Strengthening and bulking while doing cardio every day. (cycling 2 hours a day between home & work)

c1raldo

First off, I want to say hello! It's only my second time posting and my first time starting a thread!

I live 25km away from my office and I really enjoy commuting to/from home Mon-Fri by bicycle. Much better than relying on public transport or being miserable stuck in traffic and I really enjoy it (I know that’s twice I’ve said it, but I can’t stress how much cycling is a superior mode of commuting to work for all sorts of reasons!)

Anyhow I’m a guy that’s of slim build with perhaps a pot belly. I used to weigh 85kg but since I joined a gym around the corner from my office 2 months ago and started a strengthening program I devised, I now weigh 81kg without any other change to my lifestyle or diet. For what its worth, I’m 181cm tall.

I’m enjoying the strengthening program and coming out of the gym each time feeling tired but good! Despite the weight loss, whenever I look into the mirror, I don’t see any obvious changes to my physique. I don’t think I’d like to lose any more weight – instead I’d like to work towards getting muscle definition especially my upper body.

I’m guessing I have to revise my nutritional intake but the question is what do I do about the cycling? Can I continue to cycle as I do while continuing to undertake a strengthening programme and expect to achieve the desired result?

Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks in advance!

TavistockToad

so do you still have a noticeable amount of belly fat? if so a bulk wont help?

EmmaCaz4

Hey of course you can! Everyone is different, some people prefer to do less cardio and some people still do more. You can still bulk and gain muscle whilst retaining your cycling. What does your strength training consist of?

You'll need to work out your maintenance calories based on your stats and amount of exercise you do. If you want to gain more muscle then you'll need extra calories to ensure you are in a surplus plus a decent lifting programme. It won't all be lean muscle that you'll gain but your cardio should help to minimise the fat increase hope that helps!

However agree with post above; if you already have a high amount of body fat, you may want to cut first to lower that before deciding to bulk and gain muscle.

piperdown44

c1raldo wrote: »

First off, I want to say hello! It's only my second time posting and my first time starting a thread!

started a strengthening program I devised,

whenever I look into the mirror, I don’t see any obvious changes to my physique.

The above jumps out at me. Get on a structured lifting program. Take a look at this thread http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Then take a look at this thread http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

I'd keep up the cycling since you enjoy it. Find out what your maintenance calories are. Get on a good structured lifting program and assess after 6 months (take pics since it's sometimes hard to tell without something to look back on).

c1raldo

Thanks for the replies guys

With regards to belly fat, I suppose I could do with shifting a bit more- perhaps 1/2kg.

I have now recalculated my weight goals and my fitnesspal has automatically recalculated my maintenance calories. (It does allow me to "buy" extra calories for cardio exercises but not for strengthening exercises though? Any tips on that?)

My gym training so far consists of barbell squats, bench press, overhead press, dumbell flyes, incline row, bench dips, planking, lunges, barbell curls with a few other exercises thrown in the mix.

I'll take both your comments on board and will place more on an emphasis on shifting the belly fat.

Thanks guys.

EmmaCaz4

How many days do you go to the gym? Do you split these in any particular way or just do them all each time or a select few?

As for "buying" more calories for strength exercises, in the cardio section there is a strength training option and it gives you an estimate or calories burnt for the length of time you have trained.