@thecrocoduck Honestly I think you have a lot of room for improvement in those lifts. Something like Texas Method would be a good way to bump them all up. For example 1/2/3/4 plate for 5 reps would be a good target in the short term, then you can try increase the volume or intensity again from there. To take one of your lifts, 185x5 bench is pretty damn small and certainly explains why you would be lacking chest mass. Add 40lb to that for reps and you will see growth.
The reason online calculators say you are intermediate would be because you are pretty light weight, most people who look good at 5'11" have another 20lb+ on you when lean. Meaning you probably want to bulk up 35lb+ or so to get that requisite mass in before cutting.
@javafiend Thanks. Yeah I'm definitely looking to get stronger since that is the key to getting bigger. I was just frustrated by my lifts not getting much stronger despite focusing on progressive overload and eating at a surplus. Sounds like I should try a new routine
@thecrocoduck You probably need to bulk for longer and focus on strength, at least initially. Honestly if you bulked until you could rep 1/2/3/4 plate you will probably have to add a fair chunk of muscle. I do recommend Texas Method.
@thecrocoduck The one thing that I think needs to be mentioned is what you were eating during your bulk and your cut. It doesn't sound like you were counting macros and might have been using an intuitive approach to your diet. You could always try using a macro calculator to find out how much food your body really needs in order to develop nice lean muscle. That way your next bulk won't result in more fat than muscle. The same would happen with your next cut; resulting in more fat loss than muscle loss. Just something to think about.
@mehek Oh no, I was definitely counting macros. This cut I kept fat at 20%, protein is at least 140g and the rest is carbs. The bulk was basically the same but protein was often a little higher
@thecrocoduck I took the liberty of putting some of your info into a macro calculator (e.g. your weight and height). I don't know your age so I used mine (22) and I don't know if your male or female so I used male since I am. Using a very active lifestyle factor it gave me the following macros. p-237g c355g f-88g. Also, this is for a bulk. Maybe try those numbers out to see if it makes a difference in your body composition. I started using a macro calc for my mini cut 2 months ago and now I'm using it to slowly bulk over the summer and I like the results that I've been getting.
@mehek Thanks for doing that. Unfortunately, I've found that my metabolism/maintenance calories is lower than all the calculators tell me, which sucks bc I LOVE food haha. I'm 28, 5'11", 165lbs, male. I was consistently gaining weight at 2500 calories, and my cutting calories is 1800, which is supposedly my BMR. If I go higher, weight loss is too slow.
@thecrocoduck First of all, training frequency > training volume. Especially for natural bodybuilders training muscles frequently(at least twice a week) and progressive overload is the key to gain muscle. Focus on getting stronger on the compounds while eating in a caloric surplus.
Also a 4 month bulk is too short. You can't expect to make allot of gains if you don't bulk for at least 8 months. I've been lean bulking for almost a year now, and really seeing some good progress without gaining allot of fat. My weight(I'm 6'3'') went from 190lbs to 210lbs. My bench went from 1RM 215lbs to 300lbs, squat 315lbs to 405lbs and deadlifts from 365lbs to 500lbs.
If you go 3x a week, I would suggest a fullbody workout routine. You won't get as much volume in probably, but trust me, frequency over volume. Together with progressive overload and eating in a surplus, you'll be making all kinds of gainz. All kindz...
@dk00 So, when hitting muscles 2x a week... What if I only do 3 sets of rows, or something, each time I 'hit back?' I always feel the need for 5 day splits because I can't get a muscle group to feel exhausted with fewer than 8 or 10 sets.
Like, is the point really just to provide a nominal stimulus frequently? It's starting to look like that is the case based on research I have seen.
@paulamarie Well 6 sets of back per week is pretty low volume. Assuming an average of around 10 reps per set, you're looking at 60 reps per week. If you're doing something like a 3x5 day 1 and a 3x8 day 2, you have only 39 reps per week. That's pretty low for most regardless of frequency.
@thecrocoduck The whole bulking and cutting thing is foolish. There is no need whatsoever to get fat in the offseason. Is being 5% bodyfat optimal for gaining muscle? Absolutely not. But if you're going above 14% you're doing something wrong diet / cardio wise. In terms of training, there are 3 variables: volume, intensity and frequency. Low volume, high intensity and moderate frequency is the way forward for most lifters.
