I think a ten percent increase is the way to do it.
I used this website/calculator when I was asking myself similar questions earlier this year. Just for fun/curiosity.
http(s)://mennohenselmans.com/ffmi-calculator/
At 53, gaining a lot of mass isnāt a major option for me at this point. That said, the results I got seemed reasonable to me.
http(s)://t-nation.com/t/burien-top-teams-physique-unleashed-log/237392/649
Pinning down what is my maintenance calories is challenging as my work load, as in my job, is always changing. I started counting calories when work was slow and it was cold out. I was maintaining weight at 2500 calories at the time. I now seem to be gaining about half a pound a week at 4000 calories. I am going to stop counting now and just eat as much as I can comfortably durring the day, than have one more meal before bed. That seems to put me around 4000. Iām tired of logging everything I eat.
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Itās not a way to live long term.
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oh yea, I can totally see that. Iād MUCH rather set a goal of 210 lbs naturally and attain it than push for 240 lbs and end up at 210 lbs. Those two situations are totally different.
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Iād be very happy at a lean 190.
Same. I am your height and 182.
I donāt think you really need to calculate exact 5-10% numbers. Obviously I had the benefit of multiple years of competing every Spring to look at where I needed to be onstage (weight and bf%), and where I felt comfortable āoffseasonā, and how much work and time I needed to transition between the two.
Sure, there were off seasons where I continued to measure and weigh everything, but more often, after 16-20 weeks of very analytical prep routines, it was pretty simple to eye-ball what I was eating most days, and just use the mirror to gauge if I was falling out of contest shape too quickly or not.
S
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@flipcollar was telling you that itās silly to set your sights too low. Go hard, achieve what you can achieve, and then assess where you are.
I, too, have looked at the natural potential stuff to see if Iām close. It was mostly to justify my achievements (or lack thereof). Iād hoped that I had done everything I could and was āsuccessfulā. The reality is that I just need to keep working and trying to improve. I donāt know if Iāll ever achieve a certain body weight at a certain body fat percentage, but I can try to add muscle slowly over time while still enjoying life (eating tasty foods and drinking good beer).
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Stu, youāve mentioned a year long cycle of prep/compete/off-season. And looking to put on a few pounds of muscle per year without getting too far out of shape during the off season.
How would this change if you had more time between contests? Like if you werenāt going to compete for two years, would you have like a year long off season, keeping calories up the whole time? Or would you still do some kind of diet restriction/cut the middle? Or some other, smarter plan?
What if you were just a dude who wanted some muscles? Would you just train hard and maintain like 14% BF for years and then just cut for the beach vacations(or wherever event)?
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correct.
The idea is, if you want to be your best, whatever that is. your goal should be above and beyond what youāre ACTUALLY capable of, not below it. Youāre selling yourself short if youāre trying to align your goals with precisely what you believe you can do.
It wasnāt that long ago that I thought I could never exceed around 180 lbs, lean.
At one time, I thought there was no chance of me ever winning a strongman contest, and making top 3 in a show was going to be a stretch.
At one time, I thought a 1000 lbs powerlifting total was around my ceiling.
Itās a good thing I consistently aimed higher than these goals, as Iāve won more strongman shows than I care to count right now, Iāve taken 4th in a world championship (and I still have my eyes set on a top placing even after plenty of setbacks), Iām capable of a 1500+ powerlifting total, and Iāve far exceeded the lean body mass I thought was possible for myself.
Set your goals high, regardless of what you think is possible or probable. Coming up short of a lofty goal is MUCH better than setting a mediocre goal and achieving it.
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Understanding that you can only put on a certain amount of lean muscle in any given time frame, and not force-feed growth, allowed me to enjoy myself, ensure that I covered my nutritional basis, but not become a fat pig in some misguided attempt to put on 30 pounds of muscle in a few months.
To be honest, most of my off-seasonās involved reaching a similar body weight (usually 200-210), and hanging around there as I just trained my ass off month after month.
If I had longer between contests, as far as an off-season went, I would do the exact same thing, hoping that the longer duration would yield a more impressive net gain of additional muscle when I finally did diet down again.
S
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You shredded down pretty good recently, havenāt you?
So length of time at surplus calories is more important than depth of the surplus of calories?
And if you want to be a Delusional Perma Bulker, at least donāt progressively chow down more and more.
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Check this out. May can help give you an idea. Entertaining if nothing else lol
You know that funny Dave Tate vid where he describes his SHW eating regiment to bulk for a meet?
I think thatās all some people need to hear/see to start pushing their bodyweight deadlift to elite levels.
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Haha I remember reading that a while back. Seems like thatās been 6-7 years ago. I still laugh at his description of the āsprayingā the toilet. Cracks me up
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I get your point. Partly, I am looking for a reason why itās so hard for me to gain muscle mass, partly I am looking for realistic goals to keep me from over working myself. I am not the type to be satisfied with anything but my best, but at 40 years old and working a job where I have to be very physically fit, read that as also not injured or fat, I canāt train like a 25 year old with an office job. I think Chis hit it on the head when he said to focus on strength gains with a program like 531 and let the mass come as a by product.
Eating huge for strength is still OK, itās just different than eating extra medium for mass.
Tate said that peaking strength and eating big to gain bulk is the closest a natural can come to using steroids.
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A jiu-jitsu friend of mine (@TSP ) told me many years ago when I first started training BJJ that āyouāve got to think youāre better than you areā in order to get better.
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