Ending my first HST cycle (bulk) - my impressions

Well my current set up is A / B / C routine based on 3 days on then 1 day off etc as follows with 4 increments rather than the traditional 6 for each phase

Routine A – Flat Bench / Bent over Rows / Landmine Press / Rear Squats (ATG) / Good Mornings / Calf Raise

Routine B – Military Press / Supinated Chins / Dips / Deadlift / Barbell lunges / Calf Raise

Routine C – Incline Bench / Landmine Rows / Landmine Press / Hack Squat / SLDL / Calf Raise
 
Well, after 5 months on bulk it's arriving the time to start cutting. I'm currently on my 4th cycle, in the middle of 5's block. Current stats are 211lbs BW @ 14,5% BF. I made two long trips in the last 40 days and I lost almost 2lb of lean mass. Got pissed off by that but it's how real life goes...

196 lbs @ 11% BF. LBM is 174,44 lbs.

211 lbs @ 14,5% BF. LBM is 180,40 lbs.

Gaining 15 lbs of BW and 6 lbs of LBM gives me a p-ratio of 40-60. Barely acceptable in my opinion. If weren't those 2lbs I would end with almost 50-50.

The later results didn't please me. Until April I was getting a 70-30 ratio but these last two months things got bad. Maybe I'm eating too much fat.

Opinions on this? Thanks.
 
What you eat does not alter your p-ratio, assuming you are getting adequate protein. It is possible that water weight had an impact on your caliper readings. It is extremely unlikely that you would get a 40/60 ratio while bulking if you are lifting properly, unless you are already very close to your genetic limits.
 
Totentanz said:
What you eat does not alter your p-ratio, assuming you are getting adequate protein. It is possible that water weight had an impact on your caliper readings. It is extremely unlikely that you would get a 40/60 ratio while bulking if you are lifting properly, unless you are already very close to your genetic limits.
Click to expand...

Yes Toten, I'm hoping so. I'm not close my limits and for me it's reasonable the idea of a fluid retention blurring my readings. I'll certainly get new readings during this week to see what happens. Anyway this result can be seen as a two step forward and one step back. In other words, the resulting ratio can be a function of a muscle loss during the cycles, caused by my trips.
 
Totentanz, I believe you was right. It seems that something really got wrong in the last measurement. Took new measures today and got 12%BF @ 213lbs what gives me 187lbs of LBM and a p-ratio of 76%.

Anyway I realized that my caliper is not reliable. I'll look for a professional to do this for me and get a more accurate number. By now I'll took this number as close to real, since I saw some pictorial guides of BF% and it seems that I'm somewhere beetween 12 and 15%.

Leo
 
Re: pictorial guidelines - generally anything you see online will have it's mark upgraded by 2-5%. It seems to be the trend these days to engage in body dysmorphia on a significant scale. Those at 10% get called 14%, those at 15% get told they're 20% and so on.

Take it all with a grain of salt.
 
Just an update. After some readings on strong lifts.com and some other places I decided to change pull downs for pull-ups, smith squat for regular DLs and smith press by standing barbell press. I also dropped direct triceps work. I felt GREAT today in this new routine, much less pain in the knees and shoulders, better range of motion and better pump. It was also a glad surprise to return pull-ups and realize that in January I was struggling to make 4 reps @87kg BW. Now I got solid 5 reps @97kg BW.
 
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