Bulking Up for a Non-Superheavyweight Class

i wanna be in the 105(not 105+) class in olympic weightlifting

currently ive reached around 108-109 kgs with quite a bit of body fat. should i continue bulking up till 120-125 and then cut down? or should i stay at around this weight and lose fat while building muscle/or cut down and then bulk again?

i know this sounds like a typical bulk or cut question but i dont being fat, i just want to have as much muscle as possible when im at 105kgs, rather than unecessary extra skin or fat or something.

i know the best way to bulk up for a bodybuilder(at least someone new that doesnt plan to compete any time soon) is to just keep bulking up, but what about a weightlifter for a limited weight class?

Im not sure on this one.

I wanna say it would be better to cut down first and then build up. That way your lifts will go up as you add lean mass, rather than go down as you try to burn fat.

What do you think your current BF% is?

I think when you can increase your power even when you cut down it would be a possibility.

But when I ask myself what I would do, I would cut down and try to hold my power as good as it is possible and then bulk up with increasing the power to reach the highest lifting weight on the contest.

But I am no competitor in a contest, especially not in olympic weightlifting so the advice of a person with some experience could help you even more.

You’re quite young and relatively inexperienced as a weightlifter right? Chances are if you “bulk” to the top of the 105 class now oyu’ll end up as 105+ years down the road.

It’s probably best not to force it. Let it come naturally over the years til your body finds the weight class it’s best suited to.

uhm, im 6 feet tall. i doubt anything other than 105 or 105+ would best suit me.

and what do you mean not force it? i mean, what am i supposed to do? eat at maintenance? eat whatever i want? waiting for it to come naturally doesnt really tell me much. no offence at all, i just dont understand what im supposed to do?

im not sure what my body fat is… i have a lot of fat on my tummy but my legs and butt have gotten a lot of muscle compared to how they were before i started lifting at all(so they kinda feel like they have way less fat than they used to), so im not sure.

i’d say around 20%? i could take pics … with a shoe too.

i could also consider going to 105(i was thinking of 110 or so) for now with a decent body fat %. if over the course of years as hanley said i will add more… go up to say 108-110 thats ok, you can lose ~5 kgs pretty easily and regain them after weighing in. heck you can lose 1-2kgs even just from sleeping.

im thinking though ill probably start reducing cals by 500 or so every week. when i see that im not gaining weight anymore, if im still gaining strength on my lifts ill continue around maintenance.

On my opinion, try to loose weight until you can`t increase your weights which you lift.
Then you should have the point where you strongest and lightest in your bodyweight.
On this point you can gain mass if you have a gap between your weight and the weight class your in.

Hope that this could make sense, because it is only theoretical :slight_smile:

it makes sense… im thinking of cutting down to 95kgs or so this time. last time i wanted 85, reached 92, didnt know as much as i do now so i thought i’d just bulk up instead.

ill try cutting down till i am as strong as possible with as little body fat as possible. then bulk up to 108kgs again or so with leaner stuff since there isnt a point in going zig zag for just a few kgs of muscle.

but any other people that have been through this and compete in a non superheavyweight class and have something to say would be nice to hear

[quote]Hanley wrote:
You’re quite young and relatively inexperienced as a weightlifter right? Chances are if you “bulk” to the top of the 105 class now oyu’ll end up as 105+ years down the road.

It’s probably best not to force it. Let it come naturally over the years til your body finds the weight class it’s best suited to.[/quote]

Hanley is one smart bastard.

Seriously…

Such wisdom from that one

[quote]AlterEgo wrote:
Hanley wrote:
You’re quite young and relatively inexperienced as a weightlifter right? Chances are if you “bulk” to the top of the 105 class now oyu’ll end up as 105+ years down the road.

It’s probably best not to force it. Let it come naturally over the years til your body finds the weight class it’s best suited to.

Hanley is one smart bastard.

Seriously…

Such wisdom from that one[/quote]

?

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
uhm, im 6 feet tall. i doubt anything other than 105 or 105+ would best suit me.[/quote]

Yeah, you will need to end up there. But what’s the rush? As far as I remember you’re still a beginner? Right now the last thing you should be worrying about is gaining weight to get stronger. Unless your technique is rock solid and you’re not making gains just thru training, that’s where the focus should be. In my opinion.

Just eat and train. Every good lifter I train with has had growth spurts in their first few years of training which has brought them close to the bodyweight they “should” be at. For example m first comp was at 87kg or there abouts.

