Tracking lean bulk - scale or lift progression

pdmatthews

Hi

I’m interested to know how you track on a lean bulk please ?

I’ve got to a body fat level I’m happy with and have also been training consistently over last 10 years or so.

As such I think gaining even 0.5-1% of my body weight per month is pushing it.

At those marginal gains (and I appreciate mirror is a good guide) do you track scale weight or lift progress?

Thanks.

jdog022

Both - I track the big 4 lifts for progression and scale weight daily using ten day moving average

sardelsa

I track everything. Scale, lifts, mirror, photos, measurements, how clothes fit

pdmatthews

Thank you. I figure I’ll go with a combination - increase in scale but no strength increase is probably a red flag if sustained over time.

Thanks again

Chieflrg

I rarely track calories, but at times I will(maybe two months a year).

I keep an eye on body weight trends for purpose of my weight class(es).

I track...
1. Progression or regression of my accumulated volume.
2. Trends of my lifts.
3. My recovery and stress level.
4. My cronic workload.
5. Protein intake.

I'm not really concerned about lean bulking, because I'm pretty much near my top potential for musculature mass for my age as a unenhanced lifter. I'm basically more concerned about progress on lifts as well as retaining my muscle as I get older.

pdmatthews

Agreed Chieflrg. I don’t foresee huge “gainz” these days but I want to eek out as much as I have.

I like the idea of watching volume. I take it that’s weight x sets x reps ? Do you look at that per exercise or across workout as a whole ? Do you stick to a routine for a while to get a good view?

I have been doing push pull legs push pull legs rest with low volume as I’ve dropped bodyfat very successfully (well I think so !). I’m looking at push pull legs rest push pull legs rest with a small volume increase as I walk calories back up. I’ll monitor for a few months and see where that takes me.

Thank you.

Chieflrg

pdmatthews wrote: »

Agreed Chieflrg. I don’t foresee huge “gainz” these days but I want to eek out as much as I have.

I like the idea of watching volume. I take it that’s weight x sets x reps ? Do you look at that per exercise or across workout as a whole ? Do you stick to a routine for a while to get a good view?

I have been doing push pull legs push pull legs rest with low volume as I’ve dropped bodyfat very successfully (well I think so !). I’m looking at push pull legs rest push pull legs rest with a small volume increase as I walk calories back up. I’ll monitor for a few months and see where that takes me.

Thank you.

I have my daily tonnage(weight × set × rep) tracked via graph, but if my load is dosed correctly it's not going to give much useful data other than if I'm tapering for a meet perhaps.

My volume(set × rep) graph is a tad more useful for short term as it reflects a bit more detail of how I'm overloading my progression and where my focus is.
Which should translate to lift(s) going up after the developmental portion of my training blocks ideally.

pdmatthews

I’ll definitely look at that as well. Thanks.