Alright lads, ive been training consistently for 6 months, i started at 215 pounds and im down to 187, ive been in a constant caloric deficit and will continue to stay in one until i get lower body fat levels. up until now ive been milking 3 x a week fullbody program. for the first 4 months at least.
The last 2 months ive done 2 cycles of 5/3/1 but now all my lifts have stalled and im having trouble recovering between workouts due to my caloric deficit.
Im wondering could anybody recommend to me a program/type of program that would suit me, my end goal is to be leaner and more muscular, however right now i still need to be in a deficit until i loose around another 25 ish pounds.
could anybody help me out please?
male
187 pound
25ish bf?
33yr
sedentary apart from my workouts
When you say your lifts have stalled in 2 cycles of 5/3/1, what do you mean exactly?
You shouldn’t even be close to your true max by that point. Did you get an accurate training max to start with?
I ask these questions because 5/3/1 is my usual go to for someone looking for a routine due to how modifiable it can be. If you’re stalling on THAT program, I don’t really know what you could do.
Yeah if you stalled after 2 cycles youve done something wrong.
Also you dont need to be in a deficit to lose weight, ‘calories in calories’ out is an outdated paradigm. Look up carb cycling and some beradi articles
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I ask these questions because 5/3/1 is my usual go to for someone looking for a routine due to how modifiable it can be. If you’re stalling on THAT program, I don’t really know what you could do.[/quote]
What he said.
To me, first thing that jumped to my mind was your caloric deficit. Sounds like you might not have stalled but just aren’t recovering properly because you’re not getting enough food. Eat more.
Are you focusing on max strength, as 5/3/1 is known for, and fat loss simultaneously? I have never done this but with my body type exercising for strength would not be possible without tons and tons of food, quality food mind you, and I barely gain any weight, though i lift primarily for strength and care not much for hypertrophy. It seems you have many goals, which is good, but fat loss/muscle gain/strength gain all optimized at one time is extremely difficult.
You should check out Chad Waterbury’s book Huge in a Hurry. This book was golden for me when I worked for hypertrophy and it never failed to build quick, quality, lean muscle all over the body. He also has a workout called Get Lean in the book, which he recommends anyone trying lose fat start with, because it’s easier shed fat THEN build muscle, rather than vise versa.
All the workouts in the book are 3x a week full body workouts, utilizing mostly compound movements. Plus the science behind his methods are solid and concise for optimal training performance tailored to specific goals. Check him out on T-Nation. He has posted much of worth
[quote]RampantBadger wrote:
Yeah if you stalled after 2 cycles youve done something wrong.
Also you dont need to be in a deficit to lose weight, ‘calories in calories’ out is an outdated paradigm. Look up carb cycling and some beradi articles[/quote]
I strongly disagree with this. It may or may not work or someone with plenty of experience manipulating their diet, but a beginner has no hope in hell of pulling off a diet strategy like this.
OP, describe your last 2 cycles of 5/3/1 please, what sets/rep did you use?
[quote]flippyg wrote:
You should check out Chad Waterbury’s book Huge in a Hurry. This book was golden for me when I worked for hypertrophy and it never failed to build quick, quality, lean muscle all over the body. He also has a workout called Get Lean in the book, which he recommends anyone trying lose fat start with, because it’s easier shed fat THEN build muscle, rather than vise versa.