Hello,
I’ve been training for about 7yrs now, but feel like I’ve only really begun training for the past 4yrs because that’s when I actually started following a program & watching my nutrition. I’ve ran a 5/3/1, SS, and a few other similar programs and just felt like they weren’t doing it for me. I recently purchased The Bridge 3.0 and have completed 8 weeks and saw what I felt like was good progress, now I’m trying it run it again.
My goal is to build muscle and increase my strength, because I would love to compete one day in a powerlifting competition, something about being able to lift heavy weight and see the weight go up just really has me hooked.
The issue I’m having is I feel like I’ve been stuck at my build for so long, and I don’t know what angle to take with it. Here is my info;
Male
30yr old
5’11”
195-198 lbs bw
17% BF (measured with calipers from a gym trainer, not sure how accurate that is)
36” waist circumference
Nutrition wise I try to track everything using MyFitnessPal, and have done so for the last 2 years. I try to consume 2900 cal but I feel like I more consistently hit within the 2500-2800 range. I make sure I get a minimum of 1.7g protein per kg of body weight, 30-35g fiber, and I’ve been usually consuming anywhere from 250-300g carbs, and 70g or so fats.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I’d probably maintain weight while running your next program to see if you can get your waist down <35" before considering gaining weight.
At that point, a slow weight gain would be the plan.
-Jordan
Thanks Jordan. So you’d suggest just leaving my calories and macros where they’re at now and see where I’m at after I finish the program before adjusting anything?
I was concerned with my waist being at 36” and I’ve read / listened to you speak about ideally trying to be at 34”. My goal is to be able to put on muscle & gain strength, and see some muscular definition.
Thanks again. I really appreciate you & everyone with BBM taking time to help everyone on these forums
Not necessarily, as if you had any medical issues or wanted to be leaner, I’d probably have you lose weight. That said, if you were healthy and had no specific aims or ambitions to reduce your bodyfat right not, you could maintain weight.
So, it’s up to you 
If you held a gun to my head, I’d have you maintain your current weight and then reduce calories after the program was over.
Thank you! That helped clarify things for me
Hello again,
I figured rather than making a new post, I should just post an update.
I just finished running the Bridge 3.0 program for the second time, and finished with the following;
Body weight: 198lb (maintained BW)
Waist circumference: 34.5" (down from the original 36")
SQ 364lb → 378lb
Bench 226lb → 238lb
DL 448lb → 460
OHP 150 → 160
My goals are still the same, i’d like to be able to get stronger and try to be lean enough where i can see definition. I also would like to try and compete eventually, right now I just lack the confidence. I’ve continued eating around the same calories as when I first posted, so i’m not sure if I am still just not eating enough to get to that point, or if I am eating too much.
With this information, what suggestions would you have for me? Also, what program(s) do you think would be suiting for me to run next?
Thanks again to all you guys & gals at the BBM group, this has been an amazing community to work with!