Muscle potential and bulking calories

McCloud33
McCloud33 Posts: 959 Member
edited November 15 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
So I've read it several places that muscle gains dwindle over time as you get closer to your muscle potential. So theoretically, if eating right and given enough stimulus, a guy might be able to add 20lbs of muscle in their first year of training, 10 the next, 5 the next...something like that.

So here's my question. How does this work when figuring out your bulking calories if you're trying to do a "clean" bulk adding as little fat as possible. I think I probably still in the newbie category and should be able to gain a fair amount of muscle my first year, but as the years go on and I'm only able to gain 3 lbs of muscle in a year of training, the math works out that if you're doing 50/50 muscle to fat while bulking, you would only eat about 60 cals over maintenance. If you ate more than that, wouldn't those excess cals go straight to fat? I'm planning on doing a 250-300 calorie surplus starting my first real bulk in June.

Any tips?

Replies

  • josueg123
    josueg123 Posts: 18 Member
    Here's the thing, there's no such thing as a "clean" bulk that adds very little fat. As long as you're in a calorie surplus your body is going to put on muscle (granted you follow a strict workout regimen) and it's going to put on fat. Whether you hit your surplus eating salads or cheeseburgers, the fat gain is always a guarantee, and it will always be constant. This isn't taking into account the adverse affects that unhealthy foods will have on your body by the way, I'm speaking purely from a fat gain perspective.

    My advice is to keep bulking until you reach your goal, you're going to get fat on you but try not to worry about and don't get discouraged. Once you feel satisfied with your bulk, begin cutting by lowering your calories, increasing your cardio but maintaining your lifts constant. Once you're body fat is down towers your comfortable, maintain your weight by equaling out the calories in to calories out. Keep doing this until you're ready to bulk up again.

    One last thing, bulking in June is rarely a good idea. You'll be going out a lot more and spending more time out so it'll be tougher to get your macros in. Not only that but summer time is usually short sleeve, tighter fitting shirts, beach time. Keep in mind that your body may look a bit flabby during this time. If you don't care than go right ahead but most people tend to bulk from fall to summer unless they do a year around bulk.
  • AKDonF
    AKDonF Posts: 235 Member
    Because you haven't done your first real bulk yet, I wouldn't worry too much about this yet. You can safely gain in the realm of about a pound a week of which hopefully half will be muscle.

    When you are more experienced and a few more years down the road, you will understand your body and easily figure this out. For now just enjoy the process. Newbie gains are great.
  • McCloud33
    McCloud33 Posts: 959 Member
    @josueg123 I wasn't meaning a "clean" bulk in the sense of the type of food, but rather a moderate surplus of 250-300 calories rather than 1000+ calories. I understand that fat is going to come with the muscle and everything I've read said along the lines of 50/50 muscle/fat at least for beginners.

    @AKDonF‌ I know I'm years away from having to worry about this, I was just curious is all. Does the 50/50 muscle/fat, go to more like 10/90 once you've been doing it for a few years?

    I'm 5'-8" and hoping do be down to #165+/- @~12% BF by June, then bulk up to around 185 by New Year. Somewhere between 2.5-3lbs per month.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    AKDonF wrote: »
    Because you haven't done your first real bulk yet, I wouldn't worry too much about this yet. You can safely gain in the realm of about a pound a week of which hopefully half will be muscle.

    When you are more experienced and a few more years down the road, you will understand your body and easily figure this out. For now just enjoy the process. Newbie gains are great.

    This. Why worry about it?

    I didn't notice any difference between results from my first and second so this concern is a ways down the road for you yet. In a couple of years the scientific theories could all have changed anyway.

    Just get it done and when you notice diminishing returns, address it.

  • AKDonF
    AKDonF Posts: 235 Member
    edited March 2015
    [quote="McCloud33;31826217@AKDonF‌ I know I'm years away from having to worry about this, I was just curious is all. Does the 50/50 muscle/fat, go to more like 10/90 once you've been doing it for a few years?

    I'm 5'-8" and hoping do be down to #165+/- @~12% BF by June, then bulk up to around 185 by New Year. Somewhere between 2.5-3lbs per month.[/quote]

    I do not believe that partitioning changes to any large degree because it is genetic (mostly), at least not in my own personal experience. Of course this is contingent upon calorie surplus because partitioning only happens primarily up to a certain threshold. When fed too many calories, no muscle gain is realized. In advanced trainees, this just means potential muscle gains are very limited. Finding the right balance is the key for everyone seeking to maximize results.

    Incidentally, I think 2.5 lbs. a month is close, but may be a bit aggressive. If your genetics are right you might pull it off, but probably not much more than that IMO.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    josueg123 wrote: »
    Here's the thing, there's no such thing as a "clean" bulk that adds very little fat. As long as you're in a calorie surplus your body is going to put on muscle (granted you follow a strict workout regimen) and it's going to put on fat. Whether you hit your surplus eating salads or cheeseburgers, the fat gain is always a guarantee, and it will always be constant. This isn't taking into account the adverse affects that unhealthy foods will have on your body by the way, I'm speaking purely from a fat gain perspective.

    A clean bulk has nothing to do with the type of foods you eat. A clean bulk refers to the amount of surplus.

  • Unknown
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  • McCloud33
    McCloud33 Posts: 959 Member
    AKDonF wrote: »
    [quote="McCloud33;31826217@AKDonF‌ I know I'm years away from having to worry about this, I was just curious is all. Does the 50/50 muscle/fat, go to more like 10/90 once you've been doing it for a few years?

    I'm 5'-8" and hoping do be down to #165+/- @~12% BF by June, then bulk up to around 185 by New Year. Somewhere between 2.5-3lbs per month.


    I do not believe that partitioning changes to any large degree because it is genetic (mostly), at least not in my own personal experience. Of course this is contingent upon calorie surplus because partitioning only happens primarily up to a certain threshold. When fed too many calories, no muscle gain is realized. In advanced trainees, this just means potential muscle gains are very limited. Finding the right balance is the key for everyone seeking to maximize results.

    Incidentally, I think 2.5 lbs. a month is close, but may be a bit aggressive. If your genetics are right you might pull it off, but probably not much more than that IMO. [/quote]

    When I say 2.5 lbs/month I'm talking about total weight gain, not muscle gain. I'm only expecting half of that in muscle gain so about 1.25 lbs/mo or 15 lbs/yr. I think that's reasonable considering I've never lifted weights before a year ago and still haven't really lifted on a surplus since I started.
  • AKDonF
    AKDonF Posts: 235 Member
    OK, well I think that may be a little low in estimation, but hard to say. I would say you could pull off 1.5-2 lbs/mo on newbie gains for like 6 months. You can probably get close to 20 lbs. the first year if you do everything right. Enjoy it because it will fade quickly after that.
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