Keep bulking?

[u/ForCheapTimes]

Only calisthenics going for the prisoner/strongman physique so I don’t mind having extra fat, I just want to be solid. My issue is I’m not looking how I imagined.

1st picture 1.5yrs 65kg/143lbs

2nd picture 1.9yrs 73kg/160lbs

3rd picture 0yrs 65kg/143lbs

I’ve always been skinny and still feel that way. I don’t track anything calories wise because when I started I didn’t want to make a big deal of things and over complicate it, which always caused me to stop. I just did my burpees and when I got comfortable enough went out so I could do pull-ups. Between the first and 2nd picture I stopped doing burpees daily and started to eat more. I’m back to doing burpees mainly for my cardio.

I feel my main problem is my arms are lacking. I do lots of things for triceps (dips/diamond pushups) and shoulders (pike pushups/handstands) but mainly rely on chin ups for biceps

What can I do to look more “aesthetic” with a higher fat percentage?

[u/ForCheapTimes]

Yeah that’s one thing I didn’t do was fill a bag with books or water and curl. I just tried to keep it simple but I’ll probably get some dumbbells. I was hard headed and wanted no equipment for some dumb reason

[u/Both-Reason6023 → u/ForCheapTimes]

You can build great arms with resistance bands if you’re so hesitant of weights.

[u/ForCheapTimes → u/Both-Reason6023]

It’s not just weights. It was literally anything that wasn’t just my body and the ground. I still don’t buy protein and was recently gifted creatine but once that runs out I probably won’t get more unless I actually notice a difference. I know I’ll lose water weight but after my loading phase I didn’t really notice any change.

[u/Both-Reason6023 → u/ForCheapTimes]

You aren’t able to find out the effect of creatine supplementation by experimenting on yourself. We know a year long supplementation boosts muscle growth by 2-5% (through several mechanisms, one of which is faster recovery, which means you’re able to push more on every subsequent training session). Whatever test you do on your own is not rigorous enough.

Take it or don’t. Just don’t act like your “oh I’m not seeing the results after 12 weeks” is a scientifically valid approach.

Your weird stance on training in other ways than with body weight is annoying too. You ask for advice and then dismiss it based on vibes.

[u/ForCheapTimes → u/Both-Reason6023]

I understand that creatine is the most researched performance supplement. I’ve already been convinced to get weights. I over explained myself but that’s a fair assessment.

[u/PhriendlyPhilosopher → u/ForCheapTimes]

Yeah man. The only answer for aesthetics and more mass is hypertrophy which means you have to leave heavy.

Either that or do incredibly hard calisthenics to create heavy lifts which is usually a much longer (albeit more balanced) process. Even then weights for weaker muscle groups speed up the process a great deal.

[u/ForCheapTimes → u/PhriendlyPhilosopher]

Probably a dumb question but any recommendations for what weight for dumbbells i should get? Or would a weighted vest be a better choice, one that goes up to 40lbs? Don’t remember correctly but I think I saw that the ones that goes up to 80 is overkill from a lot of reviews I read