OK I know it's almost impossible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time ... and I'm sure the ~16 hours of intense tennis/cardio a week isn't great for trying to build up muscle either ... but I'm looking for some expert guidance on how to best achieve my goals, which are:
1. Lose about 5-10 more lbs of fat
2. Get stronger and gain some size
3. Continue to play competitive tennis
The problem is that I live and play in sunny so cal, and I have no offseason when it comes to tennis. When I'm not playing in leagues and tournaments, I'm still playing competitive matches against friends, practicing, etc.
Right now I'm trying to do everything at the same time and as you can imagine it's not going great lol.
I've pretty much maintained my current weight of 178 for the past month. I assume I'm still losing a little fat and maybe building a tiny build of muscle, but maybe not. The big problem is my recovery from both tennis and lifting too. I'm constantly sore, and after a good leg day it really screws up my tennis the next 1-2 days.
I don't NEED to lose another 10 lbs of fat, so I guess at this point that's the lowest priority. If I lose 10 lbs I'd be pretty "ripped" so even losing another 5 lbs would be awesome (I've lost about 25 in the past year).
I do need to work on getting stronger and "beefing up" a bit. I just need to get a little stronger overall to help stay injury free as I take my game to the next level ... and a little more strength and size is always welcome too.
Do I just need to focus 110% on losing the weight first (if I really want to) over the next month or so, and then once I'm at my target weight just start lifting again and eat whatever I figure out is my maintenance calories at that point?
Or I could obviously say screw it and start eating a little more now and not worry about these last 5-10 lbs (which have proven to be hard to get rid of).
In the long run, do I need to force myself to have some kind of offseason, use periodization, etc. to do this stuff right?
(FYI I'm a 39 yr old male, 5'11" @ 178 lbs in relatively good shape)
1. Lose about 5-10 more lbs of fat
2. Get stronger and gain some size
3. Continue to play competitive tennis
The problem is that I live and play in sunny so cal, and I have no offseason when it comes to tennis. When I'm not playing in leagues and tournaments, I'm still playing competitive matches against friends, practicing, etc.
Right now I'm trying to do everything at the same time and as you can imagine it's not going great lol.
I've pretty much maintained my current weight of 178 for the past month. I assume I'm still losing a little fat and maybe building a tiny build of muscle, but maybe not. The big problem is my recovery from both tennis and lifting too. I'm constantly sore, and after a good leg day it really screws up my tennis the next 1-2 days.
I don't NEED to lose another 10 lbs of fat, so I guess at this point that's the lowest priority. If I lose 10 lbs I'd be pretty "ripped" so even losing another 5 lbs would be awesome (I've lost about 25 in the past year).
I do need to work on getting stronger and "beefing up" a bit. I just need to get a little stronger overall to help stay injury free as I take my game to the next level ... and a little more strength and size is always welcome too.
Do I just need to focus 110% on losing the weight first (if I really want to) over the next month or so, and then once I'm at my target weight just start lifting again and eat whatever I figure out is my maintenance calories at that point?
Or I could obviously say screw it and start eating a little more now and not worry about these last 5-10 lbs (which have proven to be hard to get rid of).
In the long run, do I need to force myself to have some kind of offseason, use periodization, etc. to do this stuff right?
(FYI I'm a 39 yr old male, 5'11" @ 178 lbs in relatively good shape)
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