Need some guidance please!!

se015

Okay hello everyone, so I'm 28 y.o. always have had a hard time gaining weight which has been my goal for awhile now. However as most of us want, I want to GAIN MUSCLE weight, NOT FAT. I'm prepared to put on some fat while doing this what we call "bulking." Right now, I aim for about 3,000 calories per day, usually right under that every day. For awhile I wasn't gaining any weight...

NOW I am finally gaining weight, HOWEVER OF COURSEEE I am noticing gain in fat. Particularly around my belly which again I expected but now also around my waist also known as "love handles". The worst part about all this is I don't really notice much muscle gain. I am lifting 4 times a week doing what I would call a Hypertrophy program 8-12 reps, 3-4 sets, ton of exercises per session, I have gotten a little stronger so maybe I have gained muscle, but why am I gaining more fat than muscle? How do I avoid this and make it go the OPPOSITE direction? lol. I should also tell you that I am currently not doing any cardio (yes I know it's unhealthy, but I've always been a hard gainer).

I hope I'm making sense. For those experienced, please give suggestions. I was thinking about lowering my total calories and maybe throwing in some cardio in? Idk. Idk what to do, because I don't want to do anything that will prevent muscle growth or cause muscle loss, yet I also don't want to continue to gain fat around my belly and waist line.

ObiWanJacoby_

www.aworkoutroutine.com and www.acaloriecounter.com

Read read read read. You'll learn a lot from those two places.

ricardo510diaz

As you point out yourself, you know you will put on fat with the bulk because that is an *inevitability*. The only way to avoid excessive fat gain is to bulk very, very slowly at a very small calorie surplus; other than that, there is really no way to trick your body into gaining muscle rather than fat, that is out of your control and largely due to genetics and your current level of body fat.

ObiWanJacoby_

ricardo510diaz wrote: »

As you point out yourself, you know you will put on fat with the bulk because that is an *inevitability*. The only way to avoid excessive fat gain is to bulk very, very slowly at a very small calorie surplus; other than that, there is really no way to trick your body into gaining muscle rather than fat, that is out of your control and largely due to genetics and your current level of body fat.

Spot on

se015

ricardo510diaz wrote: »

As you point out yourself, you know you will put on fat with the bulk because that is an *inevitability*. The only way to avoid excessive fat gain is to bulk very, very slowly at a very small calorie surplus; other than that, there is really no way to trick your body into gaining muscle rather than fat, that is out of your control and largely due to genetics and your current level of body fat.

So I'm not doing anything wrong then? I mean should I cut my calories a little bit or keep it the same? I'm currently 155-156 lbs, started around 151, over the past 4 months this gain occurred. My goal really is to be 170 lbs of pure solid muscle and like 10-12 % body fat, ideally haha. Is that unrealistic?

se015

ObiWanJacoby_ wrote: »

www.aworkoutroutine.com and www.acaloriecounter.com

Read read read read. You'll learn a lot from those two places.

Thanks for the suggestion I'll take a look.

ricardo510diaz

Seth1825 wrote: »

ricardo510diaz wrote: »

As you point out yourself, you know you will put on fat with the bulk because that is an *inevitability*. The only way to avoid excessive fat gain is to bulk very, very slowly at a very small calorie surplus; other than that, there is really no way to trick your body into gaining muscle rather than fat, that is out of your control and largely due to genetics and your current level of body fat.

So I'm not doing anything wrong then? I mean should I cut my calories a little bit or keep it the same? I'm currently 155-156 lbs, started around 151, over the past 4 months this gain occurred. My goal really is to be 170 lbs of pure solid muscle and like 10-12 % body fat, ideally haha. Is that unrealistic?

I wouldn't say you're doing anything wrong or that It's unrealistic if you are patient and don't expect things to happen super quickly, 170 at 10-12% is a good long term goal. If you've gained 4 lbs in the past 4 months then it sounds like your doing it pretty slowly, which will be the cleanest way to bulk with minimal fat gain. As has been discussed though, there really isn't a way to stop the fat gain from happening or make it primarily muscle; they say a 2-300 calorie surplus is ideal for a clean bulk in regards to calories.

