Bulking - How do I Determine Caloric Intake for my Workout Intensity?

This week the S&P forum helped me out with developing an effective strength & mass-building routine which I've just started to follow. I'm used to calisthenics & other [reasonably poor] weight exercises (ie: 1x20 military press, etc.) and have never done the below workouts (squats [with weights], deadlifts, bench-press, etc.) Because I'm new to this, I'm not lifting heavy. Example: 120 for bench press 3x5, 150 for deadlifts 1x5, etc.

Because the weight is so low I'm worried that if I try to bulk I may gain more fat than muscle. What I'm wondering is how to approach a new diet - whether I should wait to bulk until I can lift more or start eating big now. I don't want to over-eat/get fat but at the same time I want to bulk up (right now I'm 6'2, 177; no idea BF% but I don't look at all fat). Additionally, I don't know how many calories to consume.

Any advice on what path to take would be much appreciated.

My workout routine:

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*In addition to Karate 3x/week*

You alternate Workout A and Workout B every other day, 3 times a week. So you could either do Mon, Wed, Fri or Tues, Thurs. and Sat. Depending on what works best for you.

Example:

Week 1:

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday -Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:

Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

Etc.

For the actual workouts read below:

Note: This doesn

 

check these two articles out:

http://www.johnberardi.com/updates/july262002/na_masscalculator.htm


http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_1.htm

 

wow that's...so perfect. thank you. read a few other articles there as well; very helpful. many thanks!

one quick question i just want to clarify, though. as i just started and can't lift much yet (3x5 squats @ 120, 3x5 bench @ 120, 1x5 deadlift @ 150), should i still follow the articles verbatim and eat as calculated (for me, 4000 calories/day) without the worry of fat gain?

 

Don't worry about fat gain. If you eat mostly clean, than your gains will be mostly muscle. If you're worried about losing your abs and getting fat, it's pretty much guaranteed that you won't eat enough to grow.

 

cool. for my meal plans i'll be following John Berardi's article: Massive Eating - Part II: Meal Combinations and Individual Differences, so that should be clean! and no haha, not worried about abs. thanks buddy!