is this typical?
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neandermagnon
Posts: 7,436 Member
I'm currently doing stonglifts 5x5 with a primary goal to get really, really strong. This is the first time I've done a proper strength training programme with a primary goal to gain strength, before that I had a few months of bodybuilding style lifting with no real goal sometimes cutting sometimes not tracking and not being systematic about increasing weights, I made some strength gains with that but mostly didn't make that much progress. Before that I was weight training while losing fat (I was obese) but made little progress in terms of strength due to using too light weights and eating at a deficit. So it's the first time I'm training systematically for strength gains, so I don't know if I could expect noob gains or not.
I'm not tracking my food currently, just going by appetite. I'm expecting to gain weight, preferably lean mass without too much fat, but I'm realistic and expecting some fat gains as well, because that's human physiology.
For 5 weeks I gained a grand total of *ONE* pound.... (albeit that I had a nasty stomach bug and lost and regained 6lb of water/glycogen weight due to that in the course of one of those weeks - also I missed some training due to this and repeated week 3 of stronglifts to get back on track after being ill)
This week I've all of a sudden gained 5lb. I'm not freaking out or anything, just rather surprised and wondering what's caused it. It would be great if it's all muscle, but I'm being realistic so lol probably not!! I haven't done anything much different aside from a) I'm just starting to reach a point where squats and deadlifts are starting to get *really* hard. I stalled on squats once last week, but made 5x5 at that weight the next workout. I haven't yet stalled on deadlifts but they're so difficult right now it's going to happen sooner rather than later. also b) I ate more carbs than usual last week, i.e. more starchy carbs. This week I'm trying to eat more fruit and less starchy carbs. also c) TOM this week but i don't usually gain weight with it. At least not 5 entire lbs of it. Maybe some of the weight is from that but not all 5lb.
Another thing, I have gained an inch round my waist and my trousers feel a bit tighter, but my skinfold/accumeasure reading hasn't changed much or at all, it's maybe gone up a millimetre if that. But the muscles around my waist seem to have got thicker, i.e. the extra inch doesn't seem to have come from subcutaneous fat. this is where I'm worried about gaining visceral fat. I haven't been doing cardio. Would doing cardio protect against visceral fat gains? (I read about some study involving sumo wrestlers saying although they had a lot of subcutaneous fat they had very little visceral fat due to doing exercise, although I don't recall what kind of exercise they did, whether it was strength or cardio). Other inch measurements are the same as before. I also feel that my biceps and deltoids are bigger than before, and I have more of a "squat booty" and less hip fat (inch measurements are the same as before) and my quadriceps, and especially the muscle on the outside of the thigh (the one that keeps your knees out as you squat) have toned up nicely.
So I'm seeing some positive changes, but in addition I'm concerned about gaining visceral fat - family history of heart disease plus I have an anxiety disorder (albeit under control) and that increases the risk of heart disease, so I really don't want any visceral fat at all. I'm less fussed about subcutaneous fat, and i plan to do a cut at some point to get my body fat percentage back down to around 22% (not intending to go lower than that). Also what's the likelyhood that I've actually managed to gain some lean mass? And would doing some cardio help with preventing visceral fat?
I'm not tracking my food currently, just going by appetite. I'm expecting to gain weight, preferably lean mass without too much fat, but I'm realistic and expecting some fat gains as well, because that's human physiology.
For 5 weeks I gained a grand total of *ONE* pound.... (albeit that I had a nasty stomach bug and lost and regained 6lb of water/glycogen weight due to that in the course of one of those weeks - also I missed some training due to this and repeated week 3 of stronglifts to get back on track after being ill)
This week I've all of a sudden gained 5lb. I'm not freaking out or anything, just rather surprised and wondering what's caused it. It would be great if it's all muscle, but I'm being realistic so lol probably not!! I haven't done anything much different aside from a) I'm just starting to reach a point where squats and deadlifts are starting to get *really* hard. I stalled on squats once last week, but made 5x5 at that weight the next workout. I haven't yet stalled on deadlifts but they're so difficult right now it's going to happen sooner rather than later. also b) I ate more carbs than usual last week, i.e. more starchy carbs. This week I'm trying to eat more fruit and less starchy carbs. also c) TOM this week but i don't usually gain weight with it. At least not 5 entire lbs of it. Maybe some of the weight is from that but not all 5lb.
Another thing, I have gained an inch round my waist and my trousers feel a bit tighter, but my skinfold/accumeasure reading hasn't changed much or at all, it's maybe gone up a millimetre if that. But the muscles around my waist seem to have got thicker, i.e. the extra inch doesn't seem to have come from subcutaneous fat. this is where I'm worried about gaining visceral fat. I haven't been doing cardio. Would doing cardio protect against visceral fat gains? (I read about some study involving sumo wrestlers saying although they had a lot of subcutaneous fat they had very little visceral fat due to doing exercise, although I don't recall what kind of exercise they did, whether it was strength or cardio). Other inch measurements are the same as before. I also feel that my biceps and deltoids are bigger than before, and I have more of a "squat booty" and less hip fat (inch measurements are the same as before) and my quadriceps, and especially the muscle on the outside of the thigh (the one that keeps your knees out as you squat) have toned up nicely.
So I'm seeing some positive changes, but in addition I'm concerned about gaining visceral fat - family history of heart disease plus I have an anxiety disorder (albeit under control) and that increases the risk of heart disease, so I really don't want any visceral fat at all. I'm less fussed about subcutaneous fat, and i plan to do a cut at some point to get my body fat percentage back down to around 22% (not intending to go lower than that). Also what's the likelyhood that I've actually managed to gain some lean mass? And would doing some cardio help with preventing visceral fat?
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Tagging0
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update: lost nearly 4lb overnight... so looks like most of that was all water weight after all, not sure what caused it but never mind (I wasn't eating high sodium foods and don't usually gain that much from TOM)!!
Waist and skinfold etc is still the same, which compared to when I started stronglifts = 2lb+ gain in 6 weeks. I'm still concerned that the gain may be visceral fat as my waist seems to have got thicker (either the muscles themselves or anything that's under them), rather than gaining subcutaneous fat (skinfold measure same as at the start).0 -
Squats have been known to thicken the waist.0
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if that's what it is, then I'm happy with that. I just really want to find some way of ruling out the possibility that the increase is due to visceral fat.0
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If you have not gained 'real' (i,e, non water) weight there is no reason that you would be gaining visceral fat. As Rock mentioned, squats can thicken the waist a bit in any event.0
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Thanks
that's reassuring. 0 -
Locking the thread now so we can keep track of active threads. Feel free to PM myself or SideSteel is you want to comment further, with a link to this thread, and we will unlock so you can do so.0
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