You could also have a look at the “Lean Gains” guy’s site. He advocates an approach that I suspect to be healthier than bulking and cutting. You may find something useful there.
If anything, 5/3/1 produces a very methodical, if not downright slow, set of strength gains. You don’t need to worry about over-working your body on it. I’m 44 and used it to reach an approx. intermediate level of performance (eg. 2x bodyweight dead). Super legit & well paced to avoid overuse injury. Eat more & lift stupid heavy when it’s time (which is not all the time on 5/3/1). Consistency over the long haul gets things done and 5/3/1 provides an excellent method for us older, patient folk.
I know how you feel. I was once an “ectomorph” or as i now like to call them “under eaters, trainers and sleepers”. I joke. At the weight your at now the last thing you need to do is over complicate things. The bets program ive ever used is one of christian thibaudeaus older programs. It can be a 5 or 6 day splits which is split into: Push days, pull days and leg days. Rotating those round over the week. so for a 5 days splits you would do push, pull, leg, push, pull.
Each day you do only 2 main exercises and one assitance. reps scheme for main is 3x6, 3x3 and the rep scheme for assitance is simply 4x8…
Push: push press, bench, Dips
Pull: deadlift, high pull, Pendlay row
Legs: Squats, leg press, lunges
Nail the diet and really pound these basic exercise until ur properly strong and the weigth will come wth it.
Hope this helps
8 months later: my strength has gone up, but size hasnt changed much.
In case anyone is interested in another perspective, here’s christian thibeaus take on it.
[quote]ns182 wrote:
Perhaps my title miscommunicated my intention. I realize my diet is not for bulking. Its for general nutrition, and I hope the nutrient dense food keeps me healthy enough to rock climb & kayak w/ my grandkids in 30 years. I’m not sure if pork steaks for every meal, while I’d surely enjoy it, would leave me in that great of shape.
[/quote]
Your original post says you want to “maximize mass” but here you say you’re not trying to bulk. What exactly do you mean?
[quote]ns182 wrote:
8 months later: my strength has gone up, but size hasnt changed much.
In case anyone is interested in another perspective, here’s christian thibeaus take on it.
LOL…Lets see what the train more/eat more crowd has to say.
BTW awesome responses by CT.
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
LOL…Lets see what the train more/eat more crowd has to say.
[/quote]
Well the train more/eat more crowd vastly outnumber the rest, so they must be right…right?
[quote]ns182 wrote:
8 months later: my strength has gone up, but size hasnt changed much.
In case anyone is interested in another perspective, here’s christian thibeaus take on it.
For the life of me I can’t imagine walking around with a couple 45 lb plates is going to build more muscle than standard bodybuilding exercises. I’m no expert but I’ll pass.
I add loaded carries after workouts…like DB farmer walks or suitcase carries or whatever. Fantastic finisher and leaves me feeling very refereshed. Plus the pump I get in all my stabalizer muscles is pretty sweet.
3 sets of 30 second or 30 yard carries takes no time at all.
Just in case anyone is looking at this for long term changes…
Spring '13: original post
2013: Some Crossfit which raised my definition of effort to higher standards, but spent most of the year w/ 5/3/1 BBB. Strength rose, weight rose a little to 170ish.
Winter '13-14: Found out I have Celiac disease, became strict gluten free.
Summer 14: moved from 5/3/1 strength emphasis to high volume push-pull-legs split. Jumped to 184 (fat stayed low, good progress). Could be getting clean from Celiac or two phases of intensification followed by accumulation phase… The two happened at once, so hard to tell.
Fall 15: frustrated with my falling strength, moved back to lower volume, higher strength work.
Since then, my strength has risen an fallen with no corresponding weight change. Ex. strength rose to 425 deadlift, but weight dropped to 175…
Currently stay in upper 170s. Program ADD (or as Christian Thibaudeau calls it Problem Solver Psychological Profile, which I feel less guilty about) may be contributing to lack of further gains, but being able to balance respectable strength & athletic capability, sustainable health now at 41, I’m fairly content with my situation.
Thanks to all those who help each other out there!
From reading your post, I think you should be worrying about your diet much more than training. If you haven’t increased weight over 171 after 15 years, it’s your diet not workouts that are lacking. Here are some tips to increase calories without feeling like you will explode!
-add olive oil to shakes or salads for a big calorie boost, most of my fat macros come from this!
-Powdered brown rice baby food - I used to add this to shakes for over 140g carbs per shake, and much easier to get down than the equivalent carbs in 1 cup of rice. You can find this product with no milk additives and very near the same macros as brown rice. Make sure the ingredients are very basic, these products can very from great to terrible so be careful
-Grinding up quick-oats and adding them to shakes
-Avocados for fat cals in shakes
-Drinking liquid egg whites with your meal. I commonly eat 1.5 cup raw egg whites with a baked sweet potato or a cup of brown rice for a meal if I am not hungry enough to add say a chicken breast to my carbs. This has been my biggest saving grace calorie wise.
-Using a plazma or a similar product to get those calories in your periworkout nutrition.
-When bulking, I go to bed at midnight. I always put a shake with protein powder and olive oil on my bedside table, because I inevitably wake up during the night and when I do I chug this shake. This helps me hit 8-9 meals a day. You could even get in two shakes during the night if you were so inclined.
I have used this tips to hit 4500-5000 cals when bulking, and I am a guy who has a hard time getting clean food down. When cutting eating around 2500 cals I feel comfortable and don’t really crave much more. If I didn’t bodybuild I would never exceed 3k cals in a day by choice. These tips have really helped a small appetite guy such as myself and can help you too!