



What should I do?
23M, 5’5”, 140lbs. I’ve been lifting for ~4yrs or so consistently.
I’ve been cutting for the past 3mo from almost 150lbs, but I’m not sure if I should keep cutting or if I should try to recomp or what. The next 6 weeks, I will have too many family gatherings plus vacation, so I’m accepting that I will not lose any more weight then. But after that, should I keep cutting or recomp? The original goal was 135, thinking I would have visible abs by then, but I’m realizing now I def won’t, but I’m wondering if that could also be because I don’t have a ton of mass in my abs.
I also do have a goal of being able to bench 225 by the end of the year. My PR is 205x5 which I hit back in Feb or Mar, but have since been doing more hypertrophy. I’ve been having shoulder pain on all pressing movements for the past 1.5mo or so as well (any advice on this?) so I want to take it easy for a bit and work on form.
I am also wondering, is there any muscle group I should prioritize for hypertrophy? I feel like I should be focused on shoulders and chest, but am not sure. Unfortunately, I injured my foot running last week, so I’ll have to take a couple (hopefully no more than this) weeks off from squat / deadlift / really anything that requires me to put weight on it, though I do feel like I need to work on my legs a bit.
If it’s helpful, these are my current top sets for more major lifts:
Squat: 265x4
Bench: 175x10 (haven’t done in a month or so because of injury)
RDL: 235x9
Pendulum squat: 80x7
Chin ups: 40x9
OHP: 85x7 (haven’t done in a month)
Btw my current macros (3mo avg) are ~1663cal/day, 162g protein, 147g carbs, 44g fat. The calories would be a bit lower if I didn’t have family outings, normally I eat 1400 SunMtTh and 1550 WFSat. I had started running a couple months ago (whoever had commented on my last post in this sub, shoutout! this has been very helpful) which has increased my TDEE by ~100-150cals so it is at 1870 right now.
Any advice is appreciated!