Continue cutting or bulking?

[Faux1992]

I have lost a good amount of fat the last 3 months.

Should I continue cutting until abs? Or stop and switch to bulking (since I have an underdevelopped chest)

This is a turning point for me because if I decide to bulk I'll go as clean as possible and I'm going to feel like crap for a whole year - two years, with the fat still hanging off of me!

I really need your input on this.

[koweanguy]

Lean bulk.
Pack on muscle by figuring out your Nutrition and getting on a full body beginner program.
Keep your workout intensity high and you can still do cardio while on a lean bulk as long as you are still eating at a calorie surplus.

[Faux1992]

Lean bulk.
Pack on muscle by figuring out your Nutrition and getting on a full body beginner program.
Keep your workout intensity high and you can still do cardio while on a lean bulk as long as you are still eating at a calorie surplus.

Can you please direct me to a full body beginner program?

[Devinsagee]

I would say cut first.

[Faux1992]

I would say cut first.

I have been doing that for the past 3 months; watching what I eat, saying no to pizza every Sunday... I'd say opinions will conflict on this the same as they do inside my head: I've been in the middle of "Yeah cut cut, you've got tons of fat to lose" and "Wtf you've been training for 2 years and this is the best you could do with that underdeveloped chest and arms?" but I finally decided to go cutting 3 months ago.

I am very unsatisfied with this I've been cutting for 3 months and went down from 211 lbs to now 187 and I'm goddarned exhausted... I've lost tons of muscle, tons of fat too but I've just become very very weak. I'm at the gym everyday doing cardio and lifting more than anyone else I know and I'm just completely and utterly burned out.

It's just I'm just unsatisfied with my cut; I'm more sold on continuing to cut right now, but I just don't know if it'll be worth it or if I'll still have no definition when I'm 154 lbs

[CommitmentRulz]

I am very unsatisfied with this I've been cutting for 3 months and went down from 211 lbs to now 187 and I'm goddarned exhausted... I've lost tons of muscle, tons of fat too but I've just become very very weak. I'm at the gym everyday doing cardio and lifting more than anyone else I know and I'm just completely and utterly burned out.

First of all, do what YOU want to do. In your OP you mentioned that you don't want to spend the next year with the fat. Then, in the part I quoted, you indicate "cutting fatigue". I understand. But do what YOU want to do.

Now, my opinion: Eat just below maintenance for 4 months while you continue to lift heavy. You lost 24 pounds in 3 months, about 1% of body weight a week. You SHOULDN'T have lost "tons of muscle" if you were getting adequate protein and lifting heavy on a good routine. I question your workout because in another post in this thread you ASK for a good full-body 3-day-a-week routine.

What do you bench, squat, and dead lift?

There's a lot of general disagreement in this. Some say if you lack muscle and are fairly new to lifting (less than a year) that you have to bulk. Others say, get rid of most of the fat before bulking. My opinion tends to change based on the individual (if they post photos). Good luck. You're on the right track.

[Faux1992]

First of all, do what YOU want to do. In your OP you mentioned that you don't want to spend the next year with the fat. Then, in the part I quoted, you indicate "cutting fatigue". I understand. But do what YOU want to do.

Now, my opinion: Eat just below maintenance for 4 months while you continue to lift heavy. You lost 24 pounds in 2 months, about 1% of body weight a week. You SHOULDN'T have lost "tons of muscle" if you were getting adequate protein and lifting heavy on a good routine. I question your workout because in another post in this thread you ASK for a good full-body 3-day-a-week routine.

What do you bench, squat, and dead lift?

There's a lot of general disagreement in this. Some say if you lack muscle and are fairly new to lifting (less than a year) that you have to bulk. Others say, get rid of most of the fat before bulking. My opinion tends to change based on the individual (if they post photos). Good luck. You're on the right track.

My second "failed" bulk (I say failed because I gave up after 3 months), I plateaued: I just couldn't lift more than 110 lbs (not counting in the weight of the barbell)! I know it's pretty low for a 3 months progress, but I just couldn't do progressive overload and try after try I ended up breaking my knuckle, so I gave up on bulking. I asked around here in bodybuilding.com and people told me that I gained some chest muscles, but not the best results compared to someone else (some stated I was a hardgainer, so I guess you could that to my long impressive flaws' resume). After that I didn't workout for almost 3 months because as a police technician in my country you have to wait months at the beginning of the year to be appointed somewhere, so I didn't want to get a yearly gym membership then get transferred somewhere else. Training alone also didn't help, because I keep transferring I don't really have "friends". Forward to last October, I finally got into the gym again and the time off has helped me recover from the knuckle injury so I was back to kicking it again. Decided to cut so that I'd have a good base but I have been depressed ever since... thinking I would literally go nowhere with this and seeing others finally showing their abs after three months while mine are still nowhere to be found has really put me in a depressive spiral and I tend to compare myself to others a lot. I train religiously and record what I eat to the T but it's still not enough...

Now I can squat 132x10, bench 110x10 and deadlift 110 x10 also. I can probably go higher for less reps but that's not what I'm doing right now.
I'm doing Rewired for 9 weeks before I switch off to something, I like the supersetting.

