Hello,
I’ve been a lurker for a very short time.
I’m 55, 5’11, about 205 right now. Waist is 37-38". Body fat estimate using Navy calculator and phots is about 20% or so. I was sitting at 240 lbs about 2 years ago, untrained and soft. I succeeded at losing about 48 pounds through diet and mostly cardio before deciding to do a NLP after I learned more about the benefits of strength. Worked my way up slowly and go into some intermediate 531 style stuff after exhausting my NSP. Last summer (2018), I had a hip injury and during the fall my training time was sporadic due to travel and the like. I also came up with a sore knee out of nowhere.
When things settled down, I decided to re-do a NLP. I’ll qualify this by saying I’ve been afraid of gaining too much fat after being pretty soft for most of my life. I’m sure that, and sleep has cut into my strength gains and I’ve never committed to either cutting or bulking.
Anyway as of now, my lifts are as follows (all at 5 reps, 3 sets - except 1 set dead lifts, and I do 5x3 rows in lieu of power cleans): Squat: 270 (getting close), Bench: 210 (I think I still have a little room), Rows: 165 (still have room), Overhead Press: 140 (getting close), Dead Lift: 340 (may have a little room left).
With that context, where do I go from here? I admit I would like some physique improvement and bring my waist down several inches. My inclination is to cut - but would it be wiser to exhaust these gains with a surplus first, even though I believe the gains are about to slow down. I have no desire to be a power lifter. I do have a desire to strong and healthy - and getting under a bar is the best thing I’ve ever done, so I’ll always lift even if I’m just maintaining strength.
Thoughts?