cut or bulk first?

hargi

hargi

hargi

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Looking for some help as I'm confused.

First of all, I'm primarily a runner, I run 4-5 times a week.

I have been injured recently and have put on a bit of weight I'm 11st 9 ( about 5"10) anyways I have a bit of a belly going on. Very recently I have started the gym to do weights. I want to build some upper body strength and get more power. I don't want to "bulk up" too much.

Ideally, I would like to keep my weight but turn my fat to muscle.

However, I have read that to lose weight you obviously have to have a calorie deficit. But to build muscle you have to have a calorie surplus.

So my question is what do I need to do? surplus, deficit or like try to be equal? or is there an order I need to do it in?

Thanks
 
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If you are early in you lifting journey, then just keep your diet under control and lift. You will get stronger and the gut will probably shift of its own accord.

As another thread has explained, it is quite difficult to bulk up properly, so don't worry about going full Hulk.

And don't forget your legs: if you are a runner, there is a good chance one leg is stronger than the other, which will eventually cause you injury of some description...
 
Worrying about getting too big lifting weights is like not taking up running because you're worried you'll accidentally end up winning the London Marathon. As a beginner taking up strength training, your body will undergo some initial recomposition meaning you'll lose some fat and gain some muscle concurrently: this is one of the few times when a reasonable amount of gains can be made despite not being in a surplus, especially if you're carrying excess fat, so add in the strength training and see what happens over the next few months. I assume without the running you didn't alter your caloric intake to compensate for the decrease in activity, hence the fat gain.

Fat can be lost far quicker than muscle can be gained, so 90% of the time once the initial noob gains period is over it's better to diet down to some reasonable, sustainable body fat % and then you can maintain around there or be in a very slight surplus if the aim is to grow, than it is to keep trying to gain whilst already having a decent amount of body fat (sort of 18% upwards as a guy) since you just end up in a position where it takes ages to diet it all off, or trying to force progress when in a long deficit and seeing little return vs eating more food and creating the environment for training to be the most productive. Worrying about that is months away right now though, so just eat healthily and train hard.
 
Lol Thanks.

I probably worded that wrong, running is and as far as I am concerned is my primary sport. Weight as in the number on the scale doesn't really bother me, it's the belly that I have got with been injured. Obs I don't want to be 16st but its mainly trying to turn what I have into muscle.
 
Try not to think of it as one turning into the other. Fat is stored energy and as such if you have plenty of it, when losing weight it makes it more likely skeletal muscle tissue can be grown despite eating a hypocaloric diet (aka being in a calorie deficit), because there's plenty of easily available energy stored internally that can both make up for the deficit and provide the calories required to grow new tissues. This can be affected by where those calories are coming from obviously, so it pays to have a nutritious diet however much you're eating. When someone is already fairly lean and trying to get shredded, muscle gain is going to be largely non-existent because there's far less of this energy available internally; it's usually a best-case scenario of simply maintaining muscle/strength and not losing it, and having to slow the rate of weight loss considerably. This isn't an issue for most new to training since they're either overweight looking to reduce fat first and foremost, or skinny looking to grow and in both cases newbie gains are there to be enjoyed.

Additionally if you want to gain muscle, as well as sufficient energy you need sufficiently good training too, so make sure whatever program you end up doing provides consistent progression over time to give your body the stimulus to change - via some combination of increased load or training volume - as the beginner stage where pretty much anything causes some growth doesn't last that long.

Running expends plenty of energy, so the lack of it combined with no great change in your energy intake meant it ended up being stored, in this case on your stomach. If you're easing back into running and introducing strength training, that will likely reverse things and your belly will go back down whilst you gain some size elsewhere in your body. Run and lift and see how things change over a couple of months and then report back.
 
hargi said:
Looking for some help as I'm confused.

First of all, I'm primarily a runner, I run 4-5 times a week.

I have been injured recently and have put on a bit of weight I'm 11st 9 ( about 5"10) anyways I have a bit of a belly going on. Very recently I have started the gym to do weights. I want to build some upper body strength and get more power. I don't want to "bulk up" too much.

Ideally, I would like to keep my weight but turn my fat to muscle.

However, I have read that to lose weight you obviously have to have a calorie deficit. But to build muscle you have to have a calorie surplus.

So my question is what do I need to do? surplus, deficit or like try to be equal? or is there an order I need to do it in?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Important to note that fat doesnt turn into muscle.

Losing fat and gaining muscle are 2 separate things.
 
I wouldn't go into a calorie deficit, your already are a healthy body weight.

If your looking to bulk you need to strength train, you say you do a lot of running well this isn't good for bulking as most of what you eat will be burnt off running.

Bodybuilders rarely do cario, have alook at mattdoesfitness or Mike Thurston on youtube they never do cario. All they do is strength training and eat the right amount of carbs, fats and proteins.

Runners are inherently small built because they are built for speed and endurance. You can't be a Mo Forah but look like Eddie Hall.

Whats your diet?

The first step to getting leaner and bigger is more protein into your diet it is key to building muscle.
 
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OP, you are the same weight/height I was when I first started lifting weights. I do see a personal trainer once a week who sorts out my workouts/diets and some corrective issues with (well, basically everything).

My daily calories was 2,850 a day (that was working out 3 times a week) which saw me build muscle yet only gain overall 1% bodyfat. Very happy with that.

I'm now on 3,250 calories a day as I hit the gym four times a week and have no issue gaining a little extra fat now. a few extra percentage of fat doesn't actually look that different when you're around the 18-20% mark.

Your biggest factor will be in the amount of calories you burn on those 4-5 runs each week. This needs factoring in. Not sure if you are intending to swap running for the gym whilst you hit your goals?

Just keep weighing yourself each week and see how it goes.
 
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