Thread: bulking question

by the way. I should have said this. I'm 43 years old and have been lifing for a long time, but have never bulked or cut before this. I'm not brand new so it's not likely that I can gain a huge amount of muscle in the first 2 months.

if you have never bulked before then i would imagine you can gain a decent amount. i tend to bulk 8-10 months and then cut for 2 months

what's your diet look like for the phase?

Originally Posted by iron2iron

How much weight should I be gaining per week or month?

Depends on how much fat you are willing to add as well as how big you are to begin with....

0.5-1 pound a week is a good figure for minimal fat gains....

How long should I bulk? What's a typical cycle? I was thinking about bulk for 2 months, cut for 1, repeat. Or is that too fast of a cycle? Thanks.

Bulk until you are happy with your gains. There is no set 'cycle' length. Some people bulk for 2-3months, others for 8 months... It really depends on how your progress is going.

But if you think about it - after only 8 weeks, if you are gaining at 0.5 pounds a week, then you may have only put on 4 pounds - and that is not a lot....

During my 1st cut - I went from about 232 to 215 (I'm 6'4") I was losing weight too slowly - maybe 0.5 lbs. per week. I had to get more serious about the quality of my food and it really helped.

Typical day cutting:
Breakfast - 4 egg whites and 2 eggs + oatmeal
Snack 1 - protein powder and apple
Lunch - chicken sandwich (boneless, skinless chicken breast and whole wheat bread)
Snack 2 - protein powder and apple
Dinner - steak and baked potato and vegetables
Snack 3 - steak

I take creatine, fish oil capsules and vitamins for supplements.

I cycled 3 cut days and then 1 higher calorie day. I usually ate the same foods on the high cal. days, but about 3400 calories vs. about 2800 on low cal. days.

Once I switched to a clean diet I lost weight much quicker - about 3 lbs. per week.

During bulking I plan to stick to the same types of foods 6 days per week and have 1 cheat day per week. This will take a little experimentation. With my new clean diet, I know I will need to eat a lot more to gain weight.

My goal is both to gain more muscle mass and lose more fat.

Originally Posted by iron2iron

Typical day cutting:
Breakfast - 4 egg whites and 2 eggs + oatmeal
Snack 1 - protein powder and apple
Lunch - chicken sandwich (boneless, skinless chicken breast and whole wheat bread)
Snack 2 - protein powder and apple
Dinner - steak and baked potato and vegetables
Snack 3 - steak

I take creatine, fish oil capsules and vitamins for supplements.

I cycled 3 cut days and then 1 higher calorie day. I usually ate the same foods on the high cal. days, but about 3400 calories vs. about 2800 on low cal. days.

Once I switched to a clean diet I lost weight much quicker - about 3 lbs. per week.

That looks like a good cutting diet... I would have added a whole heap of vegetables, some healthy fats (in addition to your fish oils) and swapped the whole-wheat bread to something different... But other than that it looks good.

For a bulking diet you will need to add some more carbs and fats.

And yes - if you were losing weight on that amount of calories then you will need to eat much more if you want to gain weight...

My goal is both to gain more muscle mass and lose more fat.

What is your BF% now and how long have you been training for?

This is not always possible if you are already lean - but if you are still relatively new to training/correct eating then it may be possible to do this kind of 're-composition'.....

Alternatively - if you manage to do a good bulk (add very little fat and a good deal of muscle) you will increase your muscle mass and, although you will not lose fat, you will decrease your BF% (better muscle: fat ratio).