First Bulk Questions

VeryKatie

Hello!

I'm planning my first bulk for when I reach my goal weight and after I get some noob gains (so probably 2-6 months from now, but I'm a bit of a planner and I'm very curious!).

For any woman who's done one, how much of a calorie surplus did you give yourself daily? I thought I read somewhere about 250-400 was ok but I'd like to hear from some of you as to what worked/didn't work.

Did you start by doing trial and error, say starting with 250 for 4 weeks to see how much you gained? Did you find that half of what you gained was muscle when you cut back down or more or less than that?

Any info is useful to me, I've never done this before and would like to know what I'm getting myself into  I'm thinking a somewhat slow bulk would be best on me mentally, but I don't want to be spinning my wheels and wasting too much time, either.

How long did you normally bulk for - did you have a time goal or a weight goal? Or a lifting goal?

I'm 26, female, goal weight of 120-125 lbs before starting my bulk depending on how easy/difficult it is for me to get down that low since I don't have a lot muscle mass helping me out just yet. How much muscle weight could I reasonably put on in a year?


Thanks!

xcalygrl

This is all from my experience and knowledge on bulking. I'm in no way a pro.

For a "clean" bulk, you'd hit 250 calories above your maintenance everyday. For a "dirty" bulk, you'd hit about 500 calories above your maintenance everyday. With a "clean" bulk, you'd add a bit less weight and fat, but you'd still be making gains.

For me, I maintained for a bit to figure out my maintenance calories before I started upping my calories to above maintenance levels. As time progressed, I did have to eat more because my maintenance calories kept increasing (not significantly, but a bit).

How much you gain (1:1, 1:2, 2:1, etc. ratio fat:muscle) is highly dependent on genetics. I'm not real sure what my ratio was, but I feel like I pretty much had a 1:1 ratio on my first bulk. (I also started at a higher than normal BF%, but I still had pretty good success.)

Most people will tell you to attempt to bulk for a minimum of 3 months. IMO 6 months is a pretty good stretch of time. When I bulked, I didn't have any specific goals except to gain a bit of muscle mass. It's slow going as a female, so I tried to give myself a bit of time before giving up and starting to cut again. I didn't want to fall into spinning my wheels by bulking for too short then cutting because the weight gain got into my head.

For how much muscle mass you'll put on in a year (or whatever time frame you pick), it depends on the person. Genetics play a huge roll in that as well as how well you stick to the plan (eating a surplus of calories and lifting).

For more info, this is a pretty good read: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10049766/bulking-a-complete-guide-for-beginners/p1

SideSteel

I'm of the very general opinion that most people tend to be a bit too aggressive with energy surplus when bulking.

The question I would ask yourself is this: If I had to choose between maximizing my rate of muscle gain and putting on excess fat, or gaining muscle at a slower (sub-maximal) rate while minimizing fat gain, which would I choose?

I tend to favor the latter approach in "most" situations but certainly not ALL.

Consider that being a female, your ability to add lean mass is already going to be on the low end. And your rate of muscular gain "potential" is going to play a significant role in the rate at which you should be gaining weight to begin with.

So for example if you can only gain 1lb/month of actual muscle, and you aim to gain 4lbs/month total bodyweight, the majority of that is going to be fat. Do this for 6 months and you might (theoretically per this example anyway) gain 6lbs of muscle and 18lbs of fat. Probably not something you want.

Finally, with whatever you decide I would consider that people have varying responses to overfeeding. I would simply start by increasing calories above maintenance by 100-200, and observing results. Then, nudge calories upwards again until you are pleased with those results.

What I'm getting at is that in most cases, if you plan on eating 300 cals above maintenance to gain X lbs/month it seldom works out that way.