When I grow up!

A little background - I’m a 25 yr. old male, 175 lbs, 5’8" with app. 17-18% b.f. I’ve been learning and training for over a year and still concider myself as much a newbie as anyone. I would like to enter my first hardcore mass gaining cycle using the Biotest - Androsol/Tribex-500/Methoxy stack (plz. assume I am taking all the propper vitamins and suppliments at proper times to speed recovery). My question regarding this is, first of all is my training routine on the right track (plz see the routine below) and second is my diet okay? According to several sites (including t-mag if I did the math right) to successfuly gain mass on this cycle I will need to eat app. 3500 calories 100g.-fat / 250g.protien / 400g.carbs over 7 - 8 meals daily trying to eat more-carbs less-fat in the morning and vise-versa in the evening. With that fueling me, my training is as follows, 4 times a week for 2 to 2.5 hours per session using a lot of the compound movment exercises like full-squats, dead lifts, presses etc. The week is split up as follows:
Monday - Shoulders - Triceps
Tuesday - rest…
Wednesday - Back - Abs-(Calves if extra time)
Thursday - rest
Friday - Chest - Bicep
Saturday - Legs (no claves if done on Wed.) 40 min cardio
Sunday - rest
Plz… point out any flaws, or things I could do to maximize LBM gains… I don’t mind gaining some fat on this as I can lean out later using the newly gained LBM to burn those calories away…

Well I know you need to cut your training time down, like between 45min and 1 hour per training session.

Well for what it’s worth, if you’re at 17-18% bf I suggest you lean out to about 10-12% before you begin a mass cycle. It seems to run against the grain of what’s popular, but it really does seem to work better in the long run.

sounds pretty good except… (1) you should be able to get all your workouts done in 35 to 75 minutes, especially for just back and (2) unless you need the cardio for other purposes, you might want to limit it for a while (though i always like to get some cardio in year round no matter what my workouts are like)

Is it realy that important to go down to that body fat% (i.e. 10-12) to gain mass? I wanted to take advantage of the colder weather to bulk up and worry about leaning out for the summer time, will I make better gains with a lower BF%? Should I cut some calories in the intended 3500 calorie eating plan cause I am at a higher%?.. Also, workouts are long because I train with a partner so rest times sometimes get longer and the 2.5 hours include 5-10 min of cardio warm up and some stretch time.

I like the training and nutrition program. I think with that amount of calories you should have no problem gaining weight although some of it will be B.F. I also believe that compound movements will help to provide all those excess calories the avenue to increase mass and strength as long as there is ample time for rest and recovery. Training 4 times per week using compound movements, 2 hours every training session is very demanding on the human muscular and nervous system. Try to cut down your training frequency to 3 times per week, 45 mins.-60 mins. duration for each training day.

It’s not crucial to drop that low. However, if you can maintain diet discipline to shred down, it makes it much easier to bulk (eating is easier than not eating). When you’re done bulking, you’ll have less fat to lose if you start with lower bf. Also, when you get rid of most of the fat, you get a better idea of what needs work. AND, (this is my favorite) all that new muscle stands out much better, even if you do gain a little fat on a bulking cycle. The key however, is to know your body and how it responds to different training protocols and diets. Good luck.

3500 calories is alot for you, unless you have a very high metabolism. You’ll gain mass, but I’ll bet better than half will be BF. I train 4x a week, 45 minutes in the morning plus 15 minutes abs and stretches, then 6-7 nites a week cardio after 20 minutes of forearms and calves. I take in 2200 calories, 45/35/20, and am losing BF and LBM, both slowly. Weight 160. With enough carbs, you can get through this workout routine fine and recover well. Good luck!

whoops! meant to say I was GAINING LBM!