Would be Grateful for Some Advice

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Hi Im looking for some advice, critique and/or guidance. First heres some details about me:
22 years old;
Height 5â??6
Weight 13st4

Training history, been lifting for about 5 years, however its safe to assume the early years were probably misguided
Have been following Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 for the past 10 months and have had to reset a few times, my projected 1rm from the first cycle are as follows
Deadlift 149kg
Press 80kg
Squat 139kg
Bench 126.5kg
After my most recent cycle my projected 1rms are as follows
Deadlift 159.5kg
Press 85kg
Squat 142kg
Bench 136kg
I tested these last week, which was a scheduled deload week and managed
Deadlift 160kg
Press 80kg
Squat 150kg
Bench 135kg

My primary goal is to increase my strength, I set myself a goal of wanting a 180kg deadlift by the end of this year, I also want to achieve a look that makes me look like I lift, essentially I want to build some decent muscle.
At the moment, after almost having completed 1 year of 5/3/1 I am at a sort of cross roads in my opinion and am unsure what to do next. I am aware that Im not as lean as I could be and this has been a minor long term goal for me for the past few years, I think every 22 year old should at least be able to see a six packâ?¦

So firstly I would appreciate some review of my physique, I know it seems as if thats not as important a goal to me given what I have already said, however I would like some comments/advice/constructive criticismâ?¦
As far as diet goes, Im a type 1 diabetic so I dont play around with anything too drastic, I had been trying to shed a few pounds recently so Id calculated my BMR using an online calculator and came up with a 2200kcal maintenance value so Ive been following this for a couple of weeks. Trying to eat 190g of protein 190g carbs 75g fat following a broadly 35% P 35% C 30% F.

Typical day consists of
Breakfast: 3 egg omelette with cheese
Lunch: meat sandwich + apple + banana
Tea: chicken breast and salad
Supper: 2 pieces of wholemeal toast
Snacks: 2 protein shakes (2 scoops each)
I believe this low calorie diet has been the reason behind several less than perfect workouts recently, which leads me to my question. Which direction should I head in next?

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heres a pic of my back

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leg shot

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side view

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hamstrings

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right side arm.
should give you guys a general overview of how i look, pretty soft i know, but any comments appreciated.

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Well, it’s obviously a nutrition issue. Even though you’re conflicted with your goals, it sounds like you should be gaining.

I didn’t run the numbers, but you really only eat meat once a day. Even my girl ate more than that when she wasn’t lifting. Unless you have an inch of meat on that sandwich, you probably need to consume more.

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You have a good base of strength and a decent amount of muscle mass. Good job. Where you want to go from here is up to you.

Its fine if you want to cut a bit for a 6 pack, but don’t expect to see an actual natural bodybuilder sized physique when you’re done. Don’t drop weight too fast. Try to preserve your strength levels as much as possible and focus on your diet.

Your diet plan looks fine. Evaluate your results weekly and don’t be afraid to tweak your diet plan based on these results.

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1 man island - thanks for the response, I am at least hitting my 1g/lb of body weight for protein however. As for consuming more and gaining, that’s what I mean I’m at a point where I don’t know the best route to take. Eventually I will be looking to gain more muscle to go with the increase in strength I’m pursuing, but I absolutely do not want to get fat in the process!

Dt79 - thanks for the comments on my strength, that’s been my main goal and will continue to be for some time, everyone wants to gain muscle to some degree and that is also true with me. What I don’t want though is to be all show and no go… I would rather be able to lift more than just look good, that being said, I’m looking for opinions from people far more experienced than me to tell me if it’s perhaps time to take a break for strength training and tidy up my physique. Because let’s be honest, we all want to look good, don’t we?

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Honestly, all of us want to look good haha.

Other than a lot more emphasis on technique for the main lifts, i really don’t see much of a difference when training for strength and training for physique. Your lifts will stall eventually no matter what and then you’ll still have to put on more muscle to progress further.

Most really strong raw lifters I’ve seen carry a lot of muscle mass. Its just that some have higher levels of bodyfat so it may not be very evident.

IMO if you want to get really lean, go ahead. Diet for 6-8 weeks and get to the level you desire. This is a long term sport so don’t worry about it. But if its your first time cutting, you need to take it slow make it a priority to try and maintain your strength levels.

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You don’t need to be testing your maxes on 5/3/1. Take 90% of your recent maxes and go from there.

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Dt79 - yes I wouldn’t have changed my training too much, I’d still be lifting higher percentage of my max to maintain strength, I’m not one of those drastic 20 rep 30% of their max lifters.

Am I in too fat of a state right now to begin a bulk though, I feel this is probably what I’m asking? The long term goal is stronger and bigger and I’m aware that I’ll have to target them individually but like I previously mentioned, I absolutely do not want to get fat, as eventually the goal is to be lean!

