sjohnson__1 Member

Great post here - very well articulated.

If by eating clean you mean at a caloric deficit to scrape away fat, then yes. But, eating whole foods isn't a prerequisite to getting abs. I did it eating poptarts and ice cream almost daily. The key was training, good nutrition, and a caloric deficit... but this is the gaining thread.. so I'm gonna go eat some more.

Definition is the scraping of layers of fat. Now, you can certainly work on your abdominal strength and build a more dense layer of muscle during your surplus, but in order to define the abs, you would have to cut fat. With a goal weight of 5-10 more lbs, and desire to add muscle I would suggest you continue your slight…

I'm okay with that.

One more update from Week 6... DUP programming was as follows:

Week 6 is finished. Weight average is up another .8lbs. Feeling great! Week 1: 174.5 Week 2: 174.2 (sick) Week 3: 175 Week 4: 177.7 Week 5: 179.2 Week 6: 180.0

Amen. In the end... calories are king. Now, OP.. start eating.

Before MFP I was a typical gym goer who went to the gym and thought that's all I needed to start looking like someone you would see on a fitness magazine. HA! Wrong! I bought in to the concept of eating HUGE meals post workout with the impression that the more protein and carbs I consumed here, the more growth I would get.…

3700 and still in a deficit? WHOA! I'm jealous.

Absolutely benefits to both. If properly trained how, I would suggest using compound movements with free weights, learning other isolation movements with free weights, and also incorporating some machine isolation movements like the quad extension, hamstring curl, and preacher curl machines. If you run into issues where a…

DUP = Daily Undulating Periodization** Daily - Same core exercises each day depending on what you choose, but most use some variation of the squat, bench and deadlift. Undulating - A change in intensity and volume each session. Periodization - Progressive program with periods of light, medium, and heavy work. As @memo1974…

Figure out how many calories it takes you to maintain your current weight, and add 250-500 calories.

I skip breakfast until I'm thinking, okay, I'm starting to feel like I could eat lunch. Then I eat oats... About 2 hours later I eat lunch. I either go to chipotle or brown bag something high protein high fat 55-60% of my protein and 50-75%% of my fats for the day. This leaves my postworkout meal and dinner for simple…

Anytime.. Start here for bulking: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10226536/bulking-for-beginners Also, there are plenty of experienced people on MFP, so if you have a question, pick a forum and post it! You'll be surprised with how much you can learn from everyone. Best of luck.

If you're bulking, try going to 25% or higher with fats. This will make it easy for you to cut some calories quickly by decreasing your fats all while staying above your suggested minimums (when you do decide to cut). Also, protein is essential for building and maintaining muscle, you're right, but only to a certain extent…

@dvis334 -- Increase your fats brother. It's almost always suggested to consume fats at a minimum of 20-25% of your caloric intake. 35% protein seems a bit high, too. If you're at 3500-4000 calories/day, you don't need even close to 300g of protein. That's insane. How much do you weigh? What's your LBM? Try setting protein…

Very motivating stuff.. and I agree @LolBroScience needs to get on the platform. I'm certainly interested myself. Great thread, Joe.

Week 5 is in the books. Went great. Bulking seems to have been timed up perfectly with all the holiday food around. I'm planning on doing a 4 week maintenance phase once I reach week 9 of my current program which will be right around a 12 week bulk. Weight trend: Week 1: 174.5 Week 2: 174.2 (sick) Week 3: 175 Week 4: 177.7…

In for the comments.

You should absolutely eat the remaining calories each day. If you're getting most of your calories from whole foods, then getting a few hundred from simple carbs and sugars isn't going to hurt you. Try eating calorie dense foods or foods you can eat a good amount of without feeling too full to reach your goal.

Mic drop...

This is absolutely perrrrfect. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of "clean eaters" who would argue some science backs their stance, and some of it does, but if internally you actually feel self-righteous because of what you consume, you've got some issues. Eat well. Sure, eat whole foods, fruits, veggies, and lean meats…

It is not completely flushed out in the form of waste. If you're consuming more simple carbohydrates (sugar) and sodium, which I'm sure you are, then you're going to hold on to more water. Too much sugar raises insulin levels, which in turn lessens the body’s ability to expel sodium. This is common early in the gaining…

Yeah, have you done any sort of powerlifting training before doing variations of the big 3 lifts at least 3x's a week? I know I hadn't, but I honestly think that training for volume (GVT) before starting DUP has helped me. I also started fairly light. Are you training every other day? How are your sleep habits? I'm…

Dr. Zourdos is the "founder" of the program. Thanks for this, Memo. I've been through it a number of times but this is excellent to share for anyone who reads. Wish I could change the title of the thread now!

Joe should get the credit... But I appreciate it, it does make things a lot cleaner to look at. No better than pen and paper though, until I start tracking with graphs... but that's not gonna happen for another 12 weeks or so.

As it does mine. I love this format though. Will likely use this for all of 2016 - maybe change some of the lifts or add OHP to the mix in the future but I'm loving DUP.

Yeah, for the second cycle, starting this week, I switched power days to six singles instead of triples. The intensity increased a bit but volume is lower. Some people remove the hypertrophy day or lower the reps... but I haven't ran into any CNS problems yet. Here's what that looks like:

A few weeks won't hurt, but I wouldn't recommend going much longer than "a few". That being said, you could always just eat at maintenance in the meantime and run some sort of bodyweight program...

Several, but the number one goal motivating me right now is my strength goal. My big 3 max lifts haven't been great, so I'm working towards some bigger lifts. Specifically, I'd like a 245lb bench press (20lb increase), a 315 lb squat, and a 345lb deadlift.