Slow and steady

Options
nossmf
nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
edited March 2023 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
For the past four months, I've been restricted from weight lifting due to an elbow tendon injury. (Sure, I could've done legs only, but nah.) During that time I hit the cardio hard, figuring I may as well cut. Dropped 15 pounds in that time. Today were the twin good news of being cleared to reenter the weight room, plus my weight has dropped below 180 for the first time in decades.

Now it's time to reverse gears, from a no-lifting-fast-cut to a lifting-slow-bulk. I started lifting back in 2009 when I was quite overweight, and ever since have been doing more or less a long-term body recomp, naturally swapping fat for muscle over years. These past four months were my first true cut; highly successful, I think. Now, it's time for my first true bulk, though I hesitate to use that term, as I want to retain my leaner state and only look to gain 5-10 pounds of muscle.

Today I bought creatine (5mg powder) for the first time, so that's gonna be a learning curve as I go. Drink LOTS of water I've been told; I already do two liters per day, was told to up it to a gallon. (Not likely to happen, but a few years ago the thought of drinking two liters was impossible to fathom, so who knows.)

Stats:
Male
Age: 45
Ht: 5'9"
Wt: 179.4 lbs
BF: 15%
LBM: 152.5
Waist: 32.5"
Biceps: 14.75"
Chest: 40"
Quads: 24.5"

My plan will be four lifting sessions per week: M legs, T pull, W push, Sa full-body. I will also have two cardio days (W-Th) per week, and rest day Sunday. (This is not a new routine for me.)

My diet will start at 2000 calories per day, eating back all exercise calories. (This is a change from the past four months of 1800 per day and NO exercise eat back.) Daily protein levels will be 150+ on cardio/rest days, 180+ on lifting days. Goal is a super slow gain of only .25-.5 pound per week tops. (I'm fully aware the creatine combined with rising glucose levels from resuming lifting after a layoff is likely to have a significant water weight increase the first few weeks.)
«1

Replies

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,514 Member
    Options
    Sounds like a good plan.

    In case you don't know, you don't need to preload the creatine. After 28 days, you'll have the same amount in your system either way.
  • slade51
    slade51 Posts: 180 Member
    Options
    I also like to rest BEFORE leg day. Most canned workouts I’ve seen puts the rest day after legs.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    Personally, I like doing legs on Monday after resting Sunday, both because I'm fresh to hit legs with weights which put my upper body to shame, but also on Bench Press Monday all the chest stations are usually full, but there's always at least one squat rack open.
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,338 Member
    Options
    Sigh every blasted day is leg day. I dream of just doing one leg day each week! 🤣
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    My legs respond quite impressively, gaining size and strength just by passing within 50 feet of a bar, lol. I actually have to limit how much leg work I do, so my quads don't require bigger jeans.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    Week one status report:

    Weight up 3.0 pounds
    Waist unchanged

    Mirror image looks fabulous getting back into the weight room. Workouts have been single working sets of five at 50% 1RM, nothing intense yet. But the creatine is definitely working its magic, as no matter how much water I drink I'm still parched, and the man in the mirror is looking fabulous, so I know the weight gain is strictly water weight. I'll accept that...for now.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    Week two status report:

    Weight up 2.1 pounds
    Waist unchanged

    So much for slow and steady weight gain, with five pounds in the last three weeks. The fact my waistline hasn't budged and I can still remove my wedding ring (after 15 years of physically being unable to) helps calm me down a tad. But the weights I've been lifting during my slow return to lifting haven't been heavy enough to warrant actual muscle growth, so the extra baggage is still water and maybe some glycogen. But this rapid increase needs to stop soon if I'm going to be able to track actual muscle gain. If I pop up above 190 again, I'll switch back to cutting mode, and this little experiment will be over sooner than hoped.
  • kinetixtrainer2
    kinetixtrainer2 Posts: 9,126 Member
    Options
    nossmf wrote: »
    My legs respond quite impressively, gaining size and strength just by passing within 50 feet of a bar, lol. I actually have to limit how much leg work I do, so my quads don't require bigger jeans.

    I envy this statement.
  • Merrysailor
    Merrysailor Posts: 127 Member
    Options
    kinetixtrainer2 wrote: »
    nossmf wrote: »
    My legs respond quite impressively, gaining size and strength just by passing within 50 feet of a bar, lol. I actually have to limit how much leg work I do, so my quads don't require bigger jeans.

    I envy this statement.

