Thread: Newbie

Ive been browsing around on the forums for a couple of days now and i need some help.

Im 20yrs old.
135lbs.
im cut, but not big

I want to bulk up. Eventually id like to be about 175 or 180. I know it takes time. The last six years i have cut weight for wrestling. I need to know more about dieting. Before i just didn't eat. Now i know i have to eat a lot. Im just not sure how many calories, how often...etc. Im new at the bulking up.

Originally Posted by vrstywrestler

Ive been browsing around on the forums for a couple of days now and i need some help.

Im 20yrs old.
135lbs.
im cut, but not big

I want to bulk up. Eventually id like to be about 175 or 180. I know it takes time. The last six years i have cut weight for wrestling. I need to know more about dieting. Before i just didn't eat. Now i know i have to eat a lot. Im just not sure how many calories, how often...etc. Im new at the bulking up.

If you want to add 30-40 pounds of quality mass then you will certainly have to be patient - unless you are significantly underweight it is going to take a good few years of training to get anything close to that.

There are no real 'tricks' to gaining mass - it is about eating well, training hard and getting adequate rest so you can grow and repair tissue.

As to how much to eat? Well, you can count calories if you want - in which case I suggest you get yourself accustomed to programs such as nutridiary or fitday. Or even just browse things such as nutritiondata so you get a general idea of what food amounts have what calorie content. But you don't necessarily have to 'count' either. As long as you eat sensibly and maintain good portion control then you should be fine.

If you do want to start counting - How many calories you require will vary depending on your body fat %, your activity level during the day, your genetics and your individual body at this stage (hormone levels, your natural metabolism etc).

You can either use rough (and somewhat inaccurate) formulae to calculate how much you need (which are based on your lean mass - so you need to know your BF%) or you can just calculate how much you are eating now and then slowly start to add calories from there...

Either way, I suggest you do not dive straight into bulking, especially if you are not used to eating lots of food. Instead, sit at a maintainence intake for ~2 weeks to allow your body to come to an equilibrium. This will also allow you to get a good starting point for a bulking calorie intake.

Frequency of meals - well, you should aim to eat 5-6 meals a day. In each meal you should be getting a complete protein so that your daily requirements are spread evenly.

You should try to get ~1.5g of protein per pound of lean mass. So, at 135 pounds, say you had an average BF% (say 15-20%) you would be looking at something in the order of 160-180g of protein per day. Split into 6 meal (5 meals + 1 post-workout shake) that is ~25-30g of protein/meal.

So this would be:
~1 cup 1% cottage cheese (28g)
~1 scoop whey (25g)
~4 oz tuna (28g)
~3.5 oz chicken breast (27g)
~1 whole egg + 6 whites (28g)
~5 oz canned pink salmon (28g)

You want to also make sure you are getting enough healthy fats - so get your fish oil capsules in (6g a day) and then add in some nuts, seeds, olive oil and fatty fish. You want to be getting some fats in most meals (except immediately pre and post workouts). If you are looking to add mass I would aim for a minimum of 0.4g per pound lean mass (so, again if we consider you as 'average' then you want AT LEAST 40-45g of fats/day) but it is ok if you get more than this.

In terms of carbs - you want to stick to wholesome, high fibre and natural carbs. Things like legumes, whole grains/rolled grains, fruits, vegetables and skim dairy. Try to get some of both types of carb in most of your meals (starchy carbs like grains/legumes and fibrous carbs like vegetables). But you want to stay away from fibre in your PWO shake - and in this you want to have your more readily digestable carbs like high glucose fruit (banana is perfect, as is grape juice), skim dairy (skim milk) or thinly rolled and ground oats would also be ok.

Start out at a calorie level and, if you don't see changes after 2 weeks, add more calories. Continue until you are happy with your gains.

That is about it.... If you read Jodi's "GUIDE TO" sticky and then post a diet you can get more specific advice.