Plateau w/ Bulk, Gained Too Much Fat

Training Bodybuilding
61

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
taleb wrote:
those who aren’t used to KG

60kg = 132lbs
100kg = 220lbs

you added ~70lbs to your 5RM bench in 14 weeks?

pics really would be useful here

Yes I did.

It’s funny how people just completely skipped over that and assume I turned into a fat blob.

I am not that fat AT ALL, i just have some slight love handles. I just want to recompose my body slightly before gaining more weight.

And it DOES NOT MATTER why I was 145lbs after 3 years, I know how to train now. And that is how my lifts have increased so much.

[/quote]

We didn’t skip over it. Again, without pictures, we NEED to ask a ton of questions to get an idea of where you are at physically and in terms of intensity…whether you understand that or not.

The ones you need to be worried about are the people who don’t understand this.

If you want individualized advice, then expect to put yourself out there in order for that to happen.

62

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
taleb wrote:
those who aren’t used to KG

60kg = 132lbs
100kg = 220lbs

you added ~70lbs to your 5RM bench in 14 weeks?

pics really would be useful here

Yes I did.

It’s funny how people just completely skipped over that and assume I turned into a fat blob.

I am not that fat AT ALL, i just have some slight love handles. I just want to recompose my body slightly before gaining more weight.

And it DOES NOT MATTER why I was 145lbs after 3 years, I know how to train now. And that is how my lifts have increased so much.

[/quote]

Sorry there, I was actually going to post “The strength increases look good to me” but then for some reason didn’t. (seriously)

Not unrealistic either considering your stage and weight-gain.

But hey… If you only have some slight love-handles… Honestly, why not just continue?
Or, as the others said, just take steps to avoid excess fat gain from now on…

I don’t know many big people who haven’t been a little “fat” over a period of a few years during their lifting career at least (the part where they gained the most strength/size, generally).

63

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
taleb wrote:
those who aren’t used to KG

60kg = 132lbs
100kg = 220lbs

you added ~70lbs to your 5RM bench in 14 weeks?

pics really would be useful here

Yes I did.

It’s funny how people just completely skipped over that and assume I turned into a fat blob.

I am not that fat AT ALL, i just have some slight love handles. I just want to recompose my body slightly before gaining more weight.

And it DOES NOT MATTER why I was 145lbs after 3 years, I know how to train now. And that is how my lifts have increased so much.

Sorry there, I was actually going to post “The strength increases look good to me” but then for some reason didn’t. (seriously)

Not unrealistic either considering your stage and weight-gain.

But hey… If you only have some slight love-handles… Honestly, why not just continue?
Or, as the others said, just take steps to avoid excess fat gain from now on…

I don’t know many big people who haven’t been a little “fat” over a period of a few years during their lifting career at least (the part where they gained the most strength/size, generally).

[/quote]

Hell, I’m “fat” right now. I am also stronger than I have been in the past…which is what makes dieting so difficult. You don’t want to ruin progress being made just to worry about more definition.

I agree, why diet down if you only have minimal fat gain?

64

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Then don’t call it “dieting down”. Without pictures, no one knows what you are talking about. Comparing yourself to a “smoother” CT is a pretty big comparison. That’s like someone weighing 195lbs saying he looks like a slightly smaller Ronnie Coleman.

If you want more specific help, post pics. If not, then at least understand that you put on a SHIT LOAD of body weight very quickly and, unless you really have the genetics for it or were severely underweight to start with, I wouldn’t exactly recommend most people try putting on 50lbs in only 4 months.

You train according to how your body responds…so if you are putting on that much body fat, you make small adjustments so that you don’t need to stop every 4 months to repair the damage you did.

But hey, hopefully you learned from this and learning from mistakes is the goal in the first damn place.

Basically, add more cardio and clean up your diet for a couple of months. I would not attempt some drastic drop in body weight but I would definitely work on your aerobic capacity for the next two months. You base how much overall weight you need to lose on what you see in the mirror. [/quote]

I’m a slightly whiter, smaller, weaker Prof X…seriously.

65

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
Dave_ wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Dave_ wrote:

You won’t be huge in 6 months, but if you do the above you’ll end up looking reasonable and still be able to make progress. The lesson to learn here is don’t go overboard, because you’ll only waste time trying to correct your excess later on. That doesn’t mean you should eat like a little girl, just don’t eat like a big fat guy either.

On this, we all have to go “overboard” especially those with faster metabolisms if the goal is taking this to a higher level than average. There are many meals or protein shakes that you will be forcing down if you ever plan on finding a large t-shirt too tight to wear. It just means that you should monitor progress so that if things start moving into “excess territory” you don’t let it go until you need a bungee cord to measure your waist.

