Pls let me know your thoughts/edits to my plan

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alexmose
alexmose Posts: 792 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hi all! I’m a 5’3’’ 117lb female with a bodyfat % of 20.5. I really want to put on some muscle in my upper body. My calories are 1900/day before exercise. I am logged to gain .5lb per week (used to be 1lb but I think I’m gaining more fat than muscle that quickly). My macros are at 137g protein, 51g fat, 205 carbs (increasing everything on exercise days). This is about 30% protein, 25% fat, and 45% carbs.

I lift 3-4x per week and also teach a HIIT once per week. I also do Bodypump 2x per week (I am aiming to be certified by February).

Do you guys think my meals and exercise routine are conducive to my goal to build more muscle? I can always cut the fat once I hit my weight goal (125lbs). I have a wedding to attend in June after all! Thanks in advance for your feedback :)

Replies

  • flowerhorsey
    flowerhorsey Posts: 154 Member
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    I'm really no expert at all other than for myself. You seem very active. I'm 5'8" and pretty active too..I eat about 2500-2800 calories in recomp, if that helps to compare. I don't remember my macros other than I think about 160 protein, which I rarely make :/
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    I would run one of the hypertrophy programs at Barbellmedicine over a body pump class.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    When you say you lift, what does that entail? I would make sure you are following proper progressive programming. If you feel like you are gaining too much fat it could be a combination of too high a surplus (I would gain no more than 0.5lb per week) or inadequate muscle stimulation for growth.
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    When you say you lift, what does that entail? I would make sure you are following proper progressive programming. If you feel like you are gaining too much fat it could be a combination of too high a surplus (I would gain no more than 0.5lb per week) or inadequate muscle stimulation for growth.

    With all my classes and BP, I so Stronglifts.
  • jmule24
    jmule24 Posts: 1,404 Member
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    Training volume and exercise selection should line up with your overall goal of wanting to improve upper body physique. IMO - stronglifts will not give you the desired / optimal results you are looking for.
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    jmule24 wrote: »
    Training volume and exercise selection should line up with your overall goal of wanting to improve upper body physique. IMO - stronglifts will not give you the desired / optimal results you are looking for.

    What do you recommend? I’m still going to be doing Bodypump no matter what bc I really love it (hence the certification).
  • jmule24
    jmule24 Posts: 1,404 Member
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    I'll be honest, I don't know a whole lot about Bodypump as it doesn't grab my attention. I would do my best to keep it simple for a routine. If you were going lift say 3x week. I would do an A/B routine. A=push movements primary w/pull movements accessory / B=pull movements primary w/ push movements secondary.....

    Week 1:
    M - A, W- B, F - A

    Week 2:
    M - B, W - A, F- B
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    Thank you all for your help. Here is an update: I have been keeping track of foods carefully over the past 5 days averaging 2067 calories per day. I LOST almost 3 lbs. I know a lot of that is water weight, but I also dropped a body fat %, which means I lose both muscle and fat, but more fat.

    I went from
    116.8 -> 113.9
    20.5% bf -> 19.6%
    BMI 20.7 -> 20.2
    BMR 1288 -> 1260
    Muscle mass from 87.4 -> 86 lbs

    So my question is, should I panic that my gains are slowing down? This is only a 5 day period, but should I be concerned and up my calories?

    Thanks!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Most of your exercise doesn't align with your goal of adding upper body muscle. Difficult compromise when you are working towards your certification and leading classes though.

    How are you estimating your body composition changes?
    If using BIA scales be very wary of accepting the numbers as being accurate as the results are badly skewed by water fluctuations (it seems highly unlikely you would lose non water muscle mass like that).
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited January 2019
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    5 days isn't enough to see a trend, keep logging intake/exercise and using your scale weight for at least 3 weeks to a full monthly cycle and adjust as needed.

    Mostly water loss doesn't equate to muscle loss. If using a body weight scale at home, the body composition numbers will be skewed like this.
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Most of your exercise doesn't align with your goal of adding upper body muscle. Difficult compromise when you are working towards your certification and leading classes though.

    How are you estimating your body composition changes?
    If using BIA scales be very wary of accepting the numbers as being accurate as the results are badly skewed by water fluctuations (it seems highly unlikely you would lose non water muscle mass like that).

    I have a bio electrical impedance scale. Yea agree exercise isn’t great with cert and teaching, but bc I’m not doing any competition, I can keep up what I enjoy (BP and classes).

    I am finding it hard to motivate myself to get to the gym after days I teach bc I’m sore. Today I’m sore from the HIIT class I taught last night :( I fear I am not stimulating my muscles enough though. I know I’m in a bit of a pickle, but the class teaching will taper off in a week (when normal instructors return, as I’m just a sub). I just fear I’ll injure myself going back to back days of HIIT then a heavy lifting day. Thoughts?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    alexmose wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Most of your exercise doesn't align with your goal of adding upper body muscle. Difficult compromise when you are working towards your certification and leading classes though.

    How are you estimating your body composition changes?
    If using BIA scales be very wary of accepting the numbers as being accurate as the results are badly skewed by water fluctuations (it seems highly unlikely you would lose non water muscle mass like that).

    I have a bio electrical impedance scale. Yea agree exercise isn’t great with cert and teaching, but bc I’m not doing any competition, I can keep up what I enjoy (BP and classes).

    I am finding it hard to motivate myself to get to the gym after days I teach bc I’m sore. Today I’m sore from the HIIT class I taught last night :( I fear I am not stimulating my muscles enough though. I know I’m in a bit of a pickle, but the class teaching will taper off in a week (when normal instructors return, as I’m just a sub). I just fear I’ll injure myself going back to back days of HIIT then a heavy lifting day. Thoughts?


