bulk or cut I have no clue

[Deleted member 15748]

what you think ? I'm 6'2 barefoot, 190lbs

 

[Deleted member 15748]

don't feel super fat tbh , but don't know my body fat.. maybe 15?

 

[randomuser2407]

Lean bulk at a rate of 0.5 lb of weight gain per week (2 lbs gained per month), while training hard on a 4 days per week upper lower.

For my full post on gymmaxxing, go here: https://looksmax.org/threads/social-skills-are-far-more-important-than-you-think.465599/post-7674740

If you are already at the intermediate level, I recommend you switch to conjugate or 5/3/1 or Madcow's 5x5 if you want to keep making gains to reach the advanced level and go beyond that.

You can calculate your level here: https://strengthlevel.com/

 

[LookmaxBlau]

Just cut a little bit more

 

[Deleted member 15748]

Just cut a little bit more

I kinda don't wanna lean too much before summer just because it is hard to maintain for my fat kid genetics. I get fat super easy. Or maybe it is the right time now, not sure

Lean bulk at a rate of 0.5 lb of weight gain per week (2 lbs gained per month), while training hard on a 4 days per week upper lower.

For my full post on gymmaxxing, go here: https://looksmax.org/threads/social-skills-are-far-more-important-than-you-think.465599/post-7674740

If you are already at the intermediate level, I recommend you switch to conjugate or 5/3/1 or Madcow's 5x5 if you want to keep making gains to reach the advanced level and go beyond that.

You can calculate your level here: https://strengthlevel.com/

I just do ppl. I don't have too much time for gym celling cut of work + social life + gf + activities. I only go 2/3 times a week or so. Also whenever I bulk I get fat fast

 

[randomuser2407]

I kinda don't wanna lean too much before summer just because it is hard to maintain for my fat kid genetics. I get fat super easy. Or maybe it is the right time now, not sure

I just do ppl. I don't have too much time for gym celling cut of work + social life + gf + activities. I only go 2/3 times a week or so. Also whenever I bulk I get fat fast

You can only gain 2 lbs of muscle per month.

If you train hard properly, you will gain 2 lbs of muscle per month if you bulk at a rate of 0.5 lbs of weight gain per week.

You cannot gain muscle while losing fat or gain muscle while maintaining your weight unless you are obese and a complete beginner.

So, if you don't bulk, have fun wasting years of your life getting no results in the gym. If the weight on the bar isn't increasing or the number of reps isn't increasing, you're literally wasting your time in the gym.

If you use linear progression past the intermediate stage, you will not gain muscle past that point and you will struggle to make any progress.

If you follow my advice, you will fully gymmax in a matter of only 2-3 years maximum, and from that point on, you won't be able to gain much muscle mass.

If you do it the wrong way, it could take you over 20 years to reach that same level.

 

[Deleted member 15748]

You can only gain 2 lbs of muscle per month.

If you train hard properly, you will gain 2 lbs of muscle per month if you bulk at a rate of 0.5 lbs of weight gain per week.

You cannot gain muscle while losing fat or gain muscle while maintaining your weight unless you are obese and a complete beginner.

So, if you don't bulk, have fun wasting years of your life getting no results in the gym. If the weight on the bar isn't increasing or the number of reps isn't increasing, you're literally wasting your time in the gym.

If you use linear progression past the intermediate stage, you will not gain muscle past that point and you will struggle to make any progress.

If you follow my advice, you will fully gymmax in a matter of only 2-3 years maximum, and from that point on, you won't be able to gain much muscle mass.

If you do it the wrong way, it could take you over 20 years to reach that same level.

that is true. I will devote myself when I have more time. right now I am mostly maintaining intermediate stage. I shouldn't cut a little more before bulk?

 

[randomuser2407]

that is true. I will devote myself when I have more time. right now I am mostly maintaining intermediate stage. I shouldn't cut a little more before bulk?

