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getting stronger but not bigger

S

Sydking

Member
OK - so i know how silly it sounds when someone comes on to a forum and starts a thread something along the lines of " Build mucle and loose weight"

people seem to say its one of the other,

BUT

every time i lift - i am in what i think is a calorie deficate- 2000 per day with cardio ontop when im doing things properly- So much less then all the boys here who are lifting and eating to get big and strong

Now, im not putting on weight, Not really loosing much at the moment for whatever reason, but not really the point here.

though i am contatly adding weights to my lifts EG 10kg to squats just this week. Mind you i havent hit the 100kg mark though not far off.

when training like this i can see in the mirror more and more mucle definition as time goes on, Yet not getting bigger, but always getting stronger.

i know the best answer would be in a dexa scan to see if BF % has dropped, And i dont really know what im trying to get at anymore.

But this stems from reading that if i dont eat in a surplus i wont make gains - seems not the case with me

so one can get stronger without actaully putting on much size/weight? like a body re comp mabey?
 
What sort of routine are you doing ?
5x5 or 3x10 or ?

I'm trying to get stronger, get cut(drop the blubber) and get a lot fitter

I'm plateauing weight wise at the moment but the fat is coming off (10cm off the belly for August , one cm off the legs and arms).
Dexa scan on the 16th Aug had me at 30% bf , 74kg lean muscle , 3kg skeleton and 30kg fat.

You could be doing the same, shedding the fat and replacing it with muscle ?
 
Don't weigh yourself, use a tape measure and you will find your guts get smaller while arms, legs and chest get bigger. Happened to me when I first started working out lost the gut and totally changed body shape without much movement on the scale.

I think the term everyone uses is recomp.
 
Yeah you can from personal experience while dropping 55kg in fat over a year I gained strength. I also gained noticable size on my arms. This whole calorie surplus is necessary for strength gain is a myth imo.

Buuuuuuut....... It's slower, and if you're near your 'genetic peak' or very strong (benching 150kg+, DL 300kg, etc.) I would wager it would be much harder to not only gain but to maintain strength.
 
Doing beginer bb program in 3x10 every second day, no intentions to ever really Change it either I think its great. Would really like to be at 80kg max, was 18% bf last dexa but Havet checked, will do in 3 months
 
Sydking said:
so one can get stronger without actaully putting on much size/weight? like a body re comp mabey?
Click to expand...

err, it's easy.. you already have XX amount of muscle, which you are/were not using to its full effectiveness. as the muscles "wake up", you get stronger.. so still using the same muscle you already have, but more effectively.

once you reach the strength limit of that size muscle, you have to get bigger to get stronger..

ie, you are still on newbie gains?
 
I always tell people that all that matters when it comes to building muscle is that protein synthesis is greater than protein breakdown

Is this possible on a deficit? Yes
 
And yes, you can get stronger without gaining weight
The majority of strength gains are neurological and the body will only want to build muscle if you're forcing it to
 
I don't know what your plan looks like but if you focus on strength building exercises FIRST in your program (bench, squat, deadlift) and do them heavy then move on to assistance or hypertrophy work with HYPERTROPHY intentions (slow controlled reps and lighter weight) along with solid nutrition and calorie intake, you should see more results, i think you need to do some more research because what you provided sounds very basic
 
Building muscle takes a long time. Keep doing what you are doing. Make sure you are progressing in your lifting and give it 2 + years.
 
Bazza20 said:
Building muscle takes a long time. Keep doing what you are doing. Make sure you are progressing in your lifting and give it 2 + years.
Click to expand...

yer i really have no intention to change from the BB beginer program - i find it does everythinng i need it to.
 
As was said, increasing weight on you're sets does not equal muscular hypertrophy.

Gaining LBM on a cut is possible if:
A: you are a noob (I'd say less than 100kg squat is still noob)
B: you are previously trained (muscle memory)
C: on dat dere celltech

What you are doing is working though so just stick with it. You will get to a point where the strength gains are a lot harder to come by in a cal deficit. If you are happy with the BF%/appearance at that stage then up the cals to build that muscle.
 
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