How do you know when it's time for first bulk?
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galgenstrick wrote: »galgenstrick wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »galgenstrick wrote: »galgenstrick wrote: »galgenstrick wrote: »Squat: 100
Bench: 120
Row: 95
OH press: 60
Deadlift: 175
Based on his lift totals he's a novice and definitely in a newbie catergory. We may have different definitions of "newbie" gains. He's got a lot of strength gains to be had even at maintenance calories.....
No way could those be the extent of his newb gains. Plenty more in the tank I'm sure
Are newbie gains determined by how long you've been training properly whether in a deficit or a surplus? or are they determined by how far away you are from your genetic potential?
can anyone comment on this?^^^
I think it's the point you can no longer progress session to session (after whatever reset strategy your program uses) and you're ready for more intermediate type programming.
It's not cut and dried.
There's probably no scientific formula for it.
One day your LP routine finds you hitting your head against a brick wall. And it's time to move on.
That exact point is probably a mixture of the lifters starting age, prior training (if any), genetics, etc. Probably how quickly some people learn skills (i.e how quickly they learn complex motor patterns) plays into it.
Wait, are you referring to newbie strength gains or newbie mass gains? I've always assumed it referred to mass gains, which will stop LONG before strength gains, whether cutting or recomping.
Strength gains as well. This is when you cannot make linear progression on the lifts anymore - 5 lbs per session, 5 lbs per week etc. You would begin to tweak certain variables, would introduce periodization, etc.
But what if you start lifting on a cut, and don't make much in the way of size and strength gains while dropping weight over several months of lifting? Will you start making those gains once a bulk starts?
From what I have seen and from personal experience with a reasonable deficit and proper training you should still be seeing a considerable amount of progress in strength as a beginner. Faster progress than pretty much any other time period.
This was my experience. I made linear gains for a long time while cutting. I hit a wall a few times, and when I could no longer progress, I switched to an intermediate program. Around the same time, I increased my calories as well. It was supposed to be a slight deficit (as opposed to my 1-2lbs per week previously), but it ended up being more around maintenance. Switching programs and increasing my intake has led to further progression.
@galgenstrick , are you not seeing any linear gains while cutting? I'm not sure if that's what you're implying, but that was how I read it. If you did not experience pretty good linear gains when first starting lifting, then it would seem maybe you started too heavy. You may benefit from a good deload and then working your way back up to see if you can break through the strength plateau.
Or maybe I completely misread your question.
I'm still progressing. I added weights to OH press and deadlift today. I'm not seeing a lot of progression in squats, but that's the one I have the hardest time getting the form right and my hip mobility sucks. I just bought some fractional plates to help with the progression because 5lbs increases is too difficult. I'm guessing that's because I'm cutting still.
I'm increasing calories as well per everyone's suggestion and that seems to be helping, although it's hard to tell this early.
I went through several deload cycles with my squats, but that's where I solidly hit a wall with my linear progression (I kind of ignore OHP on that because it's everyone's weakest lift). Not long after I kept failing at deadlifts as well, and that's when I decided to switch programs. I'm now doing Wendler's 5/3/1, and you only increase weight once per month. While it's slower, I feel like I'm actually progressing, which makes me happy.0 -
Quick update on this thread. I followed the advice @ndj1979 gave me and increased my calories to lose 1 pound per week instead of 1.5. I ended up losing 5 pounds this month which I think is because I reverse dieted the first two weeks instead of increasing them all at once.
Scale: 13.5% BF
Calipers: 11% BF
Still not really sure where I'm at lol.
First pic here is unflexed. Second pic I flexed my abs and chest.
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Great job! Your skin will tighten up around your stomach over time. If you're not mentally ready to bulk, I understand. I would recommend upping calories til you stop losing, maintain, possibly recomp a bit and still get leaner but definitely do a slow bulk this winter. Again, great work. Congrats!0
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galgenstrick wrote: »Quick update on this thread. I followed the advice @ndj1979 gave me and increased my calories to lose 1 pound per week instead of 1.5. I ended up losing 5 pounds this month which I think is because I reverse dieted the first two weeks instead of increasing them all at once.