You're already extremely lean. The reason why you don't have abs is because you never trained them as hard as other muscle groups so they aren't defined. You are definitely at around 10% body fat right now, if you lean bulk properly, you could do it for 2 years without having to cut. The only people who should constantly switch between bulking and cutting are steroid users, because they can benefit from a massive caloric surplus, but for naturals, muscle gain is capped at 2 lbs per month for novices, and 1 lb per month for intermediates, and 0.5 lbs per month for advanced lifters.

 

[Deleted member 15748]

You're already extremely lean. The reason why you don't have abs is because you never trained them as hard as other muscle groups so they aren't defined. You are definitely at around 10% body fat right now, if you lean bulk properly, you could do it for 2 years without having to cut. The only people who should constantly switch between bulking and cutting are steroid users, because they can benefit from a massive caloric surplus, but for naturals, muscle gain is capped at 2 lbs per month for novices, and 1 lb per month for intermediates, and 0.5 lbs per month for advanced lifters.

trust me bulking is music to my ears, cutting is pure pain. It is just I really didn't think I was that lean. Was thinking 15% min lol. I will do what +300 kcal ? Also, not sure about growing my core too much, I already have genetically wide hips, so was going to focus more on shoulders and arms. Abs are not that important for me as long as I look lean. My ab insertions aren't the best anyway. where I am stronger is chest

 

[randomuser2407]

trust me bulking is music to my ears, cutting is pure pain. It is just I really didn't think I was that lean. Was thinking 15% min lol. I will do what +300 kcal ? Also, not sure about growing my core too much, I already have genetically wide hips, so was going to focus more on shoulders and arms. Abs are not that important for me as long as I look lean. My ab insertions aren't the best anyway. where I am stronger is chest

Do hanging leg raises (with bodyweight or holding a dumbbell with your feet) and weighted crunches (with cable machine or bands).

Do them at the end of your workouts and you will build thick abs that will be visible even at 15-20% body fat. It won't make your waist thicker, it will just make your abs more visible. Most guys neglect this. Calisthenics guys overdo it.

Also, if you want to maximize muscle growth, you need to focus on every single muscle group, so (in no specific order):

Chest
Shoulders
Lats
Upper Back
Traps
Lower Back
Quads
Hamstrings
Glutes
Forearms
Triceps
Biceps
Neck


I have managed to grow all those muscles simply by focusing on compound movements.

This is my 4 days per week program:

Upper:

Overhead Press 5x6-10
Yates Rows 5x6-10
Paused Bench Press 5x6-10
Pull Ups 5x6-10


Lower:

Squats 4x6-10
Conventional Deadlifts 3x6-10


As a novice lifter, this is enough volume for me, but if you are at a higher level of strength you may need to do more.
The optimal number of sets per week is 10-20 sets. In my case, I do 10 sets of each muscle group in the upper body, 8 sets for quads, and 6 sets per week for lower back, hamstrings and glutes, which I found is more than enough for me.


The reason why I dedicate an entire day to legs and do just 2 exercises is because I found that it makes my lower body grow very fast and the lower body is essential to maximize muscular potential because it is at least half of the body, and in my case, it is more than half because I have long limbs and a short torso, so it cannot be neglected.

 

[indiedude1]

You can only gain 2 lbs of muscle per month.

If you train hard properly, you will gain 2 lbs of muscle per month if you bulk at a rate of 0.5 lbs of weight gain per week.

You cannot gain muscle while losing fat or gain muscle while maintaining your weight unless you are obese and a complete beginner.

So, if you don't bulk, have fun wasting years of your life getting no results in the gym. If the weight on the bar isn't increasing or the number of reps isn't increasing, you're literally wasting your time in the gym.

If you use linear progression past the intermediate stage, you will not gain muscle past that point and you will struggle to make any progress.

If you follow my advice, you will fully gymmax in a matter of only 2-3 years maximum, and from that point on, you won't be able to gain much muscle mass.

