Lean Bulk - so far so good.

pbryd

February is coming to a close and according to the scales I've gained 1.4lbs this month. This puts me at 131.7lb which is an 8.3lb weight gain over the last 6 months following a pre-bulk cut.

Basic stats. Male, 5'6", 43yrs. Goal; gain lean mass.

September 123.4
October 124.9
November 127.5
December 129.3
January 130.3
February 131.7

Waist wise I've gained almost 1" over the same 6 month period, from 29.4" to 30.3", which I think is quite acceptable.

I have another 4 weeks on my training program, after which I will deload and possibly try a 2 week quick cut while deloading.

All good so far.

psuLemon

pbryd wrote: »

February is coming to a close and according to the scales I've gained 1.4lbs this month. This puts me at 131.7lb which is an 8.3lb weight gain over the last 6 months following a pre-bulk cut.

Basic stats. Male, 5'6", 43yrs. Goal; gain lean mass.

September 123.4
October 124.9
November 127.5
December 129.3
January 130.3
February 131.7

Waist wise I've gained almost 1" over the same 6 month period, from 29.4" to 30.3", which I think is quite acceptable.

I have another 4 weeks on my training program, after which I will deload and possibly try a 2 week quick cut while deloading.

All good so far.

Nice progress.

pbryd

psulemon wrote: »

Nice progress.

Thanks @psulemon I'm looking forward to a further 4 months.

Springfield1970

Lovely job. You might not even need to cut at all after either, just go to maintenance and see......

pbryd

Springfield1970 wrote: »

Lovely job. You might not even need to cut at all after either, just go to maintenance and see......

Thanks, I'm prepared to take my waist up to 32", at which point my trousers start to get a little uncomfortable.

I'm not sure if I'd prefer a quick cut or a longer maintenance tbh.

883xlsportster

Excellent. Where are you seeing the weight & size the most? I'm going a little faster on the gain starting from 129 and same height. I think my bulk is going sideways somewhere in between skinny fat and dad bod ;-)

pbryd

883xlsportster wrote: »

Excellent. Where are you seeing the weight & size the most?

I can see differences all over, my arms are thickening up, upper chest is coming along nicely and I can see some improvement in my shoulders and calves.

I'm hoping there's some lean tissue there and not just a small layer of fat lol.

My pre bulk cut got rid if the skinny fat, i went down to a 29" waist, so I've got some breathing room before I get to dad bod

pbryd

If anyone is interested here's my routine. I train at home.

Monday

Standing barbell press x3
Lateral raises x3
Dumbbell Floor press x3
Single leg calf raise x3

Wednesday

Trap bar squat x3
Rear delt raises x3
Single leg calf raise x3

Saturday

Weighted pull ups x3
Barbell rows x3
Single calf raise x3
Alt dumbbell curls x3

On the big lifts I use reverse pyramid training, with straight sets for isolation (lat raises, calf and curls)

883xlsportster

Floor Press? Interesting. I do BB floor press to lift around a bad shoulder. And you?
Have you been using that split from the beginning?

pbryd

883xlsportster wrote: »

Floor Press? Interesting. I do BB floor press to lift around a bad shoulder. And you?
Have you been using that split from the beginning?

I don't have a bench. I train at home, and didn't want to spend £100 on a bench just to do bench press. I used the money for a trap bar instead.

I've pretty much used that type of split for the past 6 months yes, exercises change every now and then e.g barbell OHP replaced dumbbell OHP, trap bar squats replaced front squat.

I've recently added the calf raises and just made a wrist roller last week.

pbryd

This month's midway check in sees March's average weight up by 1.1lb compared to February, and no increase in average waist size.

Overall weight gain on this lean bulk is 9.7lb, waist up 0.9"

Springfield1970

Holy moly that's good progress. Are you considering extending this bulk longer than you previously planned?

Everyone does that 0.9" waist size change mean that he is at a high muscle to fat ratio?

883xlsportster

Steady as she goes. Looking at your stats we are the same height and started off close to same bodyweight. I do have a few years on you being 49. Reads like you are going for some hypertrophy gains? Did you get your T levels tested before you started & how do you like the trap bar?

pbryd

Springfield1970 wrote: »

Holy moly that's good progress. Are you considering extending this bulk longer than you previously planned?

Thanks. I was going to do a 6 week cut for the summer, but my low waist gain has me thinking of just carrying on bulking until my waist hits 32".

I'll just see how it plays out. I've been considering adding and extra 100 daily calories to try and speed things up a bit, but I'm not sure I want to tinker with my plan while it's working well.

pbryd

883xlsportster wrote: »

Steady as she goes. Looking at your stats we are the same height and started off close to same bodyweight. I do have a few years on you being 49. Reads like you are going for some hypertrophy gains? Did you get your T levels tested before you started & how do you like the trap bar?

Yes, I'm after hypertrophy primarily. I do mix my rep ranges from 4-6 and 8-12. These next two weeks will see add more volume (added sets) then I'll deload on my 9th week.

I haven't had my T levels checked. I'm pretty fit, well and feel great.

