I am 6'2" and I usually hover around 200-205 ish. I want to put on some muscle, and I understand that if I gain muscle I will have to gain some fat too. But if I bulk, can I keep my bf% the same(even before I cut)? So I know if I bulk I will make a net gain in total fat, but does that necessarily mean I will be increasing my bf%? I'll be gaining muscle too, so hypothetically speaking that could negate the gain in bodyfat in terms of ratio to lean mass? But my pessimistic side is telling me that it probably doesn't work like that. :icon_chee
bulking as in putting on weight is very hard to do unless you are eating a hyper caloric diet (3-4k usually), you are bound to put on weight/bulk and muscle, but also yes fat. There is really, not a hugely clean way to do it. The more muscle you put on, the easier it is to burn calories, and thus burn the fat later though, you won't be gaining loads of fat anyway. ~Foz
Gaining weight is easy. It just comes down to eating lots of food, and if that doesn't work, eat more food. Of course, since you also want to build muscle and strength (i.e., not just get fat), all you have to do is add "lift big." Now, lean bulking is a whole 'nother animal, one lots of people just choose not to mess with at all because it is so much more difficult and complicated than chugging whole milk and squatting. (That's not to say that lean bulking is necessarily better, though, as a weight class athlete myself, it is the method I prefer). This isn't one of those "quick answer" questions. It requires a a good deal of knowledge and planning, both in the nutrition and exercise parts if the equation. Go to johnberardi.com, read the Seven Habits article, the Massive Eating and Massive Eating Reloaded articles (they come in several parts) and the G-Flux article, for starters. You also need to learn about met con (GPP). Head to the conditioning forum stickies. Oh, and you still have to lift big, no matter what. Can't forget that.
eat alot, especially lean protein and lift real heavy, 4-6 reps, compound exercises (squat, deadlift, bench, rows, military, cleans, etc) youll inevitably put on some fat, you could add some interval training instead of traditional long distance cardio to address this
Thanks for the advice guys. After reading the replies I think I'm gonna go on through with the bulking. Especially since my bodyfat percentage won't be changing(if I do it right, that is). But I am going to do some more research first so I can figure out how to bulk properly. But if I fuck up, I can lose the weight later. How many calories should I start eating a day? I am 31 and I am fairly active. I roll two or three times a week usually and I work out on the bag every day. I don't run though because I can't. I used to lift when I was like in my early and mid twenties, but I haven't done that for a while. So I am going to get a gym membership. So let's say all of the above still holds and I start lifting three days a week, how many calories would you say I should eat to put on muscle mass? Thanks
4-6 reps? Im confused. I thought if you wanted to put on mass you should do lower weight high rep 10+. Isn't low rep high weight for strength and high rep low weight for building mass?
your big lifts, 3-5 is the go, ofcourse building up to your max. how you build mass by lifting less weight more times, I will never understand that theory but okay... ~Foz
4-6, IMO, is a great all-round rep range. Low enough reps to use use big heavy weights (build strength), but enough reps to actually build some volume, too.
Counting overall calories is very difficult and unnecessary IMO. Your current weight is holding stable at 200-205 right? Just add an extra 1000 calories per day on top of what you are currently eating and measure the results over a month. Take into consideration that you are about to begin weight training and you will be expending even more calories. Although in my experience weight training stimulates appetite. Extra calories can be had through consumption of whole eggs, milk, whole grain cereals like Grape Nuts, oatmeal, peanut butter, protein powder, etc. I have been using this method and have went from 186 to 195 in less than 3 months.
ya xtrainer clarified. at a lower weight and more reps you will build volume. This is because on the later reps you feel the burn. You really break down the muscle when you do more reps so you build more volume.
^I meant that for the core lifts and most of the major assistance exercises. Except deads and Olympic lifts, I've always liked to train those with singles, doubles, and triples, and that's worked well for me.
it doesn't matter, my original post was correct. Lifting heavy with low reps won't get you as big as doing more reps at a lower weight. I was saying that if you wanna pack on a lot of volume, doing higher rep is better. "The primary difference between the effects of rep ranges on the adaptive response depends on whether the load affects neural factors (low reps) or ****bolic factors (higher reps). When you train with low reps (1
Just throwing out a extra 1000 cals as a guideline is careless. Also, i t has to do more with incorpation of more muscle groups than anything. Also its not really the exercise but the time under tension that will stimulate growth. Strenght/size training are two completely different type of training but if you focus more on myofibrillar hypertrophy you will get the benefit of both (increase fiber thickness equates to increased strength. However you will not get the same strength gains as you would get from a program based on nueral stimulation (heavy, explosive low reps). Heavy weight does increase strength more because it stimulates the CNS but its done in such short bursts that the time under tension is not significant to stimualte a growth repsonse. THen you have myofibrillar hyopertrophy which is increase muscle fiber thickness (which will give size and strength increase) and is usually obtained with moderate weight and moderate reps. Then you have sarcoplasmic hypertrophy which is in increase in muscle glyocgen and nutrient storage which will give you that round and pumped look and that is usually obtained by lighter reps and increased reps. So basically there are many type of stimulation depending on what weight and rep range you use. That is an extremely basic and general explanation. Carry on
My two pennies. No one says you can't train for all 3 adaptations and reap the benefits of all 3 ranges.
