Post: #1

Been working out pretty solid this spring and I'm starting to bulk up. What sucks now is that my clothes now feel uncomfortably tight. Shirts that used to fit like a glove are now tight around arms and back and I feel like they are going to tear if I stretch my arms out. Jeans that were a perfect cut a year ago now are too uncomfortable to wear. You can buy bigger sizes but bigger sizes are usually cut for people who have bigger stomachs, not bigger arms, chest and back, so you don't get the taper.

Post: #2

Congratulations on your newfound gains.

You now have reason to find a tailor.

Post: #3

Levis 514 for squatters. One of the more unasked about side effects of putting on mass, although completely logical, is that food budget goes through the roof

Post: #4

And all that eating man.... all that eating....

Post: #5

It's a good excuse to go shopping.
Find new clothes for the new body

Post: #6

I think that as you get bigger, it becomes harder and harder to buy clothes off the internet. You really need to try everything on in person (even t shirts/ shirts) and make sure it fits well. Otherwise, if you have a tapered physique, you end up buying clothes that are too big in the waist and make you look too boxy.

Post: #7

Yeah, when I came back from deployment none of my shirts fit. I wasn't fat at all, but my back/shoulders/traps blew up from spending so much time with my combat gear on. The worst part was my awesome (and expensive) brown leather jacket didn't fit anymore.

Post: #8

Thighs are the issue for me more that the waist. I can just manage to fit in my old 514s but the thighs are skin tight. As long as I don't sit down or bend over I'm OK.

Seems like I always end up with the waist too large. If I make the thighs comfortable, the waist will need a belt. Then you have a bunch of extra fabric which gathers in the crotch area.

I tried 559s but those end up rather baggy-looking.

513s feel more comfortable due to the elastase but I'm not sure I pull them off. They have more of a taper than the 514s.

Post: #9

(06-11-2014 02:14 PM)calihunter Wrote:  Levis 514 for squatters.

Funny you say that. I bought a pair of 514 around six months ago and made sure they fit just right.

No after six months of exercising irregularly, I find them so thight I have difficulty taking my keys out of the pocket.

Post: #10

I don't know about you guys but ever since I put on mass i feel like I get fatigued way faster. When I started doing submission wrestling i was 134 small but stamina was really good from playing soccer. Then I started gaining weight to 160 and it feelt like my cardio went out the Window. Thats not normal is it.

Post: #11

(06-11-2014 06:19 PM)KC4 Wrote:  I don't know about you guys but ever since I put on mass i feel like I get fatigued way faster. When I started doing submission wrestling i was 134 small but stamina was really good from playing soccer. Then I started gaining weight to 160 and it feelt like my cardio went out the Window. Thats not normal is it.

I was at 136 before I got my weight up and I feel the same way

Post: #12

^ Best cardio I was ever at was 175 6'4" at 18yo skinny as fuck.

Marathon runners and soccer players are skinny for a reason.

I can however sprint faster short distances when I have had more muscle.

Post: #13

"One of the more unasked about side effects of putting on mass, although completely logical, is that food budget goes through the roof"

I feel like my body responds a lot more adversely to periods of low calorie consumption a lot more now than when I was super skinny.

Post: #14

Plenty of endurance athletes are relatively muscular. XC skiers and rowers, for example. You're not going to be successful at nordic skiing or rowing if you have no power in your upper body. I was around 165 at 5'11 when I was running varsity cross country in high school (and we didn't suck); there were several other fairly muscular guys on the team who were mid-varsity like me. Our fastest few runners did have the more typical endurance runner build.

I've lost endurance as I've gained weight, sure, but that's not a consequence of my muscle. It's because I stopped training the same way. Your cardio drops way off if you don't keep up your training intensity; I would notice it after as little as 2 weeks off back when I was a serious distance runner. Now I take a much more balanced approach to training. I want to be able to deadlift 500+ pounds and row a sub 7 minute 2000m*. If that means I'll never hit a 6:30 2000m, so be it.

*I can do neither right now. My 2km is in the high 7s somewhere and I can only deadlift in the mid 400s. Give me until October.

Post: #15

(06-11-2014 02:00 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  Been working out pretty solid this spring and I'm starting to bulk up. What sucks now is that my clothes now feel uncomfortably tight. Shirts that used to fit like a glove are now tight around arms and back and I feel like they are going to tear if I stretch my arms out. Jeans that were a perfect cut a year ago now are too uncomfortable to wear. You can buy bigger sizes but bigger sizes are usually cut for people who have bigger stomachs, not bigger arms, chest and back, so you don't get the taper.

