8 Weeks In

[quote]whatagoal wrote:
Tmmmey wrote:
Good post. If you’re gonna “bulk” and “cut” every other week you won’t go anywhere, lift heavy, eat a lot of good food and maybe in two or three years, (if not more) - think about cutting.

Curious, Is it ok to cut after a few months? Lets say 3-4? or do you need to wait longer to put more size on?

[/quote]

Think about not cutting for about a year or so.

Update…
Just finished Waterbury’s Total Body Training, next up Frankie NY’s Mass Gaining program, just type in Frankie NY on google if interested…I’m also going to invest in some creatine and see where that takes me, I wish I had more pictures b/c the results of TBT aren’t really evident with that pic, but I am pleased with the results so far…

your happy trail ends…shaved pubes?

what are your stats after this 4 month progress pic? Come on man, use your head. don’t make us ask for the essentials.

I’m still a newb man, I don’t know what stats you’re looking for…I’m 6’2", 180, I was about 173 when I started this…

What were your stats on 11-17 and what are your stats on 3-22?

It’s clear you went bulking… did your lifts improve? Weight change?

Over the first 3 pics you got noticeably leaner, and between the last picture of the first set and the “update” pic you added a little bit of muscle, but you still need to get some damn muscle on you.

I would say you have made some all right progress, just keep that diet clean and try to put some muscle on your bones man…keep it up.

[quote]Skrussian wrote:
your happy trail ends…shaved pubes?[/quote]

is that what really matters here?

I have put on about 7 pounds of muscle since I started bulking. My increase in terms of lifts on bench, I used to not be able to do one rep with 130, now I can do about 5 reps at 160. Still needs to increase though. My lower body has actually seen better results then my upper, I had never done a squat before this program or a calf raise for that matter.

I can squat 260 now. I’m really devoted to this so the reason I haven’t grown as much as I would have liked I think is my diet. I try to hit 200 grams of protein a day, but I find it really hard to do that. I’m hoping with this next program, a revamped diet, and creatine, to see great results. I’m aiming for 200 pounds eventually, I realize that would take a few years, but thats the goal.

Eat lost of food, and set strength goals in the gym.

Like set goals of adding +100lbs to your bench, +100lbs to your squat, and +150 to your deadlift by the end of the year. Work towards these goals while etaing lots of good clean food, and you will make great progress.

Good luck!

[quote]freedom21 wrote:
PeterD wrote:
First off congrats on loosing some fat however you werent fat to begin with so you probably lost just as much muscle! I’m 6’ tall and 180lbs and I consider myself to be too skinny so at 6’2" and 175lbs I’d say you need to eat!!! Since you weren’t fat before you can probably get away with not eating super clean and gaining a lot of fat. What’s your diet like? Daily calorie intake?

Assuming your a wiry teenager(18yo) your BMR should be around 2000cal for a 175lb guy(based on Thib’s recent nutrition article) before an activity modifier just to not loose any more weight. So read the Nutrition for Newbies articles CT posted a few weeks ago or so to figure out what you need to do but I bet you need to eat more! Gain some muscle and those nonexistant love handles you are worried about(we call them hip bones) will disappear and you won’t see them anymore. I’m looking forward to seeing some pics of you at 200lbs!

P

Thanks for the input. Right now I am following a diet plan from one of the guys on the board. I am trying to eat clean and still bulk. I just started bulking so I don’t except results for a few months, but I guess from maybe all the responses on here, I cut too much. Oh by the way, I’m 20 years old, if that matters. Anyways heres the diet plan from shadowmoses,

Breakfast:
1 cup Oats
30g Protein (Eggs, protein shake etc)
2tbsp’s Peanut butter

Mid Morning
1 Can tuna
1 Cup green beans
2 Tbsps Olive oil

Lunch
1 Mid Size Sweet Potato
30g Protein
15 Almonds
Salad with oil and vinegar

Mid Afternoon
1 Scoop Protein Powder
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese (1% fat)
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter

Dinner
30g Protein
Loads of Veg
1-2 Pieces of fruit
2 Tbsp Olive oil

Pre-bed (45 mins before sleep)
1 Scoop Protein Powder
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese (1% fat)
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter

[/quote]

cant believe nobody else asked …Where’s the beef ?

