*help* high lifts, little mass

[Skarbrand]

I have been cutting for some time now (a little over a month) and am still seeing strength gains. For instance I put up 350lbs on the bench the other day and can put up 335 with decent form (no back arching). This has happened at 1600ish cals a day. and I am 6' 200lbs...

I look around in the gym and see a LOT of guys who look bigger and leaner - maxing out at a lot lower weights in most every lift.

To my point- If I start eating around 3000 - 3600 cals a day (good calories), will I see more muscle fairly quickly? I'm just sick of outlifting a lot of people and looking like Popeye - pre spinach.

Seems like an odd question, but I'd appreciate anyones input who has experienced this. I hate to ramp up the cals if i dont need too. Also It seems that if i am lifting this much with low calories - will i just get fatter going to 3000-3600 (even though the calculators on here say thats my maintenance intake)?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[Valjean]

Do you train weak spots that train balance? The chain is only as strong as the weakest link ya know, even though in this case, you're the strong link. Do you do unilateral exercises much?

[Opies]

maxing out all the time isn't going to help you build much muscle...

but then again, neither is eating 1600 calories (why would you eat 1600 on a cut anyway? WAY too low)

Maybe you should try actually eating the calories to grow because you start speculating on why you aren't big

[lac38780]

Eat more, even if your cutting eat more. 1600 is not nearly enough for somebody your size.

[FrazerPrescott]

You havent mentioned your rep range? if your only pushing 3-5 reps lower the weight up the reps to 8-10. Also up the intake. You should only be cutting about 200-400 cals under maintenance, and im pretty sure your maintenance level isnt 2000 cals.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/wei...e&FLUSHCACHE=0

theres plenty of links on google that can give you more scientific approaches as well.

[Skarbrand]

Thanks for all the responses. I vary the reps per exercise. this week and last i have been changing from a 12 10 8 8 scheme to a 8 6 4 3 1 1 1 3 4 6 8 pattern just to change it up a bit.
I also mix in types. I start every body part on a compound exercise then follow up with a few reps of isolation.
Example: Bench then incline or decline then flyes. Back is pullups to rows to pull downs.
I also do deadlift on pull days and squats on push days. Clean and press on push as well.

I have lost a good 10 pounds of fat and gained in most of my lifts even eating 1600ish a day (i usually have 2 cheat meals of pizza or a burger a week)

Also I am taking White flood and blue gene from controlled labs and think it might just be those that are getting me through the workouts.

[phal]

Well since strength gains are mostly neural, that can explain why you don't look the part so to speak compared to others that do. Personally if I was in your shoes, I would cut down really low, and then do a clean bulk to put on the size you desire. With that kind of strength it can be useful I'd imagine. Also, 1,600 calories is pretty damn low, I see women on this site cut with less than that and probably ~70 lbs smaller than you -_-

Just a suggestion, since we can't actually change anything but up it a little and do your body a favor and you will also hold on to more muscle that way.

[FunkDaddy]

Don't focus on what other people in the gym are doing.

I'm one of the bigger guys in my gym but I don't lift near as much as a lot of people there. In fact most of the bigger guys at my gym don't lift huge weight by any stretch of the imagination. Check your ego and lift smart!

[CaliforniaKing]

I'm sure once you start your bulk and put on some pounds, you'll definitely see a lot of mass gains. I don't think it's possible for most people to gain much (if any) muscle while in a calorie deficit. Good luck though. With that kind of strength, you have a lot of potential than what I see in your pics right now!

[bigdan]

OP I think for some people strength comes naturally. Myself I have to fight for every little gain I can get. I tend to hold "mass" but quickly lose strength if I take time off from the gym... especially on stuff like bench press. The fact that I wasn't super consistent in college meant that I was kinda big but very weak.

As for adding calories to gain mass yeah man I dunno give it a try... you may find that you blow up with a few extra calories. I do agree that the style of training will have an impact. I was talking to a bodybuilder who felt that gains in strength don't necessarily correlate to gains in size, but he felt that both were needed to get anywhere. You need to build strength so you can go back and use more weight to stimulate the muscle more to build more size. He advocated different periods where you focus on strength and then focus on adding mass. Personally I always read (and felt) that size and strength were directly related so if you were gaining strength you were gaining muscle.

I dunno this is bro science territory for sure just what I have been hearing on the street. Interesting topic for sure.

[djansen]

OP people like you piss me off. your at 1600 cals a day and you can bench 350. I was eating 2x that amount and barely gaining weight and am not near that strong.

And to answer your question, how do you expect to get bigger on a cut? Yes, increase the cals and see what happens.
try your bw X 16 and go from there.

[Skarbrand]

I didn't want to come off as insecure or that i was really judging my progress by others, however, looking around i noticed that people were bigger and thought i might be doing something detrimental to my health by lifting as heavy as i do. (dumb as that sounds)
I think I will be starting next week on a 5 day split bodypart routine with short cardio (10-20 min) after lifting. (total time in the gym 1 hr) Ill also start eating around 3200 cals a day as well.

A couple of your posts do raise an interesting question for me though on the relationship of muscle mass to strength vs neurology to strength. Does anyone know of any good studies i could read on the subject?