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Posted: 8/27/2023 10:56:10 AM EDT
So I've had a single goal all Spring and Summer: to get as lean as I can.
I've been on a ridiculous cut, and at this point, I look really good. Based on what I see in the mirror, I'm probably at about 15% body fat or slightly less. My goal is to attain a full 6-pack before the end of the year, which often shows up around 10% body fat. So I want all you fitness guys/gals out there to tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. So my program is essentially an intense calisthenics routine in order to maintain muscle. Every day I'm doing about 6 sets of diamond pushups, 15 reps each. 5 sets of pullups (6 reps), 5 sets of chinups (8 reps), several max sets of dips, planking for about a minute or more. And I go on a walk where I walk about 10k steps. If the walk feels too easy, I'll put about 27 lbs of weight on my back. I'm taking in about 1k calories a day, with about 176g protein per day. I'm about 5 ft 9.5" tall, and weigh 147 lbs. I know I'm already on the small size, and most would recommend I do a lean bulk, but I plan on leaning out even more, and then lean/slow bulking once I have my desired midsection. I know 1k calories is considered far too low, but my chest, shoulders, upper back, and arms are still very muscled, and I do look fairly chiseled. What do you guys do, and what would you recommend I do differently? Am I crazy, or should I stay on the path I'm currently on? Since doing this, the fat has literally been melting off my belly. It gets flatter and flatter literally every week, and I'm not noticing a significant loss in calisthenics strength. |
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5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated.
I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. |
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I'm 6'1" and 220lbs and pulled an abdominal muscle throwing a football yesterday. So yeah, I need to get off my lazy ass and into the gym.
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5’11 178, 57YO, ran 2 miles this AM at a sub 9 pace.
I want to be fit and healthy. It fights getting old. |
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Having a 6 pack is not a fitness goal. Pick a goal centered on performance.
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5’9” and 147, and starting a cut? Well, just know it won’t look how you’re thinking. But I get it, you have to start somewhere. And I would advise cutting to 10% before starting a long and steady growth season as a matter of policy, so yeah.
Focus on nailing your diet. Intake adequate protein and hitting minimum fat. Do whatever with the rest of your calories. Don’t use any of them you don’t need to unless you want this to take longer than necessary. Calisthenics is ok I guess. It’s vastly inferior to resistance training. When you’re done cutting you’ll have that coveted auschwitz look so unless that’s your ultimate goal you may start resistance training now. Losing fat is the easy part. It takes years to build muscle. Beware the advice you tend to get here. This forum is filled with dumb advice. It’ll only get you as far as it got them. Now consider that the posters dispensing said advice generally look somewhere between “unremarkable” and “like ass”. Edit: oh, and per title, I’m fit. My cardio is generally lacking, save for during cuts, but lifting is solid. Geared more for hypertrophy. I’m fluffier than I prefer to be ATM but I’m on the tail end of a growing session, so it’s whatever. There are a lot of posters here stronger than me (still a vast minority) but they’re also fatter, so pick a goal I guess. |
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Go back 50 or more years guys with the same height weighed a lot less than they do now and worked harder, longer, and in non AC.
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6’ 218#….probably 75% body fat so I’m pretty fit. When I lay down I look like a piece of road with a melted speed bump in the middle.
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I could pick you up and throw you with one hand.
Bulked to 250 in college, and it was lean. Little lazier now. Around 265. Used to run two miles every day when I woke up. I been slacking, I need to work out again. |
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Quoted: 5’9” and 147, and starting a cut? Well, just know it won’t look how you’re thinking. But I get it, you have to start somewhere. And I would advise cutting to 10% before starting a long and steady growth season as a matter of policy, so yeah. Focus on nailing your diet. Intake adequate protein and hitting minimum fat. Do whatever with the rest of your calories. Don’t use any of them you don’t need to unless you want this to take longer than necessary. Calisthenics is ok I guess. It’s vastly inferior to resistance training. When you’re done cutting you’ll have that coveted auschwitz look so unless that’s your ultimate goal you may start resistance training now. Losing fat is the easy part. It takes years to build muscle. Beware the advice you tend to get here. This forum is filled with dumb advice. It’ll only get you as far as it got them. Now consider that the posters dispensing said advice generally look somewhere between “unremarkable” and “like ass”. Edit: oh, and per title, I’m fit. My cardio is generally lacking, save for during cuts, but lifting is solid. Geared more for hypertrophy. I’m fluffier than I prefer to be ATM but I’m on the tail end of a growing session, so it’s whatever. There are a lot of posters here stronger than me (still a vast minority) but they’re also fatter, so pick a goal I guess. View Quote I started my cut at 150 lbs. I wouldn't say I look emaciated, at all. I have a muscular chest, shoulders, arms and upper back. It's my legs that are skinny. I've always had skinny legs. At what I assume to be less than 15% body fat, I don't think I'm far from having my abs start to show. I just have maybe a few months of cutting to get there. I do want to start lifting again soon though. I'm just worried about injury since my calorie intake is so low. I'm on a rapid cut. |
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Quoted: 1,000 calories!?!? Are you trying to disappear? View Quote This is normally where I say I used to cut on 650 calories a day. I’ve done it for months without any deviation from that diet. .8-1gish g/lb protein (I used a very lean/boring protein powder), 6 fish oil capsules, a multi, nothing else. Outside of hunger it worked fine. Lifts even stayed the same minus maybe a 5-10lb drop towards the end. Edit: this was before I knew about bronkaid. If I did the same with bronkaid it’d be far more tolerable. I just used to white knuckle through the hunger. |
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5-11, 225#
I'm 49. Work out 3-4 days a week lifting weights. TRT injections. Strong for my size and age. Could use more cardio. I eat good food. I also eat food that tastes good, so I am not lean. |
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5-11” and 185 here. 35 yo.
