# 12 weeks in - pics and advice



## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

After 12 weeks thought I'd share my progress with you lot. One thing I have noticed is my body fat has gone up [12%], and I'd like to strip it down a bit so my abs can't hide, while still gaining muscle. Can this be done, and other than increasing cardio, how would I adjust my diet to achieve this?


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## Nemises (Jun 29, 2008)

from what iv read you cant do both at the same time. 1st bulk then cut. R u on juice?


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

No I am not. Suppose that's a complement though


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## Paul1436114510 (Jan 18, 2006)

tR3s0R said:


> I'd like to strip it down a bit so my abs can't hide, while still gaining muscle. Can this be done, and other than increasing cardio, how would I adjust my diet to achieve this?


Ofcourse this can be done, i never put on fat when increasing muscle size. I dont get fat when i put on muscle, i dont understand why people bulk the cut. I like to look good all year round.

Increasing cardio is a good start, i do very little cardio now ive burnt off all the fat i want too, diet is key though. Plenty of protein for growth and cut out foods with saturated fat. It isnt rocket science, maybe some people will go into more depth with an answer, but im natural and ive got my own proof that what im saying works...


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## Rebus (May 22, 2006)

Don't be to harsh on youself mate. From the photos you can see the increase in muscle tone already and i certainly wouldn,t say youve put on bodyfat at all.

Like already has been said you can put on muscle whilst gaining. Up the cardio to compensate for the increased calories which you will/can be adding to further feed and replenish your trained muscles. The increase in cardio will also fire up your metabolism.

Make sure that when you do increase your calories you have more meals/per day if your not already having six or so. Better this than having 3 and just adding to them.

Its been said in research i read years ago thatweight can be lost if the person trying to lose weight does no more than spread what they would normally have from there traditional 3 meals out into 6 meals. Theory being that the meals are smaller and the stomach can process it easier.

What i tend to tell people asking is to treat your stomach like a furnace. The logic being if one was to put a big old oak tree straight onto a furnace it would very likely struggle to burn through it due to the sheer size. Now if you were to get the same big old oak tree and chop it down into 6 sections or so and throw one in every 3hrs, becausse that section is smaller it would likely burn through it quite easily.

Further to that if you were to turn the furnace up ( ie train intensly ) the furnace would be able to burn through alot more, more efficiently due to the increase in temperature, 9( just like our body has that window of opportunity post training when it realy needs fed ).

Hope i didnt go off topic there and hope is of some help:thumbup1:


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## dru0111 (Aug 28, 2007)

unless your head or legs have gained lots of fat you havn't put on body fat! How did you get it measured?

Keep going as you are, up calories if anything. There is progress there, well done.


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## adesign (Jun 10, 2008)

Paul said:


> Ofcourse this can be done, i never put on fat when increasing muscle size. I dont get fat when i put on muscle, i dont understand why people bulk the cut. I like to look good all year round.
> 
> Increasing cardio is a good start, i do very little cardio now ive burnt off all the fat i want too, diet is key though. Plenty of protein for growth and cut out foods with saturated fat. It isnt rocket science, maybe some people will go into more depth with an answer, but im natural and ive got my own proof that what im saying works...


I would say dont cut out all the foods with sat fats, just the ones with lots of trans fatty fats. Would recommend MCT's. Is this your first 12 weeks of training? If so you can definatly lose the fat whilst gaining some muscle mass, im currently doing it, love being a beginner  I think later it it will become harder and you need to phase between cuting and bulking cycles.

As for your diet options I would look into carb cycling, CKD or TKD then go from there. Just my thoughts so its helped!


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## Robsta (Oct 2, 2005)

The main thing is mate just keep at it....Use the mirror as a guide, not scales or calipers....If you think you look good then you look good...You have made progress for sure, but in this game it's all anbout time mate. Just get into the habit, forget about results just train. Then look in the mirror in 6 months and compare you then and you now and you'll be astounded, even more so after a year and so on etc etc.....


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## bigacb (Nov 13, 2007)

Mate just bulk you dont need to cut. Putting on muscle whilst losing bf is very difficult without 'training aids'. Get in the cals.


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## weeman (Sep 6, 2007)

BRABUS said:


> Don't be to harsh on youself mate. From the photos you can see the increase in muscle tone already and i certainly wouldn,t say youve put on bodyfat at all.
> 
> Like already has been said you can put on muscle whilst gaining. Up the cardio to compensate for the increased calories which you will/can be adding to further feed and replenish your trained muscles. The increase in cardio will also fire up your metabolism.
> 
> ...


good post mate,sound advice.


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. I def have put on some fat - a few people have commented and said " you're getting a pop-belly". Maybe part of it is a slight bloating from the shakes.

I'm getting really into it now, never miss training - I find the eating side of thigs the hardest, but I'll just keep going and post another update in a couple of months.


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## Graham24 (Jul 28, 2008)

Can see difference in your arms and shoulders.Good progress mate. :cool2:


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## irwit (Mar 29, 2007)

Could we see your current diet and routine. I wouldnt say your bodyfat has changed at all, if anything look leaner in the more recent pic, look at your wrists and right bi compared to the other, veins poppin all over the place.


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## ImproveMuscle (Aug 1, 2008)

yeah defo improvement on your arms and shoulders. well done m8 keep at it!