I jumped to 91 a few months afterwards. Then nothing for a few months… Then a jump to about 96. Forced my way to 98, stalled there for a while and then all of a sudden my weight jumped to 103kg. These increases were very rapid.

My point is, as your progress and get stronger your body will have to catch up weight wise. If you push yourself right to your weight class limit now, you’ll have no where to go but the next one. Or possibly the one after!!

[quote]Hanley wrote:
AlterEgo wrote:
Hanley wrote:
You’re quite young and relatively inexperienced as a weightlifter right? Chances are if you “bulk” to the top of the 105 class now oyu’ll end up as 105+ years down the road.

It’s probably best not to force it. Let it come naturally over the years til your body finds the weight class it’s best suited to.

Hanley is one smart bastard.

Seriously…

Such wisdom from that one

?[/quote]

It was a compliment…well, maybe not the ‘bastard’ part -but the rest of it was

i still dont get it really.

“just eat”?

cause really if i “just eat” as i please then since i used to be fat ill just get up in weight again. so i kinda do need an eating plan. maintenance? or go lower?

right now i decided to eat at around maintenance around 3500-4000 cals a day.

btw in my training i try mostly to stimulate the CNS and less the muscle. as in higher weights, less reps.

also i dont get why i would end up at 105+?

i made a thread a couple months ago asking what i would have to do to get stronger and how i would have to eat once i reached 105 kgs or so with a low body fat%. they told me to eat around maintenance

plus, not that ive read some article or something but i thought stimulating the CNS makes it use more muscle of the ones you already have. wouldnt it be faster progress if i went up to 20kgs of muscle and the CNS will try to use more of those 20 kgs rather than more of the 10 kgs that suppose i have now? again no article to back this up, it just seems… logical?

i just simply always thought there is only CNS, muscle and fat in this whole game.i dont understand why i wouldnt be able to hold it at 105kgs if i reached 105 kgs with ~12%body fat. would my body ask for even more muscle and less fat even if i was at around maintenance calories?

plus how do athletes keep competeing for over a dozen years in the same weight class? they had im sure around the same amount of muscle every time they competed.

im guessing this may have to do with putting the muscle at the wrong places(chest for example)?

Any athlete at the places where I train who competes in a sport with weight classes (granted most of these are guys who do some sort of martial art) doesn’t “aim” at a weight.

They simply train, try to get better at whatever they want to do and look where they sort of “end up” (weight-wise), optionally cutting down a few kg’s if they have enough bodyfat to cut and the next weight limit is within reach.

Just ignore the scale, don’t think in terms of “bulking” or “cutting”, simply try to get as strong as possible (which involves much more than muscle mass) and when you decide you’re ready to compete take whatever weight you have, round down to the next weightclass - that’s the one you’ll be competing in.

Agreed with pretty much everyone here. You are looking at this in almost a bodybuilding sort of way and focusing WAY to much on the number that matters the least-your weight. Focus on getting the ones that matter most (your lifts) up and eat sensibly and your body will find its place.

Focus on getting stronger, learn your body well enough to know what and how much of it you need to be eating, and let the rest fall into place.

actually i am focusing most on my lifts haha.

i just need someone to explain how and why instead of just what to do or what will happen if i continue like this. cause really in my mind i dont really find what is bad about bulking up to a 12% body fat 100 kgs. more muscle=higher lifts=generally faster progress.

and well… if there is the risk of reaching 105+… isnt there always cutting down? idk i just always thought that weight has to do with food, and how much of your weight will be muscle or fat has to do with the training.

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
actually i am focusing most on my lifts haha.

i just need someone to explain how and why instead of just what to do or what will happen if i continue like this. cause really in my mind i dont really find what is bad about bulking up to a 12% body fat 100 kgs. more muscle=higher lifts=generally faster progress.

and well… if there is the risk of reaching 105+… isnt there always cutting down? idk i just always thought that weight has to do with food, and how much of your weight will be muscle or fat has to do with the training.[/quote]

What is with your obsession with being in this exact weight class??? Seriously. God. You’re a newb, you’ve absolutely no idea what weight class you’ll end up at yet. I can assure you that when I was squatting similar numbers to you I was ALOT lighter. 15-20kg less so.

I squatted 165kg in my first comp at around 87kg. I did 160x12 today at around 101. I wouldn’t have thought that early this year I’d be struggling to stay under 103kg when I started the year at 98.

I didn’t think I’d end the year at 98 when I started at <90. Seriously. You’ve NO IDEA where you’re going to end up 3 to 5 years down the road.

