Bulking: How Often Should You Gain?

Training
81

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:
Should i be worried about bulking but eating “clean” or should my main concern be just getting a surplus of cals ?[/quote]

That’s where genetics and your personal metabolism come in. Someone with a very fast metabolism can get away with being more loose with their diet. Even knowing where you stand on this will take time. Your goal is to eat well to support your goals. I don’t even like the label “clean” because it doesn’t mean anything. Stay away from junk food that won’t help you reach a goal (like cupcakes and zingers) and try to get a general feel for the amount you need to eat to see progress.

Too much fat gain means clean up the diet more and drop the carbs in most cases. The rest is really trial and error.[/quote]

When you were gaining, did you aim for a pound a week or so ? because i think from what i have read from you, you said if you didnt gain after a week you would up your cals ?

82

Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.

83

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:
Should i be worried about bulking but eating “clean” or should my main concern be just getting a surplus of cals ?[/quote]

That’s where genetics and your personal metabolism come in. Someone with a very fast metabolism can get away with being more loose with their diet. Even knowing where you stand on this will take time. Your goal is to eat well to support your goals. I don’t even like the label “clean” because it doesn’t mean anything. Stay away from junk food that won’t help you reach a goal (like cupcakes and zingers) and try to get a general feel for the amount you need to eat to see progress.

Too much fat gain means clean up the diet more and drop the carbs in most cases. The rest is really trial and error.[/quote]

Good post. Definitely agree.

84

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?

85

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set.

86

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?

87

Yes. Like with chest, there were many times where my last set might only be 3-4 reps…but that was after gradually going up in weight for up to 5 sets to hit that top weight. I would keep doing that until I could move that weight at least 6-8 times and then go up again.

88

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Yes. Like with chest, there were many times where my last set might only be 3-4 reps…but that was after gradually going up in weight for up to 5 sets to hit that top weight. I would keep doing that until I could move that weight at least 6-8 times and then go up again.[/quote]

Do you do this for all exercises? Increase the weight each set until the last heavy set ?

89

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Yes. Like with chest, there were many times where my last set might only be 3-4 reps…but that was after gradually going up in weight for up to 5 sets to hit that top weight. I would keep doing that until I could move that weight at least 6-8 times and then go up again.[/quote]

Do you do this for all exercises? Increase the weight each set until the last heavy set ?
[/quote]

Yeah.

90

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Yes. Like with chest, there were many times where my last set might only be 3-4 reps…but that was after gradually going up in weight for up to 5 sets to hit that top weight. I would keep doing that until I could move that weight at least 6-8 times and then go up again.[/quote]

Do you do this for all exercises? Increase the weight each set until the last heavy set ?
[/quote]

Yeah.[/quote]

How many sets a bodypart do you usually do ?

91

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Yes. Like with chest, there were many times where my last set might only be 3-4 reps…but that was after gradually going up in weight for up to 5 sets to hit that top weight. I would keep doing that until I could move that weight at least 6-8 times and then go up again.[/quote]

Do you do this for all exercises? Increase the weight each set until the last heavy set ?
[/quote]

Yeah.[/quote]

How many sets a bodypart do you usually do ?
[/quote]

I don’t do that…count. My music is on and I stop when I have got that muscle to feel like it does when I know I beat the shit out of it.

It is ok for YOU to count sets and starting with a nice number will give you a great starting point…until you have trained long enough to feel this out yourself.

I may do 12 or more sets for biceps…more for back. I go by feel.

When I started, I probably did about 9 sets per body part, usually 3 different exercises.

92

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Yes. Like with chest, there were many times where my last set might only be 3-4 reps…but that was after gradually going up in weight for up to 5 sets to hit that top weight. I would keep doing that until I could move that weight at least 6-8 times and then go up again.[/quote]

Do you do this for all exercises? Increase the weight each set until the last heavy set ?
[/quote]

Yeah.[/quote]

How many sets a bodypart do you usually do ?
[/quote]

I don’t do that…count. My music is on and I stop when I have got that muscle to feel like it does when I know I beat the shit out of it.

It is ok for YOU to count sets and starting with a nice number will give you a great starting point…until you have trained long enough to feel this out yourself.

I may do 12 or more sets for biceps…more for back. I go by feel.

When I started, I probably did about 9 sets per body part, usually 3 different exercises.[/quote]

Thanks, I have been doing 12 sets each bodypart, 3 exercises each .

93

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?
[/quote]

I am terrible at progressions, so my solution for a few months was to pick a weight I could get 5-7 reps with, and work with it until I could get 10-12. When I got there I would either add 20 lbs to the bar, or whatever I felt comfortable doing to knock my reps back down to 5-7, then I repeated. I have to say though, that I did feel kinda beat up comared to what I am doing now, but it did seem to work for a while.

What do your lifts look like? Perhaps this would help others help you as some things appear to work better for newer lifters than more experienced ones (for example my little statement above may not do shit for you if you are already a beast, as I was almost a total newjack)?

-Zep

94

[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?
[/quote]

I am terrible at progressions, so my solution for a few months was to pick a weight I could get 5-7 reps with, and work with it until I could get 10-12. When I got there I would either add 20 lbs to the bar, or whatever I felt comfortable doing to knock my reps back down to 5-7, then I repeated. I have to say though, that I did feel kinda beat up comared to what I am doing now, but it did seem to work for a while.

What do your lifts look like? Perhaps this would help others help you as some things appear to work better for newer lifters than more experienced ones (for example my little statement above may not do shit for you if you are already a beast, as I was almost a total newjack)?