I dont think anybody asked because in that 1 day you have protein from a variety of sources, healthy carbs from a variety of sources, and lots of good fatty acids from peanut butter, olive oil, and nuts. Beef is good but I’d rather see the diversity of macronutrient sources he has than see I EAT LOTS OF BEEF AND DRINK 2 GALLONS OF GATORADE A DAY.

Well, I’ve kind of skimmed this stuff, but I’d definitely have to slap on another vote for bust the big weights.

The way I see things (theoretical of course, seeing as how I’m working on the whole “motivation” thing) is that if you start to put on some mass due to heavy compound lifts and a clean, yet power packed diet, your body composition will change favorably. Think of it this way

Guy A: 5’10 - 150lbs - 9% bf
Guy B: 5’10 - 185lbs - 9% bf

Both have the same bodyfat, but guy B has more overall mass. That translates to more muscle mass which makes him appear to be more lean than he really is.

That, and if you rotate HIT cardio, and your typical “fat burning zone” cardio, from what I see, you get pretty good results in body composition without really changing the scale weight.

a new pic…excuse the myspace sideways camera thing…didnt mean to do that…still not where I want to be…new program starts friday

Dude. Great job on the progress so far. I’m pretty sure that your diet is holding you back. PLEASE DON’T BE AFRAID TO GAIN A LITTLE FAT. You need to up the calories. You won’t wake up one morning as a fat ass, if you start feeling a noticeable amount of fat, then cut back a little calories and you should be good. You don’t want to waste any hard work because of lack of food.

I agree with the above post. But, ultimately it’s your call if you’re willing to boost your calories a bit to see if you still have a greater potential to gain.

I think realistically, eating more calories won’t lead to a gain in body fat for you. After all, gaining 7 pounds from november to march isn’t great. That’s a little more than a pound and a half a month, while since you were almost completely new to lifting, you maybe would’ve been okay even gaining 2 pounds a week.

My advice to you: I’m not sure if you count calories or not, I don’t, but if you do, add 500 more a week and see how your body reacts to this increase in calories. As stated previously, too much fat gain, then bring the calories down a lttle bit. If you don’t count calories, you could increase your protein portions or increase other portions.

This advice has worked for me since I am also relatively new to lifting WITH a diet that allows me to gain mass. I say give it a try for a few weeks and see how your body reacts.

For sure diet has been the biggest issue with myself. I recently tried cutting down a bit just to see if I could lose some excess fat around my midsection and it just resulted in muscle loss. So I am upping my intake in pretty much every department and taking measurements and am just going to see how things go over these next few weeks.

I think we may own the same pair of red shorts…

other than that I would say that my advice matches up with everyone else ont his topic.

Whenever you feel the need to ask a question eat something, then take the extra energy and work harder in the gym. My progress stalls whenever i go to the internet for advice too often.

[quote]mchron wrote:

Whenever you feel the need to ask a question eat something, then take the extra energy and work harder in the gym. My progress stalls whenever i go to the internet for advice too often.[/quote]

Now if only most of the people on the beginner forum thought like this…

I’m a beginner too, but from reading this site this is the advice that i’d give you, more advanced members can correct me if i’m wrong about any of this:

It does depend on what your goals are. But you are pretty small and I think regardless of anything it would be in your best interests to put some muscle on your frame.

Since you’re only 20 years old, your T-levels are still relatively high - meaning if you want to be big and muscular at any point in your life now is the time where you are going to want to do it. A lot of people wish they could reclaim the years when they were under 22 because you build muscle a lot easier. A lot of them would advise NEVER cutting until you hit about 22 as well, just to take advantage of the best time for muscle growth. Just shoveling the food in and worrying about cutting later will be the fastest way for you to get to 200lbs lean.

Another thing you should know about cutting - is that doing it too often is what tends to hold back most new guys. Bulking for only 3 months and then cutting when you lose a little ab definition is a mistake. Not only do you waste time that you could spend bulking but it will be easier for you to lose your gains. The longer you have muscle, the more your body gets “used” to having that muscle and the less likely you are to lose it during a cut.

If I were you I would bulk for at least a year (which is what i’m doing now) - eat clean but eat a LOT, and don’t worry about the abs not showing. More muscle looks better anyways.