Next up is: "I'm getting taller and it sucks, I always have to watch out in poor countries and duck every time the ceiling is too low or something is jutting out of a wall...girls have to look up to me now, and I think their necks are feeling some discomfort..."

Hehe, congratz on a job well done though, Speakeasy. Keep it up, man!

Post: #16

Post: #17

It's a great excuse to get some new threads. Get nice things tailored, as they can usually be let out a few inches in places. Other stuff, just buy new threads.

A commitment to being healthy costs money. It costs money for the gym, it costs money for the food, and it costs money for the clothes. If you're too cheap to be healthy, I don't even know what to say. It's just the cost of doing business.

Post: #18

Come now, these are only minor downsides OP. Congrats on the progress though!

Buying new clothes with your improved build is fun. With more upper body mass, v-necks and polo shirts begin to look like they were made for you. Lately this is getting dangerous. I want to buy shitloads of clothes for the summer and it's putting pressure on the budget. This coming from a guy who used to wear long-sleeve tops to hide his thinness!

Anyway, I was fitting some polos in LaCoste the other day. The shop assistant was doing the typical giggly Japanese girl routine but much more than that. She kept making excuses to "check the fit" by feeling up my arms and shoulders. Perve. Later on, she almost exploded when I undid the top buttons. Admittedly she was no stunner, but it's a nice feeling to know that the 100s of gym hours have paid off.

Post: #19

What's your BF% like?

When you get leaner, you'll fit fine in good clothes. Even better than fine as you now have a nice physique.

"Downside" is that you have to get into the better more expensive stores, or get your clothes tailored. The stores catering for the cattle class won't have stuff that fit you anymore.

Post: #20

(06-11-2014 10:10 PM)StrikeBack Wrote:  What's your BF% like?

When you get leaner, you'll fit fine in good clothes. Even better than fine as you now have a nice physique.

"Downside" is that you have to get into the better more expensive stores, or get your clothes tailored. The stores catering for the cattle class won't have stuff that fit you anymore.

I haven't measured my body fat but I'm not lean. I don't have a six pack. I haven't put on anymore fat in recent months but the extra muscle without being lean is giving me that wrestler build which I don't want. I'm trying to cut down a bit. In fact I'm going to take a little break from weights and focus on cardio.

Post: #21

You want to be down to about 12% or less (very doable). You're probably around the 20% mark.

Cardio won't do much to cut. You're better off moving around a lot (or just move your body a lot) and eat clean. My best cutting plan involves walking everywhere daily.

Weights will keep you lean and muscular. It's a common mistake to think cardio = cut, weight = bulk. Even the hardest cardio session doesn't burn many calories at all. I know chubby guys who kill everyone in hard kettlebell sessions but yeah, they're still chubby because they eat crap.

To give myself as an example to the clothes question, I'm pretty muscular from powerlifting. When I was closer to 20% BF, nothing fit well. I had that same jeans complaint guys who squat a lot do. Shirts felt like they're gonna explode. Now I'm down to ~12% (DEXA scan), everything with an athletic or European cut from good quality stores fits me as if they're tailored.

Post: #22

(06-12-2014 01:51 AM)StrikeBack Wrote:  You want to be down to about 12% or less (very doable). You're probably around the 20% mark.

Cardio won't do much to cut. You're better off moving around a lot (or just move your body a lot) and eat clean. My best cutting plan involves walking everywhere daily.

Weights will keep you lean and muscular. It's a common mistake to think cardio = cut, weight = bulk. Even the hardest cardio session doesn't burn many calories at all. I know chubby guys who kill everyone in hard kettlebell sessions but yeah, they're still chubby because they eat crap.

Whaaa? My typical rowing workouts (example: 2k warmup, 5k, 5k, 2k cool down) burn 900+ calories each. If you're doing joke cardio like 5 minutes on the elliptical, yeah, you're not burning much. But rowing, swimming, and XC skiing all burn around 14-15 calories per minute if you're not just loafing along. You just have to put in the time.

People stay fat because they eat like crap, that much is true.

Post: #23

What's 900 calories compared to a burger? I've seen the size of US burgers lol

Plus really hard & long cardio sessions tend to make people super hungry and overeat calorie-dense foods.

Minus the food calories to get the difference that you actually burn. Then you take into account that each lb of fat is 3500 calories. That starts to get depressing at how much fat you do burn...

Don't need to work that hard to lose fat.

If it's a part of your sports though, go nuts.

Post: #24

The best possible form of cardio is street game. Hit two birds with one stone.

Post: #25

I find running after my weights stimulates the most fat loss.

30 mins burns 500 extra calories so why not?

The old adage that weight loss is achieved in the kitchen, though, is 100% true.