Minimizing Fat Gain?

What are some things I can do to maintain a reasonable bodyfat while getting stronger and gaining weight? I understand some fat gain may be necessary, but what’s the best way to go about bulking for a year or more?

Dont eat like shit. Sounds like Im blowing you off, but its absolutely amazing how lean you can get/stay, while getting bigger and stronger, by not shoveling trash into your mouth all the time.

Jason

I don’t eat ice cream, chips, and pizza every night. I eat quality foods. Mostly low-fat.

[quote]mattho wrote:
I don’t eat ice cream, chips, and pizza every night. I eat quality foods. Mostly low-fat.[/quote]

Why low fat?

Cardio?

[quote]JPeggEFS wrote:
Dont eat like shit. Sounds like Im blowing you off, but its absolutely amazing how lean you can get/stay, while getting bigger and stronger, by not shoveling trash into your mouth all the time.

Jason[/quote]

x 2

This pretty much says it all. If all of your meals are just a mix of lean steak, chicken, beef, etc, with complex carbs, and healthy fats, you will stay leaner while getting bigger and stronger.

Why is this in the Powerlifting section? There is a nutrition/supplement section, as well as a Beginner section, for a reason.

Can the mods please move this?

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

This pretty much says it all. If all of your meals are just a mix of lean steak, chicken, beef, etc, with complex carbs, and healthy fats, you will stay leaner while getting bigger and stronger. [/quote]

So eat grilled chicken sandwiches instead of philly steaks, gotcha! :slight_smile:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Why is this in the Powerlifting section? There is a nutrition/supplement section, as well as a Beginner section, for a reason.

Can the mods please move this?[/quote]

Well, I train for powerlifting so I thought it would be a good place to post this. Maybe I should have posted in the nutrition/supplement section.

Take all that shit you read about bodybuilders eating before competitions, eat double the amount and add bread.

Or just eat like shit, get fat as shit, feel like shit, and be strong as shit.

prowler and/or hill sprints

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
Take all that shit you read about bodybuilders eating before competitions, eat double the amount and add bread.

Or just eat like shit, get fat as shit, feel like shit, and be strong as shit.[/quote]

You’re a relatively lean powerlifter, do you eat the way you mentioned above?

[quote]mattho wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
Take all that shit you read about bodybuilders eating before competitions, eat double the amount and add bread.

Or just eat like shit, get fat as shit, feel like shit, and be strong as shit.[/quote]

You’re a relatively lean powerlifter, do you eat the way you mentioned above?[/quote]

Closer to my second suggestion than the first. You can’t eat clean and expect to be able to survive the amount of work needed get stronger. There is no way. Unless you are a professional powerlifter/bodybuilder/competetive eater and are sponsored by farms and organic grocery stores. I am a firm believer in making good food choices givin the situation and eating a ton of it. I am pretty lean for a 280lb powerlifter but it would make most people die if they tried to eat as much as I do in a day. It is pretty good quality food with the occasional entire pizza or triple cheeseburger binge.

[quote]beanboy502 wrote:
prowler and/or hill sprints[/quote]

x50 billion

[quote]mattho wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

This pretty much says it all. If all of your meals are just a mix of lean steak, chicken, beef, etc, with complex carbs, and healthy fats, you will stay leaner while getting bigger and stronger. [/quote]

So eat philly cheese steaks instead of ice cream sandwhiches, gotcha! :slight_smile:

[/quote]

Fixed.

Just dont eat an assload of Fast Food, or dessert every day, and youll be fine.

I still Bloat up on a heavy bench day though :slight_smile:

Run the bear barbell complex once a week, run hills twice a week and eat PRETTY clean and eat ALOT.

It’s honestly damn hard to eat enough clean food to bulk consistently, especially compared to how easy it is to pack on slabs of muscle and globs of fat with constant taco bell and burger king thrown into the mix. Just try not to break down too often and eat total junk, try and keep up your good fats, drink lots of milk, take fish oil and don’t be afraid of olive oil, try it in a shake if you feel bold, you can’t really taste it. Don’t totally cut out foods like pizza which you can load with vegetables and meat, cheating a little on occasion will help you not eat like shit too often. That’s just my experience but I used to bulk like a fat ass and I’ve found now doing things like oatmeal with peanut butter and fruit with a small shake with olive oil or a big bowl of pasta with italian dressing cheese and chicken with vegetables in it are really quite palatable and full of good calories (throw in some olive oil to the pasta too), macaroni and cheese and tuna is another of my favorites for kind of cheating but not quite and tastes awesome (mac and cheese is calorie DENSE, try eating two boxes and two cans of tuna with mayo and hot sauce, and both of those meals I just listed are easy to buy in bulk if you’re away at school. It would also help to know your current body fat (roughly), how heavy you plan to get in this bulking phase, how you are training and how long you’ve been lifting. Just an amateur opinion but it’s kept me relatively lean through this bulk and kept my strength up. Keep eating and good luck and have fun getting BIGGER and STRONGER.

I’d also add build up your work capacity so you can do tons of sets/volume per workout:

-this guy does more in one workout than most people do in a week

A recent anecdote on Louie Simmons:

4/26/2010 3:04:38 PM - Ted Toalston Friday training at Westside Barbell

With my work schedule constantly changing finding people to train with is becoming increasingly difficult. Just when I find a group my schedule changes and Iâ??m back to square one. Some things you just cannot train as well alone. Our Saturday team at Elite is solid and Dave is almost always there so Saturday is never an issue. In fact I plan on alternating my squat and bench training on Saturdayâ??s until the meet. With no one to train with on Friday this week I spoke to Molly to see if she would be available to train with me. She said she would be training at Westside and invited me to go. My workout broke down like thisâ?¦

Safety bar box squats with 6 chains
3x1
135x3x1
225x3x1
315x2x1
365x2x6

Rack pulls against monster minis, bar with mid shin
Bar x2x1
135x2x1
225x2x1
315x2x3
225x2x3

Reverse hypers
100x8x4

Abs
Sit-ups against double mini bands

So I met Louie Simmons today for the first time. After working up to the 365 on the squats Louie asked me what I was doingâ?¦â??restingâ?? I said. He looked at me like I was a fucking idiot. He said â??60 seconds max or the workout is a wasteâ??. I thought to myself o-shit. So right back under the bar I went. This pace continued until I got to my 6th set. I could not even speak. My lungs hurt and sweat was dripping off my ear lobes. In a daze I found myself about 90 seconds later doing rack pulls against monster minis. The 60 second pace continued until I was done pulling and honestly was worthless. Completely spent in 12 sets and 20 minutes. At first I could not figure out why Louie was trying to kill me but then it struck meâ?¦he was just showing me some of his wisdom on how to become strong(er). I learned that the current pace I push myself is not going to get me to my goals. My programming is on point but my intensity and personal drive has been lacking. Although I thought I was pushing myself I learned today that I have been far from it. I intend on changing that about myself.

Thank you Louie Simmons.