Bulking / Excessive Fat

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

hey everyone,

I’ve been bulking for roughly the last quarer, maybe 9-10 weeks & went from 145 to 160. Stand 5’8" to 5’9". Anyways, I was all excited that I’ve finally put on some weight, but it seems like I put on an excessive amount of fat around the midsection. The only other area I notice significant change is my legs are a lot thicker. Anyways, my question is could I have been eating too much during my bulking period & my body wasn’t able to build enough muscle? I know you’re suppose to put on some, but it sure seems like a lot. My buddies keep giving me shit about it, so I have to go look at those pictures of Lee Priest to make me feel better hah.

Also, I’d like to get way bigger, but as stated in the bulking article it shouldn’t be a permanent style of diet. But I’d like to get to like 170-175, but I don’t just want to pack a ton of weight around the midsection & then when I cut be back to where I started. I was thinking of starting to cut now, but it seems like I’ll just end up back where I started once all this gut disappears.
Thoughts? Thanks.

2

I expect to see a pic of you with those of us that posted on the ‘bulk belly’ thread.

I have put on significant weight in the last 12 weeks, and a decent proportion of that is fat. I have days when I want to go on a massive cut just to get rid of the fat, but the majority of days I feel happy that I have added on muscle, my lifts are going up, and I love what I am doing in the gym.

I am going to lower my food intake slightly, although I will still be well above maintenance and I am going to bring back a bit of cardio into my life.

As you goal is to keep adding weight I would suggest the same things for you.

Lower your calories slightly, but keep above maintenance and increase cardio slightly. Do this for a month and see how you are progressing at that point. Hopefully you can keep increasing weight (probably at a slower rate though) and the fat increase will be less. If this isnt the case in a month or so and you are still concerned, drop the calories a bit more, but just dont drop them too far or you will stop adding weight.

Hope this helps.

3

The Quality Mass Diet - How to add muscle mass without ruining your health and becoming a fatty
by Chris Shugart

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=06-061-diet

4

[quote]Jesse22 wrote:
hey everyone,

I’ve been bulking for roughly the last quarer, maybe 9-10 weeks & went from 145 to 160. Stand 5’8" to 5’9". Anyways, I was all excited that I’ve finally put on some weight, but it seems like I put on an excessive amount of fat around the midsection. The only other area I notice significant change is my legs are a lot thicker. Anyways, my question is could I have been eating too much during my bulking period & my body wasn’t able to build enough muscle? I know you’re suppose to put on some, but it sure seems like a lot. My buddies keep giving me shit about it, so I have to go look at those pictures of Lee Priest to make me feel better hah.

Also, I’d like to get way bigger, but as stated in the bulking article it shouldn’t be a permanent style of diet. But I’d like to get to like 170-175, but I don’t just want to pack a ton of weight around the midsection & then when I cut be back to where I started. I was thinking of starting to cut now, but it seems like I’ll just end up back where I started once all this gut disappears.
Thoughts? Thanks.[/quote]

You put on 15lbs in two months. While some people may be able to get away with that, for many it will be too much weight gained in too short of a time period. Thatg is why the recommendation is for weight gain to be managed to about 3-5lbs a month unless you have a very fast metabolism.

5

[quote]helga wrote:

I have put on significant weight in the last 12 weeks, and a decent proportion of that is fat. I have days when I want to go on a massive cut just to get rid of the fat, but the majority of days I feel happy that I have added on muscle, my lifts are going up, and I love what I am doing in the gym.

[/quote]

Amen to that brother. You have to keep your eyes on the prize. Focus on what you are doing. YOU ARE GAINING MASS. It’s the sacrafice you have to make. People want to be big but they want abs the whole time as well. Not gonna happen. Sorry.

6

[quote]Professor X wrote:
You put on 15lbs in two months. While some people may be able to get away with that, for many it will be too much weight gained in too short of a time period. Thatg is why the recommendation is for weight gain to be managed to about 3-5lbs a month unless you have a very fast metabolism.[/quote]

Well, I dont know if he meant “stand 5’8 to 5’9” as in he grew an inch, or anywhere inbetween… but if it was the first, I would imagine he didnt put on that much muscle. If it were the latter, then I’m making a completely moot point.

7

Not to set any limitations on you, but you may want to read the following to keep things in perpective.

CT responded to another poster in his locker room thread:

[quote]
Dr. Michael Colgan stated, after observing hundreds (if not thousands) of weight training individuals at his institute that: “because of the limiting rate of turnover in the muscle cells it is impossible to grow more than an ounce of new muscle each day”. He also said that the highest amount of pure muscle gain he observed over a one year period was 19lbs (in a non-beginner) or around 0.4lbs per week. Obviously the rate at which one can build muscle tissue is an individual thing. Some guys born with a naturally high level of testosterone and fast twitch muscle fibers can grow at a faster rate than guys with a low testosterone level, lightning fast metabolism and slow-twitch fiber dominance. But generally most individuals will fall anywhere between 0.25 and 0.75lbs/week in their ?theoretical? capacity to build muscle. I say theoretical because this assumes that everything is done perfectly? training, nutrition, recovery, supplementation, etc. So realistically we can expect a 1 to 3lbs gain of muscle per month of training. However very few guys will actually reach the top ceiling of 3lbs/month and if they do, they will not sustain it for more than a few months. [/quote]

8

[quote]MarcAnthony wrote:
Not to set any limitations on you, but you may want to read the following to keep things in perpective.

