sjohnson__1 Member

Week 4 is over and done. Seeing great progress with lifts, especially my squat, and getting used to the volume with DUP. RPE still hasn't reached 9 with anything aside from squats on 5x5 days. Here's the recap:

Ha, nope! But went to a Catholic high school.

OP - As Janet pointed out, your protein minimum might be much lower according to the Food and Nutrition Board, but this recommended minimum does not account for someone attempting to add lean muscle. If you are attempting to add lean muscle, I would recommend starting @ or around .8 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight.…

Agree with both of the above posts. 1g per pound is an easy number and is higher than the minimum needed for efficient muscle building/maintenance. Therefore, it is often referred to as a rule of thumb for it's simplicity. Juggernaut laid it out nicely for you (> or = 100g protein, > or = 50g of fat). Once you hit your…

you all sound like me, daily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oZ_0_bQcOg

Cardio is okay, and heart healthy as long as you maintain a surplus. Eat more, and yes, lift if you want.

Memo: "May the gainz be with you..." Me: "And also with you..." I'll update while I'm here, as well: Week 1: 174.5 Week 2: 174.2 (got sick) Week 3: 175.0 Week 4: (in progress 1st weigh-in was high, @ 179.2. Likely due to a couple days of loose tracking and a few beers on both Friday & Saturday) Week 4 calories are 2890 on…

Yeah, I would probably attempt to eat back any cardio calories burned if you're having trouble gaining. Or, if you do some sort of low intensity cardio activity every day, just add a few hundred cals to your tdee.

Been running DUP (love it!).. Still working on kcals, but have been slowly gaining so I think I'm at or around where I need to be finally.* Kcals have increased slightly. Avg: 2,785kcal/day. * Training days: 2870 (395c, 165p, 70f) x4days * Rest days: 2675 (200c, 165p, 135f) x3days Here's my programming (s/o to @jmule24):…

abs come and go depending on your bf%. As NDJ pointed out, adding weight will involve some fat gains, and after too much, you lose the abs. That doesn't mean quit doing the ab workouts... But the key here is understanding that all the ab work in the world won't result in an aesthetic look if you're in a big enough surplus.…

10-15% surplus would be plenty especially if not lifting.

I think the OP stated she's at maintenance now at around 2750 ("somewhere between 2500-3000"). When going from maintenance to a bulk, there's no need for a reverse diet. However, I fully support a slow and methodical reverse out of a cut. It takes time for the body to adjust, and the metabolism to catch up and reset.

I wasn't advising her to cut, at all. However, I did read over the line in the OP's post when she states she is going for a dirty bulk - so my apologies there. Still can't hurt to prepare mentally for the fat gains... it's often an issue for a lot of people, especially if it's your first bulk.

It's not uncommon for your metabolism to speed up a little to compensate for the excess food you're eating. Also, if you ramped your calories up quickly, and you were previously eating very few or in a deficit your metabolism could have had a delayed response, thus the reason behind the early weight gain that slowly…

Been running DUP and working on bringing kcals up for a slow but steady bulk (aiming for ~.5-.75 lb gain/week). Week 1: 174.5 Week 2: (got sick end of wk 1) 174.2 Week 3: ...we'll find out after I run averages. So far avg kcals are around 2700-2800. I'm beginning to think I'll need at least 2800-2850 to see slow and steady…

Prepare mentally for the fluff. You'll appreciate your lean self a bit more when you cut, but don't be afraid of the fluff. It has plenty of advantages!

All excellent advice. More volume should work, but if you're trying to increase strength, you may just want to increase frequency. Instead of 3 times a week (5x5), try 4. This might even have you adding a workout in to your weekend, and thus hopefully help boost your appetite. I would also try incorporating different rep…

Yes. Walking at an incline (even as low as 10%) is far more beneficial. I don't know if the MFP estimators are all that accurate but the incline makes all the difference. When I do SSC, I always use an incline.

Saturday I had a UDF clerk ask me how long I'd been lifting, and if I had any advice for him as he was wanting to get into weightlifting. Gave him my email and said, "if I don't hear from you just stay consistent."

It's been scientifically proven that reading articles (read: "advertisements") funded by specific food products or organizations that will benefit from said reading often leads the misinformed to believe what they read and even consider it "scientific evidence" (without ever reading the actual study) and ultimately change…

I just recently finished phase 1 of Poliquins GVT. I did two (antagonistic) excercises a day at 10x10 plus 3 accessory movements. It was a 5 day split, with rest day 2 and day 5. I had good results although I did not do before and after measurements (really should have). Throughout the 5 weeks I saw improvements on both…

Update: 174.4 lbs (after Thanksgiving + a binge eating weekend). Kcals now @ 2650, likely to increase slowly -- shooting for around (+.5) lbs/week for the next 4 months. NEW PROGRAMMING: Finished 6 weeks of GVT and decided to go with Daily Undulated Periodization (DUP) for the next 6 months. Looking forward to this…

That's what people don't understand about working out and eating at a deficit. For one, you're probably increasing the size of your muscle cells, resulting in some lean muscle mass gains. Secondly, as @Mark_76 stated, this means the scale might not tell the whole story. Use measurements to help with progress tracking. And…

Bingo. Why not try TDEE instead of eating calories back?

Change in routine certainly has occurred. I'm going through another change now though so I'll have to continue to adjust. I don't mind adding weight, I'll just have to monitor to ensure I do so in small increments. NEAT expenditure has stayed pretty consistent.

Cosign. HIIT is good stuff. Or even just heavy farmer carries for 5-6 sets of 100m. Great for fat loss and, shoulder building, and grip strength.

Kyle definitely knows his stuff. He's a friend, I have a good understanding I'm just curious as to why I may be adding weight at such few calories (for me). I'm under the impression my metabolism is likely to have slowed down, though. So, the best I can do is keep tracking, reassess, and go from there! Thanks!

Add olive oil to your meats. Account for it. It'll add up! - But yes, a shake did it for me during the beginning of my first bulk when I was learning how to eat more.

Going through that now. I've put on 11 pounds since Oct 1st, when I started to reverse out of a 26 pound cut. I was eating around 2200 kcals at the END of the cut, (started at around 2400, with zero cardio aside from farmers carries) and now I'm only up to ~2700kcals which is what I figured to be a bit below maintenance…