Cut or bulk help

jschaaf1999

I'm 18 around 5 foot 9 and I way 150.... I am the sort of skinny fat body type and I've been working out for a while now and I look relatively skinny with clothes on but I have kind of a gut but I would really like to build my arms aswell as try to lean out a little bit do any of you have any recommendations on weather I should slightly bulk or if I should cut thank you for your help

brendanwhite84

Given your age and that your hormones should be skewed in your favour, I'd probably be inclined to eat at a slight calorie deficit (maybe -0.5 lb per week) while engaging in strength / resistance training, and eating a high ratio of protein within the established deficit.

I guess that partially depends on how many pounds of fat you figure you want to lose. You might be able to estimate, I don't know. The alternative would be to eat at maintenance with high protein and do resistance training.

What I did when I was skinny-fat was to cut from about 166 to 148 (BMI 18.75, 7.5% body fat) with diet and some supplemental cardio, then I happened to take an interest in strength training and gaining weight after, and I've since been on a bulk up to currently 168 (goal 173) with significantly more muscle and continuing to maintain low body fat.

The strength programs I've used were/are Stronglifts 5x5 and Wendler 5/3/1 Boring But Big (on a six-week deload cycle). I discontinued SL5x5 because I found it squat-heavy and deadlift-light, and my body type means I vastly prefer deadlifts.

pmm3437

Your already around ideal weight, so you should not be trying to cut, you'll end up underweight.

What you do from here depends on your goal. Your options are a recomp, a lean bulk, or a standard bulk/cut cycle.

If I were in your position, I would do a standard bulk/cut cycle. It will get you the most results over the same time period ... as long as you can handle gaining weight ( muscle and fat ), before lowering your BF% to "clean up" your abs.