Hi
In May I came back to lifting after a two year lay off. I started eating at a caloric surplus and training hard for hypertrophy strictly.
It’s now october and I’m running on my 6th month of the mass gaining phase. I’ve bulked up very slowly - maybe even slower than necessary. I’m 28 years, 165 cm / 5’5" tall and started out at 56 kg bodyweight. I’ve gained maybe a bit less than .5 kg a month and am now at 58.5 kg bodyweight.
In terms of bodyfat I’m OK and could go for another month. But I watched a video by Mike Israetel where he said that a bulk shouldn’t go on for much longer than 6 months and ideally 4, since the body will get desensitized to hypertrophy training and there is going to be diminished results.
My question is if I should go on a small maintenance/deficit phase now and come back to mass gaining in about two months, or if you think that my training age and relatively low bodyweight taken into account, I can still gain some more muscle. I would like to go for at least another month personally. But don’t know if it’s possible to gain more for now?
I should note that even though my bodyweight seem low, so is my height, and my body composition was not great before, so the fat gains are noticeable.
My 1rms are: Squat: 105 kg, Deadlift: 135 kg, Bench: 77.5 kg, OHP: 47,5 kg - they might not be impressive but I’m not training for strength so don’t do train these lifts as much as I could, and I work almost exclusively in high rep ranges when I do. The lowest I go in any of them is 6 reps except for the deadlift.
So basically: Is it realistic to gain more muscle for now, or should I end the bulk, maintain and do a mini cut and then come back again in december ish?
Thanks so much