Right: that is the purpose of eating more.
And when you train hard, that extra weight becomes muscle, which I assume is your goal.
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how much fat do you gain when bulking normally? Like what ratio of muscle to fat if its a good bulk?
I don’t bulk. I don’t find that to be a helpful nutritional paradigm. I have periods of high volume training, and during those periods I have to eat more to recover from the training. Eventually, that volume of training is unsustainable, so volume drops, intensity increases, and calories reduce.
But is your goal to gain muscle?
Ok, agree to disagree.
You weigh very significantly less than what I assume is your goal, and will therefore have to eat significantly more to reach said goal.
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That is @T3hPwnisher in his avatar. He did not get to look like that by accident. Listen to the man.
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I think the prevalence of bulk and cut dichotomy is one of the things that seems to hold most beginners back, causes them the most stress and kills their confidence in their approach.
I have never ‘bulked’, I have still gained weight and muscle.
If you are eating 3,000 calories and you are gaining weight, then we know 3,000 calories is sufficient to be a surplus. If when gaining weight you are clearly gaining mostly fat, then we know that this surplus is too large and for one of two reasons; 1 - you arent ‘earning’ those 3,000 calories (read train harder) or 2 - its just too much.
If 1- Train harder and keep eating 3,000.
If 2 - Reduce the calories SLIGHTLY. Don’t go and cut on 2,000, but try 2,800 for a while and see how that goes.
Also, you are pretty lean in your photos, looking fatter and actually gaining fat are not the same thing. When you are very lean with very little muscle mass very small changes in bodyfat and water retention result in very significant visual changes, i.e abs today, gone tomorrow. Having bigger muscles reduces this visual fluctuation but just because you look a little less defined after a week of high calories, don’t suddenly assume youve gone from 10% to 15% bodyfat.,
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Getting bigger and stronger are my 2 primary goals.
I hear this mindset more and more by people who’ve shown themselves worth listening to. I think i might be ready to drink the koolaid for once.
That is a very good point. I dont know what it feels like to be big.
I can’t take credit for any advanced knowledge or deep insight on this, for me personally I was simply never willing to gain fat which to me was psychologically unacceptable. I didn’t see why I would have to, so trained and ate as if I didn’t.
I’ve tried, and failed in this approach many times. I’m leaning more towards @T3hPwnisher’s mindset of eating for performance. I’m very aware I looked my best when I wasn’t thinking about physique and focussing on performance. Admittedly, I was much younger at the time, and in a sport where lower bodyweight was a performance issue, but still. I think I’ve failed at bulking and cutting enough times to can it now.
oh goody. another blockhead who won’t listen. I’m out on this.
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How am I not agreeing, I eat a lot and I train right. All I’m saying is that when I eat a lot I gain a good amount of fat. I’m learning man, haven’t disagreed on anyone’s philosophy once.
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that is absolutely a disagreement with what I am saying. I think you should eat at least an extra 1000 calories from what you are currently consuming for the next year.
And I don’t believe you train ‘right’ either. If you did, you would look like you’ve lifted weights at least once in your life.
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For reference: this was me at the age of 18. At that point, I had not lifted weights once in my life. And I looked essentially the same as you do now. THAT is how I know your training and diet suck.
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I am making progress
When I started I was weeeeak, like really weak. All my lifts have increased a good amount from where I started, but I am still a beginner.
I used to be much more flat and flubbery compared to now.
you’re not getting it, so I will be as clear as I can be.
You have been working out for 1.5 years.
You have not gained the muscle that you SHOULD have expected to gain in that time, no matter how weak you were to start. You look completely untrained.
That means that one, or both of these is true: your nutrition is not adequate, and/or your training is not good. I believe it’s likely both, and I feel that nutrition is your biggest concern.
Can you post a picture of yourself as ‘fat’? Basically a before picture to show us the progress you’ve made in the last year and a half? That would help us see if what you’re doing is effective.
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Came here in late December. Wanted to gain muscle. Read posts like @flipcollar and @T3hPwnisher that said things like eat and put in good work in the gym.
This is 8 months progress, my first 8 months working out. And honestly it would be a lot more progress had I been a little more consistent with food. There’s a couple months in there that basically we’re wasted by not eating enough.
I’m not big by any means. But I’ve definitely made progress and added muscle by following the advice you’ve been given. As a fellow newbie who can’t wait to be big, listen to these guys!!
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Good progress man.
Does myfitnesspal do those comparison shots for you? That seems like a useful feature
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