Hello. I’m new here and I’m looking for help.
I’m bulking right now and I’m looking to cut. I’d like to know some advices and also what type of training you recommend so I can maintain the most of muscle while getting rid off the fat.
I’ve been lifting for about 4 years and I became more serious in the last two years. I’ve been way more slim than now too but I was too skinny. I could also post pictures of that stage if you want.
Currently my weight is 95 kilos or 210 pounds.
I’m between 5’11 and 6 foot (1.81 meters)
I train six days a week and I’ve been training legs 3 days a week in the last two months, upper body is just the regular back - biceps, chest - shoulders - triceps and so on.
I’ll highly appreciate the support and advices.
BTW I hope your able to see the images I uploaded.
I’d stop the bulk and cut calories. (no disrespect intended) You have very little muscle definition, no traps, no lat development, no delts, and aside from your legs, there is not any real evidence that you lift.
Do you deadlift, do pull-up or pull-downs? Overhead presses? Side and front raises for delts? Do you use barbells or dumbbells? How long do you rest between sets?
The more muscle you build, the more of a fat burning machine you will become. How’s your diet? Do you eat lots of clean protein?
First of all thanks for your reply.
I don’t deadlift much anymore, I’m not strong enough to do many sets of pulls ups. I do overhead press, yes, I also do side and front raises but no matter what looks like I’m not able to make my shoulders grow and it’s also hard for me to put size on my arms. I use both barbells and dumbells.
Two months ago I started to have almost no rest in between sets, focusing in circuits to reach complete failure.
Most of the time I eat chicken, rice, pasta, eggs and corn.
Just like my training I started a new diet two months ago:
Here it is:
First meal :10 egg whites, 300 grams of white rice, 250 milliliters of natural orange /mandarine juice.
Second meal: 10 egg whites, 1 cup of baking powder to cook hot cakes with the egg whtes.
Third meal: 300 grams of grinded meat. Here where I live it’s hard to get lean meat so I have no option but buy 80/20 grinded meat. 8 corn tortillas, 1 cucumber.
Forth meal: two scoops of whey protein, 150 grams of outmeal, 1 banana.
Fifth meal: 300 grams of chicken and broccoli.
BTW I didn’t realize I look that bloated until I took the pictures. I don’t look like that when I look in the mirror at the gym or the bathroom lol
Sounds like you have your diet dialed in pretty well.
I cant stress the big compound lifts enough. Deads, squats, and bench (dumbbell) (IMO, barbells put too much pressure on shoulders).
My personal philosophy is “the way to a smaller waist is a bigger back” You really need to work on your lat pulldowns to the point you can do pull-ups. Choose a neutral grip and do as many as you can, even if you have to go back between sets of other exercises to get some more reps in.
Deads are just the king of all exercises. Why dont you do them anymore? Injuries?
What is your lifting program like?
When you finish each lift and your spent do 15 more! But seriously you gotta get as much blood flow to the muscle group as possible. That’s it. Then eat and rest to recover. Supersets and dropsets are really helpful if you aim to push your limits.
So you think I should keep the diet program or should I make any modifications so I can start cutting. I’ve gained about 6 pounds since I started the diet plan and to be honest I feel really fat and I’d like to cut but I’m not sure on what’s the right amount of carbs I should be eating to cut and how much protein I should eat to lose the less muscle possible.
I don’t have any injuries, I just stopped the deadlifts and focused on other exercises.
My current training schedule is:
Day 1
Chest: 15 reps barbell flat bench press
15 reps incline bench press with barbell
15 incline bench press with dumbells
15 chest dips
I do 6 circuits of all of the above with almost no rest in between.
Shoulders: 15 reps of seated overhead press with barbell
15 lateral side raises with each hand
15 seated military shoulder press with barbell
15 Front raises with dumbell using both hands
Just like chest 6 circuits with no rest in between sets.
Biceps: 15 pull ups for biceps (I can barely complete 8 reps without stopping)
15 hammer curls with dumbell
15 preacher curls with barbell
15 biceps isolation machine (I’m not sure how is called)
6 circuits with no rest.
Day 2
Legs:
All exercises are performed with legs open focusing on quads
10 x squat machine (I don’t know how is called)
10 x hack squat
10 x Smith machine squat
10 x free weight squat
10 x front squat
8 circuits with no rest in between
Calves: 8 super sets of 30 reps each
Day 3:
Back:
6 circuits of 10 - 12 reps each set
Machine front lat pull downs
Seated rows with machine
Lat pull ups (I can barely do them)
Barbell rows
I do another 6 back circuits with the same rep range:
Barbell rows
Seated rows with machine
Reverse grip lat pull downs
Triceps:
6 circuits of 15 reps each exercise.