I do like your emphasis on body weight exercises as it matches my own with the addition of burpees. I also use the kettlebell twice a week. For cardio, my wife and I run and swim together. Around 10 miles each week. I shoot about 6 major 2gun/3gun matches per year and also do the TacGames and Run-N-Gun so agility and mobility are very important elements. |
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In response to your question:
Intermediately fit. I did a 12 mile ruck with a 45 lb pack in like 3 hours 15 minutes in May. I haven't timed my 3 mile run in a minute but I'm reasonably certain I could do it under 24 minutes and probably closer to 22. I can bench 205, squat 255 (probably closer to 270) and deadlift 315. I also weigh 165 lbs at 5'10" By May of next year my goal is to get my ruck time user 3 hours and my lifts over 1000 lbs combined. Doty_soty is dead on with what you're looking for. |
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I let myself go to shit since I hit 50, mostly because of a chronic knee problem. I still lifted four days a week and biked three days a week, but I stopped running altogether. And for some reason, I also stopped swimming, mostly because it felt like too much of a hassle.
I've started trying to get back into shape this summer and now I'm swimming three days a week and running three days a week. We'll see if I can keep it up. |
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Quoted: 5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated. I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. View Quote Attached File Body type is a thing. Though op, i question your body fat percentage numbers. I dont see how they could be that high with your height weight intake and regimen |
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extremely less fit than this.
Can Girls do Pull Ups? How I Taught Myself to do 16 Pull Ups |
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OP is relating “fitness” to having a six pack. Not my criteria but ok. You obviously are disciplined and are doing well on the diet side in order to hit your goals. Nothing but respect there.
I am 5’10” and got down to 153lbs in an effort to get those abs, but couldn’t keep them as I lack discipline when it comes to eating. Your weight is not an issue, despite what the mass monsters will say here. Look at boxers and wrestlers, lots over very dangerous dudes at your height and weight. My personal opinion is fitness is a combination of cardio capacity, physical strength, and flexibility. You appear to be solely focused on aesthetics. As far as my routine: 7 days a week, 30 minutes day cardio at high intensity (I aim for 15 + minutes > 90% max HR), 4 sets of chest push, 4 sets of back pull, 4 sets of hip dominate push. Finish workouts with 2-3 low stress exercises that address my individual weaknesses (glutes). Takes 70-80 minutes a day. I need to do more flexibility drills but am lazy. My diet needs work @ 170 lbs, could stand to lose 20 lbs of fat. Been doing this for 20 plus years and never looked big or ripped, let alone both at the same time. I could blame my genetics, but I am realistic enough to know the fault lies in poor discipline. |
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It looks great to me. At 2.1g protein/kg you should be able to lose fat while retaining your existing muscle mass. If anything (and you may already do this), I’d shift macros such that the non-protein calories are coming primarily from fat with carbs minimized.
I’m on a similar path as OP and presently at 6” 215lb at 15% working my way down to 10%. Getting sufficient protein makes a difference as otherwise I lose close to equal on fat/muscle, but have been able to skew that in my favor by upping the protein. Shifting the other macros to fat (reducing carbs as much as possible) keeps me more satiated during the day. I’m not going for big strength gains or adding muscle, just trying to slim down without losing mass. Have been using the rower as my cardio, just banging out 1000m pulls as fast as possible (time is improving) at the beginning of each WO and usually finishing with a slower paced 500/1000m. Doing so im super depleted during WO, but getting the results I want. Keep at it OP. |
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Caught Covid and then pneumonia earlier this summer, so current fitness level is lower than I'd like.