    You will have to pick a goal if you want results from your bulk. Being sore, possibly fatigued after doing the all the exercises you are doing will affect performance and prevent you from progressing.

    Maybe putting the classes and dedication you have put into those for now and then move on to dedicating to your bulk would be more ideal?
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    alexmose wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Most of your exercise doesn't align with your goal of adding upper body muscle. Difficult compromise when you are working towards your certification and leading classes though.

    How are you estimating your body composition changes?
    If using BIA scales be very wary of accepting the numbers as being accurate as the results are badly skewed by water fluctuations (it seems highly unlikely you would lose non water muscle mass like that).

    I have a bio electrical impedance scale. Yea agree exercise isn’t great with cert and teaching, but bc I’m not doing any competition, I can keep up what I enjoy (BP and classes).

    I am finding it hard to motivate myself to get to the gym after days I teach bc I’m sore. Today I’m sore from the HIIT class I taught last night :( I fear I am not stimulating my muscles enough though. I know I’m in a bit of a pickle, but the class teaching will taper off in a week (when normal instructors return, as I’m just a sub). I just fear I’ll injure myself going back to back days of HIIT then a heavy lifting day. Thoughts?


    You will have to pick a goal if you want results from your bulk. Being sore, possibly fatigued after doing the all the exercises you are doing will affect performance and prevent you from progressing.

    Maybe putting the classes and dedication you have put into those for now and then move on to dedicating to your bulk would be more ideal?

    Perhaps. The main reason I’m doing a bulk at all is to gain upper body strength for BP. My upper body def feels fatigued today so perhaps I’ll just hit a few squats today and call it :(

    Having conflicting goals is a real bummer, but I know I will be able to dedicate more to the bulk next week with fewer (0-1) classes to teach per week.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    alexmose wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Most of your exercise doesn't align with your goal of adding upper body muscle. Difficult compromise when you are working towards your certification and leading classes though.

    How are you estimating your body composition changes?
    If using BIA scales be very wary of accepting the numbers as being accurate as the results are badly skewed by water fluctuations (it seems highly unlikely you would lose non water muscle mass like that).

    I have a bio electrical impedance scale. Yea agree exercise isn’t great with cert and teaching, but bc I’m not doing any competition, I can keep up what I enjoy (BP and classes).

    I am finding it hard to motivate myself to get to the gym after days I teach bc I’m sore. Today I’m sore from the HIIT class I taught last night :( I fear I am not stimulating my muscles enough though. I know I’m in a bit of a pickle, but the class teaching will taper off in a week (when normal instructors return, as I’m just a sub). I just fear I’ll injure myself going back to back days of HIIT then a heavy lifting day. Thoughts?

    Re. body composition BIA scales - don't make decisions based on really poor quality data.
    I've used a couple of 4 sensor models which (if used carefully and consistently) could give a believable trend over the course of weeks. Even the commercial grade one in my gym is subject to weird and wonderful one off readings. Apparently I lost 3lbs of muscle in a week - what a surprise when I regained it all the next week! ;)

    Your balance between what you need to do (certification), want to do (goals and enjoyment) is a very personal compromise but I'll just make the following comments:
    Stronglifts is a beginner strength program that is predominately lower body focussed (not an upper body hypertrophy program). If it doesn't now fit your goals then change programs to one that does. A split routine might fit in your schedule better.
    Bodypump is really cardio/conditioning with light weights, not going to help with hypertrophy outside of virtual beginners.
    HIIT (real HIIT I mean - bursts of maximal effort cardio, not plain old interval training or circuits) is incredibly fatiguing and really antagonistic to someone lifting heavy.
    Lifting heavy = fatigue and need for recovery, HIIT = fatigue and need for recovery.
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    alexmose wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Most of your exercise doesn't align with your goal of adding upper body muscle. Difficult compromise when you are working towards your certification and leading classes though.

    How are you estimating your body composition changes?
    If using BIA scales be very wary of accepting the numbers as being accurate as the results are badly skewed by water fluctuations (it seems highly unlikely you would lose non water muscle mass like that).

    I have a bio electrical impedance scale. Yea agree exercise isn’t great with cert and teaching, but bc I’m not doing any competition, I can keep up what I enjoy (BP and classes).

    I am finding it hard to motivate myself to get to the gym after days I teach bc I’m sore. Today I’m sore from the HIIT class I taught last night :( I fear I am not stimulating my muscles enough though. I know I’m in a bit of a pickle, but the class teaching will taper off in a week (when normal instructors return, as I’m just a sub). I just fear I’ll injure myself going back to back days of HIIT then a heavy lifting day. Thoughts?

    Re. body composition BIA scales - don't make decisions based on really poor quality data.
    I've used a couple of 4 sensor models which (if used carefully and consistently) could give a believable trend over the course of weeks. Even the commercial grade one in my gym is subject to weird and wonderful one off readings. Apparently I lost 3lbs of muscle in a week - what a surprise when I regained it all the next week! ;)

    Your balance between what you need to do (certification), want to do (goals and enjoyment) is a very personal compromise but I'll just make the following comments:
    Stronglifts is a beginner strength program that is predominately lower body focussed (not an upper body hypertrophy program). If it doesn't now fit your goals then change programs to one that does. A split routine might fit in your schedule better.
    Bodypump is really cardio/conditioning with light weights, not going to help with hypertrophy outside of virtual beginners.
    HIIT (real HIIT I mean - bursts of maximal effort cardio, not plain old interval training or circuits) is incredibly fatiguing and really antagonistic to someone lifting heavy.
    Lifting heavy = fatigue and need for recovery, HIIT = fatigue and need for recovery.

    You are right. I attempted legs and lasted only 20 minutes haha. But I guess I chose my personal preference w the classes and cert. but will focus more on heavy lifting after teaching classes.

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