Background: I'm 35 years old, 172cm (~5'8") and am currently at about 67kg (~148lbs), eating between 2800-3000 (40% protein, 35% carb, 25% fat) calories a day.
Context:
I basically do 2 sets per exercise to failure. Below's my routine:
I know that I'm going to lose some muscle mass after my jaw surgery but I would really like to make some progress towards achieving my goal. There are some questions that I still do not know the answers to or have doubts so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Context:
- I used to be pretty scrawny (skinny-fat in fact) before I started on my fitness journey
- I have been hitting the gym for a few years but only took it seriously in the second half of 2023 by going 4-5 times a week religiously and trying to push myself to failure.
- I have however noticed that I plateaued for a few months now.
- My goal is to achieve a lean physique (image here for reference).
- I used to maintain a weight of 57-60kg (125-132lbs) but for some reason the belly fat just stuck with me which was the main reason why I decided to start bulking
- I realized sleep is really critical and something that I unfortunately do not have the luxury of. I have been diagnosed with Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome - which basically interrupts my sleep where I wake up multiple times through the night. I am in the midst of getting double jaw surgery to fix this.
- Bulking hasn't been easy. As someone who has been skinny all his life, I lose weight so much more easily than gaining weight and it always bums me to see my weight fall back a few kilos/pounds after eating what I thought was a crazy day of meals. But, slow and easy - after some months of really forcing myself to eat, I've seen my weight increased steadily.
- I learn a lot from fitness content online but because it's so saturated and often times, it's common to hear a person say one thing, and another person contradict - so there's been a lot of trial-and-error on my end. I can only say there's no one-size-fit-all solution and until today, it's still a learning process and I still consider myself fairly new to the fitness world - hence why I started this thread to see if I can get some advice to achieving my goal.
- Leg days were non-existent for me until this year when I started doing it at least once a week.
I basically do 2 sets per exercise to failure. Below's my routine:
- 1x Leg Day
- Leg Press
- Leg Extension
- Seated Leg Curl
- Calf Raise
- 2x Push Day
- Chest Press Machine (image for ref)
- Pec Deck / Chest Fly Machine
- Incline Chest Press Machine
- Shoulder Press Machine [Neutral Grip]
- Cable Lateral Raise (ref for form) -- I switch to DB if machine is occupied
- Rear Delt Machine
- Tricep Press Machine
- 2x Pull Day
- Lat Pulldown (Medium Grip Neutral)
- Cable Pulldown (Straight Bar)
- Chest Supported T-Bar Row
- Single-Arm Seated Cable Row (D-Handle)
- Bicep Curl Machine (image for ref)
- Single-Arm Preacher Dumbbell Curl
- Single-Arm Preacher Hammer Curl
I know that I'm going to lose some muscle mass after my jaw surgery but I would really like to make some progress towards achieving my goal. There are some questions that I still do not know the answers to or have doubts so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
- BULKING/CUTTING TO ACHIEVE GOAL PHYSIQUE (image for ref): Given my height, what would be the rough weight and body fat I should be looking at when it comes to achieving a lean physique like that? I have bulked a substantial 7-10kg over the course of several months and this is my current body. I have seen people suggesting to bulk until you feel disgusted looking at yourself, which I already am (lol) but being new to the bulking-cutting cycle, I'm quite at a loss at what to do. Do I continue to bulk? When do I stop and start to cut? And when do I know when to stop cutting too?
- EFFECTS OF CUTTING: I think I've seen mixed responses on this but do you lose strength while cutting? Should you be maintaining your weights at the gym while cutting or is it common to decrease the weights? I had never understood this but if your strength really does shrink, then are you not technically in a loop of cutting and bulking without seeing any improvement since you shrink in strength while cutting and gain while bulking? I know I'm definitely wrong somewhere here!
- OPINION ON ROUTINE: Any general critique or opinions to improving my routine, I would also be grateful. In trying to achieve my goal physique, one thing I noticed I lack sorely is a V-taper back to give that 'illusion' of a lean physique. However, I've struggled to grow my lats for awhile now or they are not as prominent as I would like them to be. You will also notice most of my exercises are machine-based which I'm more inclined towards because of the stability.
- PROGRESS IN GYM: As I've plateaued awhile now, I've always wondered how long everyone takes before they move on to the next weight (i.e. increase by 5lbs) although I know this is quite subjective. While I had obvious, noticeable growth at the start, I used to think this would be the case where I could continue to increase the weights at the same rate but this has proven to be untrue with the plateau. I am now trying out a method where I will aim to hit all my sets within the 8-10 rep range. If I can do 10, I move up to the next weight. If I can do 8-9, I maintain, and any lesser, I move down to the next weight.