First Time Bulking

atilioguerrero93

I have a lot of question for this topic, I have been training for 2 years my main goal since the beginning was to loose weight and I did, by stupidly being in a caloric deficit for about 1 year... YES I lost the weight but I never felt that I looked the way I wanted... because I was never able to build muscle; so now... after 2 years of training I have decided I want to get the muscle mass that I should have since the beginning.
I would love for people on this community to give me tips...

I am 29 yo
203 lbs
excercise 6 days a week and base on my macros I should start eating 3,929 kcal... which sounds like a lot, PLEASE HELP

Retroguy2000

How tall are you? What is your current estimated body fat %? Use the Navy method rather than a scale.

MuffinTopMan74

Okay, you may be overtraining. Overtraining is really bad for hypertrophy. At 29, and you are already used to the gym, that is a good problem. Your protein intake should be a minimum of 1.5g to 2.3 maximum per kilogram of body weight. Also, try to keep your fat intake at 25g per 1000 calorie intake. The rest of calories should come from complex carbs (rice, sweet potato, white potato, etc.) Protein = 4 calories, carbs = 4 calories, and fat = 9 calories; protein to maintain and build, carbs for fuel, fats are limited but still good at low amounts, and anything over goes straight to fat cells. I would reduce it to a 4-day. Monday upper body, Tuesday Lower, Wednesday REST, Thursday Upper, Friday lower, Sat-Sun are rest days. The reasoning is that the muscles need 48 to 72 hours to repair and build new fiber and time for fiber to be ready for another workout.
Additionally, it would be best to eat 3-4 times a day so your muscles constantly have enough protein and other essentials to rebuild, maintain, and build new muscle. Your body can only absorb about 10g of protein per hour, so eating one big meal is a waste. Last, lower your sets and increase weight. Your reps should be 6 -12. You will know the correct weight when the last 3-4 reps are demanding, and you can not maintain proper form. You get that burn, but you don't injure yourself. So, 4-5 sets, heavier weight, first 3 sets are warms up, with the last set becoming more difficult and last set with the last reps very difficult to perform at the end of your rep range. I do my biceps and bench these ways and I am growing muscle very well. DIET, EXERCISE, REST!!! Check your TDEE, mine is 2585 calories, and that is how I base my diet. I do not bulk, no need, as my BMR is 1884 and I am eating up to 2585 calories a day. I started in June at 228 lbs, 5ft-11in, 34.3% body fat, and as of this morning 209.2 lbs, 26.25% body fat by Army tape methods. Slow but steady and my diet is not some bland crap.

tomcustombuilder

Yes that is way too many calories. Go off of what you’ve been taking in. If your weight has been steady for the last month or so that is your maintenance amount. To add muscle take in about 2-300 calories above maintenance and train with a good beginners program like Fierce Five or another program that uses mostly compound lifts.


Everyone should be doing resistance exercises when in a deficit to avoid losing what muscle they DO have.

GaryRuns

If you're new to lifting, or were when you started anyway, and weren't sub-10% body fat, you absolutely should have been able to gain muscle, calorie deficit or not. I'd make sure you're using a well designed, progressive, lifting program. Here's a good thread with lots of different programs https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1. And you need to make sure you're executing the program you choose at the appropriate level, at least RPE 7.

I_AM_ISRAEL

Make sure you don’t bulk unless you’re in the 13%-15% bf range. Leaner is better, but not below 10%

loveywurster

I always thought you had to eat an appropriate amount of protein to build muscle. protein is important.

nossmf

Key word there is "appropriate." At BW 192, a lot of old-school bodybuilding wisdom would say I should be eating 192g of protein each day. But more recent research supports numbers more in line with what @MuffinTopMan74 said above, 1.5-2.3g/kg BW (or .7-1g/lb), which for me means anywhere between 130-192 is good enough, which is right in line with my good results at 150+.