The reality is though, most of the really big guys you see did bulk up before and many more carried more body fat at one time than they may be willing to let on. I personally don’t think that is a coincidence.

All true, I know I have. In terms of overboard, I wasn’t very clear. What I mean is that he shouldn’t go overboard for the training HE is doing. Sounds obvious but most of us have ignored this at some stage.

OP: 7000kcals is overboard if you only need 5000kcals to live and grow (for instance). I don’t mean that you should calculate your BMR etc etc because your expendature and needs for a calorific excess will change based on a whole load of crap you cannot control. Find a general amount you need to make progress and try to roughly average out at this level. Keep a food log for a couple of days, perhaps a week just to get a general feel for how much actual food you need to be eating. Once this has been done, it’s very easy to guesstimate how much you are eating.

In comparison with the general public and casual gymgoers, we should all be striving to go “overboard”, relatively speaking.

He’s in good company at our gym though. There’s a particularly huge guy who’s currently about 290lbs, 6’ 1-2" and in reasonably lean condition. Every time he turns up at the gym I feel like a 5 year old kid.

Dave, thanks for your input. I think I have seen you once or twice though I’m not sure.

I don’t work at the gym anymore, I couldn’t get on the books/pay was a bit crap. But you may of seen me putting away the weights a couple of times.

Anyways, I’m just going to add in cardio a couple times a week now.

Heres my current food intake:

Breakfast: 6eggs & bowl of oatmeal + banana Or 2 scoops isopure mass & bowl of oatmeal + banana

Snack: 2 scoops isopure mass

Lunch: 12oz meat, sweet potato, veg

Snack: 2 scoops isopure mass

dinner: 12oz meat, sweet potato, veg

before bed: 2 scoops isopure mass[/quote]

No problem mate. Just keep the cardio to little and often. You definitely didn’t turn into a fat blob (lol) and the fat you have gained can very easily be reduced with some very minor changes.

Have you heard of myprotein by any chance? You can get some very cheap whey from there (PM me for details on the pricematcher if you want), I hate to think how much you’re spending on isopure!

  • Sorry Biotest, but we are from the UK, and customs suck.
66

I wish I could just keep bulking forever.

67

[quote]Dave_ wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
Dave_ wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Dave_ wrote:

You won’t be huge in 6 months, but if you do the above you’ll end up looking reasonable and still be able to make progress. The lesson to learn here is don’t go overboard, because you’ll only waste time trying to correct your excess later on. That doesn’t mean you should eat like a little girl, just don’t eat like a big fat guy either.

On this, we all have to go “overboard” especially those with faster metabolisms if the goal is taking this to a higher level than average. There are many meals or protein shakes that you will be forcing down if you ever plan on finding a large t-shirt too tight to wear. It just means that you should monitor progress so that if things start moving into “excess territory” you don’t let it go until you need a bungee cord to measure your waist.

The reality is though, most of the really big guys you see did bulk up before and many more carried more body fat at one time than they may be willing to let on. I personally don’t think that is a coincidence.

All true, I know I have. In terms of overboard, I wasn’t very clear. What I mean is that he shouldn’t go overboard for the training HE is doing. Sounds obvious but most of us have ignored this at some stage.

OP: 7000kcals is overboard if you only need 5000kcals to live and grow (for instance). I don’t mean that you should calculate your BMR etc etc because your expendature and needs for a calorific excess will change based on a whole load of crap you cannot control. Find a general amount you need to make progress and try to roughly average out at this level. Keep a food log for a couple of days, perhaps a week just to get a general feel for how much actual food you need to be eating. Once this has been done, it’s very easy to guesstimate how much you are eating.

In comparison with the general public and casual gymgoers, we should all be striving to go “overboard”, relatively speaking.

He’s in good company at our gym though. There’s a particularly huge guy who’s currently about 290lbs, 6’ 1-2" and in reasonably lean condition. Every time he turns up at the gym I feel like a 5 year old kid.

Dave, thanks for your input. I think I have seen you once or twice though I’m not sure.

I don’t work at the gym anymore, I couldn’t get on the books/pay was a bit crap. But you may of seen me putting away the weights a couple of times.

Anyways, I’m just going to add in cardio a couple times a week now.

