got lean AND strong

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evilokc
evilokc Posts: 260 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
i had a really good summer lean out. i left and looked great. i worked hard and felt pretty accomplished. i benched a personal record too. its getting colder now and that makes me want to go into power lifting mode. however im not sure i want that this year. im not sure where to go physicaly. im hessitant to allow my body to get unlean. im going to take a break from the weights completely in november. i will do 2 or 3 cardio sessions a week but no weights. to power lift and bulk or not to power lift and bulk? its a conundrum.

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  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited October 2018
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    evilokc wrote: »
    i had a really good summer lean out. i left and looked great. i worked hard and felt pretty accomplished. i benched a personal record too. its getting colder now and that makes me want to go into power lifting mode. however im not sure i want that this year. im not sure where to go physicaly. im hessitant to allow my body to get unlean. im going to take a break from the weights completely in november. i will do 2 or 3 cardio sessions a week but no weights. to power lift and bulk or not to power lift and bulk? its a conundrum.

    if you are going to bulk you want to lift to build muscle. if you are bulking and not lifting you are going to end up with a high ratio of fat gain and very little muscle gains. cardio is not going to give you much mass,unless you need to gain weight for some reason?
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2018
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    Why not just train and maintain body weight?

  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Why not just train and maintain body weight?

    he says hes thinking about bulking but doesnt want to lift in november. I think thats a recipe for disaster.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2018
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    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Why not just train and maintain body weight?

    he says hes thinking about bulking but doesnt want to lift in november. I think thats a recipe for disaster.

    Hence my point. At the very least train and prevent atrophy as well as build the base of strength with good programming.

    I concur it's not ideal in any way.

    If one wants to powerlift, one doesn't have to gain a ounce for quite some time if strength is the goal.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    Chieflrg wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Why not just train and maintain body weight?

    he says hes thinking about bulking but doesnt want to lift in november. I think thats a recipe for disaster.

    Hence my point. At the very least train and prevent atrophy as well as build the base of strength with good programming.

    I concur it's not ideal in any way.

    If one wants to powerlift, one doesn't have to gain a ounce for quite some time if strength is the goal.

    I agree with the power lifting part and not gaining. but he said to powerlift and bulk or not powerlift and bulk. I think it would be better if one is doing a bulk to be lifting. as most of the bulk is going to be fat right if not lifting?
  • evilokc
    evilokc Posts: 260 Member
    edited October 2018
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    the reason for not lifting in November is just to let my muscles rest. I would still do some cardio and keep my diet up. I don't expect much atrophy if im still moving. I guess im just not sure what im going to do yet and I usually have a direction. worse case I will train to maintain.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    evilokc wrote: »
    the reason for not lifting in November is just to let my muscles rest. I would still do some cardio and keep my diet up. I don't expect much atrophy if im still moving. I guess im just not sure what im going to do yet and I usually have a direction. worse case I will train to maintain.

    your muscles dont need a month off though and if you dont use it you will lose some. I took a month or so off and I could see the difference in my arms especially even though I was still active. I would still lift,it doesnt have to be powerlifting it could just be doing regular lifting,at least 3 days a week,..I dont know if cardio will prevent that muscle loss or not. one of the more seasoned vets here could tell you that much.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Why not just train and maintain body weight?

    he says hes thinking about bulking but doesnt want to lift in november. I think thats a recipe for disaster.

    Hence my point. At the very least train and prevent atrophy as well as build the base of strength with good programming.

    I concur it's not ideal in any way.

    If one wants to powerlift, one doesn't have to gain a ounce for quite some time if strength is the goal.

    I agree with the power lifting part and not gaining. but he said to powerlift and bulk or not powerlift and bulk. I think it would be better if one is doing a bulk to be lifting. as most of the bulk is going to be fat right if not lifting?

    Yes, unless he/she isn't getting stimulas from another activity such a physically heavy job that added enough stimulas.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    evilokc wrote: »
    the reason for not lifting in November is just to let my muscles rest. I would still do some cardio and keep my diet up. I don't expect much atrophy if im still moving. I guess im just not sure what im going to do yet and I usually have a direction. worse case I will train to maintain.

    If you stop lifting and fall into a caloric deficit it is a recipe for atrophy no doubt. You would also lose alot of strength really quick.

    Muscles need at least the same stimulas to prevent loss of strength and mass and four weeks is a long time to step backwards. Give it whirl, and you'll see.

    There are some types of cardio such as sled push that would help decrease the losses, but why do you feel your muscles need a rest?

  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    Chieflrg wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Why not just train and maintain body weight?

    he says hes thinking about bulking but doesnt want to lift in november. I think thats a recipe for disaster.

    Hence my point. At the very least train and prevent atrophy as well as build the base of strength with good programming.

    I concur it's not ideal in any way.

    If one wants to powerlift, one doesn't have to gain a ounce for quite some time if strength is the goal.

    I agree with the power lifting part and not gaining. but he said to powerlift and bulk or not powerlift and bulk. I think it would be better if one is doing a bulk to be lifting. as most of the bulk is going to be fat right if not lifting?

    Yes, unless he/she isn't getting stimulas from another activity such a physically heavy job that added enough stimulas.

    thanks for clearing it up for me. I thought that was the case but wanted to be sure.
  • jdog022
    jdog022 Posts: 693 Member
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    7-10 days tops especially if you have some nagging injuries. But as others have mentioned a month would be a poor choice
  • competeagain2x
    competeagain2x Posts: 149 Member
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    Take a year off

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