Bulk or Cut? You Tell Me (By looking at pics)

[kyoun1e]

Folks,

Please see the attached pics. I'd like you all to take a peek at this 40 year old's body and give me your gut reaction -- is this a body that needs bulking? Or should it be cut?

I've repeatedly outlined my goals as "building lean muscle mass while burning fat." That said, I've been told pick one or the other. This is frustrating because I want to bulk, but I want to also eliminate those annoying little love handles! Really, I want to build long-term strength so I can live well as I get older and LOOK GOOD.

Some info on me:

* Age 40, 6-2, 208 lbs
* Workout 5-6 times per week (currently doing german volume training)
* 2500 calories per day

Take a look. Give it to me straight. I can take it.

Thanks.

KY

 

[Hench]

Cut, without a doubt. Youll not partition calories particulary well. Also GVT isnt the best routine to be using while cutting.

 

[Skib]

Youll not partition calories particulary well.

have heard this a few times lately... what's it mean?

 

[Hench]

have heard this a few times lately... what's it mean?

How you body distributes the calories you feed it, e.g. either to muscular repair or fat storage.

For example when you cut, you lift heavy and eat in a deficit. This helps persuade you body to draw the extra calories it needs from fat and not muscle. Cardio can also help partition calories toward muscle repair and away from fat storage. A lot more info can be found below:

Physiology Of Fat Loss | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald

 

[extrememuscle]

@40 young, your build looks pretty good to me.. I would suggest everyday cardio and abs (not straining too much)..and include high rep deadlifts(say 20 reps * 3 sets per w/o) 3x/w..thn maybe chk your diet a lil' bit and that should pretty much reduce your lil' tummy and give you that v taper.. tht'll make you look very impressive..thts just my opinion.. pls do let me know what you think..thnx

 

[kyoun1e]

Thanks moondog.

Would everyone else agree it's cut, cut, cut? Answering this first question seems to be the challenge...and I think I've been thinking bulk, bulk, bulk.

If yes on cut, I'd like some help with the following:

* Deficit calories -- Maintenance calories "feels" like it's 2400ish for me while calculations via formulas say higher. What would be my daily caloric goal? 2100? 2000? Theoretically, cutting should be easier since it seems so hard to get into a caloric surpluss for some reason.

* Diet -- Understanding the above, what are some good cut diets?

* Workout -- "Lift heavy." Yikes. I'm doing the opposite with GVT -- light with tons of volume. What would be a good routine shift?

I really want to get this right. I've basically experimented for the first two months of the year, and now still have 3-4 months until summer.

Thanks in advance.

KY

 

[kyoun1e]

extreme,

Thanks much. Appreciate it.

Believe it or not, I JUST STARTED doing core exercises like deadlifts, squats, and lunges this past month. Ridiculous I know. I just added a "core day" to my routine that has me focus on squats/deads/lunges/abs as a matter of fact. I think that should help...I sure as hell feel it today after beating up core yesterday.

Really interested in hearing what others have to say. What you see in the pics has more or less been the situation for a couple years. I want to bring this body to the next level. Want to start the next 40 years with a rockin' situation.

Thanks.

KY

 

[workhard1]

@40 young, your build looks pretty good to me.. I would suggest everyday cardio and abs (not straining too much)..and include high rep deadlifts(say 20 reps * 3 sets per w/o) 3x/w..thn maybe chk your diet a lil' bit and that should pretty much reduce your lil' tummy and give you that v taper.. tht'll make you look very impressive..thts just my opinion.. pls do let me know what you think..thnx

This is dumb.

First off, you need to cut, that much is pretty clear, especially with summer around the corner.

When you cut doing cardio everyday is terrible if you are attempting to retain muscle. If you must do cardio I suggest HIIT or maybe hill repeats twice a week. Also, high reps want to be AVOIDED when cutting. If you read the guide to cutting and bulking (the sticky on this forum) you will find that HEAVY WEIGHT and LOW REPS is the way to go when cutting. This will help you preserve muscle mass. The most important factor in losing weight/cutting is your diet. Go to the diet and nutrition forums here and read up on the stickies.

 

[kyoun1e]

2-0 on cut. Ok, that's that.

