Macros for some strength and hypertrophy work?

[Awenger]

Age: 33
Weight: 210
BF %: 20

Hey guys, I am at a bit of a middle ground at my training at the moment where I have a few hypertrophy goals, and a whole lot of strength goals, and am trying to find a nice middle ground. After reading a lot of Feigenbaum and Barbell Medicine, I am sure I am messing something up because I am eating into a deficit and still doing hypertyrophy and strength.

My muscles were bigger when starting SS, and so I had a lot of strength to go before I felt I needed hypertrophy. At least on the top half.

While I was not "No legs day" I definitely had a lot more work to do on my lower. Essentially, my squat is the one that is suffering the most as a result of my weak little legs.

I am trying to lose some BF (maybe get to 15%) so I can then put some size on my Quads and a little on my delts as well, since those are the ones lacking, however since I know I have strength to gain I also feel I can eat at a deficit, carb cycling a bit, and lost some pounds while still adding weight to the bar.

I maintain at 2900 cal
I eat about 2600 on lifting days
and about 2100 on off days
(Macros are lined up pretty spot on from TO BE A BEAST article, which is great, by the way)

But since I am OCD, I am also doing some hypertrophy work on my shoulders and quads in between lower rep/set (think 3x5s) for strength in the big lifts. Is this essentially useless? Should I not even bother with the hypertrophy work til I am eating into a surplus?

Not sure where to go from here, maybe trying to kill two birds with one stone is a bit useless.

Any and all help appreciated.

[Robert Santana]

Age: 33
Weight: 210
BF %: 20

Hey guys, I am at a bit of a middle ground at my training at the moment where I have a few hypertrophy goals, and a whole lot of strength goals, and am trying to find a nice middle ground. After reading a lot of Feigenbaum and Barbell Medicine, I am sure I am messing something up because I am eating into a deficit and still doing hypertyrophy and strength.

My muscles were bigger when starting SS, and so I had a lot of strength to go before I felt I needed hypertrophy. At least on the top half.

While I was not "No legs day" I definitely had a lot more work to do on my lower. Essentially, my squat is the one that is suffering the most as a result of my weak little legs.

I am trying to lose some BF (maybe get to 15%) so I can then put some size on my Quads and a little on my delts as well, since those are the ones lacking, however since I know I have strength to gain I also feel I can eat at a deficit, carb cycling a bit, and lost some pounds while still adding weight to the bar.

I maintain at 2900 cal
I eat about 2600 on lifting days
and about 2100 on off days
(Macros are lined up pretty spot on from TO BE A BEAST article, which is great, by the way)

But since I am OCD, I am also doing some hypertrophy work on my shoulders and quads in between lower rep/set (think 3x5s) for strength in the big lifts. Is this essentially useless? Should I not even bother with the hypertrophy work til I am eating into a surplus?

Not sure where to go from here, maybe trying to kill two birds with one stone is a bit useless.

Any and all help appreciated.

Thanks for posting!

The main thing to understand here is that if you keep getting stronger you will keep gaining muscle mass. Hypertrophy is a function of overload. So if you overload 5s, 8s, 10s, or 15s your muscles are going to grow. Neuromuscular efficiency improvements happen early on but the longer you train the more strength improvements happen as a function of hypertrophy, which is induced by progressive overload.

In response to your question about calorie levels, if you are adding weight to the bar you’re probably fine. If you aren’t getting stronger than you need to eat more. I think this approach is much simpler and more reflective of hypertrophy then worrying about whether a deficit, maintenance, or surplus of calories is being achieved. Does this make sense?

[Awenger]

Absolutely. Great response. Thanks man!

[Robert Santana]

Absolutely. Great response. Thanks man!

You are very welcome!