CT responded to another poster in his locker room thread:

Dr. Michael Colgan stated, after observing hundreds (if not thousands) of weight training individuals at his institute that: “because of the limiting rate of turnover in the muscle cells it is impossible to grow more than an ounce of new muscle each day”. He also said that the highest amount of pure muscle gain he observed over a one year period was 19lbs (in a non-beginner) or around 0.4lbs per week. Obviously the rate at which one can build muscle tissue is an individual thing. Some guys born with a naturally high level of testosterone and fast twitch muscle fibers can grow at a faster rate than guys with a low testosterone level, lightning fast metabolism and slow-twitch fiber dominance. But generally most individuals will fall anywhere between 0.25 and 0.75lbs/week in their ?theoretical? capacity to build muscle. I say theoretical because this assumes that everything is done perfectly? training, nutrition, recovery, supplementation, etc. So realistically we can expect a 1 to 3lbs gain of muscle per month of training. However very few guys will actually reach the top ceiling of 3lbs/month and if they do, they will not sustain it for more than a few months. [/quote]

I am not going to argue the validity of that point as it may well be true, and probably is. Further, this specifically refers to non-newbie gains.

Assuming that it is correct, I see that there are three options for gainers, regardless of newbie status.

First, work out EXACTLY how many calories should be consumed to put on the potential 3lbs per month muscle discussed above and eat that amount of food. If you work out the calculation to determine that amount of food, please let us all know.

Option two, eat slightly above maintenance which may be less than the optimal amount needed above, and limit the amount of muscle and fat that can be put on.

Option three, eat well above maintenance and put on the maximum possible amount of muscle, and definately some fat which can be cut off later, obviuosly with some muscle loss as well.

Until someone can tell me exactly how much calories I should eat to put on the maximum amount of muscle per week and limit my fat gain, I am going to overshoot the mark and make sure that I am at least putting on maximum muscle, and I will worry about the fat later.

9

This shouldn’t even need to be said, but regardless of who you quote, NO ONE ON PLANET EARTH GAINS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MUSCLE ALWAYS OVER A GIVEN AMOUNT OF TIME. Your body does not gain muscle in a linear fashion. You can NOT predict how much muscle someone can gain over a given period of time. It is VERY possible to gain more than .25lbs of muscle a week and no one can tell you who would be able to do this in a week until after it is accomplished. It would be a huge mistake for people to take from this that they can only gain “.25lbs of muscle” a week based off of some trainer’s estimates.

The sad thing is, quotes of trainers seem to take precedence over the simple fact that much of this is still NOT UNDERSTOOD by science or anyone else.

10

[quote]Professor X wrote:
This shouldn’t even need to be said, but regardless of who you quote, NO ONE ON PLANET EARTH GAINS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MUSCLE ALWAYS OVER A GIVEN AMOUNT OF TIME. Your body does not gain muscle in a linear fashion. You can NOT predict how much muscle someone can gain over a given period of time. It is VERY possible to gain more than .25lbs of muscle a week and no one can tell you who would be able to do this in a week until after it is accomplished. It would be a huge mistake for people to take from this that they can only gain “.25lbs of muscle” a week based off of some trainer’s estimates.

The sad thing is, quotes of trainers seem to take precedence over the simple fact that much of this is still NOT UNDERSTOOD by science or anyone else.[/quote]

The only thing that should have been understood from the quote I presented is that it was observed that a 20 lbs of muscle (not fat, water retention, glycogen, or the shit in your colon from a big meal) gain in a year seems to be what trained athletes can expect to gain.

So, if the original poster gained 15 lbs in 2 months and finds that he’s gaining too much fat - its normal.

Of course these numbers arent sacred, just like your recommendation of 3-5 lbs gain per month, but they are guidlines - nothing more.

BTW: CT indicated that 3lbs per month of MUSCLE gain per month is a good amount, which is pretty much the same as your recommendation once you factor in the few extra lbs of fat gains that come along with bulking.

11

Many things could be wrong:

A You ate too much in such a short period of time.Your body won’t gain more than 2 pounds of muscle without a lot of fat gain.

B You ate too much junk food and not enough clean/natural food.AKA empty calories.

C You’re not working out in the gym hard enough(or maybe you’re working out too much and not hard enough)

Don’t try to rush it.
Aim for 1-2 pounds a week.