Should I cut or build ?

[Dmcb2120]

I have been trying to buff lately (week). I do split set M,T,TH,F. Saturday I go light abs n light cardio just cuz I'm bored being in the house with my wife n two kids. I have been eating alot of calories over the past week and hoping they go where they are suppose to. I'm 26, 5'7 175lbs. After reading it seems that I'm on the heavier end of guys my size. Back in school I was a sprinter and running back. I focused on my lower body alot and my upper was just "IN SHAPE" and toned not ripped or buff. So my lower body as always been HUGE. Tree trunk quads, huge calves and big butt. It still is just not as tight since I haven't worked out in 4 years. My problem is that now I have a lil gut, my arms LOOK great from the outside but the arm thin from above when I flex. I have been eating 3500 calories a day from food protein/creatine (mixed with two raw eggs n fruit) and the occasional protein bar. Should I continue to bulk up and worry bout my gut later and hope the calories go to my chest arms, etc, or lose my gut get everything back tight or join the fad and hope P90x will make me look like the guys on the commercial ? I'll post pix if I need too.

 

[Jmkt89]

All depends what you REALLY want..

Can always go for size then decide to cut after.. Seems like "cutting" now would just be losing weight?

 

[red head]

your 26 and 175 lb's and from the sound of it about 15%(+/-) so you may only have about 150 lbs lbm . if i was 26 again ( im 44 now) i wouldnt waist my time trying to stay 6 pack lean i would be clean/inteligently bulking gaining muscle slowly with very little if no fat gain . get your diet nailed thats the key to gaining muscle without/v little fat . then in your thirties youve got all the time in the world to diet n lose fat which in my opinion is a lot easier to do than gaining muscle .

 

[Dmcb2120]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking stay 175 but turn it into lean muscle if that's possible. If it's possible to do should I be maintaining calories or going up cuz I do go pretty hard in the gym?

 

[red head]

shoot for about half lb per week gain . its slow but if youre liftin right n your diets dialled in you shouldnt be gainin hardly any fat . set cals at about 20 x lbm ( not total body weght) , pro at 1.5 g per lb lbm , fat at 25% of toatl daily cals n the rest from carbs tapering off as the day goes on . these are only guide lines so watch your scales n lifts and adjust accordingly , more than half a pound a week gain then reduce cals , less than half a pound a week gain and lifts not increase much then increase cals.
to be a lean muscley 175 youre gonna have to get to about 190 then trim down a bit . as for training as you aint trained for about 4years start like your a beginner again i always SL 5x5 till you can squat 1.5 x your bw for reps and DL 2 x your bw and in the process all your other lifts will go up . whats your lifts like at the moment ?

 

[Dmcb2120]

I haven't maxed out yet but my squat (olympic)reps are 205lb 5x5 complete. My bench press is 185 5x5 the last 5 are hell I can't get the 4th one up yet.

 

[red head]

those aint bad numbers man youve got a good base just keep going n add 15 or 20lbs of muscle n youre on your way to what you want .

 

[Dmcb2120]

Yea I was surprised I still had even that. Guess it's from throwing my kids around lol. But I'm going to add to my squats ASAP. Back in high school I was the ONLY skill player 4 plate squatting club. But we was doing regular squats not olympic style.

 

[red head]

do that SL 5X5 till you get your numbers/strength up a bit and then you can swap to more of a bodybuilding routine , thats what i done . im not interested in being very big i prefer the muscley toned look as well as haveing the conditioning to go with it . im a lean 180 squat 280 for 5 n dl 340 for 3 , my dl is a bit low but thats cos i do dl after squats , i dont do flat bench any more i only do incline 185 x 5 + dips 66 x 5 i mountain/road bike ALOT . imo what good is being big n built if you get out of breath going up a few stairs .

 

[Dmcb2120]

Yea I'm not trying to be Arnold either just a lil bulker !!!! I like my frame just have to fill it in more.