Cut,maintain or bulk ?

Cese28

Hi guys & gals,
Just a quick question to get the general point of view on where would be a good place to go from here,the end goal is to end up with a Ryan Gosling style bod from the Crazy Sexy Stupid film and honestly not sure if I should cut some more fat from my abs,maintain for a while or go into slowly increasing my cals for a slow bulk.clearly chest and shoulders need a lot of work which will need an excess,I'm currently doing stronglifts and am quiet an active fella
Cheers for the advice
http://

__freckles__

I think you look great as is. But if you wanna bulk a little more, go for it.

Dhemeyer

So first of all, it's apparent that you've put some hard work into yourself... good for you, that couldn't have been easy. If you're just looking for an opinion about overall appearance... bulk a bit

However, if you're wanting general advice about what strategy to take to reach your goals, here are spome thoughts from a person who a new-ish to "serious" weight lifting (I'm a runner at heart and in the past only lifted to improve my speed and endurance but who has recently turned lifter).

So, it depends on your goals. If your primary goal is to get leaner, cut all day. If your primary goal is to pack on mass, then bulk like there's no tomorrow. Some people can't mentally hack bulking because they tend to get a bit fluffy during their bulking phase. On the flip side, if you cut then bulk, you could run the risk of not making the gains you want or even getting a bit fluffy again during the bulking phase.

So I guess, I'd recommend going forward with bulking and then cut, especially since you're pretty lean already.

Like I said, I'm not an expert... if any YOTB's are reading this, maybe they can chime in or correct me if I'm wrong.

Best wishes

MagnumBurrito

Hi guys & gals,
Just a quick question to get the general point of view on where would be a good place to go from here,the end goal is to end up with a Ryan Gosling style bod from the Crazy Sexy Stupid film and honestly not sure if I should cut some more fat from my abs,maintain for a while or go into slowly increasing my cals for a slow bulk.clearly chest and shoulders need a lot of work which will need an excess,I'm currently doing stronglifts and am quiet an active fella
Cheers for the advice
http://

Gosling has more muscle. Bulk with Stronglifts, but make a couple additions to the routine.

Burnout every session with pull ups. 2 sets till failure with all 3 hand positions (if the pull up bar has them available). This will give your arms, lats and shoulders more size.

Do Incline Bench equally as much as flat bench. Sub out the barbell for dumbells sometimes too. They'll let you use your chest more than a barbell would. Once your upper chest gets built from a lot of incline bench, it's a game changer for your appearance.

cyberpump

Bulking is BS. Especially for the drug-free lifter. It was propagated back in the old says especially for the guys using drugs at the time. It does not take a huge amount of calories over your baseline to add muscle. Most just get FAT by eating too much (da bulk) and then have to go through hell to just strip off the fat gain (and end up at the same place muscle wise or worse!). Your bodyfat should not go above about 10%. And, most people underestimate their bodyfat levels by the way.

alpinehealth

Do a maintenance calorie intake but make sure you are getting 1 - 1.5 gms of protein per lb of bodyweight.

alereck

You're leaner and look better, his torso is shaped weird...

MagnumBurrito

You're leaner and look better, his torso is shaped weird...

OP does have a better frame and muscle shape. Gosling has small shoulders and wide hips for his body.