Can I trouble you for some bodybuilding advice.....?

[JamesCannell]

Good day to you all. Need some help if I can get it. I've been losing weight for 6 months and have managed to lose 3 stone. I still have a little excess weight but I want to start bulking up and putting on some muscle. If I start to do this now, along with cardio, will my excess weight start to drop off? The only reason I ask is because I know that to build muscle you have to take on more calories than you burn off.

Also, what should I be doing in the way of training and nutrition?

[notanartmajor]

Most likely you'll gain fat along with muscle, but if you're working hard most of it should be muscle. Eat a ton, lift several tons, and the muscle will come. Losing weight after you're as muscletacular as you'd like you can eat less and work in more cardio.

[TheSavageBean]

First off, congrats on 3 stone! What you should be doing in terms of training and nutrition is a very open ended question and depends on your specific goals and current status. We need to know:

Age, BF% (or height/weight), current training level with weights, what you want to achieve (building muscles is a bit vague) and what are you willing to eat/not eat?

Basically, intuiting the answers to the above questions as "20-40, 30-35%, beginner, I want to get stronger, I'll do anything" my advice is to continue to cut, eating around 1800-2000 calories (the specific number will depend entirely on your BMR which you can calculate on the web) for your new increased activity, then learn through videos or any of the many instructional resources found around the web about how to deadlift and squat. Then follow a weightlifting/powerlifting program like SS, SL or Rebel Strength. You'll need about 3-4 weightlifting days and 3-4 days of cardio on your off days, or mobilityWOD. If you grow to love exercise then this will be a joy rather than a chore for you!

edit: But yes, reinforcing what artmajor said. If you choose to eat at caloric surplus fat gain is inevitable, your strength gains will be much greater though.

[Mad Rocker]

If you gain muscle, you will put on weight. However, you may also lose fat, especially if you're eating clean.

Diet is the major factor. NF is generally big on paleo, but any sensible diet will work too (ie vegetables = good). Check the top right box for more info with pretty pictures: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/top-posts/

[ETFnerd]

i suggest you hang out in the bodybuilding.com forums for the latest... if you're a noob, pick up arnold's encyclopedia of BB as a primer... and inspiration... also you tube is full of full BB splits from all the top pro's... there's never been more info out there for the masses... but really... you ain't gonna get really good advice here... good luck...

[JamesCannell]

First off, congrats on 3 stone! What you should be doing in terms of training and nutrition is a very open ended question and depends on your specific goals and current status. We need to know:

Age, BF% (or height/weight), current training level with weights, what you want to achieve (building muscles is a bit vague) and what are you willing to eat/not eat?

Basically, intuiting the answers to the above questions as "20-40, 30-35%, beginner, I want to get stronger, I'll do anything" my advice is to continue to cut, eating around 1800-2000 calories (the specific number will depend entirely on your BMR which you can calculate on the web) for your new increased activity, then learn through videos or any of the many instructional resources found around the web about how to deadlift and squat. Then follow a weightlifting/powerlifting program like SS, SL or Rebel Strength. You'll need about 3-4 weightlifting days and 3-4 days of cardio on your off days, or mobilityWOD. If you grow to love exercise then this will be a joy rather than a chore for you!

edit: But yes, reinforcing what artmajor said. If you choose to eat at caloric surplus fat gain is inevitable, your strength gains will be much greater though.

Thank you. Well i'm 30, 5"11 and 13St. I have been doing 6 months of full body workouts 3 times a week, alongside 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. I've just started splits. Chest/shoulders/triceps on a Monday, legs/abs on Wednesdays and back/biceps on Fridays. I also still do the 3 day cardio but on opposite days to training and before I have breakfast. My diet is pretty clean. I eat oats, chicken, turkey, fish, brown rice, veg, cottage cheese. Don't drink fizzy drinks, just mainly water.

Ideally i'd like to get similar in size to The Rock.

[JamesCannell]

This is my current build

http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=4360&d=1341478829

http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=4361&d=1341478885

[Waldo]

There are a lot of different roads between point A, where you are now, and point B, where you want to be. Pick the journey you will enjoy the most.

Given where you are experience-wise, chances are you aren't going to gain muscle while cutting and you aren't going to lose fat when bulking. You can try calorie cycling to do both simultaneously, but it is inefficient in the long run.

One thing that you can do, keep your bulking cycles on the shorter side and cutting cycles on the longer side until you get down to a BF% you are happy with. You still have enough fat that you can cut aggressively when you do cut. Mixing in some bulking is good for the head and good for your metabolism.

[JamesAE]

Definitely recommend picking up the encyclopedia. The beginner routine is 6 days a week but it does repeat itself, so you can workout for just 3. It also has nutritional advice etc. and it's now on kindle for £10.