Should I cut or recomp? Or continue to bulk?

[taderbutt]

I'm 5'6 1/2 and 150 lbs. Been bulking on and off and training for a year now. I am wanting to cut as my BMI is high, but not sure if it's the best idea. What would you recommend? I also have a lot of extra skin on my stomach, since I was once 180lbs. I know I'll never lose that extra skin, but I always see it as fat.

I generally walk around 10,000-20,000 steps a day, and I'm aiming to do more higher intensity cardio in the gym. I eat around 1500-1700 calories on a cut, 2000 around at maintenance, and around 2500-2700 on a bulk. I'm finding it harder and harder to lose weight now.

I'm in extra small clothes U.K, and anything short of muscle fit is baggy on me - Primark.

My current training plan is below:

Each is a set of four, dropping weight as it gets heavier.

Monday

Flat barbell chest press

Flat Dumbbell Flys

Barbell bent over row

Close grip seated row

Barbell military press

Plate front raises

Tricep pushdowns

Rope crunches

Wednesday.

Incline dumbbell chest press

Incline dumbbell flys

Wide Lat pull downs

Close lat pulldowns

Dumbbell side laterals

Cable side laterals

Ez bar curls

Cable oblique crunches

Friday.

Standing cable crossovers

Machine chest press

T bar row

Rear pec dec rear delts

Dumbbell shrugs

Tricep pushdowns

Cable curls

Laying Leg raises

 

[dawn16]

@taderbutt Your BMI is normal. But BMI is also bullshit. Did you mean “BF” (bodyfat)? Hard to assess without a pic.

 

[taderbutt]

@dawn16

https://imgur.com/a/E0sH4Mg

 

[dawn16]

@taderbutt You’re not shredded or anything but you look pretty lean. I can see some definition coming in, but you can definitely add a good amount more muscle to that frame. I’d bulk at a slight surplus.

 

[buriedalivebornagain]

@taderbutt Only you can answer that. What do you want to look like? What are your goals?

Also, a set of 4? That seems too heavy, especially for the smaller muscles. And how many sets? It looks like you have too much volume and no lower body work at all.

 

[taderbutt]

@buriedalivebornagain Ideally I'd like to be a lot thinner, but have an ''athletic'' physique. Think of your average swimmer. Decent muscle mass but also small. I'm somewhere in-between that now.

 

[taderbutt]

@buriedalivebornagain My knees are completely shot. Super hesitant to do anything with my legs.

 

[stratton609]

@taderbutt And what exactly is "shot?" I couldn't find it in any medical literature as a diagnosis.

 

[taderbutt]

@stratton609 My legs are basically not functioning. Had several dozen surgeries.

 

[stratton609]

@taderbutt Still unsure what you mean. You're standing in your pictures. You can walk or no?

 

[taderbutt]

@stratton609 I can walk. But it's a massive limp. I basically have no knee in my left leg, and left leg is twisted and poking out at a 25 degree angle. Just super hesitant to do anything with it, since it gives way, and I stumble and trip, when I walk.

 

[medifast]

@taderbutt You don’t have enough muscle to look like you want. Build it first. Then you can cut. Is this your own program? It’s awful for bodybuilding. Go get a well reviewed program. Do it religiously, and eat at a small surplus. Aim to gain like half a pound a week for 12 weeks.

 

[emily13]

@taderbutt Lean bulk or recomp based off the pics I saw

 

[asperd]

@taderbutt I'm not the most experienced guy to help you. I've had my gym membership since only mid-July and was mostly just using my small dumb bells at home and doing crunches (body weight exercise) before I joined a gym. But I'm slightly shorter than you (167cm, 5'5.75") and completed a 40.75 lb cut (168.2 lbs -> 127.45 lbs in 6 months. Loss of 24% of my starting weight) so maybe I got some insight. Though I am older (late 30s) so ability to retain muscle mass and lose body fat isn't going to be as good.

Even when I got down to 127.45 lbs, I still had some fat underneath my belly button. Maybe that is that permanent skin that you are talking about.

Even if you get lean like me and get down to 130 lbs (similar BMI to where I was at), you might have that same issue.

When I got down to 127.45 lbs (4-day avg) evening weight (yes I was twinkmaxxed. lmfao), I noticeably lost muscle mass. And now I am in the process of trying to bulk back up. My current 6-day avg is 135.33 lbs (mix of evening and morning weight measurements) after bulking up the last 38 days.

If you were to cut deep like I did, you do risk a similar fate in terms of losing muscle mass and still having some fat that you seemingly can't lose despite being so small.

My worry is that if you cut further that you will lose muscle mass (make sure to get your protein-to-calorie ratio high to retain as much muscle as possible during a cut. My diet admittedly was not on point. I nailed the calories-in, calories-out bit but a large percentage of my calories came from carbohydrates and probably not enough from protein. I've really bumped my protein-calorie ratio up during my recent bulk and mini-maintenance/recomp). And if you switch to a bulk, you risk putting back on the body fat you lost. But if you are still in the newbie gains window and train right, most of the weight you would put on right now is probably going to be muscle. Even if you are natty.

Honestly after losing 24% of my starting body weight in 6 months, I no longer fear putting weight back on. Cutting is easy. At least for me it was. I would rather do a bulk than a cut at this point. Maybe more experienced bodybuilders are going to disagree and that's fine.

If you are finding it hard to lose weight at 1,500-1,700 calories per day @ 5'6.5" 150 lbs, my calories must have been anemic af. lmfao. When I used to be 160+ lbs, I never imagined that I would be less than 156-158 lbs ever. It really shocked me when I got down to 127.45 lbs.

If you are deadset on continuing your cut, reduce your calories a bit more in the evening (but not before and soon after a workout if you work out at night. I work out in the morning) and see if that helps.

 

[mikejb]

@taderbutt Don’t cut. Based on the picture you posted, you’re still too skinny to cut. Focus on getting muscle into your body first.

 

[underwoodkat671]

@taderbutt I would bulk during the winter and cut during the spring summer.