Time to change goals?

[uclaLabrat]

I started lifting pretty consistently back in august. I had a friend who was pretty serious into weight training and was able to give me advice on squat, deadlift, press, cleans, etc. and that really eliminated the nervousness I had about going into the gym and doing all the lifts completely wrong (well, my clean is still atrocious). Anyway, I started with the goal of cutting down to about 15% BF, since I was about 23% at the time as measured by my bathroom scale using bioimpedance. I'm 6'7 and weighed about 242 when I started.

After a couple months my weight was going down a bit, then in mid october I got the flu and that hampered my gym going pretty consistently til about after the holidays when I finally had enough energy to get back into it. So now, I'm down to 228-230, and my scale says I'm about 20% BF, give or take. I decided to see how accurate my scale was last night and calibrated that BF to my BF measured by the navy circumference method. According to that, (Waist 37" and neck 17") I'm between 14.5-15.7% body fat.

Problem is, I look maybe a tiny bit more defined then when I started, and I've made some decent beginning gains in strength, but should I continue trying to cut or should I switch to bulking at this point? I've tried to aim for about 2600 cal/day, and eating fairly cleanly (some days better than others). The problem is my lifts have kinda stalled out, and at pretty weak levels. I DL 185x3, BP 185x4, Press 115x5, and my squat has actually declined a bit from 205x3 to 185 x 3. What do the gurus say?

 

[brikis98]

It really depends on what you are interested in. Appearance or Fitness? That is, are you training just to look good or because you want to improve your ability to do stuff?

 

[Deeko]

What is your current lifting schedule like? The difference between bulking/cutting is largely one of diet, you should be doing the same lifts regardless. If you're stalling at those weights (especially with your bench being ahead of your squat and deadlift) you probably need a change in your program.

 

[uclaLabrat]

I usually alternate between 2 workouts, 3 days/week

A:
Squat: warmup w/ bar 2x 10
1 x10 95lbs
2x 6 135 lbs
2 x 3 185 or 205

Press: warmup w/ bar 2 x 10
2 x 6 95 lbs
2 x 5 115 lbs

Cable rows: warmup 85 lbs 2 x 10
2 x 7 150 lbs
2 x 5 180 lbs

Pullups and dips:
3 x F, usually with about a 70 lb weight assist.

B:
Squat: warmup w/ bar 2x 10
1 x10 95lbs
2x 6 135 lbs
2 x 3 185 or 205

Bench: warmup w/ bar, 2 x 10
2 x 8 135
2 x 4 185

Barbell Row:
2 x 8 95
2 x 5 135

tricep extension: 4 x 7 90 lbs
barbell curl: 4 x 7 70 lbs

I try to throw in dead lift once a week. If I do I go a bit easier on squats, like only one heavy set instead of 2.

For cardio after my workout I hit the treadmill for 10-20 min, 11% incline at 4.0 or 4.1. Daytime workouts on the weekend I'll cut that a bit short and go run my dog a bit.

 

[uclaLabrat]

It really depends on what you are interested in. Appearance or Fitness? That is, are you training just to look good or because you want to improve your ability to do stuff?

Mostly appearance, but a little bit of both. I've always had a bit of pudge on my stomach that I've always wanted to get rid of, and I've always wanted to be able to bench my body weight. My chest and shoulders look alright, but my midsection has always carried more than I want (whose hasn't?).

 

[brikis98]

Mostly appearance, but a little bit of both. I've always had a bit of pudge on my stomach that I've always wanted to get rid of, and I've always wanted to be able to bench my body weight. My chest and shoulders look alright, but my midsection has always carried more than I want (whose hasn't?).

If appearance is the primary concern, then it depends on what you look like now. Are you still carrying around a bunch of fat? Or are you fairly thin and just need to add muscle?

In terms of performance, the trade off is that while you cut, your progress will be slower on strength. When you bulk, strength should go up very quickly. As for the routine, it seems you are in the beginner stages, so sticking with Starting Strength (get the book if you don't have it already) or Stronglifts 5x5 is a good choice. It looks like your routine is pretty close, although I'd swap out the cable rows for deadlift and consider doing 3x5 for your work sets.

 

[uclaLabrat]

If appearance is the primary concern, then it depends on what you look like now. Are you still carrying around a bunch of fat? Or are you fairly thin and just need to add muscle?

In terms of performance, the trade off is that while you cut, your progress will be slower on strength. When you bulk, strength should go up very quickly. As for the routine, it seems you are in the beginner stages, so sticking with Starting Strength (get the book if you don't have it already) or Stronglifts 5x5 is a good choice. It looks like your routine is pretty close, although I'd swap out the cable rows for deadlift and consider doing 3x5 for your work sets.

True. I guess my main concerns are two-fold: a) which BF measurement do you think is the most accurate? Do you think I'm closer to 15% or 20% based on the two methods, and b) if I'm at 15%, do you think I should try a bulk phase now and cut again later to get down to around 10-12%, or cut down a bit more and bulk, then cut again?

I think the most efficient way is probably to bulk soon, then cut again.

 

[brikis98]

True. I guess my main concerns are two-fold: a) which BF measurement do you think is the most accurate? Do you think I'm closer to 15% or 20% based on the two methods

Both of those are probably inaccurate, so there is no way I can just guess. The gold standard of bf% measurements is hydrostatic testing, but that's expensive and inconvenient. The next best bet is typically a skin fold test with calipers, which you can do at home cheaply, but it is pretty easy to screw up.

Your best bet is to make a judgment call (or post pics of yourself here and we'll decide for you). Some things to consider:

* If you are already carrying more fat on your body than you are comfortable with appearance wise, bulking will only make that worse, as you will gain muscle AND fat during a bulk.

* On the other hand, if you have little muscle mass, bulking may improve your appearance even if it adds fat. Guys with plenty of muscle mass can carry extra weight a lot better (appearance wise) than scrawny guys. Obviously, adding muscle mass will help you gain strength a lot faster and will help future weight loss efforts.