Body proportions and genetics
filbo132
Posts: 956 Member
I have been cutting for 9 weeks now, I dropped my fat from 17% to 13% body fat, but as I am getting leaner, I noticed one thing is how disproportionate my body is. I have lost most of my fat in the upper body area (especially on the belly), but my legs have still a lot of fat. Now I know that I can't spot reduce, it is what it is. My question remains that once I hit my goal of 10% bf, should my muscle building phase program (aka Bulking) consist of focusing more on the upper body, so that I can at least increase the upper body to the point where it looks closely proportionate to my legs once I have build those muscles??? For example, right now I am doing Upper Body/Lower Body split, I alternate between the two. When it's time to bulk, my strategy would be to do upper body twice a week and the lower once. Basically it would keep my leg size and strength on maintenance for awhile and push my upper body to grow more muscles. Would that be a good strategy or does anyone else have a better solution.
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Replies
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What is your main goal?
How long have you lifted under what program(s)?0 -
Question: When was your last blood panel? How was your Free testosterone and estrogen?
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Pics or it didn't happen.0
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you have to get down to pretty low BF to see muscle definition in legs (in some people). Legs of people who were overweight are almost always stronger than upper body since they carried all the extra weight around for so long. I think it is fine to bias training to upper body but don't ignore legs. Just do an extra upper body session each week if desired.0
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I am not overweight and never have been, it's just that I carry more fat on my legs. I wasn't really going to ignore legs, I was just going to augment my upper body workouts frequency and keep my legs workout to once a week.you have to get down to pretty low BF to see muscle definition in legs (in some people). Legs of people who were overweight are almost always stronger than upper body since they carried all the extra weight around for so long. I think it is fine to bias training to upper body but don't ignore legs. Just do an extra upper body session each week if desired.
Basically It would be :
Week 1:
Monday: Upper Body workout
Wednesday: Lower Body Workout
Friday: Upper Body workout
Week 2:
Monday Upper Body Workout
Wednesday: Lower Body Workout
friday: Upper Body workout
...rinse and repeat...
as you can see, I would double my frequency for upper body and keep my lower body exercices to once a week. Hoping this would help.
I don't get why you would train the upper body more in response to the legs having more fat.
For what it's worth I'm in the same scenario. Just as an example, I was DEXA scanned at 192lbs at 19.7% body-fat. The profile photo, which IS flexed and angled and in good lighting, is at BW of 185 and like 3 weeks later. And so just based on math it would be around 15-16%. I mention this strictly for perspective at how my upper body is WAY leaner than my lower.
I squat 3 out of 4 days per week and that's not going to change based on body fat distribution.0 -
Once you lose the lower body fat, you might find that your lower body isn't as big as you think it is. At least from a proportional standpoint.
I veer away from lower body once a week because I always read how bad the DOMS is when you do that. Are you tied to training 3x/wk?0 -
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I have the same strategy, my upper body is quite weak so I am focusing on upper body over lower body when I am doing weight training (I only lift twice a week) although I also run once a week and walk twice a week (carrying a backpack of catalogues) so legs get additional workouts. Given you have a rest day between lifts you could do a full body workout but skew it to more upper body. From what I understand splits are only necessary where you lift everyday.1
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Once you lose the lower body fat, you might find that your lower body isn't as big as you think it is. At least from a proportional standpoint.
I veer away from lower body once a week because I always read how bad the DOMS is when you do that. Are you tied to training 3x/wk?
When I bulk, I do 4...on a cut, I get good results with 3 per week.
I see. I thought your schedule above was for bulking.0 -
Hello_its_Dan wrote: »Question: When was your last blood panel? How was your Free testosterone and estrogen?
This is the important question. If a man is having lower body fat issues when compared to his upper, something hormonal may be out of whack.0 -
From your profile pic I'd say your upper body is coming along just fine.
Just my opinion.....Stick with your current program until you hit your bf% goal. If you change mid-way through you won't know how your body actually responded.0 -
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From your profile pic I'd say your upper body is coming along just fine.
Just my opinion.....Stick with your current program until you hit your bf% goal. If you change mid-way through you won't know how your body actually responded.
On the pic, I was on my bulking phase which is actually fine when I am there, but when I lose weight, it's like all the weight is lost there. I feel like a centaur (that mythological half man, half horse) when I am on a cut. It's annoying.
Are you just flat from being in the process of losing weight?
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From your profile pic I'd say your upper body is coming along just fine.
Just my opinion.....Stick with your current program until you hit your bf% goal. If you change mid-way through you won't know how your body actually responded.
On the pic, I was on my bulking phase which is actually fine when I am there, but when I lose weight, it's like all the weight is lost there. I feel like a centaur (that mythological half man, half horse) when I am on a cut. It's annoying.
Its a process and everyone responds different. Do you supplement creatine?0 -
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So your upper body is smaller than your lower, but is your lower body more muscular or more fat? I am just trying to figure it out here.
I had the issue in the past where when I leaned out, my upper body would look really small and defined, but my lower body still carried a lot of fat. It was bigger than my lower body because of the fat there. But now that I focus on my lower body especially during bulks, I have built a good muscle base and when I lean out, my definition is very proportional. My legs are still bigger than my upper but that is because of how I train.
If you think your upper body needs more muscle mass, then definitely focus on that.. but ya don't neglect those legs.0 -
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I would not train lower body only once per week. The DOMS are rediculous. I find training full body twice to work for me, and then you could add extra upper body focus if you wanted to. You might find changing rep ranges to be helpful here. Maybe try hypertrophy range for upper but stay in strength or power ranges for lower? Just an idea...0
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