[quote]bigslickmelter wrote:
I don’t think you can go too far wrong adding 100 daily calories per week for the first month feeding yourself 400 more from carbs for training days when coming out of maintenance. The initial few pounds seems to go on quite quickly but I think this is mainly glycogen and extra food being carried in the gut.
After a month or so you should be fully swollen and can continue upping by 50 daily calories per week until you look in the mirror and say “enough is enough!”
This shouldn’t be for a VERY long time so long as you stay smart and consistent…[/quote]
Any of you being this analytical as to only add 100 cals a day will likely not ever get that big.[/quote]
you’d have to be so anal about calorie counting it’d drive you mad[/quote]
That’s why I know most of this advice isn’t coming from really big guys.
It’s coming from smaller dudes who think they know how to get big.
[quote]Mad -scientist wrote:
I decided to just lissen to my body. And eat as much as I can. as long as i can see my top abs and not get over weight. So far its working fucking great im gaining huge amounts of muscle about a pound a week or more and have been able to keep those gains going for 3 months now. While keeping my fat percentages the same or decreasing on some days.[/quote]
[quote]Mad -scientist wrote:
I decided to just lissen to my body. And eat as much as I can. as long as i can see my top abs and not get over weight. So far its working fucking great im gaining huge amounts of muscle about a pound a week or more and have been able to keep those gains going for 3 months now. While keeping my fat percentages the same or decreasing on some days.[/quote]
Delusional.[/quote]
You don’t think he’s gained “a pound of muscle a week or more” for 3 months? Netting about 100lbs of muscle in 3 months sounds doable to me. Especially considering what an expert he is on the clean bulk.
[quote]Mad -scientist wrote:
I decided to just lissen to my body. And eat as much as I can. as long as i can see my top abs and not get over weight. So far its working fucking great im gaining huge amounts of muscle about a pound a week or more and have been able to keep those gains going for 3 months now. While keeping my fat percentages the same or decreasing on some days.[/quote]
Delusional.[/quote]
You don’t think he’s gained “a pound of muscle a week or more” for 3 months? Netting about 100lbs of muscle in 3 months sounds doable to me. Especially considering what an expert he is on the clean bulk.[/quote]
100lbs?
But then again he might be a Nigerian living in the Houston area, playing basketball.
[quote]bigslickmelter wrote:
I don’t think you can go too far wrong adding 100 daily calories per week for the first month feeding yourself 400 more from carbs for training days when coming out of maintenance. The initial few pounds seems to go on quite quickly but I think this is mainly glycogen and extra food being carried in the gut.
After a month or so you should be fully swollen and can continue upping by 50 daily calories per week until you look in the mirror and say “enough is enough!”
This shouldn’t be for a VERY long time so long as you stay smart and consistent…[/quote]
Any of you being this analytical as to only add 100 cals a day will likely not ever get that big.[/quote]
True, but the point of the OP was LEAN GAINS. Getting “BIG” is a relative thing.
Personally my rate of muscle gain is so slowwwwwww, I really have no other choice than to tight bulk. 1Lbs/month MAX. Anything more than that and I’ll look like a fat ass in short order.
This just comes down to how comfortable you are with your body composition as you grow.
[quote]bigslickmelter wrote:
As long as you give your body all the necessary macros and micros and use some form form of sensible carb cycling there is absolutely no need for a calories surplus in order to make good clean gains!
Infact you should even be able to average 200 calories per day BELOW maintenance for the week if you have your nutrition really on point and your training shyt together.
[/quote]
…you are suggesting that at BELOW maintenance level calories you can gain LBM?
[/quote]
I am indeed. For me at least at 11-12% bodyfat amazing things happen when you stay within 200 calories of maintenance but your diet and rest has to be really on point IMO.
Remember guys that maintenance calories is an ever moving target and as your LBM increases so will said target and you will increase your deficit. If you practice IF and train 16 hours fasted like I do this will manifest itself as ever increasing hunger mid-morning. If you are smart this will prompt you to knock up your average calorie intake by about 50 and continue making lean gains.
The key here is to cut and gain SLOWLY! however slow you think is slow enough… do it SLOWER!
For how long into my cut this will work for me remains to be seen!
[/quote]
After see my best “gains” so far last 2 months on IF with a very very slight overall weekly deficit, I’m now inclined to believe that losing fat/gaining muscle isn’t a unicorn. IT DOES EXIST! Its just so slow you may end up losing motivation…
But I’m not optimistic about this working ever again really, it just doesn’t make much physiological sense to me. lol
Lifting
Most importantly: beat your prs, hit the prescribed volume or lift until you cannot do another rep
If you’re bulking your relative strength should stay about the same (i.e. strength going up weight going up)
If you don’t know how to push yourself train with people stronger or more experienced
If you’re newish to bodybuilding read information from people who have gone where you want to go* (don’t worry about all the other noise)
*sometimes people who have achieved the results you desire don’t realize what made them successful, there are plenty of people on this site who have gained significant bodyweight (both fat and muscle), lost the fat and then acted as if their muscle gains were not somewhat attributable to pushing their BW up by 50-100 lbs. I can talk about authors and posters but authors are public figures so they won’t feel as hurt if I mention them: CT and Chad Waterbury.
Well I have went from 207 to 215 and my fat level is somewhere between 12 to 13 percent. I have turned this into more of a dirty bulk but off of quality foods like new york steaks, flank steak, turkey drum sticks, eggs and turkey bacon, bratwursts, chicken drum sticks, pretty much all quality meats. I would say im consuming around 250 to 350 grams of protein a day.
And my carbs are about 150 grams a day usually lower. I really only eat carbs before a work out and after. I try to eat healthy fats to like cashews, guacamole with tortilla chips, and other healthy fats. I heard george farah say healthy fats help with growing muscle more than people think. I have a budget of $800 a month on food and about 250 to 300 on supplements.
I have increased all of my lifts about 1/4th in weight to almost 50 percent more weight on some like shoulders. I was doing really high reps before so I think its just my body adapting to higher weight. But all is going really well im actually pretty happy with my results. I definitely am pushing my self as hard as I can when I go to the gym. Well as hard as I can that is intelligent to do I give it my all in every rep especially the last rep I try to fight pushing it up tell Im holding it half way up for about 5 seconds and I realize I cant push it up with out cheating.
Im sure some people will read this and find something wrong with what I have said. Or think Im a little weakling and its newbie gains. But really its all I have to do all day long. Im stuck at home from a dui and i live in the country so my only outlet is going to the gym once a day. Than it is back to solitude and cooking and reading about bodybuilding. I would say in November I was about 210 with about 18 to 19 percent body fat so I have come a long ways and am happy.
Lol and I have no idea how I have lost fat trying to bulk up and eat more maybe its cause my carbs are really low. Some days I forget to eat carbs and have to throw in like 50 grams because im getting really angry. I know most of this has got to be muscle memory though I have been 210 at about 9 to 10 percent body fat. Still its all hard work to get back to what i use to be which was over 2 years ago. lol and i invested in tubber wear for my flank steak and rice for the first time.
No more starving at friends houses eating theyre hot pockets. Thank you for all the advice from every one and I enjoyed reading it all alot! My goal is to get to 220 at about 10 to 12 percent body fat. Than im going to get creative.