Hi all,

I am 31, male (obviously!), Chinese. I plan to start refining my body shape. Simply want to look better. I am not the body builder type and my wife won't allow me to become too muscular. I have a clear target - David Beckham or Brad Pitt!

Here are my current shape:









I am an active Judo player, training 3 times a week, 2 hours each. In non-judo day, I do some chin up and abs work at home. Still thinking of whether I should start weight lifting.

May I have your kind advice on my body shape? Good base to start? Hopeless? Need to bulk or cut?

Thank you very much!

Tony

I say bulk. You need to put on some mass.

Clean bulk 15-20lbs

squat
deadlift
bench
row
military press.

Thanks for all replies.

What is clean bulk?

I'm interested in knowing as well.

A clean bulk is generally just eating above your calorie requirements but not eating crap foods to do it. It's common sense really but people often use a 'bulk' as an excuse to shove Haribo down their throats.

I'm going to be very unlike me here and say that if you really want to look like Beckham then you need to cut fat a little. Beckham isn't particularly muscular so gaining more muscle now wouldn't give you your goal

If I were you though I'd do what Karky and Phate said and gain bulk a little but it's your body so go for what you want

In the context that most go about bulking like idiots, I'll buy that.

Concurrently though, I like me some good food and when I bulk... I'm eating what I want as long as it's on top of a solid foundation*

*adequate essentials in and my calories are controlled.

slight calorie surplus

with plenty of clean foods. dairy, eggs meat, ww bread , veggies, etc.


if he cuts now he'd just be wasting his time and just get thinner. He's going to have to go through atleast one bulk/cut cycle. So might as well bulk now gain some mass and then cut the fat.

There seems to be an obsession amongst the male contingent of this site to BULK, BULK, BULK!! Not everyone wants to get bigger guys, its subjective.

Why? Why will he have to do at least one bulk cycle? I never have and I'm still perfectly happy with what I achieve through training. Why is getting thinner a waste of time if that is what he wants to achieve?!

I agree with CCR, if the OP wants to resemble Beckham, bulking will not help him towards his goal. If it were me, I would cut from there and see what lurks beneath

I think you have a great base to start with. If you're not currently lifting heavy I might actually suggest eating at a maintenance level and hit the iron. You may get great "newbie" gains, gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time for a while. I don't think you're too far off what you want.

Yes, lift heavy...If you don't eat big, you won't get big

Thanks all.

I also noticed that now every body builder want to get bigger and bigger, without limit.

But I am somewhat agree with Phate, if only compare to the muscle content, I am much smaller than David B.

But why most people recommend bulk then cut but not cut then bulk?

No, theGOOCH, I never lift, not even once. If I am now 75kg. How much weight should I lift? I tried my first gym workout last week. Aimed for only free weight. Managed well with 50pd squat and 50 pd bench press. I will increase the weight by 5pd if I finish one set. Is my progress ok?

What do you mean by 50# bench press? How many weights, if any, did you have on the bar? The reason I ask is most bars weigh 45# and the big weights are usually 45#, so if you put 1 45 on each side, that would be 135. Is that what you meant?

And, to followup on the others, you are in fine shape as it is. A little more muscle and a little less fat would serve you well (and 99.99% of the population).

BTW, I am half Chinese; my father was from Hong Kong.

Hi,

Here are the weight I tried today:
Squat and bench press: bar + 2 x 25pd + 2 x 5 pd = 105pd

Am i lifting to light compared to my weight?