Bulking Up - Eating(calories, carbs), Workouts, Nutrition?

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tylerrayolson
tylerrayolson Posts: 3
in Food and Nutrition
I am trying to Bulk up, at the same time take off just a little weight (tone). I am wondering if anybody knows whether to eat TONS of calories or not. What kind of calories should be taken in. What kind of lifting is best for bulking up. Foods to stay away from, etc. Any information is appreciated. Thanks!

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  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
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    I'm curious about this myself.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    High protein 25-35% of total calories would be sufficient for losing fat, or gaining muscle. FYI it is very difficult to burn fat and build muscle at the same time. It would be easier to do one and set a goal, then switch to the other. In other words, cut fist, bulk later, or bulk now, cut later.

    Either way you should set your goal to lose 0.5 lbs or gain 0.5lbs/week, On the gain side 0.5 would ensure minimal fat gain while losing at 0.5/week would ensure minimal muscle loss. Hope this helps.

    I am in a maintenance phase now, but will start cutting soon, and I plan on doing a long bulk phase from October to February, prior to another cut phase.
  • DebiP10
    DebiP10 Posts: 275 Member
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    i know when my husband was bulking up he had to increase calories to 3000 a day but this was all proteins, chicken, fish, egg whites, shakes etc and he was having to eat 6 times a day
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    high weight, low rep. You don't have to eat an extra day in excess, if you go way way over you're just going to pack on fat. I add 200, and it works for me. So you can start and see how it goes and adjust accordingly. I would suggest taking a BF% to see where you stand and get a baseline. Odds are good you're going to need to bulk, then cut to drop fat, but you could do extreme diets and do them simultaneously, but your strength gains may be slower. 30-40% protein, carb ratio is up to you. I prefer 40. Foods to stay away from? Processed, fast food-anything that's crappy for your body :) There's not certain foods that make you bulk faster. You could do supps if you wanted, It's a personal preference.
  • knewbill72
    knewbill72 Posts: 133 Member
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    http://www.leangains.com
  • ziggy55311
    ziggy55311 Posts: 20
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    To bulk up you have to eat more than you burn. If you are using myfitnesspal you can select gaining weight as one of your goals. You do need to eat way more protein than it recommends. You are going to need 1-1.5g protein per pound of body weight. Muscles are made of protein. There are a number of workouts that you can do but I find that the best one for beginners is a simple squat, bench, deadlift, pullup 3 sets of 5 three days a week. There are a number of ways to bulk up and a lot of it depends on your body type, how long you have been training, etc. For a lot of information on bulking I suggest the website
    www.t-nation.com and entering "bulking tips for nebies" in the search bar there.
  • Vipecap
    Vipecap Posts: 166 Member
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    You don't really bulk up and tone up at the same time, sorry. When you truly try to bulk up you are eating at a caloric surplus which means you will be going up on the scale. You will also gain some fat, just part of the process. Some fat, not you will develop a beer gut or anything crazy like that.

    Food wise high protein is what you are aiming for. You want to have a decent macronutrient split and watch your fat intake. Again with eating a lot more calories, your fat will be higher even if you follow the same split at a lower calorie amount. Try your best to stick to healthy foods. A lot of people will use bulking as an excuse to just eat whatever crap food they can.

    Workout wise, make sure you are lifting and hitting each muscle group at least once a week. Make sure you are getting plenty of sleep as well.

    These are very general things, but most bodybuilders as an example expirement with things until they find what works for them. A lot of if has to do with figuring out your own body and how it responds to certain things.
  • tylerrayolson
    tylerrayolson Posts: 3
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    Thanks a lot everbody! This is awesome stuff, glad I posted. One other question I have about workouts, I know it was mentioned to hit every muscle group once a week. During a single workout, I have heard it is bad to work, for example, biceps and triceps in the same day, because they are not in the same "group". Is there truth to this? In addition, is it alright to work certain muscles multiple times a week?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Thanks a lot everbody! This is awesome stuff, glad I posted. One other question I have about workouts, I know it was mentioned to hit every muscle group once a week. During a single workout, I have heard it is bad to work, for example, biceps and triceps in the same day, because they are not in the same "group". Is there truth to this? In addition, is it alright to work certain muscles multiple times a week?

    It is fine to work opposing muscle groups. For instance it is okay to do Bis and tris on the same day, chest and back another day, shoulders and legs a third. Or you can work complementary muscle groups that work together. So Chest, shoulders and triceps one day, Back and biceps another day and a third day legs. You can even switch it up do opposing muscle groups for 4-6 weeks then switch it up to complementary muscle groups for another 4-6 weeks and so on.
  • deathtaco
    deathtaco Posts: 237
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    When bulking, follow the following (general) guidelines:

    Protein: 1-1.2g/lb Bodyweight
    Fat: .3-.4g/lb Bodweight
    Carbs: 2-3g/lb Bodyweight

    EX: 175lbs Male
    Protein: 175-210g
    Fat: 52-70 (go with AVG of these two)
    Carbs: 350-525 (AVG of two again is good).
    Calories: 3040

    Realistically, 3000 for 2 weeks. If I like the gains, keep it. If I want more and aren't seeing too much fat gain, push 3500. Repeat process until you start seeing fat gain, then cut that #, back to the previous 500.


    Just because you're bulking doesn't mean you can eat crappy food. You'll just get fat then get mad and your cut will be harder.

    Protein: lean protein sources.
    Fat: Oils, Animal Fats, etc. Stay away from nuts as they are useless calories on a bulk.
    Carbs: Complex such as oatmeal, brown rice, kashi are your friends. Popcorn is awesome too. I enjoy Edy's slow churned Ice cream post workout or a Pint of Ben and Jerry's Froyo because it's lowfat but high carbs with moderate protein. Heck, throw that into a blender and some protein powder and have a PWO milkshake.

    But generally you want to lift heavy with medium volume and medium-high frequency depending on your recovery abilities.
    You can get away with working a muscle group every 5 days if you have good recovery without too much volume.

    If you aren't squatting, deadlifting, overhead pressing you aren't bulking. FYI.

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