Seems like he feels that he is not seeing any physical change in his body composition, but by the fact that his lifts are going up, he is gaining muscle but also fat.
Lower surplus will lead to slower gains, of muscle and fat so maybe a slower approach in bulking and cutting could show OP that his body is changing albeit slowly.
Also, I have no answer to my questions so everything I said in this comment are just assumptions with no bases and could be completely off.
@daughteroftheonetrueking Doesn't look like a great diet to me tbh. Of the people I know who have a lot of muscle, they eat quite differently than this.
A lot of exercises seen quote low rep. Are you really getting good stimulus with these reps ? When I wanted to compete I needed a big kick up the hole about my training. I did not train well. Often I see people follow like an 8-10 rep range and they are stopping short of failure. When I tell people 10 reps for a top set, it's because there have been several higher rep warm up sets first. The muscle is already taxed and those final 10 reps is literally all it can do.
Your total calories aren't very high,sure they may be high for some people, but depending on your lifestyle this could be too little. I start my contest preps on more calories than this lol.
@daughteroftheonetrueking Another thing I just realized OP, if your sample meal plan is accurate (which honestly I highly doubt) 46% of your protein is from non animal sources (and not good non animal sources like peas and soy). I think not only are you not eating enough protein, you're not eating enough high quality protein.
I also seriously doubt the protein numbers you listed here for the foods you listed.
@greyowl Alright, I'll make a note. I thought all protein sources were similar that's why I focused mostly on targeting just my daily protein requirements. As for the protein numbers I listed, they're actually from MyFitnessPal.
@daughteroftheonetrueking Your rep ranges are geared more towards strength training than hypertrophy. You'll want to hang out in the 10-20 rep range pushing 3 RIR -1 on a weekly progressive basis.
@pastorjeremylove The meal plan has enough protein, consider the volume.
And what do you mean long rests? If anything he is resting too little. Upwards of 3 minute is perfectly fine on a size focused program, and he is out here resting 1:15 on some exercises.
@daughteroftheonetrueking I would obtain a hormone panel and see where you stand. If your hormones are not optimized, none of the suggested adjustments would make a considerable difference.
@daughteroftheonetrueking You bulked and cut for 6 months. If you spend the same amount of time losing as you do gaining, then you're going to get similar results. If you bulk the same amount over a full year, then try and cut it much more quickly, you can start bulking again much sooner than 6 months post bulk
@daughteroftheonetrueking Sugar prevents you from absorbing nutrients because it spikes your insulin makes you store fat instead of using it as fuel to feed your muscles. I suggest to completely remove all sugary processed food and replace them with natural food. Stack on rice, sweet potatoes and lean proteins. Pop tarts would probably be the last thing you need.
@redhossman Insulin is literally the delivery system of nutrients to your body, it spikes to deliver the food eaten to the correct places, only when it continues to spike over extremely long periods of time Before the insulin has left the system does insulin resistance occur which then will make you store more fat. You are confusing concepts and should do more research and learning before giving advice on things you don’t properly understand. Eating sugar or any other carb source (rice also spikes your insulin) won’t make you insulin resistant, over eating them will. The only real issue with sugar is it spikes and crashes quickly making you hungry quicker but if you track food and control your calorie intake it’s literally not an issue at all. I advise you to Google “what is insulin” and read before telling people that an insulin spike will make people store food as fat instead of muscle when insulins literal job is to transport glucose to the needed cells.
@daughteroftheonetrueking It's a huge red flag that you don't comment on the progress of your lifts anywhere (unless I missed it).
The formula for bulking is not "go to the gym" + "caloric surplus". It is "make progress on lifts that is enabled by a surplus". This requires careful tracking and experimenting with volume and intensity.
If you're not making adequate progress during your bulk that is what you need to focus on.
I didn't read your diet but I'm skeptical of people jumping to that. I think it's rare for people to make zero progress because of their diet, assuming they are in a surplus at all.
@johnlxyz Oh, I included a table in the question with my progression on my main barbell lifts. If you're on mobile, it may be showing as "View Table". I've also updated the diet with the protein amount next to each item and their totals, if you want to look at it too.
@daughteroftheonetrueking I do calisthenics. I'm literally your weight and height and I stopped gaining at this point. My diet is similar to yours. Protein is there but not in adequate amounts for sure.
The difference is I enjoy life, I found that clean protein diet makes me very cranky and miserable, although it makes me stronger.
But it turns out that throwing this bodyweight around like crazy is not that difficult. I'd even loose 10lbs to get some skill work done easier.
@daughteroftheonetrueking The reason why nothing is happening is bc you have no business cutting at this point. You are small as shit at 135lbs. Cutting and bulking is used to fine tune an already established physique.
