Steady Bulking

hey guys about to start my bulking phase. im 20years old, 93kg(approx 12%bf) aiming to gain 5kg lean muscle by the end the year. im currently consuming 3650cal each day through clean foods a lot of brown rice, oats, turkey breast, sirloin steaks etc. ( 430g carb/ 280g pro/ 90g fat) adjusted on the days i do cardio with an extra meal of around 300-400cals.

was wondering if my macros are a good amount? should i bump up my calories? what do you guys consume if your trying to bulk steadly with not excessive fat gains?

thanks for the help

Your question completely depends on your physiology and how your body is responding to your intake.

You seem like you are headed in the right direction but how are you responding to this diet; getting stronger, gaining size, gaining too much fat etc?

so far so good man im a natural bodybuilder so i get it takes time to add lean mass. ive put on about 1.5kg in 3 wks with judging by the mirror minimal fat gains. was wondering though when do you start adding more calories when strength plateaus? want more muscle? what do you go by. and when do you suggest adding calories i was thinking of gradually increasing like approx 100-150 each 4 weeks or something

[quote]hitman12345 wrote:
so far so good man im a natural bodybuilder so i get it takes time to add lean mass. ive put on about 1.5kg in 3 wks with judging by the mirror minimal fat gains. was wondering though when do you start adding more calories when strength plateaus? want more muscle? what do you go by. and when do you suggest adding calories i was thinking of gradually increasing like approx 100-150 each 4 weeks or something[/quote]

I think strength is probably your best indicator of progress right now. Your weight can fluctuate, but strength usually doesn’t. Not saying completely disregard weight gain, just that if you weigh yourself once a week, and you see you’ve lost a pound, I personally wouldn’t bump up my calories. However, if I worked out 5x/week, and looking back through my log book noticed I lost strength on nearly all my lifts, yeah, I’d bump cals up a solid 200 cals.

In an old thread about his bulking, MODOK talked about bulking without paying any attention to the scale at all. He focused on his log book (i.e. the weights he was lifting) and measurements. Last year when I went on a bulk, I pretty much focused on increasing my bodyweight and lifts. This time, I’m going to just focus on lifts and measurements. I can’t comment on whether one’s better than the other since I only just started this recent strategy, but it’s an alternative worth thinking about.

I do think, though, that as the above people have said, whether 3650 is enough is entirely up to your own body, activity level, etc. Some people on this forum gain off 3k, while others have to do 5k.

IMO, just err on the side of overeating vis-a-vis undereating. If you’re training hard enough, most will go to the right place anyway. You’re 20 right now–take advantage of this window before it closes.

I weigh myself regularly when gaining. I do it to make sure I am moving in the right direction. If you are someone who doesn’t have to shovel food in his mouth all day to gain a pound, maybe you can avoid the scale. You shouldn’t if eating has to become a full time job to see an increase.

the key is to monitor your progress. Don’t freak out because your waist went up half an inch when the reason is because more food is in your digestive tract all day. Avoid rushing to conclusions also. Just because your weight isn’t flying up doesn’t mean you aren’t eating right.

thanks for all your comments i keep a pretty detailed log book too i think ill use this to track my strength progress and adjust the diet accordingly. good luck with your lifting too