Any progress at all?

[19TM90]

Hi all,

I picked one of the beginner full body bulking routines and I've been running with it coming up on three months now. I won't say which one because I wouldn't want any mistakes I've made running it to reflect badly on the program itself.

For the first 6 weeks I ended up losing weight because I wasn't eating enough (not much - I went from about 9.2 stone/129 lbs to about 8.13 stone/125 lbs). After I bumped up my calories by 260 (from 2100 to 2360) and went from 120 minutes of cardio per week to 100 (consisting of fairly fast paced work on the stairmaster for 20 minutes at a time - wouldn't say it comfortably fits into LISS or HIIT), I went up about 2.5-3 lbs in weight the next 5 weeks, back to where I started at roughly about 9.2 stone/129 lbs - worth mentioning at this point that I'm 5,6. In terms of diet content I've made a lot of effort to get enough protein in - around 200g a day, but not been as strict with carbs or fat. I've tried to eat reasonably healthy too - lean meats, greek yogurt, shakes etc.

Over the past 11 weeks I've progressed on all my lifts. They're all still low, but for some I'm lifting double or more than what I started with. I presume that a lot of that is down to small improvements in form and neurological improvements in my lifting (is that a thing? Is that even English?! Maybe I've watched too much youtube and not done enough lifting!) rather than gains in strength or hypertrophy.

I've attached a before and after picture, the lighting in the second is different than it was in the first because it's getting darker earlier here and I took the latter picture in the evening, but I've tried to take them from roughly the same angles and distances. I think I'm a bit leaner and I think I'm slightly more defined too. Not that I'm under any illusions about how slow my progress has been, how small I am and how much further I still have to go. I knew it would probably be slow because of how weak I am but I was just looking for affirmation as to whether I'm on the right track or not.

Any advice or pointers would be really appreciated. Thanks!

[Partyrocking]

You look leaner in the second picture than the first.

I would bulk slowly for a long time, aiming for 2-3lbs a month for 9-12 months depending on how the bulk is going. You want to spend more time bulking than you spend cutting, so it's worth taking the bulk slowly, so you don't just put on a lot of fat.

What's your routine look like?

[19TM90]

You look leaner in the second picture than the first.

I would bulk slowly for a long time, aiming for 2-3lbs a month for 9-12 months depending on how the bulk is going. You want to spend more time bulking than you spend cutting, so it's worth taking the bulk slowly, so you don't just put on a lot of fat.

What's your routine look like?

Thanks very much for your response mate.

I really enjoy going to the gym and having been a bit fatter as a teenager I'm in no rush to put on unnecessary additional fat so I think I'll keep trying to gain 2-3lbs per month. As I say I only really got my diet going in the right direction in the past month or so hopefully that keeps up.

I'm currently doing a three day full body routine, based on the allpro beginners program in the workout section. I say based on as when I started I learned the front squat and conventional deadlift before the back squat and the stiff legged deadlift so I have continued doing those instead. I do some isolation exercises at the end of my workout too - fly's, side laterals, hammer curls, tricep pulldowns as well as upright rows and push ups. For cardio I've been doing six 20 minute sessions on the stairmaster at level 15 (levels go up to 20), I never do cardio before weights and try to avoid doing it afterwards for at least a good few hours. That works out at quite a lot of sets but I thought it might be ok as obviously I don't know how to properly engage my muscles and get the most out of each movement...

Thanks again!

[Earnit123]

Yes you definitely look leaner in the second pic mate.

[19TM90]

Yes you definitely look leaner in the second pic mate.

Thanks for the response mate!