hey body composition gurus

jacksonpt

This is the first time I've ever known my body fat, never mind worried about body composition and I'm looking for some guidance.

I've always been into endurance/cardio activities (running,, biking, etc). During the summer I tend to get skinny fat, during the winter I just get soft. I've just come off a summer of triathaloning, so I'm fairly lean (at least by my standards)... I'd like to spend the winter working on my body composition.

Current: 169lbs, 13.3% body fat.
Goal: 165lbs, 10% body fat.

I'm 35yrs old and 5' 8", if it matters. I'm also a single dad, so I don't have a ton of time to spend at the gym every day. I have a decent home gym and can usually get in a pretty good workout after the kids are in bed.

To reach that goal I'd have to gain 2lbs of muscle and drop 4lbs of fat. Is that a realistic goal for this winter? Does it matter if I bulk or cut first? What else should I be thinking about? What else do I need to know?

slimkitty

Look up Tom Venuto and his many articles on building muscle and loosing fat. His book Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is really good, but you also might be able to get enough info from the tons of articles he has written.

adpollard001

Bulk up first; it's ten times easier to shred up with the added size than it is to carefully place on muscle if you get cut first.

jacksonpt

Look up Tom Venuto and his many articles on building muscle and loosing fat. His book Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is really good, but you also might be able to get enough info from the tons of articles he has written.

Thanks, I'll see what I can find.

Bulk up first; it's ten times easier to shred up with the added size than it is to carefully place on muscle if you get cut first.

Makes sense

jayb0ne

Totally acheivable.

I agree, bulk up first. Maintaining muscle while burning fat is easier than maintaining low bodyfat while adding muscle.

Make it as clean a bulk as you can anyway though, no reason to shovel junk food down just because you're gaining mass... Just make a surplus of good quality clean food. Protein especially.

You can expect a maximum of 1 to 2 lb per month muscle gain. Stripping fat is easy, just make a deficit and keep training hard in the 5-8 rep range to maintain your muscle.

Jay

jacksonpt

Thanks... definitely going to keep it reasonably clean. No sense making the cut longer/more work than it needs to be. The 1-2lbs of muscle per month is good to know, gives me a feel for what's reasonable in terms of progress and timeline.