On "Heavy with low reps" -- what is the appropriate # of reps? 5 or 6? I've read alot about the "5x5" routine. Would that work? Would be very interested in effective cut routines.

This is perfect timing anyways because the GVT routine is at this point 6 weeks old so adaptation is probably coming into play.

On diet, going to dig. Again...theoretically...this should be easier for me. My body seems to run on a lower amount of fuel. I'll gladly eat less, but frequently.

Thanks.

KY

 

[Gazhole]

Cardio everyday, or even at all, is irrelevant in the context of fat loss. Doing any sort of exercise every day is a bad idea, especially when you're in a caloric deficit and have less resources available for recovery.

High rep deads are just a back injury waiting to happen. Deadlifts and other compound movements are definitely the way to go, but like WH said - high reps are not the answer.

Diet is paramount, exercise is secondary. concentrate on short intense workouts, and go home to rest. Diet management will make or break your cut, man.

 

[Hench]

This is dumb.

First off, you need to cut, that much is pretty clear, especially with summer around the corner.

When you cut doing cardio everyday is terrible if you are attempting to retain muscle. If you must do cardio I suggest HIIT or maybe hill repeats twice a week. Also, high reps want to be AVOIDED when cutting. If you read the guide to cutting and bulking (the sticky on this forum) you will find that HEAVY WEIGHT and LOW REPS is the way to go when cutting. This will help you preserve muscle mass. The most important factor in losing weight/cutting is your diet. Go to the diet and nutrition forums here and read up on the stickies.

Its more than dumb, its fucking moronic. Cardio everyday? Check you diet to get a V-taper? Ky, please ignore this.

Right, I should be getting you to answer some questions, however ive read quite a few of you posts and ive seen pics, so I probably know enough to get the ball rolling.

DIET
Your maint is about 2400. Lets assume thats correct, how about running cals at 1900 for couple of weeks and see what happens. Protein at a min of 1g per LBM and fats at a min of 0.5g per LBM. Carbs around workouts, keeping meals mostly protein and fats apart from that, trying to get at least 25g of fibre each day. If you feel hungry, up your protein/fats and keep the carbs as low as possible. If your finding it difficult to get the cals in or always feel full, drop the protein/fats slightly and up the carbs. Itll be easier to hit you cal target this way. though if it were me I would currently be chewing this laptop instead of typing.

TRAINING
As Principle Built would say, your still too 'juicy' to worry about losing too much LBM. Give this a shot:

Got Built? » Baby Got Back

As you start to lean out (after maybe 8 weeks or so) drop the third exercise.
Then when you get closer to single digits start to reduce the volume e.g.

For bench, go from 5x5 to 4x5 to 3x5

Do everything you can to keep iron on the bar. Reducing volume is fine, as long as you keep lifting heavy.

 

[Merkaba]

I second not listening to extrememuscle...you just blew it.

.................

I think if you got adequate nutrition and worked out heavy you could see results without having to bulk "proper" and gain lots of weight/fat/water.
Im looking and thinking you've been lacking adequate protein and fats. I bet you'd see a difference by probably doubling them and doing a simple power routine as already mentioned. This is just a hunch.

Looks like you've chosen to cut. Ick.
I did PMSF this week and dropped 9 lbs. Probably too much for me in this time frame. I was in straight Ketosis for three days. I will be carbing up this weekend.

 

[kyoun1e]

Moondog,

Thanks for the detailed response.

If cut is the way, I think your 1900 calories (maybe 2000) sound about right. Right now, here is my daily average for Feb:

* Calories: 2585
* Protien: 191g
* Fat: 131g
* Carbs: 156g

If cut is the way, it sounds like I still need to up the protien, fat about right no? and maybe cut the carbs a tad?

Wow. Going from high to low volume starting tmrw. And it's chest/back day. My body is going to be like, "what the f*&k are you doing. Moving to 5x5 with heavier weight will be a big change.

What about # sets for chest/back day?

Merkaba...what are you saying...you're not convinced I should cut? You thinking going heavy and just eating more in surplus will get me there?

Thanks much.

KY

 

[extrememuscle]

..no offense to anybody else's opinions here..am just throwing my thoughts..all the best to you kyoun1e .. cheers..