-Zep[/quote]

I have been lifting in a 4-10 rep range lately, only just turned 17 years old and been lifting for a year and some change. Lifts are deff nothing special but have been progressing a lot in the last couple months. I broke my fibula so havent been doing any leg work.

Bench : 180 x 8

Military Press : 160 x 8

95

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?
[/quote]

I am terrible at progressions, so my solution for a few months was to pick a weight I could get 5-7 reps with, and work with it until I could get 10-12. When I got there I would either add 20 lbs to the bar, or whatever I felt comfortable doing to knock my reps back down to 5-7, then I repeated. I have to say though, that I did feel kinda beat up comared to what I am doing now, but it did seem to work for a while.

What do your lifts look like? Perhaps this would help others help you as some things appear to work better for newer lifters than more experienced ones (for example my little statement above may not do shit for you if you are already a beast, as I was almost a total newjack)?

-Zep[/quote]

I have been lifting in a 4-10 rep range lately, only just turned 17 years old and been lifting for a year and some change. Lifts are deff nothing special but have been progressing a lot in the last couple months. I broke my fibula so havent been doing any leg work.

Bench : 180 x 8

Military Press : 160 x 8
[/quote]
Your bench and OH are pretty close.

96

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?
[/quote]

I am terrible at progressions, so my solution for a few months was to pick a weight I could get 5-7 reps with, and work with it until I could get 10-12. When I got there I would either add 20 lbs to the bar, or whatever I felt comfortable doing to knock my reps back down to 5-7, then I repeated. I have to say though, that I did feel kinda beat up comared to what I am doing now, but it did seem to work for a while.

What do your lifts look like? Perhaps this would help others help you as some things appear to work better for newer lifters than more experienced ones (for example my little statement above may not do shit for you if you are already a beast, as I was almost a total newjack)?

-Zep[/quote]

I have been lifting in a 4-10 rep range lately, only just turned 17 years old and been lifting for a year and some change. Lifts are deff nothing special but have been progressing a lot in the last couple months. I broke my fibula so havent been doing any leg work.

Bench : 180 x 8

Military Press : 160 x 8
[/quote]
Your bench and OH are pretty close.[/quote]

Is that a good or bad thing ?

97

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?
[/quote]

I am terrible at progressions, so my solution for a few months was to pick a weight I could get 5-7 reps with, and work with it until I could get 10-12. When I got there I would either add 20 lbs to the bar, or whatever I felt comfortable doing to knock my reps back down to 5-7, then I repeated. I have to say though, that I did feel kinda beat up comared to what I am doing now, but it did seem to work for a while.

What do your lifts look like? Perhaps this would help others help you as some things appear to work better for newer lifters than more experienced ones (for example my little statement above may not do shit for you if you are already a beast, as I was almost a total newjack)?

-Zep[/quote]

I have been lifting in a 4-10 rep range lately, only just turned 17 years old and been lifting for a year and some change. Lifts are deff nothing special but have been progressing a lot in the last couple months. I broke my fibula so havent been doing any leg work.

Bench : 180 x 8

Military Press : 160 x 8
[/quote]
Your bench and OH are pretty close.[/quote]

Is that a good or bad thing ?
[/quote]
Not necessarily bad in a cautionary sense but it is indicative of some sort of imbalance either physically or technically. You could probably bench more. How long have you been injured? CSEagles1694 had a similar injury recently.

98

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

Your bench and OH are pretty close.[/quote]

Is that a good or bad thing ?
[/quote]
It means you should probably be able to bench more.

99

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]bnkNando wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Pretty much. I went by the scale and the mirror. My advice now would be to take pictures of yourself right now in a room you will be able to use again (with the same lighting) much later on. Then put the pictures up and don’t take anymore like that for a year. Use your strength gains and your muscle size to determine how much you should be eating. If your weight isn’t going up at all, it is highly unlikely you are gaining a lot of muscle mass unless you are obese.

This isn’t about meeting some exact amount of weight gain. It’s about making sure you are moving in that direction so you don’t end up like some people who stagnate at the same body weight for a full year because they won’t make changes.[/quote]

Sort of off topic, but what rep range would you recommend for hypertrophy ?[/quote]

4-12 assuming going all out on the last set. [/quote]

When you say going all out on the last set, do you mean the heaviest set ?
[/quote]

I am terrible at progressions, so my solution for a few months was to pick a weight I could get 5-7 reps with, and work with it until I could get 10-12. When I got there I would either add 20 lbs to the bar, or whatever I felt comfortable doing to knock my reps back down to 5-7, then I repeated. I have to say though, that I did feel kinda beat up comared to what I am doing now, but it did seem to work for a while.

What do your lifts look like? Perhaps this would help others help you as some things appear to work better for newer lifters than more experienced ones (for example my little statement above may not do shit for you if you are already a beast, as I was almost a total newjack)?

-Zep[/quote]

I have been lifting in a 4-10 rep range lately, only just turned 17 years old and been lifting for a year and some change. Lifts are deff nothing special but have been progressing a lot in the last couple months. I broke my fibula so havent been doing any leg work.

Bench : 180 x 8

Military Press : 160 x 8
[/quote]
Your bench and OH are pretty close.[/quote]

Is that a good or bad thing ?
[/quote]
Not necessarily bad in a cautionary sense but it is indicative of some sort of imbalance either physically or technically. You could probably bench more. How long have you been injured? CSEagles1694 had a similar injury recently.[/quote]

Hmmm, pretty damn sure i can, guess i will see on my next chest day.

100

Also, i have been injured for almost 3 months.