Start bulking or maintain?

user20012001 wrote: »

Recently was told about recomp by some of the people here and read a few posts about it and looked into some other online resources. I’m 5’5 109-112 lbs and want to look more lean and build muscle. My question is now do I try and bulk or do I just continue exercising and eating in maintenance? I go to the gym about 6x a week, I do cardio usually twice and do some light / moderate strength training for legs abs back/shoulders and arms split throughout the week.

You could start with a recomp with a better lifting program with more frequency and then run into a lean bulk might yield the best results. Overall, you are lean enough for either a lean bulk or recomp.


Are you even hitting chest?

JMO, your BMI is very healthy and you already look very lean, so I think you'd be better off doing a slow gain (sounds better than "bulk"), I'm guessing here say +100 calories per day, and see how you get on. Be sure to keep measuring progress with pictures too.

Are you getting enough protein? How much are you getting? I think about 63g-72g would be a good target, that's 0.7g-0.8g per pound of lean body mass.

When you say you are training mod/light that doesn't give any info on the actual stimulus being achieved.

We know we can gain muscle and/or strength at very low intensities given the volume and amount of stimulus is sufficient.

If we are novel to training we are sensitive to just about any stimulus. Once we have a few weeks/months in we should be looking for more advanced training.

I don't have much info about you to give you a professional opinion but with what you have stated I would generallt advise.

1. Eat a average of your TDEE daily.
2. Find appropriate programming that uses auto regulation and proper load management with sufficient volume and stimulus for the time/equipment you have available.
3. Run the programming and access the next step towards your goals.

Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

JMO, your BMI is very healthy and you already look very lean, so I think you'd be better off doing a slow gain (sounds better than "bulk"), I'm guessing here say +100 calories per day, and see how you get on. Be sure to keep measuring progress with pictures too.

Are you getting enough protein? How much are you getting? I think about 63g-72g would be a good target, that's 0.7g-0.8g per pound of lean body mass.

Her Bmi is NOT "very healthy" it is underweight...

I would say eat a small calorie surplus, lift weights and aim to gain some muscle mass. You will look more fit with increased muscle tone and you will be at a healthy weight.

^^THIS!

You are already lean. If you want to look more "toned", which means adding muscle, then look at a progressive lifting program developed by someone that knows what they're doing. Here's a great thread that has some great programs: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1. And as part of that you'll see much better results if you eat a slight calorie surplus, particularly given how lean you already are. You can recomp but it will be slow because of how lean you are. I would definitely recommend against losing more weight if you care at all about building muscle.

GaryRuns wrote: »

Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

JMO, your BMI is very healthy and you already look very lean, so I think you'd be better off doing a slow gain (sounds better than "bulk"), I'm guessing here say +100 calories per day, and see how you get on. Be sure to keep measuring progress with pictures too.

Are you getting enough protein? How much are you getting? I think about 63g-72g would be a good target, that's 0.7g-0.8g per pound of lean body mass.

Her Bmi is NOT "very healthy" it is underweight...

I would say eat a small calorie surplus, lift weights and aim to gain some muscle mass. You will look more fit with increased muscle tone and you will be at a healthy weight.

^^THIS!

You are already lean. If you want to look more "toned", which means adding muscle, then look at a progressive lifting program developed by someone that knows what they're doing. Here's a great thread that has some great programs: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1. And as part of that you'll see much better results if you eat a slight calorie surplus, particularly given how lean you already are. You can recomp but it will be slow because of how lean you are. I would definitely recommend against losing more weight if you care at all about building muscle.

I generally recommend ensuring you are following a well structured routine and have competencies with the lifts prior to a surplus. This could be a 1 month or more period so when you get in a surplus, you can maximize the results.