A few ideas though:
If you can fit it into your training regimen, sprinting is known to assist in promoting the anabolic response with minimal fat gain; the idea is that it's so intense on the body that for the rest of that day your body burns fat and you will not store anything as fat even eating at a surplus. Also, fasted weight training in the morning could help as it has similar effects to sprinting like improving insulin sensitivity and increasing the anabolic response to nutrients ingested after breaking fast.

se015

I wouldn't say you're doing anything wrong or that It's unrealistic if you are patient and don't expect things to happen super quickly, 170 at 10-12% is a good long term goal. If you've gained 4 lbs in the past 4 months then it sounds like your doing it pretty slowly, which will be the cleanest way to bulk with minimal fat gain. As has been discussed though, there really isn't a way to stop the fat gain from happening or make it primarily muscle; they say a 2-300 calorie surplus is ideal for a clean bulk in regards to calories.

A few ideas though:
If you can fit it into your training regimen, sprinting is known to assist in promoting the anabolic response with minimal fat gain; the idea is that it's so intense on the body that for the rest of that day your body burns fat and you will not store anything as fat even eating at a surplus. Also, fasted weight training in the morning could help as it has similar effects to sprinting like improving insulin sensitivity and increasing the anabolic response to nutrients ingested after breaking fast.[/quote]

Thanks buddy! I'll try and see if I can do some sprint work outs. I used to work without eating, but that interfered with my ability to eat more total calories, in other words I had to condense more eating so by eating before I work out allows me to spread out my calories more throughout the day. Also, how does one calculate their base calories to begin with. I know there are calculators that do this right? I want to know what my baseline calories are so I know what 200 or 300 more would be? Make sense?

ricardo510diaz

That makes sense. Just be careful with the sprints and make sure you warm up your hips and joints thoroughly before doing them, they really are a ton of fun; running is okay but there's a really cool and super intense feeling to balls out running as fast as you can. I used to go to high school tracks to run sprints in the summertime and it was cool to do some outdoor cardio, 4-5 100m sprints (half of a usual high school track pretty much, sometimes it's marked) a few times a week would do the trick. Also, try to fit them in away from leg workouts as well as you can. I'd suggest to watch a few videos on technique as there are a few different ques to pay attention to to do it as safely and efficiently as possible.

As for the calorie calculator, this one is pretty much spot on. I ate at my maintenance for a while and didn't really gain or lose a pound.
iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

se015

ricardo510diaz wrote: »

That makes sense. Just be careful with the sprints and make sure you warm up your hips and joints thoroughly before doing them, they really are a ton of fun; running is okay but there's a really cool and super intense feeling to balls out running as fast as you can. I used to go to high school tracks to run sprints in the summertime and it was cool to do some outdoor cardio, 4-5 100m sprints (half of a usual high school track pretty much, sometimes it's marked) a few times a week would do the trick. Also, try to fit them in away from leg workouts as well as you can. I'd suggest to watch a few videos on technique as there are a few different ques to pay attention to to do it as safely and efficiently as possible.

As for the calorie calculator, this one is pretty much spot on. I ate at my maintenance for a while and didn't really gain or lose a pound.
iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Thanks buddy, you've been a big help!

winneyj

Hey you should really read the bulking- a complete guide for beginners article. It's the first article in the bulking section. It goes into great detail about your very question. It was really helpful for me.

ndj1979

Seth1825 wrote: »

ricardo510diaz wrote: »

As you point out yourself, you know you will put on fat with the bulk because that is an *inevitability*. The only way to avoid excessive fat gain is to bulk very, very slowly at a very small calorie surplus; other than that, there is really no way to trick your body into gaining muscle rather than fat, that is out of your control and largely due to genetics and your current level of body fat.

So I'm not doing anything wrong then? I mean should I cut my calories a little bit or keep it the same? I'm currently 155-156 lbs, started around 151, over the past 4 months this gain occurred. My goal really is to be 170 lbs of pure solid muscle and like 10-12 % body fat, ideally haha. Is that unrealistic?

if you want to gain and are gaining weight you are not doing anything wrong. You are going to gain fat, no way around it.

morowinder

Apart from macros and calories you can always improve your hormones especially testosterone. Most people will be lacking some micronutrients, especially with foods becoming emptier.
So go for some multivitamins, zinc, magnesium, vit D3, you also need cholesterol contrary to popular belief. Also google article about testosterone by theartofmanliness.