The trap bar is great, it lets me get a good leg workout at home with no need for safety catchers.

How much have you gained since you started bulking?

883xlsportster

Around 12 pounds now. Thats from Dec. I asked about T levels as I had mine checked before I started lifting.
A - See what kind of hormonal wall I was going to be up against.
B - See if there is any truth in a natural rise in T levels at middle age due to weight training.
Going to get them checked again in the next week or two.
I'm thinking a trap bar might be my next buy for the old home gym.

pbryd

So you're gaining faster than me, how many calories are you eating daily?

Here are my figures.

883xlsportster

A little faster but not all lean. I'm OK with some fat and not sure what my future strategy is yet at this point. For the first 2 months I set the MFP goal at 1 pound a week gain which was around 2900 cals a day if I remember correctly. I then scaled it back to .5 a week and tweaked the activity & exercise setting halfway through Feb giving me 2300 cals /day. I seem to going over that more often then not.

pbryd

Looks good. I read the best way to do it is, to bulk until you hate yourself, then cut until you see abs.

I'll probably keep going until my waist hits 32". *If* my progress is linear over the months, that will see my bulk to November and reach 145lb with a 32" waist.

883xlsportster

pbryd wrote: »

Looks good. I read the best way to do it is, to bulk until you hate yourself, then cut until you see abs.

I'll probably keep going until my waist hits 32". *If* my progress is linear over the months, that will see my bulk to November and reach 145lb with a 32" waist.

Well my belly is starting to extend. Not liking it at all. Never had a boiler before. My better half says it's nothing but it look's and feels like a basketball to me.
BTW I picked up a trap bar. Bloody thing is huge. Taking up a lot of real estate in the home gym. Now to trap DL on leg day or back day........

pbryd

I was surprised at how big it was too. I've flipped mine to the lower handles and use it squatting style, bending at the knees and sitting into a squat, rather than bending at the hips first, deadlift style. So it's a leg day for me.

My belly starts getting me down when I hit around 33", I notice it getting in the way when I try and bend over to tie my shoes or pick something up. How the really big fatties manage, I'll never know. lol

pbryd

Lean bulk figures for March

weight gain 1.5lb - now 133.4lb
waist up 0.1 - now 30.4"
overall weight gain on bulk 10lb

Now I'm doing a little experiment, a 10 day mcro cut. I've knocked 400 calories my normal lean bulk figure of 2600. 10 days is nothing of course but I wanted to see if it would have any effect on my waist, plus a break from stuffing my face will be nice.

This micro cut also coincides with a deload and a change to my training program. I'm moving from a PPL to a full body 3x per week.

Full body workouts are supposedly better for hypertrophy due to the higher frequency you train each body part. I will have to be careful and dial back the intensity.

chrismwpcs

Good work. The controlled gain looks good. WTG. When you need more calories your weight will stall, I am experiencing a stall at the moment. Slow increases are a good way to minimise fat increases. I am 50 and now know my TDEE currently sits at 3300 calories, pushing a few hundred calories up and hope things start to increase again. My current weight is 80kg and I'm on the way to 85 or maybe 90 and have been bulking since October when I was at 68kg. Good luck, you are doing well.

pbryd

Thanks Chris, 3300 is a hell of a lot, how tall are you?

chrismwpcs

I am 180cm or 5 foot 11 in the imperial scale. 3300 is a lot to digest pardon the pun but I have to bump it up even more so more eating required lol.

FireMike05

Absolutely great to see someone with patience!!! Keep this going 1.5-2 lbs will yield amazing gains for us being all natural and wanting to maintain a lower bodyfat! Gaining any body fat is tough mentally but keep in mind tracking macros makes it incredibly simple to get the fat off keep progressing with the lean muscle gains until you hit the 32 inch waist. Remember you are in a lean mass gaining phase now so in the gym you are using the weights to judge your muscle gains so constantly try to achieve new PR's while in a surplus! As for the fat you accumulate, it will come off easily once you choose to make the transition but remember it's just as important to do a steady cut so you aren't losing any of that muscle you built up! Take a full 5-7 days to find your new maintenance and then aim for about 2-4 lbs a month of weight loss and you will see your physique change and reveal the new muscle

So far great lean bulk I'm all about patience so good to see that there are others!

pbryd

Thanks for your words of encouragement FireMike03. Progress is painfully slow and I'm tempted to increase my calories, but for now with the summer coming, I'll stick to 1.5lb - 2lb gain per month and consider a larger calorie surplus in the Autumn and Winter.

pbryd

April Update

At the end of March I tried a 10 day minicut, losing 1.2lb, I planned this during a deload in my training.

April saw me re-gain 1.6lb an increase of 0.3lb and no increase on my waist from March's figures.

With the cut results looking good, I will now increase my calories and go for a larger monthly gain, in the knowledge that I can cut pretty easily in the future.

Here are my figures.

Budjola

gj man. mirin your dedication. something similar awaits me in couple of months

DaddieCat

Man, this makes me jealous. This is great progress. I need to increase my intake, I was gaining at 2800, but now I'm just maintaining.