If you do it the wrong way, it could take you over 20 years to reach that same level.

So much of your advice is wrong. LMFAO

 

[aga04]

I have managed to grow all those muscles simply by focusing on compound movements.

Lower:

Squats 4x6-10
Conventional Deadlifts 3x6-10


As a novice lifter, this is enough volume for me, but if you are at a higher level of strength you may need to do more.
The optimal number of sets per week is 10-20 sets. In my case, I do 10 sets of each muscle group in the upper body, 8 sets for quads, and 6 sets per week for lower back, hamstrings and glutes, which I found is more than enough for me.

For how long have you been lifting? My routine is similar to yours, but I change between strength and hypertrophy days and that skyrocketed my strength and size.

 

[randomuser2407]

For how long have you been lifting? My routine is similar to yours, but I change between strength and hypertrophy days and that skyrocketed my strength and size.

I recently changed my routine to this:

Workout A

Squat 3×4-6
Paused Bench 5×4-6
Yates Row 5×4-6
Overhead Barbell Extension 3×6-10
Barbell/Dumbbell Preacher Curl 3×6-10
Romanian Deadlift 2-3×6-10


Workout B

Squat 3×4-6
Paused Overhead Press 5×4-6
Conventional Deadlift 3×4-6
Close-Grip Bench Press 3×6-8
Pull Ups 3×AMRAP


It is a novice program which speeds up the process of going from novice to intermediate.

When I will be intermediate, I will switch to something like 5/3/1, Conjugate (Westside Book of methods) or Madcow's 5x5.
Those programs are not needed when linear progression is still doable as a novice lifter.

I started lifting in 2016 but I was only extremely consistent since late January 2022 because I have a home gym now with all the equipment that I need to do all the compound movements and because I stopped taking my ADHD medication so it is much easier for me to eat enough and sleep enough now, no matter how early I have to wake up in the morning.

 

[Deleted member 14077]

Age?

 

[randomuser2407]

Also, I forgot to mention that my program is 3 times per week and I alternate between Workout A and Workout B.

I train the whole body except for the shoulders, which are only trained once per week, which is more than enough since the overhead press is very slow to improve on anyways.

Many guys would severely neglect the lower body to favour the upper body but in my case, I need a strong lower body because my very long leg length makes them appear to be smaller than they really are.

 

[randomuser2407]

So much of your advice is wrong. LMFAO

WTF are you talking about?

People who believe in time under tension bullshit are just stupid Ryan Humiston fanboys.

 

[indiedude1]

WTF are you talking about?

People who believe in time under tension bullshit are just stupid Ryan Humiston fanboys.

Sorry I wasn’t referring to TuT. You state a lot of things as objective fact. For example, gaining .5Ib/week which adds up to 2Lb a month is not 2Lb of muscle. For every pound gained there is an increase in Muscle, fat, water, etc… 2Lb/month is not a hard cap either. Also, you can 100% gain muscle on maintenance and even a caloric deficit over long periods of time. It is not nearly as efficient, however.

 

[randomuser2407]

WTF are you talking about?

Sorry I wasn’t referring to TuT. You state a lot of things as objective fact. For example, gaining .5Ib/week which adds up to 2Lb a month is not 2Lb of muscle. For every pound gained there is an increase in Muscle, fat, water, etc… 2Lb/month is not a hard cap either. Also, you can 100% gain muscle on maintenance and even a caloric deficit over long periods of time. It is not nearly as efficient, however.

My point is that gaining strength leads to muscle growth. Without strength gain, there is no muscle growth. You cannot get big without getting strong and you cannot get strong without getting big, unless you use steroids.

Of course it is not an exact 2 lbs of muscle per month, it is a bit less.