French press with both hands
Skill crushers
Close grip bench press with barbell
Dips
So, what do you guys think?
If I start cutting should I slow down a little and focus more on heavy lifts with less reps and more rest time?
Is it a good idea to not rest in between sets?
Is it a good idea to train legs 3 times a week?
Thanks a lot for taking time to respond.
Thanks for your reply.
According to my physique do you think is a good idea to train three or two times a week my shoulders and arms?
What would be the rep range and how many sets should I do per muscle if I want them to grow?
Should I modify the training schedule based on cutting or bulking phase?
No offense bud but your over complicating it. Your still a beginner and simply need to get a solid program in place and stick to it to get the results you want.
I’d shoot for around 175 carbs, 225 protein, and 40 fat.
Stick to oats, potatoes, rice, and sweet potato for carbs. Protein from eggs, egg whites,chicken, lean beef, white fish, fat free cottage cheese, and whey.
You’ll get your fat in through traces in other foods but if you ever need to add some go with nuts, flaxseed oil, cocunut oil, avocado
I’d start with your push muscles. Chest and triceps twice a week
Pull muscles. Biceps and back twice a week. Legs once a week.
Add shoulders in on any days that you want.
Some would say 20-25 sets per muscle group. But for real, you still have gas in the tank when you think your spent. Push through and kick ass when you lift. Do this consistently and eat right and you’ll make progress.
I agree with @studhammer. You got no business bulking. Cut the fat and lean up. Best of luck bro
Sounds like a pretty solid program. Have you considered a back day, leg day, chest day, and arms and shoulder day? It works for some. Maybe you are over training?
Maybe cut back on the morning hotcakes, and the tortillas. Do you do any cardio? I would suggest sprints, not long distance stuff. Sprint for 2 minutes, rest 1 minute and then do it again.
Edit:
@jackolee has great advice for your nutrition breakdown. Follow that.
I’m trap dominant. Lats and overall v taper were always my weak points. My coach put it simply. You gotta force the muscle to grow. Give it no other option. He said just add six sets of chin ups till failure at the end of every workout. I did this religiously for two months and ate well. My waste measurement has gone down .5 inches and chest/lats went up 2 inches and it’s crazy the resulting change in asthetic.
If you can’t do many chin ups put your feet in one of those super tight resistance bands. This will take like 50lbs off your weight. @patar1234
Yeah, I did weighted chins for years and it made my lats grow. The deads added thickness to my back.
You’ll get there @patar1234.
I agree with the other guys. What’s the weight of your main compaund lifts, do you allow for progressive overload? If you stick to that diet then the training must be the problem (which is the easiest part).
The time I tried training one muscle per day didn’t work for me. I felt almost no progress compared to when I train the muscle twice a week.
Probably I’m over training a bit, my legs seemed to get way bigger and harder with the new program but my upper body I’m dare to say it got worse.
I don’t do any cardio, so I’ll start doing it. Do to think three days per week is enough?
And yeah, I’ll stick to what jackolee said.
Thanks a lot for the help.
I’ll stick to the macros you said and I’ll hit the upper body muscles twice a week like you said too.
I’ll post progress in the following months so I hope I can get feedback from you guys.
I appreciate it a lot.
Diet is your biggest aid for fat loss. Think diet for fat loss, cardio to aid or but primarily for heart health, and lifting to shape the body.
Hey, bud.
Are you taking about 1 rep with maximum weight?
The plates I use are in kilos so I’ll give you an estimation it’s been a while since I did 1 rep with maximum weight tough…
Deadlift: 8 plates of 20 kilos which is about 352 pounds.
Squat: my squat is pretty weak for my size.
About 200 pounds
Bench: 200 pounds
Shoulder press: I don’t know. I don’t usually lift heavy on shoulders since I’m afraid to get an injury there.
To be honest I don’t even know what progress overload is.
Thanks a lot. I’ll keep that in mind and I’ll make it happen.
I have three last questions.
What would be the ideal amount of reps per set, how much should I rest between sets and should I slowly reach the macros mark you said or just from one day to another should I cut the calories?
Progressive overload is basically progressively adding more work load to the exercise eg. Weight, reps ect.
If you are a beginner you can still do everything wrong and make gains. Sounds like you already know what to do, just need to put in time and consistency which many people don’t