Eating disorder, bulking and gaining strength

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey Jordan, Austin and Leah!

Thank you for inspiring me to train and guiding our way to becoming stronger and better individuals.

I’m male, 5’10, 32.5" waist at 170lbs. I have no abs or anything and I’m not overly lean, I’m just under trained with a lack of muscle mass and a pretty narrow frame. But I’ve been much heavier and fatter in the past, and I think I’ve gotten a small eating disorder from that because I’m overly afraid of bulking and I’m obsessed with not gaining more body fat. My two goals are to remain “not fat”, and to squat 180kg for 1 rep (which is light years away right now) and these two goals are somewhat contradicting.

Last summer, I was 210 lbs and 39" waist with a 140kg e1rm squat. Did tons of cardio and ate 2000 calories, got down to 175 lbs, 33" and ~20% Body fat by October '18 with a 135kg e1rm squat.

At that point, I did much less cardio, increased calories to 2750 and ran the 4 day hypertrophy followed by the 12 week strength template. Got my BW to 182 lbs and my squat e1rm was 155kg at the end of the program.

At that point, I started to feel bloated and puffy which wasn’t really the case when I look at those pictures today, (Body dysmorphic disorder symptoms?) but I added more cardio and lowered calories to 2000. My BW went down to 170 lbs but my strength declined.

I ran the 4 day hypertrophy template a second time earlier this year, but on maintenance calories and some more cardio.

4 weeks ago I started the 12 week strength template a second time, and I’ve been eating 2500 calories and maintained my BW of 170 for 2 months now. But the weight on the bar is the same as last time I ran the program 6 months ago (altough I’m 10lbs lighter now) but this disappoints me a little bit. 6 months of training and my squat hasn’t really gone up? Yiikes - this makes me question my whole existence.

I need some advice here. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels when I train my ass off 4-5 days a week while only eating maintenance calories. But I’m also very obsessed with not gaining a bunch of fat.

Any input and guidance is much appreciated, thank you.

2

SG,

Thanks for the post, the business, and the kind words. Really glad to have you here!

A few things:

Based on your post in the past year you did the following:

  • BW Went from 210 (Summer '18) > 175 (October) >182 (November) > 170 (current)
  • Squat went from 140kg (Summer 18) > 135 (October) >155 kg (February) > ? (Current)
  • Programming went from Unknown (summer '18)> 4 day Hypertrophy (October-November)> 12 WS (December-February)> 4-day hypertrophy (February- current)

Does that look about right? Looks like in a year you’ve put 15kg on your squat while losing 40lbs and 8" off your waist. I’m not sure I’d be too upset with that.

I’d want to know what your squat was after the first run through the 4 day hypertrophy template and what it is now?

Also, do you have any video of your squat by chance?

I don’t really love the hypertrophy templates for absolute strength improvements for folks who haven’t done a bunch of dedicated strength work, though they are still viable for resistance training enthusiasts who aren’t overly concerned about increasing their 1RM’s. I think for you, the 12WS or similar strength program would be a better choice to get your 180kg squat. I wouldn’t necessarily expect an improvement in the first few weeks while you’re building volume, though I’d be trying to increase the loads you’re working with every week or two, if possible.

I also think you’re clear to gain weight slowly- 1-2kg per month. I would do that considering your height, waist, and training right now. Let’s aim for 176-8 or so by the end of the 12WS program and see what your numbers are.

-Jordan

2 Likes
3

Thanks for the input, Jordan!

That almost looks right :slight_smile:

Here’s what I’ve been doing, starting from October '18:

  1. 4 day hypertrophy run 1: squat 130->138kg. Deadlift 140->143kg. BW maintained at 175 lbs.
  2. 12WS run 1: squat 140->155kg. Deadlift 145->162kg. BW 175 → 181 lbs.
  3. 4 day hypertrophy run 2: squat 150->155kg. Deadlift 160->165kg. BW 180 → 183 lbs.
  4. At this point, I had been eating about 3000 calories and was starting to feel bloated so I did a “pivot month” with the goal of losing some fat. I did tons of cardio, ate 2000 calories and my BW dropped from 183 to a current 170 lbs and I got leaner. Deadlift remained at 165kg, but squat took a hit and went down to 145kg.
  5. I started the 12WS run 2 4 weeks ago and I’ve been eating 2500 calories and my BW and e1rm’s are unchanged at 170 lbs, 145kg squat and 165kg deadlift.

I did not have a video of me squatting, but I just recorded a video with 5 moderately difficult reps here: https://youtu.be/cryQFnyFB00
I normally squat inside the rack of course, but I wanted to get a side view for you.

So your recommendation would be to up my calories so I gain 1-2kg per month, and finish the 12 week program? I’m sure my squat will go back up to 155kg if I gain the weight back. But what program do I run after 12WS? I was under the impression that you should cycle a strength program with a more hypertrophy based program. Do you recommend me to just keep running the 12WS or do I need to cycle it with something, and if yes, what template would suit me?

:wink:

4

SG,

Did you walk that weight out and then turn sideways?? Impressive haha.

So, I think that pivot month kinda messed you up probably due to losing 13lbs and the programming. That said, yes I would do 12WS right now and gain the weight slowly as advised. I think you could do a hypertrophy month before returning to the 12 WS again to make some more strength gains- if that’s important to you. Additionally, I think you could gain weight for a long time provided you’re doing it slowly!

-Jordan

5

Yup I did, that felt weird haha.

Ok so the plan is to gain weight slowly while doing this:

  1. Finish 12WS.
  2. Do a hypertrophy month or just simply re-run the 12WS but add in 1-2 weeks of the developmental phase. Maybe change up the variatons a bit during this period? I do like adding in high bar as accessory and maybe add in one session with HIIT if it feels manageable.
  3. Re-evaluate.

I really appreciate the BBM templates because they form a good foundation which I assume you can tweak here and there for individual preferences.

Thanks for your time Jordan :slight_smile:

6

I don’t think I’d worry about the variations here and add much to the 4 weeks of the hypertrophy template. You’re just priming yourself for another run at the strength template.