[CommitmentRulz]

My second "failed" bulk (I say failed because I gave up after 3 months), I plateaued: I just couldn't lift more than 110 lbs (not counting in the weight of the barbell)! I know it's pretty low for a 3 months progress, but I just couldn't do progressive overload and try after try I ended up breaking my knuckle, so I gave up on bulking. I asked around here in bodybuilding.com and people told me that I gained some chest muscles, but not the best results compared to someone else (some stated I was a hardgainer, so I guess you could that to my long impressive flaws' resume). After that I didn't workout for almost 3 months because as a police technician in my country you have to wait months at the beginning of the year to be appointed somewhere, so I didn't want to get a yearly gym membership then get transferred somewhere else. Training alone also didn't help, because I keep transferring I don't really have "friends". Forward to last October, I finally got into the gym again and the time off has helped me recover from the knuckle injury so I was back to kicking it again. Decided to cut so that I'd have a good base but I have been depressed ever since... thinking I would literally go nowhere with this and seeing others finally showing their abs after three months while mine are still nowhere to be found has really put me in a depressive spiral and I tend to compare myself to others a lot. I train religiously and record what I eat to the T but it's still not enough...

Now I can squat 132x10, bench 110x10 and deadlift 110 x10 also. I can probably go higher for less reps but that's not what I'm doing right now.
I'm doing Rewired for 9 weeks before I switch off to something, I like the supersetting.

If you're in a "grove" and increasing the weight you're lifting, keep on keeping on. If you're not increasing your lifts, it's time to consider a change. (I prefer to workout alone. Don't look at that as a negative.)

Just stick with it. It is a long, slow process. We are often our worst critics. It'll pay off in the end.

[Faux1992]

If you're in a "grove" and increasing the weight you're lifting, keep on keeping on. If you're not increasing your lifts, it's time to consider a change. (I prefer to workout alone. Don't look at that as a negative.)

Just stick with it. It is a long, slow process. We are often our worst critics. It'll pay off in the end.

It's definitly hard increasing lifts while cutting (especially if you're doing reps 15, 12 and 10), I'm already giving it my all... I just need to get away from the thoughts in my head.
I guess I'll continue cutting for two more months and then straight into bulking. I'll look like crap either way but the thought of having abs is worth the try I guess.

Thank you for the motivation, will rep

[Devinsagee]

I have been doing that for the past 3 months; watching what I eat, saying no to pizza every Sunday... I'd say opinions will conflict on this the same as they do inside my head: I've been in the middle of "Yeah cut cut, you've got tons of fat to lose" and "Wtf you've been training for 2 years and this is the best you could do with that underdeveloped chest and arms?" but I finally decided to go cutting 3 months ago.

I am very unsatisfied with this I've been cutting for 3 months and went down from 211 lbs to now 187 and I'm goddarned exhausted... I've lost tons of muscle, tons of fat too but I've just become very very weak. I'm at the gym everyday doing cardio and lifting more than anyone else I know and I'm just completely and utterly burned out.

It's just I'm just unsatisfied with my cut; I'm more sold on continuing to cut right now, but I just don't know if it'll be worth it or if I'll still have no definition when I'm 154 lbs

First of all go easier on yourself lol. Going from 211 to 187lbs is already really good progress. You shouldn't be losing much muscle? How are you judging this? If you are losing muscle you're doing something wrong. You getting 180 grams of protein a day? You getting enough sleep? You eating only a 500 calorie deficit? Also you shouldn't be doing cardio everyday, are you familiar with HIIT? Also you say your lifting more than anyone else you know...you might be training too much and not getting enough rest. Your muscles grow during rest. Also it doesn't matter if you're a hard gainer. I have classic hard gainer body and I went from Max bench 105lbs -----> 195lbs. Max squat 115lbs--->275lbs. Max deadlift 115lbs ---> 345lbs in this last year so don't let hearing that deter you. Don't compare yourself to anyone else or youll give up. I can guarantee some of those big guys around you with 6 packs were in your boat a few years prior.

**Also you should note that if your maintenance calorie will change. As you keep cutting you should decrease your calories every few weeks.

[Faux1992]

First of all go easier on yourself lol. Going from 211 to 187lbs is already really good progress. You shouldn't be losing much muscle? How are you judging this? If you are losing muscle you're doing something wrong. You getting 180 grams of protein a day? You getting enough sleep? You eating only a 500 calorie deficit? Also you shouldn't be doing cardio everyday, are you familiar with HIIT? Also you say your lifting more than anyone else you know...you might be training too much and not getting enough rest. Your muscles grow during rest. Also it doesn't matter if you're a hard gainer. I have classic hard gainer body and I went from Max bench 105lbs -----> 195lbs. Max squat 115lbs--->275lbs. Max deadlift 115lbs ---> 345lbs in this last year so don't let hearing that deter you. Don't compare yourself to anyone else or youll give up. I can guarantee some of those big guys around you with 6 packs were in your boat a few years prior.

**Also you should note that if your maintenance calorie will change. As you keep cutting you should decrease your calories every few weeks.

Well I was eating 180 g of protein before but I have been on debt lately so I had to limit my shakes to 2 per day, now I'm eating 146g of protein daily! I don't really know if that's muscle I lost, I never had any definition to begin with so it's hard to say, probably a combination of fat AND muscle. I sleep 10+ hours a day and eat at 500 deficit. I'm familiar with HIIT, used to do that, it didn't yield much results so I switched to moderate cardio.
I'm going to start as of today getting one more shake, up to 166g of protein while staying within my caloric range.
I'll be giving this two more months. I'm eating 233g of carbs, 72g of fat and 166g of protein a day.

[hardgainer57]

I have lost a good amount of fat the last 3 months.

Should I continue cutting until abs? Or stop and switch to bulking (since I have an underdevelopped chest)

This is a turning point for me because if I decide to bulk I'll go as clean as possible and I'm going to feel like crap for a whole year - two years, with the fat still hanging off of me!

I really need your input on this.

up to you man