Hi Raynor, got a situation here. Im currently cutting, 14% BF...wanna get those abs back by June, but I really wanna have some meat on me at that time as well. Should i continue cutting til 10%, then bulk up til april-ish, then cut til june again? or do you think it'd be better to bulk now til april and then cut?

basically, what would you do?

18 y/o, 170, 14%, 6'0

well to maintain and or bulk, since I'm doing the 5x5 strong lifts I'm trying to lean out but not lose anymore weight just build muscle ..? some shit like that

Hey ray, I gave my shoulder a rest last week and decide to do some light work on it this week so I did yesterday and it went good, I didn't feel any bad indicators to stop, no sharp pains or whatever, however, I did feel some tension on the tendon ( which should be normal sense it's healing and getting stronger )I can still move my arm in every motion, it is a little achy but no sharp pains or anything bad, am I in the clear to continue to start doing more light shoulders to it fully heals.

I just talked with one of the top orthopedic doctors in the hospital I work in and he said its most likely a sore joint where the color bone and shoulder meet, and he will give me a shot if it persist. He did a little test on me and none of it hurt to see if it was my rotar cuff etc.

How do I add muscle mass to my pecs? I've been working out for 1.5 years now and I've seen everything increase in size but my pecs have been stubborn and have barely grew. How to fix this?

First of all, follow this guide:

For pure recovery, your body requires several things.

1. Sleep (at least 8 hours a night)
2. Water (at least 1.5 gal a day)
3. Enough protein (strive for 1.5g per pound of bodyweight)
4. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation (ONLY necessary to recover from an injury - NOT muscle soreness)
5. Eat every 2-3 hours and get enough total calories (use a BMR calculator online)
6. Hot Baths with Epsom Salts after a workout and when excessively sore
7. Frequent light stretching of the affected areas
8. Supplementation -

For supplementation, the best recovery aids include the following:

1.) 10g glutamine a day, 5g POST WORKOUT and 5g PRE BEDTIME (Optimum or NOW! Glutamine powder)
2.) 2g BCAA's before/during/after intense physical activity and before bed (Optimum BCAA-1000 caps)
3.) Kre Alkalyn (2 pills pre and 2 pills post workout - or 2 morning and 2 evening on nonworkout days)
4.) Multivitamins (Controlled Labs Orange Triad)
5.) Vitamin C 3-4g / day (NOW! C-1000)
6.) EFA's - take 2g with every food meal for a total of 6-12g / day (NOW! Super Omega 3-6-9)

These are the best in the way of pure recovery that I can recommend to you.

If you do everything I listed, your recovery will improve dramatically.

Continue clean bulking until April. The key here is CLEAN bulking. That means eating only about 200 cals over maintenance (maintenance means your BMR + exercise calories). On non-workout days, eat less to accomidate the reduced calories burned from working out.

Once April rolls around, it's time for a solid keto cut.

1 - 2 scoop whey, pb, 1/2 cup oatmeal , 1 banana shake
2 - 1 cup oats , 1 scoop whey, cinnamon, handful blueberries
3 - baked ham, scallop potatoes , 1/2 cup brown rice , veggies
4 - 2 tuna wraps with lettuce
snack - 1 banana, 1 pb wrap
5 - 2 pieces of salmon, 1 cup or more of broccoli , lettuce

In that case, your diet looks great. The only thing I'd consider is to make sure you put olive oil on meats, and keep your sodium to no more than 2,500 mg per day with 5,000 mg per day of potassium.

Keep going light.

The good rule of thumb is to wait 2 weeks after ALL problems cease before returning to a full and normal routine when dealing with a tendon related issue.





Be careful with that. Unfortunately a lot of doctors are quick to write pain off as a simple soreness. They also are quick to push cortisone injections to alleviate pain and inflammation. I would bide on the side of caution regardless.


This post was edited by SKCRaynor on Jan 20 2012 08:35pm

You have stubborn chest genetics, or you are training wrong. Regardless, see this guide:

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=382232412
Stubborn Chest Guide