Bulking progress should i change anything?

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Replies

  • 99JT
    99JT Posts: 59 Member
    I was gaining very slowly and upped my calories with no results. And 4000 calories for someone who is 6' 170lbs should be more than enough.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    99JT wrote: »
    I was gaining very slowly and upped my calories with no results. And 4000 calories for someone who is 6' 170lbs should be more than enough.

    Should is the operative word. Keep in mind, you may suffer from the same dilemma I often do when bulking. The more food I shovel in, the less I am able to sit still. This past winter, I had to use 3600-4200 per day, to gain 0.5-0.8 per week. However, I can maintain at 2100, because I am able to just sit on my butt outside of the gym.
  • se015
    se015 Posts: 583 Member
    99JT wrote: »
    i have been trying to bulk up for a while now with little progress until i upped my calories to 3500 last month. below is my weight i recorded over the month. do i need to change anything?
    1/14 166
    1/27 168.5
    1/30 168
    1/31 168
    2/3 169
    2/6 168
    2/10 170
    2/12 168

    3500 calories is far too many. You only need 3000 max. And don't expect fast progress either way.
    Eating 3500 calories means you are in a huge Caloric surplus unnecessarily. If you desperately want to gain weight try sleeping more and doing less exercise. Working out for mass even burns fat. Oh, and do starved cardio. Burns some of the fat off. You don't want to end up too fat.

    If you need to count calories try MyFitnessPal it's great.

    idk if I agree with "starved cardio" does that mean fasted cardio? That can risk him losing muscle mass. I've read that it's good to do a morning light jog while fasted, but not intense cardio. He should do HIIT for cardio if any, he probably doesn't even need to do cardio at this point. He has no fat at least it doesn't look he does.
  • se015
    se015 Posts: 583 Member
    OP, don't guess your bf %, get yourself some type of tool and measure it. Monitor the change in bf% and your weight, those two together will help you get a better idea of where you're at. Hit the free weights, as much of that as you can you need to train your body to stabilize weight which will in a way trigger your muscles to grow all around. One guy said earlier 6-8 reps for 4 sets, that's a good idea and I agree with him. First make sure your form is solid, don't want to do free weight exercises with poor form otherwise you don't get much out of it. Once you get used to the lifts, see how much weight you can lift in those sets.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    Seth1825 wrote: »
    99JT wrote: »
    i have been trying to bulk up for a while now with little progress until i upped my calories to 3500 last month. below is my weight i recorded over the month. do i need to change anything?
    1/14 166
    1/27 168.5
    1/30 168
    1/31 168
    2/3 169
    2/6 168
    2/10 170
    2/12 168

    3500 calories is far too many. You only need 3000 max. And don't expect fast progress either way.
    Eating 3500 calories means you are in a huge Caloric surplus unnecessarily. If you desperately want to gain weight try sleeping more and doing less exercise. Working out for mass even burns fat. Oh, and do starved cardio. Burns some of the fat off. You don't want to end up too fat.

    If you need to count calories try MyFitnessPal it's great.

    idk if I agree with "starved cardio" does that mean fasted cardio? That can risk him losing muscle mass. I've read that it's good to do a morning light jog while fasted, but not intense cardio. He should do HIIT for cardio if any, he probably doesn't even need to do cardio at this point. He has no fat at least it doesn't look he does.

    A person should have enough glycogen stored that fasted cardio, even intense, wouldn't do anything.
  • se015
    se015 Posts: 583 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Seth1825 wrote: »
    99JT wrote: »
    i have been trying to bulk up for a while now with little progress until i upped my calories to 3500 last month. below is my weight i recorded over the month. do i need to change anything?
    1/14 166
    1/27 168.5
    1/30 168
    1/31 168
    2/3 169
    2/6 168
    2/10 170
    2/12 168

    3500 calories is far too many. You only need 3000 max. And don't expect fast progress either way.
    Eating 3500 calories means you are in a huge Caloric surplus unnecessarily. If you desperately want to gain weight try sleeping more and doing less exercise. Working out for mass even burns fat. Oh, and do starved cardio. Burns some of the fat off. You don't want to end up too fat.

    If you need to count calories try MyFitnessPal it's great.

    idk if I agree with "starved cardio" does that mean fasted cardio? That can risk him losing muscle mass. I've read that it's good to do a morning light jog while fasted, but not intense cardio. He should do HIIT for cardio if any, he probably doesn't even need to do cardio at this point. He has no fat at least it doesn't look he does.

    A person should have enough glycogen stored that fasted cardio, even intense, wouldn't do anything.

    Oh okay thanks for the info!
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Seth1825 wrote: »
    99JT wrote: »
    i have been trying to bulk up for a while now with little progress until i upped my calories to 3500 last month. below is my weight i recorded over the month. do i need to change anything?
    1/14 166
    1/27 168.5
    1/30 168
    1/31 168
    2/3 169
    2/6 168
    2/10 170
    2/12 168

    3500 calories is far too many. You only need 3000 max. And don't expect fast progress either way.
    Eating 3500 calories means you are in a huge Caloric surplus unnecessarily. If you desperately want to gain weight try sleeping more and doing less exercise. Working out for mass even burns fat. Oh, and do starved cardio. Burns some of the fat off. You don't want to end up too fat.

    If you need to count calories try MyFitnessPal it's great.

    idk if I agree with "starved cardio" does that mean fasted cardio? That can risk him losing muscle mass. I've read that it's good to do a morning light jog while fasted, but not intense cardio. He should do HIIT for cardio if any, he probably doesn't even need to do cardio at this point. He has no fat at least it doesn't look he does.

    A person should have enough glycogen stored that fasted cardio, even intense, wouldn't do anything.

    Pretty much. Even on the harshest cuts that most people do, unless your cardio sessions are intense and last for hours and hours (endurance athletes), you've not got much of anything to worry about.
  • se015
    se015 Posts: 583 Member
    But do you guys think OP should even be doing cardio at this point? I'm not against cardio I just know for me, and I was always one of those skinnier guys who could never gain weight. Cardio was not ever necessary and only made it harder for me to gain size.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    Seth1825 wrote: »
    But do you guys think OP should even be doing cardio at this point? I'm not against cardio I just know for me, and I was always one of those skinnier guys who could never gain weight. Cardio was not ever necessary and only made it harder for me to gain size.

    If the OP can sustain the amount of calories, then there isn't anything wrong with cardio. I know when I will bulk, I will be doing cardio.
  • se015
    se015 Posts: 583 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Seth1825 wrote: »
    But do you guys think OP should even be doing cardio at this point? I'm not against cardio I just know for me, and I was always one of those skinnier guys who could never gain weight. Cardio was not ever necessary and only made it harder for me to gain size.

    If the OP can sustain the amount of calories, then there isn't anything wrong with cardio. I know when I will bulk, I will be doing cardio.

    Well everyone is different. For me cardio didn't help...not saying it's wrong or not wrong to do cardio when bulking.