    Them Chickens! Jk jk

    Here I am dreaming on needing bigger jeans due to quad size
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    You may envy my leg development, but I envy just about every other lifter's chest development. I can get impressive legs, nicely shaped arms and shoulders, am even starting to develop a shading of a six-pack. Yet I have never been able to develop my chest into looking like I actually lift. I've always been trapped with a Spiderman chest when I really want Captain America.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    Week 4 status report:

    Waist unchanged
    Weight down 2.5 lbs

    After three weeks of rapid increase as my body flushed with water and glutamine, I finally dropped this week. Could this be a sign I may be stabilizing, and can soon begin gauging progress based off of diet and muscle gain rather than just water fluctuations?
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    After 8 weeks, thought I'd see how my stats compare to when I started with the creatine:

    Stats:
    Wt: 179.4 lbs // 188.6
    BF: 15% // 15.9%
    Waist: 32.5" // unchanged
    Biceps: 14.75" // 16"
    Chest: 40" // 38.5"
    Quads: 24.5" // 24"

    Chest is smaller, but I'm unsure how much of that is simply me trying to measure myself rather than somebody else doing it for me. But my arms are bigger, waist is unchanged despite weight going up (which I've kept the same weight two weeks in a row now). Mirror image looks quite nice, if I do say so myself, lol.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,514 Member
    Options
    Congrats.

    Those measurements look very suspect though. I mean you've gained 5% weight, gained body fat, your biceps has gone up a very large amount and your waist is the same... but your chest and quads are much smaller? That doesn't make sense.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    I agree, which I attribute to the inherent inaccuracies in self-measurement rather than having somebody else do it for you. But even then, I question measurements by others at times. My last physical back in January, when I was at my lowest weight in decades, she measured me as a 35" waist when my 34" jeans would fall off without a belt? I even got measured as three different heights during my military days.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    In part due to financial constraints, I'm taking the month of June off from any creatine. Weight is continuing to creep up slowly, with both good and bad effects:

    Good:
    - love my image in the mirror!
    - strength continues to improve on key lifts

    Bad:
    - can no longer remove my wedding ring from my finger before lifting, have to wear a glove on left hand to protect from scratches
    - my favorite work shirt is getting rather tight, may have to stop wearing it if I continue to get bigger across shoulders
    - belt starting to feel restrictive again, meaning my gut isn't staying the same size but is also starting to creep up
  • Brigit02
    Brigit02 Posts: 130 Member
    Options
    nossmf wrote: »
    In part due to financial constraints, I'm taking the month of June off from any creatine. Weight is continuing to creep up slowly, with both good and bad effects:

    Good:
    - love my image in the mirror!
    - strength continues to improve on key lifts

    Bad:
    - can no longer remove my wedding ring from my finger before lifting, have to wear a glove on left hand to protect from scratches
    - my favorite work shirt is getting rather tight, may have to stop wearing it if I continue to get bigger across shoulders
    - belt starting to feel restrictive again, meaning my gut isn't staying the same size but is also starting to creep up

    I admire your commitment to working out. My weight isn't coming off with just doing housework and gardening I'm going to start weight training again today. I have a bench and free weights in my basement so there's no excuse not to use them except that I'm an expert procrastinator.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    People often confuse procrastination with laziness. I'm a serious procrastinator most of the time, pushing off doing chores until the last possible second. Once I do begin a project, though, I power through in impressive style, including working for hours uninterrupted if the work demands it. A lazy person would half-heart things, stopping as soon as possible. A procrastinator can work like a maniac, it just takes time or motivation to overcome the inertia of being idle, but once we do, the inertia of moving definitely takes over.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    With the start of July, I'm back to taking creatine, and my workouts are going great! I would love to post an updated image of how I look, but unfortunately my selfie skills are seriously underdeveloped, as any image I take seems invariably to look significantly less flattering than what I see in the mirror. I'm guessing it has to do with the camera lens "seeing" through shadows more efficiently than my eye, and without shadows the body looks flatter, less curves in the right places.

    (I don't want to ask my wife to snap photos, as she'd probably start asking why I needed said photos, who was I going to show them to, etc. I've never given her cause to think I'd stray, but before she met me she had a series of relationships with guys who cheated, so being suspicious is sometimes a hard habit for her to break.)
  • Brigit02
    Brigit02 Posts: 130 Member
    edited July 2023
    Options
    nossmf wrote: »
    People often confuse procrastination with laziness.

    I suppose when it comes to working out I'm not that motivated. I'm in decent enough shape to fit into all my clothes even if some are a bit tight. I'm happily married so I'm not looking to attract a mate. I wouldn't say I'm lazy.

    However, I did 30 minutes of Barre today using light free-weights and worked in the garden. So, I'll see if I keep it up. Time will tell.

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,056 Member
    Options
    I'm happily married for 21+ years, my job has me sitting at a desk, I don't play recreational sports. My motivation to continue lifting is a combination of liking the way I look after a lifetime of hating it (scrawny geek in school, borderline obese as an adult), plus protecting my joints to feel better now that I'm age 46 and the body wants to succumb to the arthritis that runs in my family.

Categories