Macros for a bulk - please help!

va_01

186 lbs, 6'2, 15% bf

Currently taking in 3,500 calories / day on a slow bulk, but I am not seeing enough strength gain or any weight gain. Thinking next week or the week after (depending if I still see no results) to bump up my caloric intake to 3,700. How does this look for my macros?

3,700 calories
190g P
123g F
463g C


How would you alter this? Or does this look decent?

jason_adams

How long have you been on this intake? What was your intake before?
What kind of strength / weight gains are you looking for and what are you achieving? "Not enough" is a little ambiguous.

Your target weight would help too - and I believe you should aim for 1G protein per lb of your TARGET weight.

va_01

Current intake:

3,500 calories

219g P
117g F
394g C

I have been doing this for probably 8 months. My ultimate goal weight is 190, cut down to 10-11% bf. I am currently 185 at 15%. But, to get to this ultimate goal, I suppose I need to reach ~200 lbs, putting on as little BF as possible (hence slow - so I'd only want to gain .5 lb week tops).

I am pretty weak, and I want to gain muscle mass. (don't we all?). I want to take this bulk slow, I was hoping I could re comp, but I don't think it'd be possible for me.

Does that give a better idea?

parisallez

I'm on a similar diet for 3,500 calories lean bulk. I do 300 g protein, 400g carbs, the rest fat. if you don't gain then add 200 calories and try that for a week.
I ended a diet a few months ago at 1700 calories a day, 11% bfat. I'm up now 15 lbs now and strength keeps climbing

jason_adams

Yep! Quick history on me: I'm also 6'2" and struggled to put on weight. Eating lots of protein helped, but it turns out I was over-training most of the time. When I was in my early 20's I followed the ABCDE plan and went from 192 -> 200 in 4 months, and got a leaner on the way too. Ultimately I peaked @ 215 and ~11% bf.

Some common thinking is that there is training for strength, mass and leaning and that you can't do all 3 at the same time. I'd say that's not quite true, but the more you try to do at once, the more time it takes. You're bulking right now, so I'm going to guess you're not as concerned with being lean at the moment.

I'd suggest trying something like the following:

Phase A) 2 weeks heavy lifting (boost strength) - mostly big compound exercises doing doubles, and triples, 5's or 6's. Nothing higher unless it's a warmup set. (and DO warm up - these sets will put a LOT of strain on you!) PS - NO CARIDO during this phase other than a 5-10 minute light warmup

Phase 2 weeks medium lifting (boost size) - pick exercises similar to the above, but reps are in the 6-10 range. Aside - my arms actually responded best to sets of 15 for bulking - but all other parts responded best to 6-10.
You may want to try some cardio during this phase depending on what you like and how you feel.

Cycle between those 2 or 3 times. (takes 2- 3 months) - and then see where you're at with your strength and size

When you want to start getting lean you can bring in a 2 week phase where you're eating just under your base calories and doing only cardio and circuit training (no sets under 15 reps).


I'm happy to chat about some other workout options, or can provide more details behind this kind of plan. Let me know!

NRBreit

186 lbs, 6'2, 15% bf

Currently taking in 3,500 calories / day on a slow bulk, but I am not seeing enough strength gain or any weight gain. Thinking next week or the week after (depending if I still see no results) to bump up my caloric intake to 3,700. How does this look for my macros?

3,700 calories
190g P
123g F
463g C


How would you alter this? Or does this look decent?

Those macros look good to me. I stalled at 186 lbs. eating 3,200-3,300 cals/day on my last bulk (doing zero cardio).

cajuntank

Yep, macros look fairly inline. After 2 weeks if you still see no weight gain, then up carbs by another 100 or 200 like you were thinking. Get on a proven weight training program fitting to your goals which sounds like more strength based than bodybuilding, so pick one and stay on it. Do not program hop...running two weeks of one and two weeks of another will get you nowhere. Any good strength program will focus on strength but still offer enough volume for size gains as long as you are eating enough.

steve0820

186 lbs, 6'2, 15% bf

Currently taking in 3,500 calories / day on a slow bulk, but I am not seeing enough strength gain or any weight gain. Thinking next week or the week after (depending if I still see no results) to bump up my caloric intake to 3,700. How does this look for my macros?

3,700 calories
190g P
123g F
463g C


How would you alter this? Or does this look decent?

I agree with other posters, numbers look good. I would slowly increase a week at a time and see from there. When I started my bulk, I upped it 3 times. First few times, I was losing weight at what MFP was giving me for a bulk.

liamormsby

Add me on mfp, username: LiamOrmsby

I'm trying to bulk up and target calories is 3000 with burning over 1000 with exercise.

Cw: 11 stone 4 lbs
GW: 12 stone +

Snow3y

Decrease your fat intake, it's much too high and un-needed. I would recommend 100g or less, and increase carbs

ETA: What is your current age OP?

