grgid979's Journal, 29 July 2020

How's the lifting going?  

Good. Making some real progress. In the past, I focused on lifting heavy...250-300 lb range for the bulk of my lifts. Obviously with low reps. Still that left me drained and sore for a few days after. I have now shifted to lower weight but upped the reps. So I’ll do 3x15-20 reps at 205 lb deadlift or squat, and I find I am not as exhausted afterwards and certainly my back & legs are feeling better. But I find the results of high rep/low weight are same if not better. I am definitely gaining muscle faster than previously. My upper body is out of shape (chest and arms and shoulders). So I do a lot of work there, but my lifts are lagging in that area compared those where legs or back are involved. I’ve given myself 3 years to turn it around (keep in mind I was 240lbs and 35%+ bf). I’m halfway through my timeline, but so far so good. What are you up to?  

Amazing how similar we are, aside from height weight and age. I used to lift heavy with low reps too and focused on bulk, which led to me being pretty big but also way too much fat. I went to high reps and lower weights while ago (excluding deads) and I've made way more progress. Doing about 10 reps and 4 sets on average for each move. Seeing definition never had before, but I also cut like crazy first and am down to 162. Never thought I'd go that far, but here we are. Thinking about going sub 160 to be honest, then back on the lean bulk. At my age it's nice starting to see the abs coming, though the bulk was nice in a certain way too. Gotta admit though, slim or not I feel better 30lbs lighter. Thinking once I'm lean enough that 165-170 cut will be just about right. One issue, reardelts are non-existent. Literally just dents.Literally just dents. 

My issue is I haven’t really done much since I started university 23 years ago. And I’ve been 100lb overweight for that whole time with high bf %. So though I agree with you and think sub 160 is ideal for a man of our height, in my case it is unlikely to work out precisely because I waited too long to do something about it. Now going under 160 will lead to a lot of excess skin. My hope now is to try to fill that space out with muscle...but that will take a while (at least 4-5 bulk/cut cycles) and will likely make me look more bulky than I really aesthetically aspire to. Anyways we’ll see. This is my first bulk cycle since I lost 90 lbs. So I can’t really judge what the final result will be as I am now actually putting on fat (along with muscle). In about 3-4 months I will have finished my first full bulk/cut cycle and should have more idea on the ultimate progress. But I am definitely getting more muscular and stronger, even though it’s under a layer of fat :) 

I hear you man. Just keep at it and bulk/cut like you're doing. Try to lean bulk as much as possible so there's less to take off. Looks like you got the commitment so you'll get there.