Help Needed

[Richiep1032]

afternoon all,

I wondered if you would be so kind as to help me out with my query.

I am 29 years old, 6ft 1 and have been working out consistently this year and keeping my nutrition 90% clean. I weighed myself earlier this week and am weighing in at 196lbs. This is the lightest I have been for ages, people are starting to make comments that I am looking skinny and that my head is beginning to look like a lollypop.

I want to start bulking but have been told not to consider a bulk until my body fat is 10%. I have attached a link to a picture that i took the day i weighed myself. The machine I used that day estimated me to be 17% body fat, would you guys/girls say that estimation was correct?

Any replies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Richie.

[stronglikewood]

If you haven't been lifting, then start doing that and train to get stronger whilst keeping a good diet most of the time.

[Richiep1032]

Quote

If you haven't been lifting, then start doing that and train to get stronger whilst keeping a good diet most of the time.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

At the beginning of the year i weighed 226lbs, I have been taking this seriously since September where i started to get a plan together. I have now lost the weight but as you can see i have zero muscle under all the fat. I just wanted a some advice on what i should do. When you say start lifting to get stronger, shall i look at heavy compound lifts, 5 sets of 5 reps? Surely if i do that, then for the muscle to grow i will need to start eating more?

Sorry to sound like ignorant, but i'm pretty clueless when it comes to this.

Regards,

Rich.

[Hector]

Look at the SL 5x5 program. And yes you'll need to eat about 500cals above your maintenance of good food and hopefully you'll see your strength and in turn your muscle mass increase. Slow and steady seems to be the key to growing without putting down too much fat.

[Richiep1032]

Quote

Look at the SL 5x5 program. And yes you'll need to eat about 500cals above your maintenance of good food and hopefully you'll see your strength and in turn your muscle mass increase. Slow and steady seems to be the key to growing without putting down too much fat.

Thanks Hector, I appreciate you taking time to reply. I look into it and give it a go.

Regards,

Rich.

[tony4100]

Good progress with the fat loss. I did a similar thing, started training and lost a load of fat but because I was eating less did not put on much muscle. The skinny look was not a good one, but needed to be done!

Now eat 500ish calories over maintenance (3100) on training days and a bit less (2300) on rest days.

I follow the 5x5 programme, really simple compound lifts and I thoroughly enjoy it.

[stronglikewood]

If you're new to lifting then just by eating anything and adding a weights routine will lead to muscle gain (as long as you get stronger). I've been training with a complete beginner for about 6 months now. His bodyweight has stayed the same yet he's got a lot stronger and bigger without altering anything in his diet. So no, at first you don't need to add more food to bulk up as such. Start doing a weights routine and get stronger on it and watch what happens to your body. Eventually you will plateau, and then may need to start adding more calories. For the record I have my friend doing more or less what I do in my training diary which each week means he does-

Monday- Back/legs
Tuesday- Chest/arms
Rest
Thursday- Back/legs
Friday- Shoulders/arms

Sometimes he'll just do legs once per week as it takes a lot out of you recovery wise (same for me most of the time). Sometimes we'll do chest twice too, or arms once.. But the template above is the basis of what we do. We stick to 8+ reps generally too. It's easier to train like this if you have someone know what they're doing, otherwise you are best getting started with a solid full body routine like 5x5 which atleast shows you how to get stronger, though there is nothing wrong with diving straight into a split body part routine like above.

[Richiep1032]

Quote

Good progress with the fat loss. I did a similar thing, started training and lost a load of fat but because I was eating less did not put on much muscle. The skinny look was not a good one, but needed to be done!

Now eat 500ish calories over maintenance (3100) on training days and a bit less (2300) on rest days.

I follow the 5x5 programme, really simple compound lifts and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Thanks for your reply, it's reassuring that other people have been in my position before. I agree the skinny look is not good. My wife started to call me lolly pop head, Ha!

I'll take into consideration the increase in calories, should i keep away from Carbs after 6pm?

[Richiep1032]

Quote

If you're new to lifting then just by eating anything and adding a weights routine will lead to muscle gain (as long as you get stronger). I've been training with a complete beginner for about 6 months now. His bodyweight has stayed the same yet he's got a lot stronger and bigger without altering anything in his diet. So no, at first you don't need to add more food to bulk up as such. Start doing a weights routine and get stronger on it and watch what happens to your body. Eventually you will plateau, and then may need to start adding more calories. For the record I have my friend doing more or less what I do in my training diary which each week means he does-

Monday- Back/legs
Tuesday- Chest/arms
Rest
Thursday- Back/legs
Friday- Shoulders/arms

Sometimes he'll just do legs once per week as it takes a lot out of you recovery wise (same for me most of the time). Sometimes we'll do chest twice too, or arms once.. But the template above is the basis of what we do. We stick to 8+ reps generally too. It's easier to train like this if you have someone know what they're doing, otherwise you are best getting started with a solid full body routine like 5x5 which atleast shows you how to get stronger, though there is nothing wrong with diving straight into a split body part routine like above.

I'll have to get myself a training partner, it sounds like your friend has really benefitted from your help. I'm going to have a read of the 5x5 stronglifts tonight and have a think about my routine. Thanks again for your help.

Rich.

[asoe209]

where you based rich?

stronglikewood is right when you starting lifting you will start to gaini size. When i started I blew up pretty fast but in saying that my diet was not on point then so its almost as if I was dirty bulking with out knowing lol. but you will gain size and strength, I would say i continued to add size for about 6-8 months before things changed.

good luck.