Cut Bulk or Recomp?

[adomaster123]

18m 6’0 150lbs. Been consistently lifting for 3 weeks on a PPL 6 day split. Unsure whether I should restrict calories to cut, increase calories to bulk, or eat at maintenance to try and recomp. My scale estimates 10% body fat, but since my abs aren’t defined I’m guessing it’s closer to 20+%. Advice?

 

[NotYourAverageNerd]

It's probably difficult to estimate your bodyfat%, if you're 6', 150lb but not shredded, you're probably either really low on muscle, or have a tiny frame. Based on the pictures, I'd guess the former, but more, better pictures in better lighting would help a lot. Right now, estimating bodyfat% based on how you look will be hard no matter what though, and scales/scans/caliper estimates will be off even further than usual (I wouldn't bother with those in general - they suck).

I probably wouldn't worry too much about bodyfat numbers right now, if you're just now starting to train, you're going to change so much in a short time that guessing the future accurately is going to be really hard.

Good news is, you probably also don't have much (if any) fat to lose. If you can lose roughly as much fat as you gain muscle by the end of your newbie gains (after the next year or so) you'll be in a really good spot.

In your position, I would adjust your intake to maintain 150lb (though that's going to feel like a cut, because your bodyfat % will be dropping!), and focus mostly on training.

So upshot being; IMO, recomp.


Also, what exercises are you doing?

Right now you can probably get the most out of focusing all your energy and recovery on the big lifts, deadlift, bench, squat (and IMO, farmers walk. Fucking love farmers walk) , and only really worry about the other movements if you have time and energy afterward. If you're doing multiple "heavy" exercises every day, and haven't lifted before, going 6 days a week is probably going to hold you back because you're either going to have to go easy, to keep from being too sore to train the next day OR you're going to beat the crap out of your body and have to stop within a month or two because of an injury.

Right at the start, it's fine to go easy while you're getting familiar with the gym, and used to the movements, but within the next month or so, I'd transition to starting to really hit the big lifts harder, but less frequently, maybe twice a week each. Could still spread it over 6 days, but if you're doing that, I'd hit one big, balls-to-the-wall compound movement per day, right when you get to the gym (so like bench on "push" days, deadlift on "pull" and squat on "legs"), and only do some minor accessory work after that.

 

[adomaster123]

Thanks for the advice!

As for the exercises I’m doing (basically in order):

Push: Bench Press, Overhead Press, Dips, Dumbell skullcrushers, Tricep extensions, Tricep pushdowns, Front raises, Lateral raises.

Pull: Chin ups, Bent over Barbell Rows, Lat Pulldowns, Concentration Curls, Hammer Curls, EZ bar curls, Barbell Shrugs.

Legs (and abs): Back Squats, Deadlifts, Leg extensions, Leg Curls, Barbell Calf raises, Cable crunches, Parallel bar leg raises.

I’ve been doing Push on Mondays then Pull on Tuesdays then Legs on Wednesdays then repeat then taking a rest day on Sunday.

Progressive overload:
Adding 5 pounds to the bar every workout on bench, OHP, barbell row, and squat. Adding 10 pounds every workout to deadlifts. Adding reps to accessory lifts like curls, skull crushers etc. until it gets too easy and maybe then I’ll up the weight.

So I’ve basically been hitting one or two big compound movements to start a workout then hitting accessory lifts until the point of total fatigue.

Any advice is appreciated. I basically just threw this together based on a rough outline of a push pull legs program.