Where to go from here?

mib

New member
posting for a friend who is wondering what their plan forward should be

Hi All, I’m a 40 year old male, I have been working with a trainer for 2 years ( I also worked with a trainer from 2016-2018 and fell out of the routine, I’m currently at 170lbs 13% body fat. I started at about 180 lbs 25% body fat, did a reconfig cycle for a few months and got down to 14% body fat and then switched to bulking until about feb of this year (2022). I was as high as 197 lbs 15.5% body fat and then started a cut getting me to where I am now. I probably hit 13% body fat in April and have been stuck there ever since. I’m hoping to get down to about 10-11% before I bulk again but it’s been so long I’m now questioning my strategy.. I know it’s more of some things and less of others but I want to see what others say

I work out 4-5 times a week with a trainer, splitting muscle groups and I usually try to get some abs in each day and 15 min cardio. So I’m in the gym about 1.5 -2 hours each time. My meal plan is about 150-180 G protein and I try to keep fats and carbs under 40g a day. I usually eat carbs at with one of my meals before gym ( 5:00 pm after work ). My goal is to split my meals up into 4-5 meals a day 3 hours apart so I’m only at 30g protein each meal and in total it’s around 1800-2000 calories .

My workouts look like :

M-chest/triceps T- arms W-back/shoulders/biceps T- legs/abs F- chest and whatever else I think needs some extra work

That’s not exact for each week but conceptually that’s what I do

I suspect one area that’s and issue is sleep, where I’m getting about 5-6 hours a night

Suppliments I’m only do BCAAs, protein shakes and at times creatine

For me where I’m challenging my own planning is
  1. ⁠should I fully commit on the cut and increase my caloric deficit not worrying so much about muscle loss because I’m going to bulk again?
  2. ⁠should I just focus on bulking to add more muscle now and come back to cutting after adding another 10 lbs or so? At 13% I’m only barely showing the outlines of abs which I want them fully showing so I can focus on just adding muscle ( eating super clean so I don’t totally lose them )
  3. ⁠Is there something else I haven’t thought of ?
 
@mib Where are you getting these body fat percentage numbers from? I have a hard time understanding how if you're 170lbs and 13% bodyfat how you wouldn't be satisfied. Assuming you're somewhat average height that should result in a great physique especially for your age. Maybe you could share a photo and that would reveal more about where you are on your journey.
 
@dawn16 I’ve got a couple of ways of calculating body fat but mostly just going by some of the resources here with my eyes.

I really just want my abs to show more and I’m thinking body fat is too high for that. I’ve also plateaued with weight and body fat loss and not sure why so looking for suggestions on that.

Here is a link to pics. The right is where I’m at now. Left is at the end of me bulking. pic link
 
@mib well you def got a lot of muscle but 13% is seems a little low based on what I'm seeing I'd think more like 15%+ honestly.
Also why are you keeping your carbs so low. 180g of protein is 720 calories, 40g of fat is 360 and 40g of carbs are 160 calories which adds up to 1260 which means if you hit you're numbers you're undereating by a lot but yet you're not losing weight?
 
@dawn16 He’s definitely probably eating more than 40g of carbs a day in the end but says he’s under maintenance though maybe he needs to recalculate?
 
@mib
  1. You are not 13%.
  2. You do not have enough muscle mass in your core, that's why u r not satisfied with your look. Would need to get to a very low bodyfat to see those abs, but then everything else will look too "skinny"
  3. 1800 is already very low, especially at your current bodyfat.
 
@al8115
  1. If you had to guess what would you say I am?
  2. Do you think I need to hit core work more?
  3. What caloric intake do you suggest?
 
@mib I think you are at 19% in that picture.
I think you should not bulk but eat more and maybe do more compound lifts to get more..thickness and mass. Put some strength goals and try and achieve them.
 
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