NRBreit

Decrease your fat intake, it's much too high and un-needed. I would recommend 100g or less, and increase carbs

Why? He doesn't need any more protein or carbs. It's a personal choice of where to put any additional calories. If he gets better gym performance eating 500+g of carbs, then sure. But otherwise what difference does it make?

monsterbeck40

Your calorie intake looks pretty good. Try taking in about 2g of protein per lean muscle mass. Also how clean is your bulk what foods are you consuming? You cannot out train a bad diet. And I'm sure you already know this but just to remind you, the only way to gain strength and mass is to lift heavy. However, squats are the main driving force behind growth. Your lower half of your body accounts for the majority of your muscle mass so when you do leg day/squat day it activates more muscle fibers than all of your other upper body lifts combine. The more muscle fiber you use the more testosterone your body produces,which in turn promotes muscle growth. Now with that being said you can't get under the squat bar or under the leg press and lift 225 for 3000 reps, that puts your body into conditioning mode. We are looking for your body to say holy **** we have to build more muscle to keep up with the amount of weight we are lifting. So what you should do is 3 - 4 sets at a range from 1-8 reps keeping the weight as heavy as you can go and still achieve your reps. Now for your cardio. There is no reason what so ever if you are trying to gain strength and put on size to go and RUN or JOG 3 miles ( not saying that you do). What you should do is set your tredmil at an 8 incline and 3.5mph pace. This will keep your heart rate around 130-150. We want to try and keep it between those numbers to where you are just burning fat. Once your bodies heart rate gets too high you go into conditioning/survival mode, yes you will burn calories but it will also tell your body to burn off muscle because its trying to survive and muscle consumes more energy than fat. So try to work out like this for 4 weeks and then we will switch it up. Again this is my recommendation so you choose what you want to do just thought i would give you my take on it.

monsterbeck40

l

monsterbeck40

Add me on mfp, username: LiamOrmsby

I'm trying to bulk up and target calories is 3000 with burning over 1000 with exercise.

Cw: 11 stone 4 lbs
GW: 12 stone +

Diet is the key however, if you are only taking in 3000cals and burning 1000cals during training you need to take in way more. If your body requires lets say 2800cal (macros)just to operate in a normal day situation and you only up it 200cals and then burn 1000 which is actually less than your body needs just to maintain so your not going to gain much if any weight and strength you will more than likely lose weight. You probably need to be somewhere around the 4000cal mark or a little less if your looking to put on size and strength as well as about 2g of protein per pound of lean body mass. What are you doing for your workouts that burn 1000cals?

JoRocka

lso how clean is your bulk what foods are you consuming? You cannot out train a bad diet

incorrect.

in a bulk- getting protein and carbs is great- but you have to ultimately get the calories up to "surplus" stage- you can have a 'clean' diet all day long- but if you aren't getting your surplus- it's a waste.

Macro's are a good guide- and that's it- getting your surplus is significantly more important than hitting a macro spot on for bulking.

Cutting (at least for me- and several other people I know) requires more diligent care for hitting macros in a way that allow you to function and be satisfied- I prefer low carb when cutting- I can eat significantly more and I have no trouble just saying no to bread- other people survive just fine with a moderate macro split while cutting. Totally personal choice.

But there is no such thing is out training a bad diet when bulking- I ate cookies and ice cream all the way through my lifts and put on a solid inch.

NRBreit

Here's some interesting discussion in another thread today around de novo lipogenesis and dietary fat vs. carbs during caloric surplus:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1070261-lean-bulking?page=4

va_01

Thanks for everyone's input.

It's hard to gauge how much weight I'm gaining due to scale inaccuracies. I'm also terrified of "making a mistake" so I have been hesitant to raise my calories to this point. But I have been at this weight for quite a while now.

My goal is to be lean, but I need more mass on my frame at the moment, so I am in "bulk" mode. Like I said, I am at 15%~ bf right now, so I am near the tip of my scale in how much fat I'd like to gain. It's hard to figure out how much to put in before it's too much.

Does anyone have any good gauges they use to measure, other than weighing on the scale once a week and praying you get an accurate measurement?

cajuntank

Honestly OP, it's up to you. If you look in the mirror and say I like what I see, then that's what you need to rely on. The scale is a useful tool, but its ultimately how you view yourself, not what number shows up on a dial. If you think you need to bulk, then bulk till you are no longer happy with what you see...then cut till you are happy again. It's your body, not mine.

va_01

I know everyone says that. I'm not happy with the way I look right now. But I don't know if it's because I have too much fat, or if because I don't have enough muscle (probably both.) At this point it's hard for me to decide what is better to tackle first, and with my training experience, lift #s, etc, what would make more sense right now. It seems to be bulking?

NRBreit

I know everyone says that. I'm not happy with the way I look right now. But I don't know if it's because I have too much fat, or if because I don't have enough muscle (probably both.) At this point it's hard for me to decide what is better to tackle first, and with my training experience, lift #s, etc, what would make more sense right now. It seems to be bulking?

Hard to say without pics, but you're probably at a point where you can do either. Most people are going to tell you that 6'2" 185 is pretty small. You'll look lean in clothes no doubt. I just finished a 5-month bulk up to 185ish/ 16-18% BF and I was miserable (I'm 6'1"). No way would I go through summer that way. But that's me. It depends on how your body accumulates fat.

va_01

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1254171-slow-bulk-or-cut-15-16-bf-need-advice

here's the link I posted the other day to see where I'm at.