How Long Do You Bulk?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

[quote]Der Candy wrote:
Do you really believe you will get very far muscle-wise if you continously ‘bulk’ for 3-6 months and then panic all that muscle off on a cut?

I have seen your other posts around here. Not to be a dick, but howabout instead of obsessing over your bodyfat you actually put in several YEARS of intelligent bulking before even considering lowering your bodyfat.

You make it sound like you will immediately blow up into a fat fuck after a couple of months of mass gaining. Maybe you have a shit diet, or don’t know how to push yourself in the gym, but you need to stop thinking in absolutes. You are bouncing from one extreme to the next. Forget ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’ for now. Eat enough quality food to grow and you will be fine. [/quote]

Don’t trash on the dirty bulk! It’s way more fun than eating clean and working hard.

22

i can usually go 3-4 months before i have to cut, but im going to try even harder to stay eating clean this go around so i can go around 6 months

23

[quote]Cable wrote:
derek wrote:
I’m bulking until I hit my goal weight of 265.

I don’t care what season it is!

Hell yeah. Now I want to go lift and eat a steak. I’ll decide later if it’s at the same time or not.

[/quote]

I am going to be bulking for a long time. Probably until through high school.

24

[quote]Zagman wrote:
Der Candy wrote:
David1991 wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
David1991 wrote:
well i didnt mean how long should someone bulk, i just meant each of u individually. generally it’s 3-6 months for me before i gain too much fat

Then eat a little less or exercise more, wtf?

yea…it’s called cutting.

Do you really believe you will get very far muscle-wise if you continously ‘bulk’ for 3-6 months and then panic all that muscle off on a cut?

I have seen your other posts around here. Not to be a dick, but howabout instead of obsessing over your bodyfat you actually put in several YEARS of intelligent bulking before even considering lowering your bodyfat.

You make it sound like you will immediately blow up into a fat fuck after a couple of months of mass gaining. Maybe you have a shit diet, or don’t know how to push yourself in the gym, but you need to stop thinking in absolutes. You are bouncing from one extreme to the next. Forget ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’ for now. Eat enough quality food to grow and you will be fine.

If you diet correctly you won’t “panic all of that muscle off”.[/quote]

Dieting, no matter how correctly done, is the last thing the OP needs to be concerned with.

25

[quote]Der Candy wrote:
Zagman wrote:
Der Candy wrote:
David1991 wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
David1991 wrote:
well i didnt mean how long should someone bulk, i just meant each of u individually. generally it’s 3-6 months for me before i gain too much fat

Then eat a little less or exercise more, wtf?

yea…it’s called cutting.

Do you really believe you will get very far muscle-wise if you continously ‘bulk’ for 3-6 months and then panic all that muscle off on a cut?

I have seen your other posts around here. Not to be a dick, but howabout instead of obsessing over your bodyfat you actually put in several YEARS of intelligent bulking before even considering lowering your bodyfat.

You make it sound like you will immediately blow up into a fat fuck after a couple of months of mass gaining. Maybe you have a shit diet, or don’t know how to push yourself in the gym, but you need to stop thinking in absolutes. You are bouncing from one extreme to the next. Forget ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’ for now. Eat enough quality food to grow and you will be fine.

If you diet correctly you won’t “panic all of that muscle off”.

Dieting, no matter how correctly done, is the last thing the OP needs to be concerned with.[/quote]

Agreed, I just disagreed with that particular comment, not your post in general.

Eat/Eat/Eat/Eat/Train/Eat/Eat/Sleep/Repeat

26

[quote]Der Candy wrote:

Do you really believe you will get very far muscle-wise if you continously ‘bulk’ for 3-6 months and then panic all that muscle off on a cut?

I have seen your other posts around here. Not to be a dick, but howabout instead of obsessing over your bodyfat you actually put in several YEARS of intelligent bulking before even considering lowering your bodyfat.

You make it sound like you will immediately blow up into a fat fuck after a couple of months of mass gaining. Maybe you have a shit diet, or don’t know how to push yourself in the gym, but you need to stop thinking in absolutes. You are bouncing from one extreme to the next. Forget ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’ for now. Eat enough quality food to grow and you will be fine. [/quote]

first of all as i’ve said many times i gain fat easily and the last bulk even eating cleanly and pushing myself i got upto 17% in 6 months. so far this bulk (4 weeks so far) has gone better but much slower. roughly 1.5lb. LBM gain and .5lb of fat lost. not much but i’d rather have it like that. also my diet is VERY clean and i do know how to push myself. i know ur not trying to be a dick, i appreciate the advice and hopefully things continue to work like they have been this time. i dont want to turn this into another thread about me being obsessive though.

btw what is your pic of?