Heres my current food intake:

Breakfast: 6eggs & bowl of oatmeal + banana Or 2 scoops isopure mass & bowl of oatmeal + banana

Snack: 2 scoops isopure mass

Lunch: 12oz meat, sweet potato, veg

Snack: 2 scoops isopure mass

dinner: 12oz meat, sweet potato, veg

before bed: 2 scoops isopure mass

No problem mate. Just keep the cardio to little and often. You definitely didn’t turn into a fat blob (lol) and the fat you have gained can very easily be reduced with some very minor changes.

Have you heard of myprotein by any chance? You can get some very cheap whey from there (PM me for details on the pricematcher if you want), I hate to think how much you’re spending on isopure!

  • Sorry Biotest, but we are from the UK, and customs suck.
    [/quote]

x2 myprotein is fantastic value

68

Here’s a case where listening to CT’s “The Truth About Bulking” may have been a good idea…

69

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
Here’s a case where listening to CT’s “The Truth About Bulking” may have been a good idea…[/quote]

Did you actually read the thread?

70

[quote]Dave_ wrote:
abcd1234 wrote:
Here’s a case where listening to CT’s “The Truth About Bulking” may have been a good idea…

Did you actually read the thread?

[/quote]

LOL

71

[quote]Professor X wrote:

The reality is though, most of the really big guys you see did bulk up before and many more carried more body fat at one time than they may be willing to let on. I personally don’t think that is a coincidence.[/quote]

He speaks the truth!!!

72

[quote]Cprimero wrote:
Dave_ wrote:

Have you heard of myprotein by any chance? You can get some very cheap whey from there (PM me for details on the pricematcher if you want), I hate to think how much you’re spending on isopure!

  • Sorry Biotest, but we are from the UK, and customs suck.

x2 myprotein is fantastic value
[/quote]

x3 on myprotein. I bought protein, bars, and some vitamins/supps from them when I lived in the UK. Doesn’t taste half as good as Grow, but they have good stuff and it’s very cheap as far as England goes.

73

[quote]GDollars37 wrote:
Cprimero wrote:
Dave_ wrote:

Have you heard of myprotein by any chance? You can get some very cheap whey from there (PM me for details on the pricematcher if you want), I hate to think how much you’re spending on isopure!

  • Sorry Biotest, but we are from the UK, and customs suck.

x2 myprotein is fantastic value

x3 on myprotein. I bought protein, bars, and some vitamins/supps from them when I lived in the UK. Doesn’t taste half as good as Grow, but they have good stuff and it’s very cheap as far as England goes.[/quote]

I’ll have to check that out, the best brands i’ve tried so far is boditronics/isopure/purewhey (all bought from the gym), but they are expensive, so yeah, ill have to try myprotein.

BTW, I’m down to 185ish lbs now btw after doing swimming the past few days… Strength has stayed about the same, guess i’ll just keep doing that.

74

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:
Cprimero wrote:
Dave_ wrote:

Have you heard of myprotein by any chance? You can get some very cheap whey from there (PM me for details on the pricematcher if you want), I hate to think how much you’re spending on isopure!

  • Sorry Biotest, but we are from the UK, and customs suck.

x2 myprotein is fantastic value

x3 on myprotein. I bought protein, bars, and some vitamins/supps from them when I lived in the UK. Doesn’t taste half as good as Grow, but they have good stuff and it’s very cheap as far as England goes.

I’ll have to check that out, the best brands i’ve tried so far is boditronics/isopure/purewhey (all bought from the gym), but they are expensive, so yeah, ill have to try myprotein.

BTW, I’m down to 185ish lbs now btw after doing swimming the past few days… Strength has stayed about the same, guess i’ll just keep doing that.[/quote]

If cardio/dropping kcals is stopping strength increases, then you are being too drastic. Focus on strength as a top priotity, and don’t eat too much junk. That’s it!

What you have been doing has been working - just make minor changes as said before. Double your squat/dead/bench/OHP/whatever and you’ll be much larger. Eat properly and you’ll avoid carrying excessive fat as well.

FWIW, I think swimming kind of sucks. If you are hitting the weights like you should, you need VERY low intensity cardio, simply to drain kcals. For instance I usually walk for around an hour a day, 4-5 days per week (split up into around 20mins x 3), fast enough to build up a sweat - I don’t even jog.

Someone who is not looking at pushing it as hard in the squat/deadlift department can afford something a little more draining like swimming or even HIIT, and will get lean pretty quick. However, real physique changes occur when you are simply blasting your weights/reps higher and higher on a consistent basis.

Read up a lot on insulin (NOT EXOGENOUS!!!) and how the associated systems work. That will help a lot in controlling bf% levels whilst still gaining very nicely.