Calorie Intake Before Hitting The Weights?

[AndreAnabolic]

im trying to bulk as best as i can, im 5'11 218-220 11%bf, im going for about 4500 to 5000 cals a day, how many calories and how many meals would everyone recommend before hitting the gym?

 

[Aggravated]

Depends on what our routine looks like. That is a lot of calories over your maintenance though. I guess you aren't concerned about the fat gain?

I usually take in about 660+ calories before I hit the gym. Usually a couple cups of brown rice and a shake.

That is just the pre w/o meal though.

 

[AndreAnabolic]

my routine looks like this

day 1: chest/back
flat bench press 3sets 6rm (plus 2 rest pause)
incline bench 3 sets 8-10
decline flies 3 sets 10-15
wide pull down 3 sets 10rm
seated row 3 sets 10-12
bent row 3 sets 10

day 2: legs (posterior chain)
Deadlift 5X5
Romanian Deadlift 3sets 10-12
lying ham curls 3 sets 10-12

Day 3 bis/tris
Close Grip Bench Press 3sets 6rm (plus 2 rest pause)
lying try extentions (EZ BAR) 3 sets 10-12
tri pushdown (rope) 3 sets 10-12
straight bar curl 3 of 10-12
hammer curl 3 of 10-12
reverse ezbar curl 3 of 10-12

Day 4 Legs (quad dominant)
heel elivated squats 3 of 10-12
leg extention 3 of 10-12
split squats 3 of 10-12

and a little fat gain isnt too back for now

 

[suncloud]

Depends on what our routine looks like. That is a lot of calories over your maintenance though. I guess you aren't concerned about the fat gain?

I usually take in about 660+ calories before I hit the gym. Usually a couple cups of brown rice and a shake.

That is just the pre w/o meal though.

that's right around what i do. 700 calories for me pre and post workout.

 

[Aggravated]

that's right around what i do. 700 calories for me pre and post workout.

Yeah, not so much for post. I work out in the evening. So I do the PWO thing, then about 1.5 hours later I have to eat dinner, then 1.5 hours later, pre bed snack. If I eat too much I start noticing excess fat gain/water retention. My bf is pretty high right now, but I can tell when it gets absolutely ridiculous lol I keep my PWO to around 550 or so, then another 5-600 for dinner, then 300 or so before bed. I also try to limit my carb intake for those last 2 meals as well. The last dose of carbs I get is from my PWO meal.

 

[Aggravated]

Andre, I would do around 5-600 pre wo. Given your size, you are about the same as me, but only hit 4 days a week, where I hit 5. 5-600 should do good though. Take it for what it's worth. Just make sure those calories fall well into your macros, if you are keeping track of that.

 

[AndreAnabolic]

thanks fellas, would any of you have any advice about my routine?

 

[Aggravated]

thanks fellas, would any of you have any advice about my routine?

I don't want to start getting into what works best etc... Everyone is different man and there is a huge learning curve. That is going to be mostly trial and error. To be honest, I only skimmed over your routine, but just as advice, I wouldn't train chest and back together personally. I also did this split when I started and it worked for a while, but I soon branched off to other splits.

Currently I dedicate an entire day to each muscle group. It is a 5 day split that has continued to work for me. If you wanted to do a 4 day split, here is what I would suggest...

Day 1 - chest/tris - Reasoning: After a complete chest workout, it really only takes 8-10 sets to finish off your tris, giving you the ability to slip an extra session in with little effort.

Day 2 - Back/bis - Reasoning: Same as above.

Day 3 - Legs/shoulders - Reasoning: This is a grueling workout that I have done in the past, but it has worked for me. The ability to be able to move blood from your lower body, to your upper body is priceless, especially when you are not including cardio. Obviously you are going to sacrifice some shoulder development, but if you are concerned, do it on another day by itself. I try to give a whole day to my most important groups, which is all of them!

Day 4 - Arms - Reasoning: The muscles are right next to each other, and they are both small-med sized groups. Shuttling blood from the tris to bis takes little effort. I would say 12 sets of each muscle. I do 8 mass sets for each then a set of 6 supersets with moderate weight. AKA 6x12-14 training. That finishes off my arms.

Obviously you would want to have an off day here so that your peak soreness day for any given muscle does not overlap. IE: You don't want to do chest, the day after arms, because the secondary muscle would already be fatigued.

Sorry to throw so much info out, but you asked for it... Hope that helps you bro!

 

[AndreAnabolic]

ive been workiing out for about 4 years, and ive done the splits youve listed above, i found that they also worked. the routine i posted is a new routine ive been experimenting with. i found great results with the back/bi split, one of my faves. why do you advise against a chest/back(push/pull) split?

 

[Aggravated]

ive been workiing out for about 4 years, and ive done the splits youve listed above, i found that they also worked. the routine i posted is a new routine ive been experimenting with. i found great results with the back/bi split, one of my faves. why do you advise against a chest/back(push/pull) split?

They are two of your large muscle groups. I just wouldn't train the two together, because you will take away from one or the other. You would get a better benefit if you trained them on separate days.