pbryd Member

If you're happy with your belly fat increasing during a bulk, then bulk. If you want to be leaner, but are sick of cutting, take a break and eat at maintenance for a few weeks. Then continue cutting. Either way works.

I have a theory on very lean bulking. Over the course of a month, you spend most of your time in a calorie surplus and a small part of it either at maintenance or small deficit. The maintenance and deficit helps keep fat gains to a minimum. As seen above, the calorie range is so small, and your expenditure differs from day…

I like the fact he's using a % of bodyweight as a measure. Help adjust for people who are shorter with a light bone structure.

lol at this thread. It's like someone is just thinking out aloud.

Go to myprotein and order some impact whey in a flavour of your choice.

I just think you aren't lean enough. I'm not seeing any veins, which is what I'm basing my assumption on.

I take the clippers to mine when I do my hair. It does feel cleaner.

Cheers man, just good lighting and a pump lol. It all seems to disappear when I put a t-shirt on.

I managed to find these for a bargain price of £50 UK pounds, :) there are pairs of 10kg, 12.5kg and 17.5kg, with the stand thrown in too. I'll make up a pair 15kg spinlock, and up another spinlock to go higher than 20kg.

July end update and I've gained a further 0.9lb with my waist hovering around 30". I don't plan on cutting anytime soon, and would like to continue bulking for the rest of the year.

The hypertrophy mash up video has some excellent nuggets of information from the leading science backed experts on hypertrophy https://youtu.be/-1KX_JcxfDU

Is it the same full body workout 3x per week? I train full body 3x per week but it's a different routine each time. For instance on Monday I do dumbbell upright rows for my shoulders, then on Wednesday I do barbell OHP, on Friday, high incline dumbbell presses. Or You could perform an upper / lower split like this UxLxUxx…

If OP has long arms, doesn't that make it likely his arms would take more strain than his chest? OP could try dbell flyes immediately before benching, to pre-exhaust his pecs (Arthur Jones Nautilus style).

I don't barbell bench so forgive me if I wrong but I thought it was the other way around. Elbows flared, lowering the bar to the upper chest / neck puts more emphasis on pecs Elbows tucked, lowering bar to lower chest, puts more emphasis on front delts and tris.

There's the answer, right there.

This is the key. Rather than eat more, swap out some of your calorie light foods for higher calorie dense foods.

Cheers buttercup ;)

True, which I did in a reply earlier. I think we're all on the same page then it comes to keeping muscle by lifting heavy while cutting.

Come on guys, I didn't think I'd actually have to point out on a bodybuilding forum, that you have to continue lifting to preserve muscle mass while on a cut.

Personally I think people overstate muscle loss during a cut. It goes hand in hand with people underestimating how much bodyfat they need to lose to achieve a six pack. If any real muscle is actually lost during a cut, then muscle memory will see it gained very quickly as soon as you start eating at maintenance.

I think it's best to lose fat first, but that doesn't mean you can't work on gaining muscle as you lose the fat. So start lifting while you cut down, as a beginner you should be able to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

I like doing these at the end of a workout but I normally forget to do them. Good way to finish the workout and get a nice stretch of the spine and shoulders.

If you want to gain weight, but struggle to reach the required calories, you'll have to try harder or run and cycle less.

Pain during the exercise is never a good sign, I drop any lift that causes it. Painful elbows or shoulders can impact on everyday life, so it's not worth it. There's plenty of alternatives for any body part.

I'm deliberately keeping my surplus very low, so my waist doesn't grow too much during the summer. At 44 my progress is slow, so too many calories just turns to fat. My height is 5'6", and my waist is hovering at 29.75".

Yes, 1lb for the month. I weigh myself daily first thing in the morning, and take the monthly average. Macros, I aim for 1g protein 1lb bodyweight 0.5g fat / 1lb Rest from carbs.

June end update and I've gained 1lb after reducing my calories to 2500. I'll keep my calories like this for the next couple of months and see how much I can gain before before my waist hits 30".

SL is a program designed with beginners in mind, and because it's for beginners, basically anything works to get those newbie gains going. Plus there is a lot of carry over between the OHP and BP.

Lots of studies suggest training a muscle twice per week provides more benefits than training it once per week.

Have you considered investing in a trap bar? This is what I've done, rather than risk injury by squatting at home without a safety rack.