I'm currently doing strong lifts 5x5 made some nice gains on about my 9th week now.
OHP and bench are stalling, rest of my lifts are still going up nicely.

Anyway I'm wondering what to do next, keep going with this for another few months trying to add weight whenever possible or try a new program?
Also 5x5 is all I do wondering whether I should be doing any assistance work, so many conflicting opinions out there.

Hey John,

Glad to see another service thread from a professional. My name is Elias and I used to be a weight lifter until I decided to go into MMA training. To give you a big gist of what my training background entails, I encourage you to view my MMA service thread here for all my history, and index of strength, etc.

Currently I am around 165 lbs, down from a normal 185 lbs at about 6 feet tall. My question to you is what do you recommend as far as a solid weight lifting routine?

I have since changed my style in training and emphasize mostly in cardio. If I do lift weights, I do not lift heavy anymore. I used to power lift and did it very well. I am comfortable sitting at the top of the caliber of lighter weights. To make a long story short, I would like to cut down to 155 lbs, which I know how to do; my question is what is the best way and method to get back to about 165-170 lbs. I would like to tone up in muscle after this drop. I am under 8% body fat currently and I'm looking to get to a more solid build at the same weight I'm at. Looking forward to your response.

Male - 18 - 77kgs - 5'10 - workout 3 times a week
What should my cals be on non workout days AND on workout days, while bulking?
Also, what should my macros be, and how should I calculate them?

And if there is a certain % or ratio to calculate macros, what would it be for cutting?


Also, I have slightly shaky hands, had them for a few years now actually, would this be due to a micronutrient deficiency?

Stretch your hips, get a foam roller, too.
Post a video and I can help you more with what issue needs to be addressed.



Tricky but possible. You have to do it slowly and can't do it fast.
You need your diet spot on, and very good supplementation of certain products.



Skip 3, the biggest mistakes people make is bulking then cutting. You yo yo your gains and end up only gaining 2 net pounds in a year, which is a waste of time. Keep getting big and strong while you are young.



Yes, you can recover better because your work outs will be more spread out, and you can have better work outs because you dont have to coast threw the main lifts, then you can add in accessories.
Switch to 4x a week if you can.



Read online, that's where it started for me. Try to read actual articles from people and not broscience stuff. Google and search around for nutritionist. I like Shelby Starnes and John Medows(Mountaindog)
For training read anything wrote by Louie Simmons.

For personal training, research ISSA, they are a very good program. With any cert you wont learn much other than terms, and that will not make you a good trainer. Experience is what makes you a good trainer, and the best person to experiment with is yourself. Certs are just used to get your foot in the door.

Slowly increase the range of motion until you feel better with it, if it hurts stop and stretch and try to improve it. ROM is very important.
Anything that doesn't hurt you is what I'd recommend. Try everything you can, bb rows, 1 arm db rows, lat pull downs etc. Make a list of ones that hurt, how they hurt and why. Then address why it hurts you and try to fix it. IE flexibility, your shoulder is just stiff and needs to be warmed up. Remember to start slow you dont want to make the injury worse.

Those would be ok for now, it depends how heavy you go. You need a spotter because to go deep enough you must stand on top of 2 benches to get parallel and you can fall over easy.

I'm glad to hear you are back in the gym and making progress. Keep it up.



What press? Bench press ?Standing overhead press? Be more specific please.
Smith machines in general are a bad idea, because it is on a fixed plane and your body doesn't have free movement to adjust how it needs to.



Stay with the same program, switching programs is a mistakes a lot of inexperienced people make. I was one of them.
What do they recommend when you stall on a lift? To reset just that lift?
Also yes do accessory work, it is VERY VERY important. You'll keep getting the biggest muscles bigger and the weaker ones weaker. You are only as strong as your weakest link.



Hello,
Good question.

I'd recommend explosive movements, research westside method and see if you can find some of Matt Browns workouts, I know he trains there.
Strength is also important, and accessories again are too, but you want to limit your weight gain, and can do that with your diet.
The best method for you to get lighter is diet. You'll have to cut some muscle mass if you are truely at 8%. what weight class do you fight at? My friend is around 160 pounds or 150 and cuts down to 140ish to fight at.
If you want to drop down to 155 and then slowly get back up to 170 it will be very slow. You need to eat very clean and make slow clean gains. I'd expect it to take you around 2 years or more if you stay at the same body fat. Train heavy as shit, eat enough, and keep it clean.

I'd advise you to just recomp where you are now, drop body fat while adding muscle, very slowly. Then cut water weight for fights when you need to.

If that doesn't answer your question please let me know and I will expand more.




