Realistic Goal Setting

[batess01]

Hello,

I didnt know where else to post this, but i will post it here anyway...

At the moment i am 150lbs at 15% BF

My Aim is to get as big and as lean as i can, but im finding it hard to find some realistic goals both short term (1-3months) and long term (a year).

If anyone could give any comments etc that would be great, thanks.

[Riskoe]

You're 5'8 right, so tbh Id suggest doing a clean bulk for the next couple of months and see where that takes you. I startd out at 150lbs too but Im a fair bit taller.

I just ate big, lifted as much as I could and make sure you do a bit of cardio, not overkill but it allways helps. In say, 2-3 months take an evaluation of how far you've come in terms of weight, measurments and fat % and then go from there. Either keep bulking or do a small cut then continue bulking up.

Whats your long term goal weight?

Good luck

[batess01]

Cheers for the comments mate, much appreciated.

It is a long way off, but idealy i would like to be 180lbs at about 8-10% BF
This is ages off tho, 2 years at least.

But in the next year, i would like to be about 75kg/165lbs at about 10%BF, thats a tight goal as well. This is where my problems are. what do you lot think is acceptable and realistic?

Cheers

[Riskoe]

I dunno man, I gained muscle very fast when I started, how long have you been training seriously?

Noob gains will help you alot. I went from 160 - 210 (now) in 7 months.

Everythings exploded and Im covered in stretch marks. Body fat went from 11%-14% so I know alot of it is muscle .

Train hard, reap the rewards!

[batess01]

I have been lifting Weights for about 4 years, but have been lifting serious for about a year and a half. I started at 100lbs and 5'4, grew in height and muscle and am now 155 and 5'8.

[batess01]

bump

[bigreezey]

at your weight & development, you should be able to hit a 15 pound gain in 3 months, eating 500 calories above maintenence. a lean-ish bulk but dont be too strict on the diet, definately stay away from alcohol/soft drinks/cake etc but dont be afraid to have fatty meals (meats, pasta, cheese, etc). you should train a whole body routine 3x per week for the 3 months and use some basic supps like whey, multi vit and creatine mono. this obviously wont be 100% lean but at your weight a lean bulk is the least of your concerns

[batess01]

Good comments cheers, out of that 15lbs how much will be fat?

Cheers.

[train4guns]

batess01, I wouldn't worry too much about specific amounts of lean mass and bodyfat percentages, although it is good to think in those terms to somewhat "realistically" imagine what you could gain, it isn't always the best things to do. For starters, where are you getting your bodyfat measured? My guess is you're simply estimating it. Your goal, quoted here:

"i would like to be about 75kg/165lbs at about 10%BF"

And you say currently you are:

"At the moment i am 150lbs at 15% BF"

So if we really want to split hairs, we can say that you need to have a change of +15lbs, pretty simple. However then to look at a specific bodyfat target other things come into play.

For instance, 150lbs @ 15% BF, indicates 22.5lbs of fat. 165 @ 10% BF indicates 16.5lbs of fat. If you just "gained" 15lbs, and for arguments sake let's consider it all LBM, you would probably be 165 @ 13-14%, probably the lower end.

Realistically though, it isn't going to happen. Nobody gains 15lbs of LBM without gaining at least a small amount of fat.

As you see already, things are getting mathematical and silly, it's hard to put these kinds of specific figures on the human body. To really get to your target you need to lose 7lbs of fat, whilst also gaining 22lbs of LBM, which would change your ratios to 165lbs @ 10% BF.

You want a realistic time frame for that? I'm sure you've read all the t-nation articles surrounding how much muscle we can actually gain and everything so I won't bore you with that crap. The thng is if you just stopped worrying about % of fat gained and where and what you'll be after gaining 15lbs or so, just do it from the sound of your posts you just need to try a good bulk for a few months, gain as much as you can, as you already know extra food doesn't mean extra growth, then after you've experimented a bit the second and third times around will be much easier as you'll know exactly what to do.

It sounds as if you're too worried about gaining fat and it's just another typical bodybuilding.com post, what you need to do is stop worrying, gain 25lbs of mass, then see where you are, I'm guessing 175 @ 15%, yes you'll probably do it without gaining bodyfat %. You can gain "fat" but that doesn't mean you'll gain bodyfat %.

Here's the theory:

25lbs of MASS

21lbs LBM (remember Lean BODY mass not lean muscle mass)
4lbs FAT

That's considering a 4/25lb gain of fat (or 16% fat gain, which is relatively high, you could probably gain less fat)

And boom, you're 175lbs @ 15% BF.

Then it will be time to cut, simply lose 7lbs of fat, and you'll be 168lbs @ 11%, from your recent pictures you look a little leaner than you are now, I'd say 150lbs, maybe 13% or so, so you'll probably end up at 170 @ 10% or something if you just stick to the basics, a simple, clean bulk followed by a small cut. You'll probably gain less fat than I've outlined and probably come out needing only a small amount to cut, so you'll be around 170 and around 10% bodyfat.

You could probably be there in a year. I know bulking/cutting seems like a bit of a waste of time, taking two steps forward and one step back but it's the simplest method to be quite honest. Once you get to 170ish @ 10%ish you should be able to maintain that 10%, get to around 185 @ 10%, then simply cut to the desired level.

Timeframe for the 170@ 10%, 8-12 months or so.

Timeframe for the 185 @ 10%, maybe 18-24 months.

Have fun.

[batess01]

Cheers for the post mate, that was a good amount of info and opinion, i appreciate that alot.