How to bulk?

tattguy

New member
Awards
0
Ok to start I am a former fat boy. I use to weigh 240 lbs standing @ 5'5 but after a strick diet and lots and lots of carido I got down to 130. Fast forward thru 2 years of weight lifting I am currently at 167. All newbie gains of course. Now I'm trying to bulk up. I want to hit a goal of 195 and then hold steady. I want a good looking 195 lol. I understand that I will have to cut after bulking but I dont have a issue cutting. Here are some stats.

Age: 38
Height: 5'5
Weight: 167
Health: heart attack 6 months ago so beta blockers could cause me weight gain in the wrong way.
I use different rep ranges on certain lifts. But currently I can
bench: 255 for a double
overhead press: 175 for a double
squat: 350 set of 5
Deadlift : 410 single

Im kind of all over with my lifts but I read a lot of crap over 2 years

Any help would be nice.
 

Attachments

jbingham

New member
Awards
0
Find a Basel Metabolic Rate calculator to determine your daily maintenance calories. I'd imagine you're semi-active so you're probably are 2100 Kcal (1680 x 1.25 activity multiplier) That's what you need per day to maintain your current weight. I'd recommend adding about 300-500 calories per day to your diet. Much more than that and it will convert to fat because you can only build so much muscle per day/week/month. So 2400 to 2600 calories per day, with 150-200 grams of protein and lots of healthy carbs will give your body the nutrition it needs. Someone is going to post and tell you to eat 4000 calories a day and that will help gain weight but a lot of it will be fat.

Don't fall into believing that if you bulk, you'll need to cut afterwards. If you're good about calories, you should be able to slow-bulk up to the weight you want with minimal fat gains. Do realize that if you want to gain 28 lbs (of muscle), it's going to take quite a while to do it (8-14 months). Slow and steady wins the race.
 

tattguy

New member
Awards
0
I enjoy being in the gym so I don't mind the slow and steady pace. And I'm not sure I can eat 4000 calories a day. I do eat a lot of lean meats and I dont touch junk food any more.
As far as carbs I do eat a lot of old fashion oats and whole grains. As far as fats I use good oils to cook with and fish oil. I eat almonds and almond butter. I guess it just finding a way to to get it all in.
 

jbingham

New member
Awards
0
Sounds like you've got a good handle on it then. Diet sounds good and you have the proper outlook of slow and steady. Just eat a bit more, work out 3-5x a week and keep eating healthy and you'll get where you want to go. Remember to eat your biggest and highest protein meal of the day right after workout. 2500 calories a day should be pretty easy to hit. Good luck!
 

PuZo

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
Sounds like you've got a good handle on it then. Diet sounds good and you have the proper outlook of slow and steady. Just eat a bit more, work out 3-5x a week and keep eating healthy and you'll get where you want to go. Remember to eat your biggest and highest protein meal of the day right after workout. 2500 calories a day should be pretty easy to hit. Good luck!
Pretty much this. Good luck!
 
xR1pp3Rx

xR1pp3Rx

Legend
Awards
4
  • RockStar
  • Established
  • First Up Vote
  • Best Answer
maybe just stick to your strick diet and bulk the easy way... add some Mass Gains once a day. that will give you 500 extra calories and if you only use one serving itll last you 35 days! its made with quinoa, oats, efa's, and whey protean. this would make an ideal well balanced post work out shake.
 

justhealth

New member
Awards
0
Use herbal product, it's very effective and not any side effect.
 
veaderko

veaderko

Active member
Awards
0
The best way I have found for one of my clients to eat as much food as I can get him to is supplement with shakes, and than swap the shake for a meal. repeate the process many times till you get use to eating that large amount of food. You can make your own protein shake with oats and AB. But if in a pinch and dont have time to grind it all up I have been using Mass Gainz.
Also, it helps if you make food you enjoy. Like a protein brownie which there is always room for.
Vanilla Cake Batter Protean
Coco powder (I like dark chocolate and find vanilla protein powders to cook better)
1 whole egg.
Mix well, microwave for 1 min in 10-15 second intervals mixing each time. Helps to keep it from over cooking.
 
laneanders

laneanders

Active member
Awards
0
Calculate your TDEE online "just google TDEE" and figure out the macros you need. If its hard for you to get enough the guys that mentioned protein shakes could help. Protean is a delicious option, especially Brown Sugar Maple Oatmeal Cookie (amazing). Just eat the macro nutrient breakdown of fats, carbs, and proteins to put you slightly above maintenance calories. You will be at your goal in a relatively short period of time (1.5 - 2 years likely).
 

permabulk

Member
Awards
0
**** counting macros, as lee priest says if you want to lose weight wat clean and do cardio, if you want to gain weight eat more and don't do cardio. There ain't no secret but counting macros is stupid
 
Peppers

Peppers

Banned
Awards
0
**** counting macros, as lee priest says if you want to lose weight wat clean and do cardio, if you want to gain weight eat more and don't do cardio. There ain't no secret but counting macros is stupid
Lmao, that's how I feel.
 