Chobbs - sorry I think maybe I hadn’t made it clear, I have no issues with the 5/3/1 protocol I’ve reset a couple of times already, it’s more the general direction with which to continue training in…

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Don’t think of it as a bulk and cut. I’m not the most experienced but you can still get stronger will leaning out

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[quote]hmorcom wrote:
Dt79 - yes I wouldn’t have changed my training too much, I’d still be lifting higher percentage of my max to maintain strength, I’m not one of those drastic 20 rep 30% of their max lifters.

Am I in too fat of a state right now to begin a bulk though, I feel this is probably what I’m asking? The long term goal is stronger and bigger and I’m aware that I’ll have to target them individually but like I previously mentioned, I absolutely do not want to get fat, as eventually the goal is to be lean!
[/quote]

First of all, you’re not the typical beginner that can’t bench his bodyweight and afraid to gain weight despite looking like a holocust survivor. These are the guys we always say “just fucking eat” to.

You are at that stage where you have accomplished a fair amount of muscular and strength gains. Now is the time to get educated on how your eating plan affects your bodycomp and strength. This is very important as it will take you to the next level by getting familiar with how your body responds to both training and diet.

This is why i suggested you cut up a bit and learn how to manipulate your diet to get leaner and prevent strength and muscle loss. Its all a learning process.

Second, lets define the term “bulk”. Bulking as i’ve always understood it to be means eating in a constant caloric excess to maximise muscle gain while minimising fat gain.

Apparantly it has been severely misunderstood by some people blindly trying to emulate what others, who have taken extreme approaches, have done without taking into account differences in goals, age, genetics and measurable results. There is a recent thread in the Bigger, Stronger, Leaner forum for reference.

So i’m suggesting that you now get your diet dialed in. You can definitely stay relatively lean eating sensibly when bulking but don’t be afraid to gain a bit of fat. Base your decision to increase or decrease calories on weekly results that you can quantify through strength gains and bodycomp. Evaluate your goals. If your main priority is strength and a slightly higher bodyfat level allowing you better gains, stick with it.

Again, this is all a learning process and a long term sport.

At the moment, if you are experiencing strength loss in a caloric deficit, you can try increasing your protein intake and evaluate from there.

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dt79 - im really glad that im worthy of more in depth advice than ‘just eat’ i appreciate your comments so far and i agree with it being a long term sport. essentially my body will be my lifetime project.

How long would you consider it necessary to keep calories at a particular level before changing? for example if i have noticed no fat loss/weight loss etc should i maintain this level for 2 weeks before changing?

Im currently sitting at 2200 kcals, training 4-5 days a week, doing no cardio/conditioning. I feel this is fairly low, maybe naively, i dont want to drop much lower in case of metabolic damage, so would you suggest perhaps increasing carbs and adding in some conditioning?

lastly, i know that bodyweight is not the best way of measuring fat loss progress and i have no access to calipers etc. so could you suggest a practical/effective way to measure weekly progress?

are there any particular measurements i can take that will show a representation of bodyfat?

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[quote]hmorcom wrote:

How long would you consider it necessary to keep calories at a particular level before changing? for example if i have noticed no fat loss/weight loss etc should i maintain this level for 2 weeks before changing? [/quote]

I’m not sure why you would want to maintain calories at a particular level unless you are intending to allow your body to accept a new bodyweight as its new state of equilibrium. You would have to hold this bodyweight for months.

I apologise i was not familiar with the term “metabolic damage” until i googled it. From what i gather, it is describing an extreme state involving severe disruption of the nervous system, hpta and immune system. I doubt you will enter such a state unless you have been in a prolonged period of starvation.

If you have encountered a stall in fat loss, it is simply a self preservation mechanism of the body in order to preserve a state of homeostasis by lowering your metabolism. This is normal.

You can get around this by adding in conditioning/ cardio, increasing meal frequency, further reducing calories and/ or adding a refeed day where you increase carbs and reduce fat intake.

[quote]lastly, i know that bodyweight is not the best way of measuring fat loss progress and i have no access to calipers etc. so could you suggest a practical/effective way to measure weekly progress?

are there any particular measurements i can take that will show a representation of bodyfat? [/quote]

Don’t bother. Use the mirror, waist size, bodyweight and strength levels to gauge progress.

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[quote]dt79 wrote:
or adding a refeed day [/quote]
This is all I read

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[quote]chobbs wrote:

[quote]dt79 wrote:
or adding a refeed day [/quote]
This is all I read [/quote]

POP-TARTS!!! :slight_smile:

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Since I’ve been researching pretty heavily recently… I just want to say you probably won’t have to even consider “metabolic damage” until you’re at 1600 calories or lower for an extended period of time. Obviously this fluctuates per person and by gender, but for a guy your height, I’d say that’s probably a pretty safe number to be able to say “as long as you’re not this low, you don’t need to worry”.

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Metabolic Damage is a term PhD Layne Norton coined describing professional bodybuilders who get done with a “stupid” cut by increasing cardio while irresponsibly decreasing calories over a prolonged period.