Is it useless to do strength training if you aren't consuming more calories than required? Or should I just leave the weight training till the winter? Thanks.
There is a difference between strength training and putting on size. Strength training will require lower reps with higher weights.
Size will come from your genetics and the routines used are designed to tear the muscles down so when they heal the cells come back larger making the muscle larger. (this is a very basic way of putting it.)
To give you an idea, the bodybuilders you see in mags, although strong, are not as strong proportionally as a power lifter. If you take a bodybuilder and a power lifter with the same max lift, the body builder may have a 450lb max and weigh 275lbs where as a power lifter with the same max may weigh less then half that.
Both are strong in terms of the amount of weight they can push but not proportionally. The bodybuilder might have 20” arms and the power lifter’s arms may only be 15”.
As for when you should lift, year round.