Also, like I said recomp can work if you are obese or a complete beginner but it will not work for a skinny fat novice who isn't a complete beginner, unless he is obese or has good genetics for body composition. In my case, even when I was fatter, I couldn't lose weight and gain muscle because my lifts didn't go up at all. Now my weight goes up but my waist does not get any bigger, this is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[aga04]

It is a novice program which speeds up the process of going from novice to intermediate.

It depends on what you think is a novice and intermediate but those are 2 solid routines, good volume of presses and pulls, I would remove maybe sets and add them to legs because they are huge muscle group and can produce masive amounts of T; but still if anyone follows the routines, eats well and recovers well, they gonna become and absolute unit.

 

[randomuser2407]

It depends on what you think is a novice and intermediate but those are 2 solid routines, good volume of presses and pulls, I would remove maybe sets and add them to legs because they are huge muscle group and can produce masive amounts of T; but still if anyone follows the routines, eats well and recovers well, they gonna become and absolute unit.

I personally cannot do more than 3 sets of squats per workout because I my quads are completely tired after just 3 sets.

But yes, 5 sets could be done instead of 3 sets.

But for the deadlifts, it is best to keep it at 3 sets because it puts a lot of stress on the lower back.

Also, training legs doesn't make your body produce more testosterone, but it is important nonetheless because the lower body is at least half of your body so it is at least half of the gains. And it is also very important to have strong legs to pick things up or to lift and carry women. One of the main reasons why I want to be very strong and very muscular is so that when I will have a girlfriend, I will be able to carry her, and I will be strong enough to have sex while carrying her, most men can't achieve that position because they are too weak.

And also, big legs look great and nobody can tell you that you have chicken legs. Right now, my lower body is perfectly proportional to my upper body although I am not very muscular.

 

[indiedude1]

My point is that gaining strength leads to muscle growth. Without strength gain, there is no muscle growth. You cannot get big without getting strong and you cannot get strong without getting big, unless you use steroids.

Of course it is not an exact 2 lbs of muscle per month, it is a bit less.

Also, like I said recomp can work if you are obese or a complete beginner but it will not work for a skinny fat novice who isn't a complete beginner, unless he is obese or has good genetics for body composition. In my case, even when I was fatter, I couldn't lose weight and gain muscle because my lifts didn't go up at all. Now my weight goes up but my waist does not get any bigger, this is exactly what I was looking for.

I'm losing fat, cutting and gaining strength after 1 year lifting at my stats.

 

[randomuser2407]

I'm losing fat, cutting and gaining strength after 1 year lifting at my stats.

What matters most is not how long you have been lifting, but how much you can lift.

Because if you train hard the right way, you can reach a 135 lb overhead press, a 225 lb bench press, a 315 lb squat and a 405 lb deadlift in only 6-12 months.

But if you waste time "maingaining", you may never reach those numbers, even after 5 years of training.

 

[indiedude1]

What matters most is not how long you have been lifting, but how much you can lift.

Because if you train hard the right way, you can reach a 135 lb overhead press, a 225 lb bench press, a 315 lb squat and a 405 lb deadlift in only 6-12 months.

But if you waste time "maingaining", you may never reach those numbers, even after 5 years of training.

I've surpassed OHP, Bench and im at squat, and close to DL( I just started deadlifting a few months ago).

 

[randomuser2407]

I've surpassed OHP, Bench and im at squat, and close to DL( I just started deadlifting a few months ago).

What are your numbers?
And what does your physique look like?

 

[aga04]

Also, training legs doesn't make your body produce more testosterone, but it is important nonetheless because the lower body is at least half of your body so it is at least half of the gains.

Hmm I read somewhere it could help boost testosterone since it is such a large muscle group but still solid advice.

But for the deadlifts, it is best to keep it at 3 sets because it puts a lot of stress on the lower back.

Yeah man, also doing them with low reps along squat can fry the CNN if you dont deload periodically, I've been there lol; there should be a mega post about strength training with little things like this

 

[indiedude1]

What are your numbers?
And what does your physique look like?