Oscar

Oscar

Well-known member
Awards
1
  • Established
195 and lean while only standing at 5'5 might require some pharmaceutical help
 
fueledpassion

fueledpassion

Well-known member
Awards
2
  • RockStar
  • Established
While others will argue until the world ends about this, I HIGHLY doubt u will be able to pack on 25-30lbs of muscle in a linear fashion for ONE reason alone - insulin resistance. You'll get that first 8-10lbs of somewhat lean mass at first then as time goes on, the ratio of fat to muscle gets worse.

Limit bulking to 8-12 weeks at a time and learn how to cut FAT ONLY at a slow steady rate to avoid muscle wasting. Toggling betwen the two, primarily to creat growth spurts during the mass cycle and creating max insulin sensitivity during the 4-6 week cut will keep ur progress happening one way or another.

I dont know what u consider "looking good", but at only 5'5" and 195lbs, if u were hypothetically at 11% BF, you'd ***** several pros in the 212 Olympia status and probably carrying 28" thighs and 19" arms...

I'm 5'5" @ 168lbs at around 11% BF and my proportions seem to match a 6' 200lb typical man with an athletic build. Keep in mind 195lbs and lean is ridiculous for us and if u manage to get there without androgens then I DEMAND that u commit to pro bodybuilding, take PED's at that point and have a face-off with Flex Lewis in 2-3 years.
 

Akol

New member
Awards
0
I enjoy being in the gym so I don't mind the slow and steady pace. And I'm not sure I can eat 4000 calories a day. I do eat a lot of lean meats and I dont touch junk food any more.
As far as carbs I do eat a lot of old fashion oats and whole grains. As far as fats I use good oils to cook with and fish oil. I eat almonds and almond butter. I guess it just finding a way to to get it all in.
It's refreshing to see people who want to make gains the old fashioned way and are not looking for immediate results. I am 5'4" 170lbs at ~13%. I agree with fueledpassion. At 195, for our size, that is pretty massive. If that's what you want, then go for it!! Fueledpassion also hit it right on the head with insulin resistance. Getting to 195lbs and still fit will be difficult. I don't think you will necessarily need PED to get there but you will need to cycle between bulking and cutting slowly.

The best place to start is to figure out your TDEE. Track everything you eat with something like Myfitnesspal and also track your weekly weight change (weigh yourself first thing in the morning after using the restroom). Your TDEE will be: Average daily calories minus (change in weight times 3500) all divided by 7.
If you know much about math, the equation looks like: (cal-(change in weight - 3500))/7

To bulk you will want to eat in excess of your TDEE. When I bulk, I like to eat about 100-110g fat, ~1.5-1.6g/lb of protein, and the rest carbs. I shoot for about 500 cal over maintenance which equals 1 lb gain per week.

You definitely have the right idea with consuming complex carbs like oats and whole wheat products. The only time you want simple carbs is right before or after workouts. The rest of the day you want the complex carbs.

Congrats on the tremendous progress so far and good luck on the rest of your journey!!!
 
hewhoisripped

hewhoisripped

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
While others will argue until the world ends about this, I HIGHLY doubt u will be able to pack on 25-30lbs of muscle in a linear fashion for ONE reason alone - insulin resistance. You'll get that first 8-10lbs of somewhat lean mass at first then as time goes on, the ratio of fat to muscle gets worse.

Limit bulking to 8-12 weeks at a time and learn how to cut FAT ONLY at a slow steady rate to avoid muscle wasting. Toggling betwen the two, primarily to creat growth spurts during the mass cycle and creating max insulin sensitivity during the 4-6 week cut will keep ur progress happening one way or another.

I dont know what u consider "looking good", but at only 5'5" and 195lbs, if u were hypothetically at 11% BF, you'd ***** several pros in the 212 Olympia status and probably carrying 28" thighs and 19" arms...

