Bulking Season!

[austinfrench5]

Hey guys, Im 20 years old, 6 foot and about 195. Im looking to go on a serious bulking phase right now. Ive been lifting since i was about 16. only serious for about a year now. Im taking a couple test boosters from a company called complete nutrition. their test booster called 3-test oxo, and their creatine called CX5. I am also drinking xtend amino acids and drinking a whey proetin immediately after the gym and a caseine shake before bed. Using jack3d as my preworkout. My main goal right now is to just eat as much as i possibly can and start doing low reps with heavy weight at the gym.

My gym schedule goes:

M- Back
T-Chest
W-legs
Th-arms
F- off
Sat- Shoulders/traps
Sun- off

I have a few general questions and would love to hear any advice you guys have. Thanks guys!

1. How many calories/carbs/protein should i set as my daily goal?
2. Is fast food such as an angus burger from mcdonalds or a pizza that bad when your bulking or can it be beneficial?
3. How much cardio if any should i be doing?
4. SHould i be eating carbs before bed? if so, how many?
5. SHould i shorten my workouts? right now they are about an hour 15 to an hour and a half max

 

[CCV3]

I dont know anything about 3-test oxo, I really don't know about the new stuff.
When I'm on old school cycles I throw down a good 4000-5000 cals a day. Protein around 350 grams. I will only do 2 carb refeeds post gym. One is dextrose in my shake, and then one more meal with carbs in it. Then I'm all protein and veggies.

I do fast food once in a while, nothing wrong with it while you are bulking. Especially on leg day. I usually throw down a double western bacon cheeseburger or half a pizza before legs. I have to. If I dont I get really sick and dizzy. Legs take it out of me and I need the fuel.

Cardio I cut down to about 15 minutes, 3 times a week. Some people cut it out completely. I try not to neglect my heart that much.

I personally don't eat carbs before bed, but some people do. Nothing really wrong with it if its a complex carb. I wouldn't eat it RIGHT before bed but and hour or two before, sure.

Hour and a half to lift is way too much.
1 or 1:15 is plenty.
Then cardio afterwards (if you want).

This is all my opinion of course...

 

[Type O Hero]

I would avoid fast food because of the lack of nutrition. The ingredients used in most fast foods is extremely processes and void of any usuable nutrition. I'm not saying don't ever eat fast food, because every once in a while is fine, but I wouldn't recommend making it a routine.

Ideally, you wouldn't want to eat carbs right before bed. You don't usually want to spike your insulin levels while you're sleeping. This results in fat gain and may decrease GH output during the night. I regularly eat carbs one to one and a half hours before bed and I generally don't have any problems. I have a naturally high metabolism and how I eat and workout keeps my metabolism higher so I can usually get away with carbs before bed. I wouldn't eat carbs right before bed though. At least not on purpose.

The longer you workout the more catabolic you become. When you're hitting the weights you're doing a very concentrated amount of hard work. After too long your cortisol levels increase along with growth hormone outputs decreasing, among many other physiological processes, but the result is that you're entering a catabolic state, which is the opposite of what you want. You may still even feel "good-to-go" in a catabolic state, but even though a lot of us would enjoy being able to workout for an hour or two, we don't because it's ultimately counter-productive. There are exceptions (use your imagination) but for most of us, less is usually more. After warmups I workout between 40-50 minutes and that's usually more than enough time. A lot of times people's workouts take too long because they're trying to do too may exercises or too many sets and after a few weeks of this your progress is likely to slow down a lot. Low volume and high intensity is what I recommend for bodybuilding-type programs. Pre-workout planning is really important as well because you want to try to maximize how your body uses nutrition while you're working out, so make sure you're getting adequate nutrition here (check out articles on pre workout nutrition).

Cardio depends on the individual. Some cardio is good, but how much varies. I haven't been doing any extra cardio for a few years and I've still gotten in pretty good shape without it. Some cardio is good but I wouldn't do a lot because if your trying to bulk you want as much food energy going to muscle building as possible.

If you're on a bulk, check out the link in my signature. Wouldn't do a bulk without them.

 

[austinfrench5]

Thanks for the info guys. This is my first serious bulking phase so im definitely gonna use some of your guy's tips