I’m in my last week of the Hypertrophy I program, and I’ve made pretty good progress. Over the course of the program, I’ve been eating at a slight deficit. My body fat went from 18.6% down to 17.1% while my muscle mass went up from 77.3% to 78.8%, and I dropped from 167.8 lbs down to 161.5 lbs. Not crazy changes, but I’m pretty happy to have shed some more fat while mostly keeping my muscle. I’m in my late 30’s, so changes don’t come quite as easily as they used to. At 5’10", I’m not exactly shredded at ~160 lbs, and part of me wants to keep dropping fat to get really lean. On the other hand, I’d really like to have more strength and muscle development.
I’m thinking of doing the General Strength & Conditioning Template next, but I don’t know if I should try to eat at a slight surplus to build up some more muscle, or continue at a slight deficit to lean out more.
I know this is all pretty subjective and has been asked in lots of different ways by lots of different people, but I keep going back and forth, so some feedback would be great. Thanks!