Alright, I’ve already gotten up to ~181 lbs. since September where I was 173 lbs (mostly from changing up my diet and muscle memory). I’m 6’ So I still look relatively lean. Right now I think my BF could be anywhere from 11%-13%, since I store it on places that make it deceiving. For example, I can see the veins slightly creeping up on my lower abdominals, and the top 4 abdominal muscles are clearly visible. What’s different is that I store a lot on my arms, thighs and lower abs.
I know I need to keep slowly gaining mass, but should I be worried if my BF is already this high? I’m not quite skinny fat, but I do carry enough BF not to look very defined.
How much weight should I try to bulk to if I want to be around 190-195 with near single digits BF? (10-9%) Thanks guys.
How much weight should I try to bulk to if I want to be around 190-195 with near single digits BF? (10-9%) Thanks guys.[/quote]
what exactly are you asking? You asked how much weight should you try to bulk up to to reach your goals and then told us how much you want to weight…
well if you want to weigh 190-195 with single digits BF…then bulk up to that point…
just a little confused as to what you are asking it seems like you answered it yourself
I was asking how much (lb. wise) would I have to bulk up to, so that when I cut for a few months, I’ll be around 190-195 lbs. I figure if I want to be say, 190 lbs, I’ll have to bulk up to 195-200.
Sorry if this was confusing. My other question is, I’m already 180ish with a higher BF then I like (probably 14%) so should I lose some first before I keep bulking up?
Well, basically if you want to weigh 190-195 lbs and have 9-10% bf, then it’s pretty simple to figure out what you need to do.
Right now you said you weigh 180 (I’m rounding it to 180 to make the calculations easier, plus weight can fluctuate a couple pounds up or down depending on a lot of factors) and have 14% bf.
So, that means that right now you’ve got:
~155 lbs of lean mass
~25 lbs of fat mass
At your target goal you will need to have (I’ll use 9% at 195 lbs as the goal)
~177 (rounded down) lbs of lean mass
~18 (rounded up) lbs of fat mass
That means you’ve got to put on 12 lbs of lean mass (which pretty much equates to you need to gain that much muscle).
Now exactly what weight to bulk up to before you start cutting isn’t really something we can predict. Just work on getting stronger on your lifts in the gym and making sure you’re eating enough to support growth (make certain to eat enough protein).
I’d shoot for a lb every week and check your bf fairly regulatly (perhaps like once a month). Once you reach your desired amount of lean mass, try to stay at that weight for a couple weeks to a month and then slowly start to both decrease the calories (as well as being more strict with macro nutrient combinations/food quality) and increase the amount of cardio that you do.
Also, if your bf starts to get out of hand (you can check either via a bf test, or using the good old mirror) just increase the cardio, or decrease the calories slightly.
Well I can imagine that this equates to for sure at least 1 year of solid training to just to get up to that size. Since you said I need a 12 lb. gain on lean mass, that probably means an actual gain of about 20-25 lbs or so, right? The thing is, if I keep gaining right now won’t, my body fat get a little out of hand? Say up to 16-18%?
I can’t imagine how long it would take to drop from that high of a BF down to 10 or 9%.
If you’re at 14% bf, like you suggest, and gain 10 pounds, 1.4 of those pounds could be fat and you’d still be the same bf %. The key is to add LEAN body mass, aka muscle. If you are bulking up, chances are you will put on a little fat as well. The key is to keep this to a minimum so you stay around the same bf %, or even lower it.
Personally, if I were you, I’d stop worry about my actual % and just get my diet in order to ENSURE that I didn’t gain too much fat, too little muscle.
Edit: If you put on 25 pounds and only 12 pounds is muscle, you’re diet probably sucked.
It really will not take you that long to drop off the fat you accumulate while bulking if you control the fat gain and don’t let it go wild.
At somewhere between 11-13% bf I do not think you should be worried about cutting at this point, especially if you are 12 muscular pounds away from your goal. Everytime you shift from bulking to cutting and vice versa you are losing time that could be spent just marching towards your goal.
Say you cut for 4-8 weeks right now. You would ideally maintain your present mass for at least a month prior to that cutting, so that means another 4 weeks. Then you slowly up the calories again to bulk because if you add them all back in too quickly you will gain back your fat, so say 4 more weeks to transition back into bulking. You just lost 3-4 months on that cut, and your muscular weight goal is still 12 pounds away.
If instead, you continue gaining and control your fat gain, you can achieve your goal much more quickly instead of spinning your wheels with small bulks and cuts. A year is not that long, just grit your teeth and go for it.
Good luck…the pounds will come, just know that it’ll take a while so don’t try to ‘dirty bulk’ because you’re only gaining–for example–3 lbs. a month. A clean bulk for a year (+) should get you there, then you can cut the extra body fat in a few months. In all, you’re probably looking at a year and a half to get there.
I’m very far from dirty bulking. I have no problem with taking the time needed to complete my goals, but it seems like I’m fucking everything up. My body fat is increasing, yet I’m not eating an exorbitant amount of calories, if anything, I’ve stayed the same. my skinny-fat, twig self.
On the good side, my lifts HAVE gone up and I’ve started my sprint routine back up. Man, I wish Thibs would do a “clinic” for me
Do a “clinic” on yourself. Figure out what you need to do diet and cardio wise to gain without getting fat. Some people(like me) can’t handle large amounts of carbs, it’s post workout and cardio only. I rely on protein+veggie+ fat meals pretty much every other time because otherwise I start getting a little “fluffy” we will say. If cardio drops below 3 times a week I start gaining more fat than I’d like as well.
Some guys need to blast the carbs along with proteins and fats or they won’t budge the scale and need 0-2 sessions a week to stay lean. Figure out where you are on the spectrum and adjust slowly till you find your sweet spot of gaining with negligble or acceptable fat gain.
If your lifts are going up that means training is going alright, figure out the diet and cardio side and you’ll be moving forward instead of running on the bodybuilding treadmill, ie not going anywhere fast muscle wise.
I’ll try to write down everything I eat over the next three days (2 training, 1 off) and post it up for you guys to take a look at.
I just can’t seem to understand why my BF appears to be going up, yet my scale weight isn’t changing. I’m afraid if I cut cals/increase cardio, I’ll actually LOSE scale weight.
Good luck…the pounds will come, just know that it’ll take a while so don’t try to ‘dirty bulk’ because you’re only gaining–for example–3 lbs. a month. A clean bulk for a year (+) should get you there, then you can cut the extra body fat in a few months. In all, you’re probably looking at a year and a half to get there. [/quote]
Oops smacks forehead LOL. yeah, well I guess it’s time to brush up on my math.
