57 Year old wanting to bulk

Packerjohn

Deacap wrote: »

Johnnyd Thats is a lot of cardio. good work. I am going to start wind sprints a couple days a week

Sprinting isn't something some just wants to start doing, especially a 57 year old desk jockey. High risk of injury. Nice article on how to work into sprinting:
https://ericcressey.com/so-you-want-to-start-sprinting

Deacap

AnvilHead
Yes definitly somehing you just do. Have to weigh the pros and cons. I discussed this with my primary Dr couple years ago and was told the T thing is overrated. It probably still wouldnt hurt to at least have it checked.

Deacap

Packerjohn
Yes For probably most people I would have to agree. I am not saying I would go full out at the beginning but I am still in realtively good shape. I was doing hill sprints last year 3 days a week for 45 minutes and I did reap some benfits. I also hiked 33 miles in the grand canyon 2 years ago in 2 days with out any training and it wasnt too bad. It was suppose to be a rim 2 rim but the some beers got in the way LOL.

ccsernica

AnvilHead wrote: »

Deacap wrote: »

GymTennis
Been thinking about have the ole T checked as well. Getting my calories down seem the be the answer. Thx

Don't forget one little thing: TRT isn't something you go on for a while and then go off of. Once you start TRT, you do it for life. Taking exogenous T suppresses endogenous T production, so if you ever quit TRT, your T levels will tank like they've never tanked before.

I think discussing it in any more depth than that is probably beyond the scope of MFP discussions. TRT is not illicit, but the rabbit hole isn't far from there.

Yes, I would hope you'd see an actual endocrinologist for this rather than some "men's clinic" that makes its money selling boner pills and T scripts. T levels are supposed to be decreasing at our age. If they're clinically low as indicated by standard reference ranges, fine. But don't rush into T therapy just because your levels are low for a 20 year old.

Deacap

ccsernica
LOL!

Packerjohn

GymTennis wrote: »

Maintenance calories. Or go see your doctor ask for some testosterone bud, no problem

You don't go to your doctor and ask for some T like you'd ask your mom for extra mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. As mentioned above if one is clinically deficient, it can be life changing. However, it's incredibly stupid to take as an alternative to modifying one's diet, exercising, etc.

Deacap

Packerjohn I agree with you. I dont even take an Aleve unless its obsolutely necessary.

fb47

Packerjohn wrote: »

GymTennis wrote: »

Maintenance calories. Or go see your doctor ask for some testosterone bud, no problem

You don't go to your doctor and ask for some T like you'd ask your mom for extra mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. As mentioned above if one is clinically deficient, it can be life changing. However, it's incredibly stupid to take as an alternative to modifying one's diet, exercising, etc.

I think you took his comment too literal.

Packerjohn

fb47 wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

GymTennis wrote: »

Maintenance calories. Or go see your doctor ask for some testosterone bud, no problem

You don't go to your doctor and ask for some T like you'd ask your mom for extra mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. As mentioned above if one is clinically deficient, it can be life changing. However, it's incredibly stupid to take as an alternative to modifying one's diet, exercising, etc.

I think you took his comment too literal.

I may have (and apologize if I did), but as someone else has mentioned, there are all kinds of borderline T-therapy "clinics" out there.

raindawg

I'll give you my experience as a fellow "old guy". I'm 51 and tried a bulk three years ago at 48. I was in good lifting shape and wanted to improve my body fat composition without going lower in weight. I ended up adding about a pound a week for 16 weeks and followed a progressive overload program. The bulk part was a blast. I loved eating those extra calories and loved getting monster strong week over week ( monster strong for me compared to where I was before the bulk).

My problem was I developed really bad tendonitis in my bicep and shoulder toward the end of the bulk. By the time I started the cut I was both burned out mentally and it was to painful to keep lifting effectively. I ended up taking six months off from exercising to let things heal and mentally re-charge. By the time I went back I was 25 pounds heavier than when I started the bulk and I'd say practilly none of that was muscle after six months of inactivity. I took it off slowly over the next year and worked myself back into shape. At least in my case my body wasn't equipped to handle a bulk at that age.

ricka1962

Sounds like you want to add muscle and loose fat at the same time. I think that's counter to "Bulking". If you're on a diet program stick to your diet but increase your calories. Not by a lot but by 150-300 per day. Also try some higher rep/shorter rest exercises. This will keep muscle growth, but keep your heart rate more elevated than if you just did 5 reps per. Also allows you to target specific parts of each muscle. Higher reps to failure will also stimulate muscle growth, especially if you slow down on the eccentric portion of the movement.

Good luck

ricka1962

Oh yeah, regarding your mid section, you may want to focus on ab work. It won't shed belly fat, but will tighten up the core and bring out some of the muscles there as well, that would make what you got more ascetically appealing. To make your waist look slimmer you can also increase your lat and shoulder size to give you a better taper.

I've also started doing Stomach Vaccuums as well. This is an old body building routine where you basically suck your gut in as hard as possible and hold it for as long as you can 10-20-30 seconds or more. It basically strengthens your inner ab muscles and makes the core tighter overall. Search for Stomach Vacuums on YouTube and you'll get tons of info on it. It's weird but works!

Deacap

Ricka
I will work on these suggestions

PowerliftingMom

sijomial wrote: »

It's not that your fat intake is too high - it's your calories that are too high.

As a fellow 57yo would agree with the above posters that bulking is a poor choice. At our age our ability to gain muscle has slowed to a crawl compared to our younger selves and the vast majority of a calorie surplus will end up as fat - unfortunately we still have the same ability to get fat as we did as a youngster!

If you priority was aesthetics I would say a very small calorie deficit but as you state your goal is to add muscle then eat at maintenance.

I turned 59 last month and have been bulking since October 2016 and gained a significant amount of muscle. You CAN add muscle if you diet correctly and keep the weight gain to no more than 1/2 lb./week. I'm a powerlifter and literally added 60 lbs. to my total in competition in only 3 months and over 100 lbs. in a year!

billkansas

The older you get the more conservative you need to be in bulking and in adding weight to the bar.... stating the obvious here. Maybe go for half pound per week to both .

Z_I_L_L_A

I'm 51, yes belly is the last to go. I can have striations everywhere and still have fat in the belly. I'm at 259 lbs, 6'3 with jean size 36. I was at 220 with a 6 pak, now with a 2 pak,lol. I'm probably 25% fat, I just don't see 75 lbs of belly. Workin my way back down after bulk, hoping to settle at 230-235.

Deacap

Thank you all for the feedback. Been maintaining right now at 189 so lets see what happens