[quote]derek wrote:
David1991 wrote:
i checked out ur profile and it seems ur a big proponent of HIT? i looked at a HIT workout, it looked terrible. something like just a few sets to failure and then nothing again for 4 days

You’re not even close.

Just think low volume, high intensity. Don’t just jump on the anti-HIT bandwagon. I say that mostly because I am INFLUENCED by HIT, not a verbatim “follower”.

Plus, if I added almost 100lbs to my frame, how horrible can my training be?

PS, please take the small amount of time and type “you are” or “you’re”. Using “ur” is so juvenile. And does it save THAT much time really?
[/quote]

lol i’ll work on the “ur”

about HIT what would be a typical routine for u? like u said it’s clearly worked for u, but honestly the routine i saw just looked horrible.

[quote]Zagman wrote:

If you diet correctly you won’t “panic all of that muscle off”.[/quote]

also true, i dont see much of a problem with bulking 6 months and then correctly cutting for 2 months to stay lean and then continue with a bulk

woke up this morning and somehow with the same calories as last week i lost a pound, mainly fat. i guess i was more active at the beach than i thought…so i’ll be adding 250 calories this week

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U bulk 'till you begin not feeling comfortable with your looks, it’s a subjective matter.

28

[quote]David1991 wrote:

about HIT what would be a typical routine for u? like u said it’s clearly worked for u, but honestly the routine i saw just looked horrible.

[/quote]

Think more about Dorian Yates more than Mike Mentzer. I currently do DC but the routines in the past have mostly been super sets, drop sets, pre-exhastion, giant sets etc.

A few warm-ups and one or two sets to failure and beyond. My splits have been all over the place over the years.

A leg routine, one that packed on more quad size than anything (except for IRONMIND hip belt squats) was leg extensions taken to failure plus partials, no rest and on to leg press for 12-20 to failure then right into sissy squats to failure.

Next I’d hit leg curls supersetted with straight-leg deaadlifts. 20 minutes worth and the growth was unprecedented. You can think even THAT was a horrible routine but if it works that good…

Like I said, don’t think strict HIT.

29

I have been bulking for the past 9 months, since I started training.

30

[quote]derek wrote:

Think more about Dorian Yates more than Mike Mentzer. I currently do DC but the routines in the past have mostly been super sets, drop sets, pre-exhastion, giant sets etc.

A few warm-ups and one or two sets to failure and beyond. My splits have been all over the place over the years.

A leg routine, one that packed on more quad size than anything (except for IRONMIND hip belt squats) was leg extensions taken to failure plus partials, no rest and on to leg press for 12-20 to failure then right into sissy squats to failure.

Next I’d hit leg curls supersetted with straight-leg deaadlifts. 20 minutes worth and the growth was unprecedented. You can think even THAT was a horrible routine but if it works that good…

Like I said, don’t think strict HIT.
[/quote]
what about frequency? when would u do another leg workout? reminds me of a leg workout i used to do…hardest shit i did and i hated them so much lol.

i’m definitely not against high intensity, low volume…i just thought it was ridiculous how some of the HIT reccomendations are to not even do any other workout for about 4-5 days so like 12 days before u hit the same muscle again.

31

[quote]David1991 wrote:

i’m definitely not against high intensity, low volume…i just thought it was ridiculous how some of the HIT reccomendations are to not even do any other workout for about 4-5 days so like 12 days before u hit the same muscle again.

[/quote]

Twice a week. I’d do upper the same way. Trained about 3x/week.

I also did a stint of PL-style stuff in there along with other styles of training but never got the muscle gains I get from this type of workout. I put up (non-competitively) some descent numbers but I’m much more into muscle mass than my 1RM.

32

[quote]derek wrote:
David1991 wrote:

i’m definitely not against high intensity, low volume…i just thought it was ridiculous how some of the HIT reccomendations are to not even do any other workout for about 4-5 days so like 12 days before u hit the same muscle again.

Twice a week. I’d do upper the same way. Trained about 3x/week.

I also did a stint of PL-style stuff in there along with other styles of training but never got the muscle gains I get from this type of workout. I put up (non-competitively) some descent numbers but I’m much more into muscle mass than my 1RM.[/quote]

oh cool ok yea thats much more frequently than what i read. so basically for example you’d do like 2 drop sets or super/giant sets for each muscle (mixing it up sometimes) 1-2x a week to failure. do you do that with arms/delts/calves too or just the bigger muscles?