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## Jux (Jul 23, 2008)

Nice vascularity mate


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## Pagie (Jul 1, 2008)

I wouldnt say your BF has gone up either, how did you get it measured. Are you sure the weight you have put on isnt muscle ?? It looks like it could be to me.


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## bobby chariot (Nov 1, 2007)

Robsta said:


> The main thing is mate just keep at it....Use the mirror as a guide, not scales or calipers....If you think you look good then you look good...You have made progress for sure, but in this game it's all anbout time mate. Just get into the habit, forget about results just train. Then look in the mirror in 6 months and compare you then and you now and you'll be astounded, even more so after a year and so on etc etc.....


Spot on.

Can see a good improvement mate. Like has been said; keep at it.


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## dan-mel (Jun 18, 2008)

you can cut down body fat while building muscle but it takes so much longer to make the same ammount of muscle that you do if you are on a calorie surplus.

I did what you want to do for my first 6 months of training and slowly cut down while making muscle till i had a prittey ripped 6 pack, but now im "properly" bulking with quite a big calorie surplus and im making muscle so much faster than i ever did before. I think the gains you make in muscle really do out weigh the up in body fat % when "properly" bulking.


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## dancemag (Dec 6, 2007)

ever considered that the what you believe to be extra fat on your belly to be from larger abs?

anyway you've got low BF anyway mate, go eat


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## DaveN (Jul 25, 2008)

Looks like the BF has gone down to me too.


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

Maybe it could be bigger abs, slighty more BF and a bit of bloating from shakes n load of food. I'll stop worrying about it.

Is there a period you're meant to bulk for, then cut, then bulk, then cut etc... or shall I just continue bulking for like a year, then cut?

Also, are you meant to have a week with no training every now and again? I've been training 4 times a week for ovcer 3 months now.


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## lew86 (Aug 6, 2008)

personally mate I would say that whatever bf you had around your abs and waist are now more defined with muscle rather than more bf. Very well done mate


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## danny_j (Jun 6, 2008)

I can see gains pretty much everywhere. I'd be really happy with that if I was you and just crack on


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

OK then guys, bit of an update - hit the 6 month mark. I'm styruggling to see any further change - what do you think? Maybe I'm not eating enough, or does progress just get this slow after the first "rush"?


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

better pic size...


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## bbeweel (Oct 7, 2008)

Buddy i think you seriously need to address your diet,from looking at the pics you def look better now than before but to me it looks like you have droped body fat but not gained much if any muscle,after six months i would of expected to have seen some slight gain in muscle size on you .....like somebody else mentioned post up your current diet and people will be able to help you adjust it ............good effort so far!


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

Thanks guys,

Well, a typical day goes like this-

9am - bowl of porridge, and 3 egg whites mixed in with a protein shake (these are raw. I know 3 isn't enough, but like I said, it's on top of a shake)

12 - tuna/chicken sandwich & banana

3pm - either scrambled eggs (1 whole egg, 4 whites) or chicken & rice (if I have some made up)

5 - train, followed by a shake with 1 cup of oats

6.30ish - chicken & rice/ steak

9.30 - scrambled aggs as before, 2x wholemeal bread & banana

12 - shake

HOWEVER - I would say my diet does slip a bit on the weekends a bit as I'm aften out, away, or, ocassionaly too hung over to get up and eat n cook.

I take a multivitamin tabled, cod liver oil, and for the past 2 months have been taking creatine, but stopped since I didn't really notice any difference in either growth, or stamina in the gym.

Training is as follows (and i'm pretty sure this isn't the problem as we do push it hard every session)

Mon - legs

Tues - Chest/tris

Wed - squash

Thurs - back/biceps

Fri - shoulders/traps

Weekend - off

Looking back at my post, I'm pretty sure I know the answer - eat more and don't slip on the weekends..... but even though it's not perfect, it's certainly more closely a bodybuilders dient than the average person, and after 6 months wouldn't you expect to see SOME gains, even if those gains aren't as much as they COULD have been with a perfect diet?

Thanks guys/gals


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

Thanks for reply. So you reckon glucos, and more calories is the answer then. I'll give it a whirl, something needs to be changed for sure.....


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## Guest (Nov 17, 2008)

Good lord you expect big changes after 12 weeks? Well perhaps if you started off fat and dieted hard then you would look a lot different, however, gaining a lot of muscle in 12 weeks PMSL think again come back in a year and if you did it all perfectly there shall be some changes.

If it was that easy to have a great body every one would have one from the weekend warriors to the guys who have trained 12 weeks:lol:


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## tR3s0R (May 8, 2008)

Con said:


> Good lord you expect big changes after 12 weeks? Well perhaps if you started off fat and dieted hard then you would look a lot different, however, gaining a lot of muscle in 12 weeks PMSL think again come back in a year and if you did it all perfectly there shall be some changes.
> 
> If it was that easy to have a great body every one would have one from the weekend warriors to the guys who have trained 12 weeks:lol:


12 weeks was the original post title, the third pic is after 7 months training with zero gains from the second pic.

I'm not someone who's doing this for a 10min "fad", I've been training and dieting seriously for the past 7 months. Wouldn't you expect SOMETHING after 7 months, even a small gain?


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## T_Woody (Jul 16, 2008)

Good noticeable progress. At 12% Bodyfat i think you will still have nice visible abs tho


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