Prior to that I was in decent shape and passed the Navy PRT standard for a 30 year old this spring. I'm 53 and not mil, that was just the standard chosen. After that I dropped about 10lbs from Covid, a lot of it muscle. Then I gained 15 sitting around with pneumonia, all of it fat. I've dropped 10 of that in the last couple weeks and have started actively exercising again. Currently 6'3" and 203lbs. Aiming for 195 until I can get back to lifting. |
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Quoted: /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/deOINby-52.gif Body type is a thing. Though op, i question your body fat percentage numbers. I dont see how they could be that high with your height weight intake and regimen View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated. I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/deOINby-52.gif Body type is a thing. Though op, i question your body fat percentage numbers. I dont see how they could be that high with your height weight intake and regimen It actually could be alot lower than that. I can see my top two abs and a bit of my 3rd and 4th abs below that. But I also tend to bloat alot around my midsection, so it's often hard to tell (I look leanest first thing in the AM). I plan on getting a Dexa scan soon so I can know for sure. |
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Quoted: 5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated. I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. View Quote I climbed the Grand Teton a few weeks ago in 11 hours car to car. Which entailed ~16 miles round trip and 7,700' of gain per my watch. My pack was likely around 30#. Attached File |
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Quoted: It actually could be alot lower than that. I can see my top two abs and a bit of my 3rd and 4th abs below that. But I also tend to bloat alot around my midsection, so it's often hard to tell (I look leanest first thing in the AM). I plan on getting a Dexa scan soon so I can know for sure. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: 5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated. I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/deOINby-52.gif Body type is a thing. Though op, i question your body fat percentage numbers. I dont see how they could be that high with your height weight intake and regimen It actually could be alot lower than that. I can see my top two abs and a bit of my 3rd and 4th abs below that. But I also tend to bloat alot around my midsection, so it's often hard to tell (I look leanest first thing in the AM). I plan on getting a Dexa scan soon so I can know for sure. It's a job to get it done brother. I'm 5'10" 130lbs with 3.8% body fat. I have a physically intense job that involves either being in the sun or an attic most of the time. I'm trying eat close to 3 to 4k calories a day and still have trouble adding a pound a week reliably. For me the problem is being all cut and not being able to add muscle mass I don't have any good advice other than hang in there. |
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I thought 15% would be showing some abs already, and 10% would be shredded abs.
1000cal sounds crazy, you're going to have a rough transition into your bulk. Probably smart to just slowly find your maintenance and do that for a month before you truly begin your bulk. Me, I'm probably about 22% body fat. I can kind of see some separation between pecs and shoulders, and even noticed my delts are starting to separate, but I still have a little chest fat and a small spare tire. I lift every other day and do light cardio a couple times a week. I tested cutting at 2600cal at the beginning of the summer and that had me losing about a pound a week, so I'm going to start that tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure what my goal is, maybe 15%. I've been bulking for a year and a half but doing a half-fast job of it because of the belly fat. I'll be better off getting leaner and then bulking from there. Currently 5'9" 170ish. Oh, for whoever said you're emaciated at 147, the first time I walked into the gym I was 5'9" 127. It's all relative. |
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5’ 7-1/2” and 175#. Better shape than some, worse than others. Should shit go down, I can transform!
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I'm 6'1", 173#, BMI is under 5.
I get out of breath washing the dog. But then again, I have Stage 1 emphysema. |
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Quoted: Here's a 5'9" guy at 125/160/150. Certainly not emaciated. I'd guess 95% of men would love to look like the 150lb shot. https://i.redd.it/7sqv5jn73ra31.jpg View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated. I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. https://i.redd.it/7sqv5jn73ra31.jpg Let's see his legs |
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Getting more fit by the day. Heading out for a 6 mile jog/fast pace hike.
I've been slackin' a bit as of late but I'm still on track to hit my next 2 fitness/weight loss goals. |
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Are you logging all of your calories? To make that work long term you should have at least one replenishment day per week. You can still eat clean, just try to take in 3-400 calories over your maintenance.
I’m on a similar cut. 5’11” started the summer at 210 (fuckin fatty). This morning I weighed in at 178, abs are starting to show. Been rucking a lot because our summers are super short. Running 3 miles 1-2x a week. Calisthenics. The best part of this lifestyle is I’ve been able to stop taking my blood pressure meds and maintain a healthy blood pressure. |
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Quoted: Here's a 5'9" guy at 125/160/150. Certainly not emaciated. I'd guess 95% of men would love to look like the 150lb shot. https://i.redd.it/7sqv5jn73ra31.jpg View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 5'9" and 147 lbs is emaciated. I'm the same height and 165 right now, probably 12% BF......and I'm too small. Eat and lift. https://i.redd.it/7sqv5jn73ra31.jpg I’m 5’9” and while I’m not the average body composition, if I’m ever <170 it’s because I’m getting close to stepping onstage. |
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