Look, obviously you’ve decided on what you’re going to do and you’re just looking for a rubber stamp. So just go do it, you things may or may not work out but at least you’ll have learned something.

[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
i still dont get it really.

“just eat”?

cause really if i “just eat” as i please then since i used to be fat ill just get up in weight again. so i kinda do need an eating plan. maintenance? or go lower?

right now i decided to eat at around maintenance around 3500-4000 cals a day.

btw in my training i try mostly to stimulate the CNS and less the muscle. as in higher weights, less reps.

also i dont get why i would end up at 105+?[/quote]

Keep in mind, none of what I’m about to say is meant to be offensive…

You’re what, 107kg now? You squat 120-130kg and pull less than 180kg? There is absolutely no way in hell you will be competitive in weightlifting with those nubmers. And the fact you’re only putting that much up indicates you don’t have a lot of muscle mass for your height.

There is a limit to how much CNS adaptation can occur. Eventually you will HAVE to gain weight to get stronger. You’re already over the weight class you’ve decided on. This will only get worse as your get bigger and stronger.

[quote]plus, not that ive read some article or something but i thought stimulating the CNS makes it use more muscle of the ones you already have. wouldnt it be faster progress if i went up to 20kgs of muscle and the CNS will try to use more of those 20 kgs rather than more of the 10 kgs that suppose i have now? again no article to back this up, it just seems… logical?

i just simply always thought there is only CNS, muscle and fat in this whole game.i dont understand why i wouldnt be able to hold it at 105kgs if i reached 105 kgs with ~12%body fat. would my body ask for even more muscle and less fat even if i was at around maintenance calories?[/quote]

You’re correct about how the CNS works. And you will need to gain muscle to get stronger (more muscle = greater potential CNS improvements) BUT like I said, I believe you’re 107kg already at around 20% bodyfat? So you’re carrying around 85kg LBM.

At 12% and 105kg youre LBM would be around 92kg. So you can only afford to add 7kg of muscle by your thinking. Now my question is, why are you in such a rush to add this all anywher and everywhere all over your body when it doesn’t even “need” it yet. you’re just adding muscle indiscriminately for the sake of it.

It is my opinion that you’d be much better served by allowing this muscle to be added onto your frame where your body decides it needs it (for me this has mostly been chest, legs and upper back over the last year).

You mean ELITE atheletes?? How many of them do you think are now competing in the same weightclass they started out training in? (this is what you’re proposing to do).

[quote]AlterEgo wrote:
Hanley wrote:
AlterEgo wrote:
Hanley wrote:
You’re quite young and relatively inexperienced as a weightlifter right? Chances are if you “bulk” to the top of the 105 class now oyu’ll end up as 105+ years down the road.

It’s probably best not to force it. Let it come naturally over the years til your body finds the weight class it’s best suited to.

Hanley is one smart bastard.

Seriously…

Such wisdom from that one

?

It was a compliment…well, maybe not the ‘bastard’ part -but the rest of it was
[/quote]

'splain…?

I worded it quite badly so I was expecting a dig tbh!

[quote]Now my question is, why are you in such a rush to add this all anywher and everywhere all over your body when it doesn’t even “need” it yet. you’re just adding muscle indiscriminately for the sake of it.

It is my opinion that you’d be much better served by allowing this muscle to be added onto your frame where your body decides it needs it (for me this has mostly been chest, legs and upper back over the last year).[/quote]

is that the only problem with it? i mean thats kinda why ive stopped doing bench presses. chest isnt all that useful in ol. lifting.

btw im not offended at all

ok let me put it differently. is it possible through training with the right movements to stimulate the brain to grow muscle at the right places(quads, posterior chain, shoulders etc)?

if thats true why not keep doing only those movements so i end up with the muscle where i want it. then it will all be CNS and faster progress.

its all really for faster progress, no other reason

Well, I am a master lifter in the 77kgs class who thought about going up to the 85 kgs and did nothing but put on BF. What I should have focused on instead is lifting heavy and eating right, i.e. clean to put on muscle, not BF. Once I got down to the 77 kg again, I felt much better. I currently snatch 90 and CJ 115, but am weak in the legs.

You really just need to lift big and heavy in the squat, overhead press, jerk, and snatch. You really shouldn’t worry about what movements you should be doing for more or less CNS stimulation until you get to a stuck point (which would be around 1.5 x BW snatch and over 2X BW clean and jerk).

I would concentrate on a strength building program for legs and back, and focus on speed and technique for the lifts. Only my .02 worth since I don’t know anything about you except what’s in this post.

If you are really worried about this, talk to your coach about it if you have one.