Bro you commented on my thread. 1 year. 155Lb started at 140. Got up to 175 and cut to 155. Bench 225x8, OHP 175x1, squat 315x1, dl 350. My numbers are going up faster on this cut then they were on my bulk (I started 5/3/1 6 weeks ago)

 

[randomuser2407]

Hmm I read somewhere it could help boost testosterone since it is such a large muscle group but still solid advice.

Yeah man, also doing them with low reps along squat can fry the CNN if you dont deload periodically, I've been there lol; there should be a mega post about strength training with little things like this

First of all, CNN is Cable News Network, what you meant to say is the CNS (Central Nervous System).

Also, it isn't the amount of reps that matters but the total tonnage. Overtraining happens when there are too many sets or too many exercises in the program. My program doesn't have this problem. My program is basically a copy of the AlphaDestiny novice program but with a change in exercises for more conventional lifting for better results.

 

[randomuser2407]

Bro you commented on my thread. 1 year. 155Lb started at 140. Got up to 175 and cut to 155. Bench 225x8, OHP 175x1, squat 315x1, dl 350. My numbers are going up faster on this cut then they were on my bulk (I started 5/3/1 6 weeks ago)

That is around intermediate level.

5/3/1 makes sense if you stopped being able to progress with linear progression (which tends to happen at the intermediate level).

So you are on the right path, keep going.

As of right now, if you are lean you probably have a physique that looks like this:

In 1-2 years from now, you'll have a physique that looks like this:

 

[indiedude1]

That is around intermediate level.

5/3/1 makes sense if you stopped being able to progress with linear progression (which tends to happen at the intermediate level).

So you are on the right path, keep going.

As of right now, if you are lean you probably have a physique that looks like this:

View attachment 1623250View attachment 1623251

In 1-2 years from now, you'll have a physique that looks like this:

View attachment 1623252View attachment 1623253

That’s the goal bro!

 

[aga04]

CNN is Cable News Network, what you meant to say is the CNS (Central Nervous System)

Yep, exactly that lmao i dont know why I said CNN

Overtraining happens when there are too many sets or too many exercises in the program.

Yeah, and if you dont recover well enough between sessions you can overtrain aswell, but what I meant with frying the CNS is that deadlifting with really high RPE for many weeks and relative high frecuency (2-3 times a week personally), can potentially fry it, even if the rest is good enough, just mentioning it for any new lifter interested in strength.
Still, I think that heavy squats and deadlifts with high intensity should be done in any respectable strength routine, or even if you want to only gain muscle without thinking about the lifting experience of the person.

 

[randomuser2407]

Yep, exactly that lmao i dont know why I said CNN

Yeah, and if you dont recover well enough between sessions you can overtrain aswell, but what I meant with frying the CNS is that deadlifting with really high RPE for many weeks and relative high frecuency (2-3 times a week personally), can potentially fry it, even if the rest is good enough, just mentioning it for any new lifter interested in strength.
Still, I think that heavy squats and deadlifts with high intensity should be done in any respectable strength routine, or even if you want to only gain muscle without thinking about the lifting experience of the person.

I squat and deadlift 3 times per week but I do romanian deadlifts 1 out of 2 times, and conventional deadlifts 1 out of 2 times so I don't always pull from the floor.

If the CNS thing was really an issue, I wouldn't have been able to keep making progress on the deadlift. After less than 2 months, I am already at a 250 lb deadlift for 7 reps without straps and I keep being able to add 5 lbs per workout. Even my squat doesn't progress that fast. This is because, due to my leverages, I am built to deadlift, and also, to do barbell bent over rows, because I am great at pulls (except for pull ups) but bad at push exercises because of my long arms and short torso.

 

[6’1cel]

what you think ? I'm 6'2 barefoot, 190lbs

cut and, blast

 

[Deleted member 15748]

cut and, blast

no shot my hair and skin could not survive. it would be a looksmin to roid I rather maintain with my current nw and acne free skin