Staged muscle building vs all at the same time

Discuss your weight training questions, concerns and tips!

Moderators: cassiegose, Boss Man

Post Reply
Caters
STARTING OUT
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:50 pm

Staged muscle building vs all at the same time

Post by Caters »

Even though I could look muscular just from loosing weight, in order for me to get to that point just via weight loss would probably mean the loss of menstrual cycle since the body fat % would have to be low, low enough for me to be underweight. I was once concerned that if I lose fat and build muscle that even with the gain in muscle mass, I would loose menstrual cycle because of fat loss. And I suppose that if I do go from fat to muscular there will be points in time when I will have to stop strength training and let menstrual cycle come back if I am doing it at a fast enough pace. I would rather take it slow to minimize chance of missed periods, even if that means years of muscle growth than do it fast and have menstrual cycle stop and then waste away that muscle when menstrual cycle comes back.

This amenorrhea not wanted but at the same time muscle growth wanted is what made me think that staging muscle building so that I have a different focus muscle in each stage would be better for me. Plus the fact that the abs are the easiest muscle to get to be visible.

Would this work though or would it result in pain from muscle imbalance?

Each stage will be named differently based on the focus muscle. These stages could take months or possibly even years. Stage 1, I call "Abs, Focus on the Abs" because this stage of the transformation primarily focuses on getting all parts of abs visible and thus a 6 pack or if I have the genetics, an 8 pack. I mean if legs, arms, chest, and back get muscle mass added in this stage that is good but the primary muscle group in this stage is the abs. A good thing about this stage is that even before most of abs are visible, the cramping that I get from menstruation, gas, and ovulation will all be decreased in severity so by the time that I get the 6 pack or perhaps even before then, periods might become painless like they were when I was 10 or at least mild enough that acetaminophen totally gets rid of the pain(I usually take just 1 dose of acetaminophen for pain and usually after 6 hours, the pain isn't there unless it is a more severe pain).

So anyway would staging it out by primary muscle group be a good idea or is it going to give me an imbalance that hurts when the muscle is in use?
User avatar
Boss Man
SITE ADMIN
Posts: 15457
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:27 pm

Re: Staged muscle building vs all at the same time

Post by Boss Man »

I would do what a lot of people do to be honest, which is train the whole body 3 times a week, or focus on having something like an upper body and a lower body workout and do those 2x a week, so you're training 4 times a week.

Either that or go for a 5 day split.
Post Reply