Try
1.5-2 grams of protein
2 grams of carbs
.5-.75 of fats
all of this per pound of body weight.
On off days cut the carbs and fat down some, I can't give you an exact diet because I dont know how fast you gain or lose weight and numerous other things.
Monitor your weight weekly and more importantly HOW YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
For losing weight, there are a lot of different ways. Just reduce your overall calories and monitor your fats and carbs closely.

Do some research on muscle building and losing body fat, come back here and tell me what you learned and what you think would be a good diet, and why.
I will then tell you what I think of your diet and if you have anything messed up.
If you need help getting started let me know.

As for your hands I'm not sure, and I'd rather not give incorrect advice. I'd ask your doctor as it can be many things, or a side effect of something bad. Schedule an appointment ASAP.

Thanks for the thorough response! I know exactly who Matt Brown is, and a very respectable fighter as well. It's as I feared...the diet. Being Greek, this is won't be easy with the diet, but it's doable since I normally walk around at 185 lbs+. I'll have to focus on the cut then with what I've been doing, with mass cardio and endurance lifting since that's helped me get down to 165 without trouble. I normally like to be in a fighting weight of 170 lbs which I feel is comfortable and perfect for my height. I have tried 155 lbs also and that was a separate adventure. 145 lbs was too much, and will most likely never do that again. I'll give all of this a try.

The only questions I have are:
*What type of diet do you recommend the most? (Things to eat and not eat along with the appropriate level of grams of protein per day when I do plan to go back to 170).
*Any types of supplements to recommend? More so for the muscle gaining, as I feel there's no need for any supplements for weight cutting.

They recommend decrease the weight 10% then continue adding weight as you normally would, rinse repeat if you stall again. Guess i answered my own question there.
With the accessory work you say it's VERY important, none of the madcow, stronglifts, SS etc mention doing any small muscle group accessory type work.
Would you recommend adding some additional exercises? How would I incorporate this?

Currently what I do is
A,B,A B,A,B
A: Squat, Bench, Dead
B: Squat, OHP, row all 5x5

Numbers if this helps give you an Idea if i should continue on the same program are (in KG) Squat 110, Bench 85, OHP 62.5, DL 140. All 5x5
Cheers for the advice.

is it bad to do two workouts in one day for instance say i missed my back day...can i do back in the morning than like legs when im off work in the afternoon?

long story short

135 lbs - tried to bulk, ended up being a soft bulk, gained strength went up to ~200 lbs, took about a year, followed a 5x5 ss, for 4 months then completed jim stoppanni's stshred

started cutting in sept. 2012

cut untill dec 2012 went down to 160 lbs- used a strict 1,800 cal diet, work out was inverse pyramid scheme, mon-sat, chest/tris, back/bis/traps, legs/shoulders repeat

1 protein shake – 130 cals 24g protein, 1.5g fat, 4g carbs,
2/3 cup = 240 calories 40g carbs, 8g protein, 4 g fat
1 tbspoon peanut butter = 90 calories 7g fat, 3g carbs, 4g protein
1 scoop protein= 130 cal 24g protein 1.5g fat, 4g carbs
2 whole eggs = 140 calories 12g protein, 10g fat, 1g carbs
1 banana = 114 calories, 26g carb, 1g protein
6oz chicken = 240 calories 3g fat, 0 carbs, 48g protein
30g rice – 110 cals, 2g protein, 1g fat, 25g carbs
2 scoop protein shake = 260 calories, 48g protein, 3g fat, 8g carbs
30g cheese= 120 cals, 7g proten, 11g fat
100g ground beef = 210 calories, 20g protein, 15g fat

486 cal from fat 792 from protein 444 from carbs - would have a cheat meal every sunday or so but would still keep calories at 1800 or less


from around feb to end of march took it off as had a huge amount of work for university, gained about 8 lbs from that and lost

started beginning of april to cut again - down to 160 as of now - but this time doing a cyclical keto for now just have a carb load up on friday night/ untill saturday afternoon

doing that at 1,600 cals

pretty much the same as the above mentioned diet but with alot more green peppers/celery/lettuce and took out all carb sources (rice,apple,banana etc) and replaced with 30g serving of cheese or all natty pnb

getting approx 20-25g max carbs, 160 lbs of protein, the rest fats. also used keto stix to test keto, getting a range of trace-medium amount on the tests

down to 160 lbs now, and regained and my lifts are still consistent - bp- 170, squat- 250, dl - 315, military- 135 currently doing jim stoppani's stshred program,

now heres the problem, when is my bf around my waist going to go?

how can be 160 lbs, after losing all that weight and still have this?

200 lbs approx

[IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/6p2r1u.jpg[/IMG]


now


[IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/2wq8klk.jpg[/IMG]



[IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/2qdwk74.jpg[/IMG]

What supplements are you speaking of?