33

[quote]David1991 wrote:
oh cool ok yea thats much more frequently than what i read. so basically for example you’d do like 2 drop sets or super/giant sets for each muscle (mixing it up sometimes) 1-2x a week to failure. do you do that with arms/delts/calves too or just the bigger muscles?[/quote]

Biceps- Reverse curls, barbell curls, hammer curls all to failure as a giant set.

Triceps- Skull crushers, pressdowns, dips all to failure as a giant set.

Delts- Db side raise, barbell press, upright row same as above.

My calves came along ok with a drop set of both seated and standing calf raises. Maybe 4-5 drops of 10 lbs each.

34

[quote]derek wrote:
David1991 wrote:
oh cool ok yea thats much more frequently than what i read. so basically for example you’d do like 2 drop sets or super/giant sets for each muscle (mixing it up sometimes) 1-2x a week to failure. do you do that with arms/delts/calves too or just the bigger muscles?

Biceps- Reverse curls, barbell curls, hammer curls all to failure as a giant set.

Triceps- Skull crushers, pressdowns, dips all to failure as a giant set.

Delts- Db side raise, barbell press, upright row same as above.

My calves came along ok with a drop set of both seated and standing calf raises. Maybe 4-5 drops of 10 lbs each.[/quote]

4-5 drops! thats gotta be like first on ur calves. so those just one giant set for those muscles?

35

[quote]David1991 wrote:
4-5 drops! thats gotta be like first on ur calves. so those just one giant set for those muscles?
[/quote]

Did you mean to say “fire”?

If so, yeah. I’d do the stack for 8-10 then drop a plate (actually near the bottom of the stack, the plates are all 20 lbs each) and bang out another 4-6 and do that 3-4 more times.

Same for seated except a 10 lb drop.

36

This thread is weird. Should be in the ‘beginners’ forum imo.
OP, whatever routine has you consistently increasing the weights youre using and that does not neglect any muscle groups, with a caloric excess will continuously add muscle to your frame. It could be HIT, it could be 5x5, or it could be a higher volume approach. You may need to switch load/set/rep/frequency parameters to keep gaining strength and size as you go along, but load lifted for said number of reps with good form is still the best indicator you have of progress. Volume overload can work occassionally for keeping the gains coming in.

Fat will fall one way or the other, and there are steps you can take to control that (eating a tad less, cardio, carb timing, ALA) but you cant’ avoid that for too long. At some point you feel unconmfortable with the amount of fat youev added, and diet for a few weeks or a couple of months (reduce intake 500 cals, add HIIT) to knock off 15-20 pounds, and then get back on mass-building. Done properly, the diet phase will impriove your insulin sensitivity and cut your fat without losing lean mass (or building some) Mass add phases take longer because it takes longer for the body to accept the muscle youve added and hold on to it after maturity has been reached.

37

[quote]derek wrote:
David1991 wrote:
4-5 drops! thats gotta be like first on ur calves. so those just one giant set for those muscles?

Did you mean to say “fire”?

If so, yeah. I’d do the stack for 8-10 then drop a plate (actually near the bottom of the stack, the plates are all 20 lbs each) and bang out another 4-6 and do that 3-4 more times.

Same for seated except a 10 lb drop.

[/quote]

yea i meant to say fire, no idea why i wrote first. thats gotta be intense though…thats the kind of bodybuilding that always gets me “into it”. drop sets, super setting, some isolations. not just all compounds with straight sets, etc… on the other hand i know that works so i do it, its just not as exciting i guess you could say

38

There’s ALWAYS room for some isolation exercises (and machines) in a proper bulking program.

Don’t let anyone steer you away from the stuff that works!

39

[quote]derek wrote:
There’s ALWAYS room for some isolation exercises (and machines) in a proper bulking program.

Don’t let anyone steer you away from the stuff that works![/quote]

yea right now since i’m doing the NROL workouts i dont want to screw around with it too much and add more work that my body would need to recover from, but still i’m looking forward to when i start doing some more isolations later. really gotta bring up my calves and like everyone else i would like bigger arms :wink:

if anything i feel like i should at least add in some unilateral work for my left side because my right side definitely overpowers my left in some exercises.

40

If you like what your doing and more importantly, it’s working, keep doing it.

Just keep in mind that a balanced routine with some isolation exercises may actually help you gain size, not hinder it.

Sure, compounds should make up the majority as always but there’s no reason that you need to weigh over 200 lbs to train like a “bodybuilder”.

(I don’t mean to sound like I think you don’t already know this… Just re-stating the obvious I guess.)