Scale: 13.5% BF
Calipers: 11% BF
Still not really sure where I'm at lol.
First pic here is unflexed. Second pic I flexed my abs and chest.
OP - it looks like you have leaned out some more from your original picture.
So over four weeks you lost about 1.25 pounds instead of a pound per week?
I would say go ahead and add in 100 calories a day and see if that levels you off. At the end of the dy it really comes down to trial and error to pin these things down.
OR
if you are happy with where you are now then go for .5 pound a week loss until end of summer, and then run the bulk we discussed..
OR
if you are really happy go to maintenance for next few moths, then transition to bulk...
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Correct. About 1.25 pounds per week. These last two weeks I've been at a pound / week, I think it was just the first two while I was reverse dieting that the weight loss was still closer to 1.5.
I'm guessing I'm at about 12% body fat, but could be wrong (was hoping some of you guys could guess). 12% was my goal, then reverse diet, maintain for a month or two to nail down my maintenance, then do a 400 calorie surplus to bulk. For this summer, I don't really care about how I look because I'm not going to have the muscle definition I want. So bulk is my #1 priority, I just want to make sure I'm low enough body fat so I can bulk for a good 6 months without going much over 15% body fat by the end.0 -
Great job galgen! In my opinion you are definitely around the 12% mark. As you continue to add LBM 12% BF will continue to look different as well. Like Nick said you have several options. If I were in your shoes and knowing I wanted to stay around 15% BF, I would reverse to maintenance and stay there until around September and then start bulking.... Again, great work!!!!0
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@_benjammin Thanks! Yeah, I agree, my lower belly definitely has some fat on it still, but the skin is a little loose too. Not too bad that I'm worrying about it!
@jmule24 Awesome. Sounds good. If I reversed and did a recomp until September, do you think I could hit 10%? or would the fat loss be negligible?0 -
I'm also curious about what @MrM27 thinks as far as BF% because he was thinking I was at 16% last month, but was hard to tell for sure from the pics.0
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@galgenstrick , what is your current body weight? You LBM potential is still very high, so doing a recomp until September you will more than likely add to your LBM while staying roughly the same total body weight. That will then drive down your BF %
In my opinion, I wouldn't get so hung up on where your BF% is exactly. If I had your body composition as is, I would be reversing today and getting to a bulk as soon as I could. That's just my own opinion.
Gaining in a controlled manner is much harder than I thought it would be. I'm starting my 6th week of my bulk and things are going very well. I'm hitting my numbers as expected and yet I don't feel noticeably like I'm ballooning up.
Not sure if you've checked out my post "First true "Bulk" - Progress Report." It might be helpful to you to see how I fair from it. I'm bulking at a higher BF% but I'm using three different methods of tracking to keep me in check for knowing how much my BF% has changed.
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galgenstrick wrote: »I'm also curious about what @MrM27 thinks as far as BF% because he was thinking I was at 16% last month, but was hard to tell for sure from the pics.
He got banned from the forums......you will have to private message him.....
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@jmule24
I'm 6'0" at a measly 155 right now.galgenstrick wrote: »I'm also curious about what @MrM27 thinks as far as BF% because he was thinking I was at 16% last month, but was hard to tell for sure from the pics.
He got banned from the forums......you will have to private message him.....
That's very unfortunate. He was one of the most helpful and active people on the forums.....
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asflatasapancake wrote: »You're a low enough BF% that you have a lot of options. Recomp until winter then bulk, start a bulk immediately then cut, recomp indefinitely. It seems a lot of people match heir bulk/cut cycles with winter/summer seasons. Being somewhat new to the concepts, I decided to bulk because I wanted to get stronger and build more muscle. I've gained a little under 1 pound per week into my 9th week. I have only been estimating my BF% but I don't seem to be gaining too much chub(yet). When I feel I've gained what I want, I'll cut. Right now I'm 200lbs. I'm thinking between 205-210ish, depending on how I look and feel. I also have a thread called First Time Bulk if you're interested.
Thanks I'll check out your thread now.0
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