - I stated that i would be commencing a mass phase at the end of the week.[/quote]
Kid, the same method is used to be “huge” as it is to look like a freaking Men’s health model…which are way bigger than you probably think they are.
You are in a forum designed to help people reach a level of size that the majority do not get to. if you don’t like that, please go elsewhere. Yes, if you come here stating you want goals opposite of what this forum is about, don’t expect people to kindly accept your alternative goals.
Your perception seems off if you think you train differently based on where you want to stop in terms of size. It all takes the same hard work and TIME. If you aren’t ready for that, stop wasting ours.
I don’t think the training or approach is any different, another false assumption, and YOU have referenced mens health models - I never said I don’t think they are bigger than me. I feel I am aiming for a size that most people do not get to, even if that doesnt entail being as big as yourself or others in this forum, so this seems the ideal place to seek advice. Just because my goals are not the extreme of the spectrum does not mean they are opposite. I have thanked you for your advice, stated that i value your opinion and I have outlined that my goals are to be bigger, yet you seem insistent on insulting my approach or goals at every turn. While it is certainly your right to do this it would seem to me that you are wasting you’re own time.
I don’t think the training or approach is any different, another false assumption, and YOU have referenced mens health models - I never said I don’t think they are bigger than me. I feel I am aiming for a size that most people do not get to, even if that doesnt entail being as big as yourself or others in this forum, so this seems the ideal place to seek advice. Just because my goals are not the extreme of the spectrum does not mean they are opposite. I have thanked you for your advice, stated that i value your opinion and I have outlined that my goals are to be bigger, yet you seem insistent on insulting my approach or goals at every turn. While it is certainly your right to do this it would seem to me that you are wasting you’re own time.
[quote]yusef wrote:
I don’t see the problem here.
He started off at 100kg, 20% bodyfat. 20% bodyfat CALLS for a cut. Now you’re pissed because he doesn’t share the same goal as you? Bodybuilding is about high muscle mass and low body fat. His goal is to gain muscle mass and lose bodyfat.
Why is there suddenly something wrong with wanting six pack abs? The fact he has a photo shoot is neither here nor there, its doesn’t matter WHY he wants to lean out. Could be a fight for all you care.
[/quote]
?
First, who is pissed? I just let him know that the same effort to get HUGE is there for any other size goal…so how does that translate into me being mad that he doesn’t have the same goal as me? What is my goal since you know so well?