I am lifting weights for almost 5 months now i hit the weights 6x a week, I am doing arnold split since the first day i get back into lifting. for the whole 5 months i was in a 300 caloric deficit and slightly adjusting base on my progress. now, i am in maintenance for about 2 weeks i still don’t know my exact maintenance calories so i will be staying here but after this i want to do a lean bulk. my question is
how will i approach training when on lean bulk? and is 300 calorie surplus is enough? i am planning to lean bulk as long as i can.
the macros that i am planning to do is 1g of protein per pound of body weight / 25% fat / the rest will be carbs. is this a good approach or do you have suggestions?
about my training routine i will include the amount of sets i do per bodypart per week
the sets is all in directly training the target muscle. i do have facepulls in my shoulder workout so if will be adding it my rear delts sets will be 14 and trap sets per week will be 12 because i can feel it in those muscles.
if you need more information to give tips/suggestions hope you can ask and i would gladly reply because i logged everything daily. thank you!
There is a lot going on here. Thats an extraordinarily high volume for your chest! That would end me.
I would, personally, not train with that high a frequency nor volume. Your question, though, was how to change training because you’re eating a bit more. If the training is working, I wouldn’t change it all: you should recover better and get stronger faster. If you were down to a very low maintenance volume on your diet, I’d say you could now add a little, but that’s certainly not the case here.
i think my training plan is working because i seriously progressing weekly. i started in at 15lbs db in incline bench press for 12 now i can do 60lbs for 12 clean reps. i am doing in a bodybuilding style of training. i guess i have good genetics for recovery? about the diet that is my plan i am still getting the hang of my new maintenance calories and once i get my exact maintenance calories i will be doing 300 calorie surplus is that enough or should i bump it to 500?
There’s a lot of variables. If it’s good for now, that’s your answer. It will ebb and flow over time based on lifestyle, age, strength, etc.
There’s really no way to just know ahead of time. I’ve got lots of long ramblings about it, but it basically boils down to: try something, give it a couple weeks, and reassess. In your shoes, just add a couple hundred calories every couple weeks and see if you’re gaining weight without getting too fat. Something like .25-.5 lbs a week is a good rule of thumb. Eat more until you’re gaining in that range, then chill there; if you’re gaining more than that, back off a little. If you get much fatter than you’d like, just spend 3-4 weeks getting it off (rather than keep going and need a 6 month diet).
thank you so much for your input sir. i will be looking around for a good training split that has moderate volume and high intensity do you have any suggestions?
I agree 100%. I, from the beginnings of my weight lifting, made all decisions based on feedback. I liked to keep a relatively clean diet and trying to keep protein high. (Though at the time I didn’t understand the importance of fat, I got a sufficient amount eating meat and whole eggs.) Then I added more carbohydrates while watching my strength, the scale, and the mirror. When I wasn’t satisfied with any of them I made an adjustment. I made these assessments weekly, whether trying to lean bulk or cut for a contest. I never counted calories.
Am I getting stronger?
Is the scale going in the right direction, and slowly (which is important)?
And most importantly, do I like what I see in the mirror?