Hey, im skinny fat... currently 83 kg, started last year at 83.9 kg, droped to 75.5 kg and since july slowly going up in kgs sgain
I was able to do 1 Wide Grip Pull Up and 0.5 Close Grip this time last year. Now I can do 5x6-8 weighted Neutral Grip Pull Ups with about 5 kgs on me.
So I must have also gained muscle.
But if I look in the mirror I still didnt change lol.
Im 175 cm, 83.3 kg now and male. Id say thin arms, belly,...
Here is a pic for reference if me.
What would you guys do if you were me? Skinny arms, fat belly/ chest, skinny legs.
Working on few key lifts...
- Overhead Barbell 5RM is 45 kg
- Bench Dumbbells is 5RM 27.5 kg
- Barbell Squart 5RM 80 kg ...
So not very strong either lol. I think I barbell Benchpress 65 kg for 5 Reps Max :(
Trying to hit 2800 kcal a day and about 2g protein per kg/ bodyweight. Doing upper lower splitwith cardio zone 2 on wednesday and saturday
From what you've wrote, I know you are a beginner and you have been lifting for a year. Your numbers have gone up well on your lifts but you can't see that reflected on your physique. First of all, congrats on training consistently for a year! That takes discipline and puts you on track to achieve the look you want.
It's difficult to answer your question because I don't know your goals so, since I've been where you are not so long ago, I will answer using my goals as the anchor.
My main goals are to not hurt myself and to build muscle, specially on the upper body (wanted to have big arms since I was a kid lol)
If I were you I would look at my training and try to answer the following questions:
Is my exercise selection in line with my goals to build muscle?
I focus on always having arm isolations on upper days. I choose lifts with good stabilty
Am I too focused on the numbers?
I used to get frustrated if the numbers went down on a particular session or if they took longer to go up. I later learned that day-to-day progression will vary due to things like sleep or stress. It's best to focus on showing up and accumulating quality work sets
Am I using lifting techniques aligned with my goals?
When I started lifting I followed the most common advice for benching: the arched back. This is powerlifting technique to lift more weight. I only saw real chest growth when I switched to bodybuilding technique
Do i know what training to failure is?
Training close to failure is necessary to build muscle long term, if you are natural. Getting close to failure requires knowing where it is. I only really tested my limits a year and a half into my lifting journey and it was when I started to visually see better results
Do I push harder only on certain lifts?
if I want to have big arms, I need to train them serioulsy, not just the compound lifts
As for diet, you look to be somewhere around 20-30% bodyfat (hard to estimate but its always safer to assume its higher than we think). With that bodyfat percentage you could still bulk but I would make the surplus very very low or just be at maintenance. The reason being that you're still a beginner so there's plenty of room to grow. Quickly looking at a Total Daily Energy Expenditure calculator it estimates you need 2400 kcal a day. This means you're in a small to moderate surplus, you could lower it slightly and still make gains. As for protein intake, I would take Lyle Mcdonalds advice and base it of lean body mass and not total weight.
If you want to cut, I would highly recommend researching Lyle Macdonalds Rapid Fat Loss diet, its extremely effective. In a nutshell: cut fats and carbs, focus on lean protein. Eat veggies, supplement omega 3s & electrolytes. Continue to go to the gym, prioritize low reps (heavy weights and high intensity) and cut volume in half.
Last spring I did a dirty bulk and got to the high 20s bodyfat percentage. Using Lyles method I dropped 8kg in 2 months while maintaining gym performance.
Maybe its enough now, it's already a wall of text.