Getting My Priorities Straight

[MementoMori]

Hey guys,

Yes I know I ask a million and a half questions, and that's mostly because I'm all over the place, but this one is fairly simple.

I have a few long-term goals that I want to achieve, but I'm not sure in which order to put them into.

My long-term goals are:

-Reduce my body fat % to 8-10 (currently in the low 20's I believe)

-Gain muscle mass/Bulk up

-Gain muscle strength

-Gain endurance *I think this one can be done throughout, but I chose to include it anyway*

I like being organized, and knowing which goals make more sense to do first, and which ones can wait.

Any ideas?

Thanks for answering all my questions

- MM

[Waldo]

Hey guys,

Yes I know I ask a million and a half questions, and that's mostly because I'm all over the place, but this one is fairly simple.

I have a few long-term goals that I want to achieve, but I'm not sure in which order to put them into.

My long-term goals are:

-Reduce my body fat % to 8-10 (currently in the low 20's I believe)

-Gain muscle mass/Bulk up

-Gain muscle strength

-Gain endurance *I think this one can be done throughout, but I chose to include it anyway*

I like being organized, and knowing which goals make more sense to do first, and which ones can wait.

Any ideas?

Thanks for answering all my questions

- MM

Well the order I tackled them was:

Reduce body fat

Gain cardio endurance

Gain muscle strength

Gain strength endurance

Gain muscle mass

I started doing strength training and cardio, however only did it in a way that fit with my overall goal of losing fat. I never sacrificed my fat loss rate for anything until I was done with my initial cut, even though it meant suboptimal workouts and poor gains.

Once I felt I had a good base of strength I started doing a lot of strength endurance work. Once past noob gains you don't gain strength well at all when in a deficit (usually the opposite, maintaining is a best case scenario).

Now that I'm past my intial cut, I'm focused on gaining mass, however gaining strength and strength endurance goes hand in hand with that. I'm only trying to maintain my cardio endurance (at best) while bulking. The strength training volume really forces this issue, my legs are dead and my running times have been terrible, plus it has been brutal trying to maintain fast paces.

When I next cut, cardio endurance and strength endurance will be my primary focus, strength will be relegated to maintenance with much less volume.

A lot of people though put a higher priority on fitness goals than fat loss, as the fat loss should eventually come around.

[MementoMori]

Thanks for the response, sorry I took so long to reply.

So would the first cut have more of an emphasis on cardio than those that focus on bulking up?

I currently do (or at least am starting to do) 2 running days, 2 swimming days and 2 strength training days per week (both full body)

Do you think that would help with fat loss or should I personally go for fitness goals and let the fat loss come in time?

[concretecavewoman]

Bulking and endurance are going to be very challenging to do simultaneously unless you're starting from scratch, fitness-wise. It's better to have a couple of performance goals in mind (e.g. I want to lift X weight by Date, or I want to run this X distance at Y pace). Generally when you cut, you're not going to get the best ROI by focusing on cardio. Instead, lift heavy things, walk, and keep your diet super tuned up.

[MementoMori]

Bulking and endurance are going to be very challenging to do simultaneously unless you're starting from scratch, fitness-wise. It's better to have a couple of performance goals in mind (e.g. I want to lift X weight by Date, or I want to run this X distance at Y pace). Generally when you cut, you're not going to get the best ROI by focusing on cardio. Instead, lift heavy things, walk, and keep your diet super tuned up.

Ok, so I'm a swimmer by sport (Water Polo), so perhaps bulking up may not be as much of a priority and more of an aesthetic goal. I'm assuming the body fat will come naturally, as competitive swimmers tend to be rather slim (WP players are slightly bulkier, I'll admit, but I'm fairly short and small).

Should I just keep focussed on the cardio via swimming and running, keep up some weight training in order to gain some muscle strength, and focus on sport-specific instead?

What would you recommend if I want to focus on sport instead of aesthetics?

Thanks

[Waldo]

Generally when you cut, you're not going to get the best ROI by focusing on cardio. Instead, lift heavy things, walk, and keep your diet super tuned up.

When cutting though the strength training workload your muscles can handle is much lower than the overall workload that you can handle. You should be able to run quite a bit along with strength training.

When bulking the volume of strength training your muscles can handle significantly increases, also increasing your CNS fatigue big time. This pretty much kills your ability to run a lot, even if you wanted to.

[Waldo]

Thanks for the response, sorry I took so long to reply.

So would the first cut have more of an emphasis on cardio than those that focus on bulking up?

I currently do (or at least am starting to do) 2 running days, 2 swimming days and 2 strength training days per week (both full body)

Do you think that would help with fat loss or should I personally go for fitness goals and let the fat loss come in time?

It is good to do some strength training when cutting, but in a calorie deficit you aren't going to gain any significant mass. Maybe a pound or two of real muscle (and not just water in your muscles) at first, but this is short lived; to actually gain muscle mass you have to be in a calorie surplus. When losing strength training helps to preserve the muscle you currently have, otherwise you'll lose it along with fat as you lose weight.

It really is up to you whether you want to focus on fat loss more or fitness more. It really depends on what sort of progress you prefer.

[MementoMori]

I've been doing some thinking as this thread has progressed, and I definitely think that I've been wanting to do everything without looking at the big picture...

I won't have much time to focus on bulking up within the next 5 or so weeks, so I'll won't even look at that until the next off season.

I'll just focus on the swim training, put some running and weights in on the side to gain a little long-distance endurance and strength.

Would you recommend that I run once a weel and swim three times, or is the two/two balance alright?

[SirEarl]

My long-term goals are:

-Reduce my body fat % to 8-10 (currently in the low 20's I believe)

-Gain muscle mass/Bulk up

-Gain muscle strength

-Gain endurance *I think this one can be done throughout, but I chose to include it anyway*

- MM

In my opinion, it should be strength > endurance > body fat > muscle size

However, these are all your goals, and you should choose them according to what you think is priority