Which Direction to Go?


Currently I weigh 181 pounds and I’m 5’11" tall. My bench routine is 12x 185, 8x 205, 6x 225, 8x 205 and 12x 185- all in pounds. My squats are terrible, my max is around 275lbs and my max for dead lift is 405lbs. I’m guessing my body fat is somewhere between 13% and 15%. Based in my stats and my pics do you guys think I should bulk or cut?

I’m cutting right now, but I was thinking that if I decided to bulk that i might be able to burn off around 7% body fat but I’m not sure.

What do you want to look like ultimately? Not this summer, but 5+ years from now.

another pic

I want to get up to around 200 pounds with around 5% body fat, so i want to get pretty big.

200 5%=195 lbs LBM 5 lbs fat
181 13= 157.5 lbs LBM 23.5 lbs fat

When you look at numbers what do you think is going to take more time and requires more effort? Here’s what I see…

Gaining roughly 40 lbs of muscle would take 2-3+ YEARS of serious dedication. Losing 18 lbs of fat would take 6-10 WEEKS.

[quote]Scott M wrote:
200 5%=195 lbs LBM 5 lbs fat
181 13= 157.5 lbs LBM 23.5 lbs fat

When you look at numbers what do you think is going to take more time and requires more effort? Here’s what I see…

Gaining roughly 40 lbs of muscle would take 2-3+ YEARS of serious dedication. Losing 18 lbs of fat would take 6-10 WEEKS. [/quote]

actually 200 5%=190 lbs LBM 10 lbs fat

Well actually I’m doing the Body For Life Challenge, and the round starts in Feb. So maybe I bust my ass these next few months and cut the excess fat I have, then start to bulk when the round stars.

I would say cut first, maintain the leaness for awhile to allow your body to adjust, then slowly bulk from there on. At least if you cut some fat now, and you go astray on your bulk later on, you will have some room to work with and make the proper adjustments. If you don’t establish a good cut method for yourself now, when it comes time to actually do it, and you are sitting at about 18% bodyfat, you may be like fuck, where do I begin? Plus, if you cut now, and clean bulk, you may not even have to cut again in the future, and if you do, it may only be a slight cut, say 2-3% bodyfat instead of a possible 10%.

[quote]ReklaW wrote:

actually 200 5%=190 lbs LBM 10 lbs fat
[/quote]

Sorry I haven’t taken a math course in a few years haha. Either way that doesn’t change where his focus should be if his long term goal is to be a relatively large muscular individual.

[quote]football061 wrote:
I would say cut first, maintain the leaness for awhile to allow your body to adjust, then slowly bulk from there on. At least if you cut some fat now, and you go astray on your bulk later on, you will have some room to work with and make the proper adjustments. If you don’t establish a good cut method for yourself now, when it comes time to actually do it, and you are sitting at about 18% bodyfat, you may be like fuck, where do I begin? Plus, if you cut now, and clean bulk, you may not even have to cut again in the future, and if you do, it may only be a slight cut, say 2-3% bodyfat instead of a possible 10%.[/quote]

Thats exactly what i was thinking of doing, so i guess i’ll start cutting and thanks guys for all the info, i’ll post progress pics later.

But what if you do a cutter bulker, and then bulk after your cut, then add some butter on your culker, butt culk, culk butt, cut bulk. :wink:

This cutting and bulking stuff is insane really man. You just need to train hard a nd progressive, eat enough to support growth and use other means to stay lean. When I say size should be your priority I in no way shape or form am suggesting you get fat. Anyone who tells you that you can’t gain significant size without getting fat is either lying, selling you something(which means they are lying), or doesn’t know what they are doing.

If you rotate your carbs around workout days and do cardio all the while pounding down the protein and training to become a human fork lift in the gym do you think by some chance you won’t be muscular and still lean?

I didn’t even notice the body for life part. Look up Joel Marion who’s an author on this site and follow his lead.