[Clare Barks]

Thanks for the advice Clare! i appreciate it!

Im a barber, alot of the comments are coming from my clients that see me every 6 weeks, they act shocked everytime they see me, and personally i think i could be alot leaner before they start acting that way lol.

Ill give it a crack communicating with them and lettingg them know its bothering me, thanks clare.

I think im on the right track, My goal was to lean out then push up – i prefer being on the bigger side as i do think it suits me more.

Im just unsure, if it was the right choice – im not sure if i have enough muscle of my frame to lean up or if i should of just pushed up. ill link some photos too this reply – if you could point me in the right direction that would be great!

My macros are

198P

266C

66F

https://ibb.co/rKh0fP1

https://ibb.co/RpWpQhJ

Thanks Clare!

See it through and shut out the outside noise. You have a goal, so stick to it. Communicate with your clients if you need to, reassure them that you’re fine and how their comments are making you feel. They are probably just concerned for your health.. they don’t see you consistently all the time, so when they do, they are probably just shocked by the change in appearance. It shows that you’re on the right track though, so well done!

Once the cut is done, you can focus on growing again, so put things into perspective. This phase is only temporary.

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[Clare Barks]

This is your goal, so the only thing that really matters is doing what you want to do.

I know it’s difficult to not let others affect you, and if the comments are coming from a good place and are of genuine concern, then all you need is a conversation to explain what you’re doing and why and tell them that their comments, albeit from a good place, are hurting you.

If the comments are just plain nasty, then move on. When someone says something negative to another person in order to hurt them, it says more about them.

Are you happy with your training and diet set up? Do you need any advice from us in that area?

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[Clare Barks]

You’re very young and not out of shape. Yes you could get leaner, but at your age I’d get stuck into your training and slowly gain. Take things steadily and you could build a decent amount of tissue over the next few months, before needing to tidy up.

Thanks for the respond clare. When you say slowly gain how Big of a calorie surplus would you recommend for me and for how Long should it be before needing to get lean again and get in a surplus again[/quote]

On average, a rate of gain of around 0.5-1lbs a week is reasonable, but I wouldn’t just look at the scale. If you’re still progressing in the gym, then hold tight before increasing food. As you’re young and still a relatively new trainer, you will be able to gain muscle quite easily in a small surplus and be able to recomp quite easily too initially. Keep going for a few months, or until you feel you’re beginning to look a little sloppy before doing a cut.. then get lean, lean before doing your next push up.

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[Clare Barks]

Today is my usual rest day, but we had the remembrance day service on camp in the morning, followed by a lunch, so I just did a run beforehand instead.

A very emotional, but lovely day amongst familiar and new faces, all remembering those who have passed.

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[Clare Barks]

Thanks for the reply.

The surgery was on october 31st, so about ten days ago. Whilst this ten days I was at maintenance or above without training.

So if I got you both right, you wouldn’t recommend to continue the cut?

I am not cutting for a competition but I want to be in good shape when my son is born, as I think training will shift more towards maintenance, at least for a while, after that.

Right now, I have about 17% body fat.

I’d continue as you are then, with current maintenance calories, and react to how your body responds when you start training again. Look at the scale and your body composition and over the coming weeks, go very slowly back into a deficit and start chipping away again.

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[Clare Barks]

You’re very young and not out of shape. Yes you could get leaner, but at your age I’d get stuck into your training and slowly gain. Take things steadily and you could build a decent amount of tissue over the next few months, before needing to tidy up.

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[Clare Barks]

If you’re only at the start of your cut and still holding a good amount of bodyfat, I’d bring calories up to what your current maintenance is. You will probably find you begin to drop at these calories once you get back to training, then you can assess as you go and increase the deficit as you heal and are able to recover more efficiently.

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[Clare Barks]

Yes I think that’s enough time away from training to take any anti-oxidant or anti-inflammatory supps.

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[Clare Barks]

If you’re training with true intensity, adding in rest pause sets to a full body programme could result in too much fatigue to be able to fully recover from for your next session, so I would stick to the programme as it is for now and focus on progressively overloading those sets.

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[Clare Barks]

Today is a rest day. I did a longer run first thing, which was around 7km. I love running on a crisp dark morning! I then had a day of pottering around the house, getting a few work jobs done and getting out for a walk in the afternoon. Tonight will be a cosy night in, watching a film.

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[Clare Barks]

I would highly recommend reading Scott Stevenson’s ‘Be your own bodybuilding Coach’. Available on Amazon.

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[Clare Barks]

Absolutely illness can cause some inflammation and additional water retention, so rest up, keep to the diet and re-assess once you’re feeling better and training properly again.

I’d keep some walks in during this time and make sure your fluid intake is high.

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[Clare Barks]

I’d have a serving of MPS Max and plenty of water on wake, then sip your carbohydrate drink on the way to the gym and during training. I would then have a whole food meal post training as soon as you feel ready to eat.

I’d distribute your protein equally across all meals throughout the day and make sure the last meal of the day, the evening before a training day, is carb heavy.

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[Clare Barks]

I had such a good session today. This is my usual Glutes/Leg day, but I really enjoy incorporating some form of conditioning cardio at the end too, like sled pulls/pushes, ski erg, row etc and I’ve been feeling so much fitter recently since branching out and exploring different forms of exercise.

I’m loving my running, can’t wait to get into some gravel biking and really enjoyed the hyrox workout I did on Tuesday.

I always want to fit my weight training in, as this will always be my number one love and still a vital component of health as I get older, but I also want to feel physically fit and functional, as well as just having more fun!

Seated ham curl x2
Reverse Hyper x1
Belt Squat x3
Glute Drive x3
Leg extension x2
GHR x3
Sled pushes – 2 lengths x3

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[Clare Barks]

Keep your food volume low, so be smart with choices.

Choose foods that are easy to digest, such as cream of rice and use oils, nut butters, seeds, sauces to increase calories without increasing volume.

Use a greens powder if you need to reduce your vegetable intake.

Drink plenty of fluids.

Use a carb based intra drink such as Sustain to get more calories in during training.

Take a short walk before and after meals.

Train hard.

Do your cardio first thing in the morning.

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