Problems bulking up - Too much fat.

[bla55]

Hey everybody. This is my first post, I've been reading this forum for quite some time now, just never really posted anything. Right now I was hoping to get some advice if anyone could help me out.

First off, the info: 22 years old, 6'4'', 220lbs, student, low budget hehe. I've worked out for over 3 years, had a setback about 17 months ago when I had shoulder repair surgery. So I've been lifting heavly for the past 7 months or so.

Right now I'm trying to bulk up, am at an about 4000 calories a day, would like to get some more but am restricted due to budget problems and time issues. My diet is pretty clean, a lot of oat meal throughout the day, peanuts all day long, protein shake 2 times a day, 2-3 hours in between meals.

I've gained about 10 pounds over the past 7 months of heavy lifting, the problem is that a lot of it is from fat I fear.

Right now my workout schedule is 6 days one week, 3 days the other. Chest / Triceps / Shoulders ; Back / Biceps / Abs ; Legs. No cardio. 4 excercies for bigger muscles, 3 for the smaller. About 1:30 - 40 hours at the gym per day. (would this be overtraining? Really heavy workout, 5-8 reps series, 3 sets for all).

Lately I've noticed I'm not growing as much if at all, but I'm getting a lot of fat from it. Went from 8% to 15% last I checked.

Right now as supplements I'm taking PowerFull, AP, Multivitamin and pre-workout Nano Vapor.

Any advice you guys could give me or just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best? Any suplement change? Anything else I should be taking?

Thanks for any help, this has always been helpfull to me in the past.

Edit:
Oh and one thing I forgot, every 3 - 4 months I take 2 weeks off training to rest my body and I change my workout routine every other month.

 

[RenegadeRows]

Thats strange.

My first thought was test levels were low, but I see your taking Powerfull. Think about a blood test later on?

I would definately slow up on the cals. You know, you can only bulk for so long. Cutting is not only something to 'show your muscles', it's to give your body a break from overloading it (bulking!)

i would definately keep your fat in check first, so drop the cals and add in some cardio. then you may want to get a blood test / see a doc and check if anything is wacky before deciding to bulk up again.

hopefully the next time you bulk, it will be adding muscle not fat!

RR

PS doing slight cardio during bulking is good to fend off fat gain and keep your cardiovascular system healthy

 

[Jamesdavid21]

RenegadeRows is on the right track, if you primarily concerned with fat gain add in some cardio 20 - 30 minutes 2 - 3 times a week. i would doubt your overtraining with a spilt like that its hard to narrow it down much past that. especially if your doing strength training. i would prob reduce my reps abit though if you looking for true strength gains. these occur primarily in the range from 4 - 8 but i tend to see it as if you can do 8 the weights too light. i went on 4- 6 and i saw very good gains off that.

everything else seems sound. the manipulation of your training program. supplements, but if you wanted a change i would probs cut out the multivitamin and shift to a wpi based protein to boost your protein requirements.

but i would follow renegade and take a break from heavy training and (bulking) too you will put too much stress on your joints. shift the reps up a bit (8 - 12) and hit up a hypertrophic type based program reduce the rests periods hopefully that will shock your body into growth. you can always come back to strength training later on and your joints will thank you when your older.

and i would def get a blood test can never be too sure.

 

[Irish Cannon]

I'm having this problem as well. I've put on about 15+lbs in the last two months, and I defintiely have put on some fat, even though all the food I've been eating is super clean. I'm going to start doing cardio 3x a week in the morning with some BCAAs.

 

[Nitrox]

Cut calories back and make workouts short and sweet (~45 mins).

 

[bla55]

Hey everybody, just got back from visiting home so I was out for a little and didn't have much time to visit this topic.

First off, would really like to thank everybody that had an input. I'll definetely give it a try then, will start to pick up on my running again, wonder if I can make even a mile by now hehe.

And just one more random question, is there any other suplement I could be looking for taking? Thanks.

 

[Speedbacker]

Hey everybody, just got back from visiting home so I was out for a little and didn't have much time to visit this topic.

First off, would really like to thank everybody that had an input. I'll definetely give it a try then, will start to pick up on my running again, wonder if I can make even a mile by now hehe.

And just one more random question, is there any other suplement I could be looking for taking? Thanks.

I wouldn't run. Try 2-3 times a week first thing in the morning upon waking 30-45 minutes of fast-paced uphill walking on a treadmill. On the days you don't train it can kind of set up your whole day of eating.

 

[bigrabbit]

To a little cardio here and there, maybe 10-20 minutes on the treadmill or cycle, but keep it short and sweet maybe do it 2-3 times a week, as for the 4000, cut it back a little for the time been... as for the working out be realistic and keep it below the hour twenty mark, well it works great for me and my mates...

 

[BodyWizard]

Why did you need arthroscopic surgery at your age?

Are 2 protein shakes your only protein beside the nuts?

What's your sleep like?

 

[B5150]

Clean calories and dirty calories in surplus are still a surplus. Too much of anything is still a bad thing.

Adjust you calorie intake to 15-17x bw (3500-3800 calories) for a while. maybe isocaloric or 50p/25c/25f.

One hour and forty minutes at the gym without cardio is over training. Try to narrow it down to fortyfive to fifty minutes and then add twenty to thirty minutes of cardio afterwards.

Rotate your exercises, sets, reps (in periodization) fashion every 4 to 6 weeks.

But then again I am saying what everyone else already said.

 

[bla55]

Just giving an update.

Answering first, i had artroscopic surgery due to couple tore ligaments on a snowboarding crash at the rails... Yeah, sucked. But protein are about 4 eggs in lunch, some red / white meat in dinner and lunch sometimes too. But thats pretty much it, although I did change some as I'll detail a little further down.

I did lower the food intake a little, changed my diet around a lot, right now it stands at this pretty much:

I get a bowl of Oatmeal with honey and fruit in the morning, sometimes I add a shake here too. Middle of the morning I go for couple granola bars.

Lunch is filled with some good carbs, low fat, meat. Middle of afternoon I have a snack, tuna sandwich or so. Pre-workout not a lot and then I've been doing cardio 3x a week, 20mins on bike. Protein shake straight after.

Later in the day a little easier carb dinner with more protein. And then I have a slow protein complex before bedtime.

It's kinda getting me back on track, I was able to get about 4lbs while losing some fat after a month or so since I posted here. So I guess it's going better definetaly...

I do have some question for what supplements I may be looking for. I did take Powerfull and AP, AP didn't really go well with my stomach so I gave up on that. Powerfull not so sure it's making any wonders but I'm still taking, want to go at least for couple months before giving up on it. Is there anything else I can be trying out that you guys think would be more valuable for my case?

Thanks again everybody for all input and all the help, it surely did help so far.