yes,21,i haven't bern going to the gym for around a year niw
but i have experience
and i do heavy cardio 3 times a week
thanks for providing the info needed.
it's not really reasonable to expect gaining muscle at a decent pace while keeping the exact same bodyfat %, especially when you lift naturally, are already experienced, and won't benefit from newbie gains anymore.
if you eat at maintenance, you can still possibly gain muscle. if you are progressively overloading, training close to failure, and becoming stronger over time, then there is still some hypertrophy happening. the problem is that, unless you are genetically gifted in this regard, it will usually be so slow that the ROI just isn't really there.
at the same time, as a looksmaxxer, meaning someone who prioritizes looking good above basically everything else, i'm also against the idea of doing a heavy bulk. at maximum, i would use a small caloric surplus. the reason is simply that your appearance can suffer pretty harshly from gaining weight too fast, especially your facial looks.
so if you still want to stay natural, you basically have two realistic options:
you can stay around maintenance or use a very small surplus, keep protein high, keep progressively overloading, and accept that the process will be extremely slow. if you are already an experienced lifter, this can realistically mean spending years making gradual progress while staying relatively lean.
or you can accept sacrificing your facial looks for a period of time and use a
modest surplus. bulk for maybe around a year and a half, depending on your genetics and how quickly you progress, accept that your bodyfat will increase together with your total lean mass, and mainly focus on becoming considerably stronger at your lifts while keeping medium volume (5-9 reps). after that, you do a proper cut and bring yourself back around your starting bodyfat % while keeping as much of the muscle as possible.
the other option is going the syringe route. adding testosterone changes the equation a lot because gaining a meaningful amount of muscle while eating around maintenance becomes much more realistic compared to doing the same thing naturally as an experienced lifter. instead of potentially spending more than a year going through a bulk and then a cut, the timeframe can become much shorter while also avoiding a large increase in bodyfat.
after the cycle, the idea would be to handle a proper PCT and then maintain as much of the gained muscle as possible by continuing to lift heavy, keeping protein high, and eating enough calories.
so basically the tradeoff is simple: if you stay natural, you either stay lean and accept very slow progress, or you bulk harder and accept looking worse temporarily in exchange for slightly faster muscle and strength gains. the enhanced route changes the tradeoff because it makes gaining muscle without a large caloric surplus much more realistic, and in fact, expected. the downsides are relatively easy to get around (dht blockers, accutane, aromatase inhibitors).