I'm 5'5" @ 168lbs at around 11% BF and my proportions seem to match a 6' 200lb typical man with an athletic build. Keep in mind 195lbs and lean is ridiculous for us and if u manage to get there without androgens then I DEMAND that u commit to pro bodybuilding, take PED's at that point and have a face-off with Flex Lewis in 2-3 years.
lol at this, I'm 5'6" 165 7-8% so I know that feel. Franco Columbo was 5'5" and only weighed like 185 I believe, goes to show how ridiculous 195 lean would look... as you said, you'd already have to look like a pro
 

Markos4

Member
Awards
0
195 and lean while only standing at 5'5 might require some pharmaceutical help
Hahahaha u made my day. I remember wheb i used to think i could get to 230 lbs 5'9 naturally. Now all my dreams are just dreams.... til I get the good stuff ;) hahaha flex lewis is 5'4 and 212 lbs so yea im guesing its gonna take him a long time to get there
 

Markos4

Member
Awards
0
lol at this, I'm 5'6" 165 7-8% so I know that feel. Franco Columbo was 5'5" and only weighed like 185 I believe, goes to show how ridiculous 195 lean would look... as you said, you'd already have to look like a pro
He won't be able to face flex lewis,flex is taking 2015 off to be able to bulk anf compete with the bigger guys.
 
fueledpassion

fueledpassion

Well-known member
Awards
2
  • RockStar
  • Established
He won't be able to face flex lewis,flex is taking 2015 off to be able to bulk anf compete with the bigger guys.
Flex in his last show was 208.5lbs and regularly gets up to 245lbs in off season. If he takes it slow and gets up there in a leaner fashion, I think he could easily keep up with the big boys at least nabbing a top six placing. He's got better shape than most of the top heavyweights right now.
 
hewhoisripped

hewhoisripped

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
My point exactly.. Idk about you guys but my goal isn't to look like a pro.. Too expensive, time consuming, etc.
 
hewhoisripped

hewhoisripped

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
He won't be able to face flex lewis,flex is taking 2015 off to be able to bulk anf compete with the bigger guys.
Wasn't talking about a theoretical Flex vs. Franco @ 195 faceoff lol, I was talking about how sick an enthusiast (like me) would look at 5' 6" 195lbs lean. Maybe not good enough to go pro, but certainly as big as you could want to be otherwise.
 
fueledpassion

fueledpassion

Well-known member
Awards
2
  • RockStar
  • Established
Wasn't talking about a theoretical Flex vs. Franco @ 195 faceoff lol, I was talking about how sick an enthusiast (like me) would look at 5' 6" 195lbs lean. Maybe not good enough to go pro, but certainly as big as you could want to be otherwise.
This is my aspiration. 5'5" @190, around 7% bf. Looks like this year I'll hit 168-170 @ that bf so I still got two years for sure.

But Flex was pro at 190lbs on stage...
 
Tagger

Tagger

Well-known member
Awards
0
My point exactly.. Idk about you guys but my goal isn't to look like a pro.. Too expensive, time consuming, etc.
Same here.

My current goal is 5'8 looking lean (like 8%) @180.

My abs are kind of showing at 180 but it looks like another year is in store. I'm going to drop to 170 and see how that is sitting and then just eat 200 above maintenance and take it slow and steady.
 
hewhoisripped

hewhoisripped

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
This is my aspiration. 5'5" @190, around 7% bf. Looks like this year I'll hit 168-170 @ that bf so I still got two years for sure.

But Flex was pro at 190lbs on stage...
Yeah well that's probably 190lbs 3% bf lol, so it would be more like 200lbs@7%. So I think for a 5'5" a lifetime goal of 190 7% isn't out of the question, it's a hefty goal, but it's not unreasonable. Yes you're only 10lbs away from a pro but at our height 10lbs of lean mass is a **** ton.
 
fueledpassion

fueledpassion

Well-known member
Awards
2
  • RockStar
  • Established
Yeah well that's probably 190lbs 3% bf lol, so it would be more like 200lbs@7%. So I think for a 5'5" a lifetime goal of 190 7% isn't out of the question, it's a hefty goal, but it's not unreasonable. Yes you're only 10lbs away from a pro but at our height 10lbs of lean mass is a **** ton.
Yep. But honestly, 7% on me is ripped. I mean, at 10% all of my abs are visible and several striations come out of my upper body. Its the lower body that really benefits from the super low bf levels...
 
hewhoisripped

hewhoisripped

Active member
Awards
1
  • Established
Yep. But honestly, 7% on me is ripped. I mean, at 10% all of my abs are visible and several striations come out of my upper body. Its the lower body that really benefits from the super low bf levels...
You lucky mofo... I get vascularity and striations but abs don't come in until I'm <8%
 
Tagger

Tagger

Well-known member
Awards
0
You lucky mofo... I get vascularity and striations but abs don't come in until I'm <8%
My top abs come in at like 14..

It's those ****ing pesky lower abs. :(
 
fueledpassion

fueledpassion

Well-known member
Awards
2
  • RockStar
  • Established
You lucky mofo... I get vascularity and striations but abs don't come in until I'm <8%
Eh, I hold lots of water. I just did my DEXA yesterday and came in at 10.4%, and 9.9% when removing my head from the picture.

Was rather surprised but made me realize that Trestolone really does cause some water retention.
 

Similar threads


Top