What must I do to get a harder and bigger body?

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poolchick3

New member
My body used to look like this in the middle of 2023:

https://www.reddit.com/r/guessmybf/comments/143s2is/30m_56_and_weigh_163_lbs

My body now looks like this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/guessmybf/comments/1b2mvvr/32m_56_and_weigh_151_lbs

According to the scale, my current weight is 151 lbs. Even though I have lost some weight, I am still not satisfied with how my body looks. My body still looks soft. I want a harder body and I don't want to get smaller in the process. I want to put on some muscle too.

What must I do to achieve this? I have been going to the gym 5 days a week since November 2023.
 
@vido I understand. Do I need to keep doing what I did to go down from 163 lbs to 151 lbs? Or does the game plan change at this body weight? I am already doing strength training 5 days a week.
 
@poolchick3 Don't listen to that person. If you want to actually grow muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus. Have you been strength training 5 days a week since 2023? You seem to be doing way more cutting if you've lost a lot of weight, you have never done a proper "bulk" to build muscle. (Note: bulk does not mean eat like shit)

Use an online calculator to get an idea of your maintenance calories and then go over that by some amount of your choosing. The only thing the person above got right is that you need to take in a lot of protein.

Focus on hypertrophy exercises, mainly weight lifting in the 10-20 rep range with moderate weight. Slowly increase weights and/or reps.
 
@cgolordshammer You’re actually wrong bro. High protein and weight training will maintain your muscles and because of basic muscle biology when you tear a muscle fibre and repair it with protein it rebuilds larger and that’s how you build muscle. A surplus will help more than being in a cut but you can absolutely build muscle in a cut as long as your protein intake is about 1g/lb of current body weight. I know because I’m doing it right now. I shouldn’t be able to move up in weights while in a cut based on your logic but yet, I am and many others do too. I don’t progress as much as I did when I was bulking but it still happens.

And 10-20 reps is way too high of a range and if you’re doing 20 reps your weight is way too low. 6-8 reps for 2-3 sets and when you can do 3 sets of 12 then time to move up in weight.
 
@vido No bro I'm not wrong... I never said that you cannot build any muscle or get stronger in a cut. But would you rather get 60% return on the work you do in the gym or 100%? Why would someone like OP who has a long way to go towards building muscle try to piss in both directions of cutting and growing muscle?

The science is very clear on this topic. Multiple peer reviewed controlled studies show that to grow muscle in a significant way you need to be in a surplus. Literally every single body builder uses this same logic because it is what works.

On the rep ranges, I'm going to listen to someone like Dr. Mike Israetel or Jeff Cavalier over LegendKiller on Reddit. On small range of motion exercises like a calf raises for example, 20 reps can be a great option. Or 15 nice and slow reps. Pounding out 10 reps quickly would very likely not be as effective. 3 sets of 8-12 is not the automatic answer for every exercise.
 
@cgolordshammer And most body builders already have a large amount of muscle and little fat so that point is pretty moot. I’m saying if you’re goal is to lose weight and get large muscles a nice slow cut while building muscle will accomplish both of what OP is saying and by the time he gets to a bf% he’s happy with he will already have a solid amount of muscle so gaining will be a much better experience. His fat is going to act as energy as well so he can gain some good muscle while on his weight loss journey. What I’m gathering from what you’re suggesting is that OP do mostly cardio and light weight which will net him 0 gains and might help him lose the weight faster but it’ll take twice the amount of hours in the gym to accomplish the same thing.

To OP, either option the two of us are suggesting will work, the thing we all agree on is you need to be on a calorie deficit to lose weight, and protein will build muscle. Up to you if you want to do all your cutting first and then build, or do a slower cut while gaining more muscle. I personally recommend lifting heavy with cardio at the end of your workout and an entire day dedicated to cardio, with a 300 calorie deficit and 1g/lb of current body weight in protein. The other commenter will probably disagree but welcome to the community, no one agrees on anything and this is why it’s hard for new people to learn
 
@vido
I personally recommend lifting heavy with cardio at the end of your workout and an entire day dedicated to cardio, with a 300 calorie deficit and 1g/lb of current body weight in protein.
Click to expand...

Do you recommend losing 1-2 lbs of bodyweight per week?
 
@poolchick3 I’m saying that because when you take a body builder for an example when they bulk and eat in a surplus they only really get to maybe 10% body fat and when they cut it’s less fat they have to cut down on, so they can dedicate an entire season to weight loss in time for their competitions. For someone who has more fat than muscle, doing a slower body recomposition can be better than shrinking yourself down to a low bf % and have you looking sick and weak at the end of it. If you stay on the weights and high on the protein while you’re losing weight you’ll end up with a decent baseline of muscle once the fat is all gone and you’ll be better off when you start bulking
 
@vido
For someone who has more fat than muscle, doing a slower body recomposition can be better than shrinking yourself down to a low bf % and have you looking sick and weak at the end of it. If you stay on the weights and high on the protein while you’re losing weight you’ll end up with a decent baseline of muscle once the fat is all gone and you’ll be better off when you start bulking
Click to expand...

Makes sense.
 
@poolchick3 To start, once you’re doing 12 or over move up in weight. Should always be going to absolute failure with slightly longer breaks every set to get the most out of the exercise. I noticed with myself I was too rushed to move up in weight I started to lose track of my form, so I went back down to a weight I held perfect form for that rep range. During a cut you won’t be moving up on weight as fast as you’d think but like I said, you’ll have some muscle built when you’re down to your goal bf% then once you start a bulk you’ll notice your weights moving up a lot faster than before
 
@poolchick3 Well that's up to you, you could continue to cut and lose weight then move to a bulking phase to build muscle. Or you can bulk now and cut later. You seem to be carrying very little muscle so personally I would focus on bulking and growing as much muscle as possible for something like 3-4 months. Then try cutting for 2-3 months.

This what is weird and hard about the Internet, I get downvoted here but can say almost the exact same thing in another post and get upvoted. So OP don't even take my advice! Just go check out some YouTube videos from Dr. Layne Norton(BioLayne), Jeff Nipard, Dr. Mike Israetel (Renaissance Periodization). Listen to some of their videos on nutrition and losing weight/gaining muscle.

Let me also clarify, you do need to eat a ton of protein like others are saying. Whether you are cutting or bulking shoot for 1g per lb of body weight. And when bulking it could be something like 200 calorie surplus. It does not need to be 1000+. The harder you lift the more calories you can add. You also don't get to hohos and taco bell. Good quality food that is meant to fuel and supply the lifting you're doing and the growth in between.
 
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