Bulking up: Just started high calorie diet for first time. Getting fat?

Cervantes

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Basically I want advice on if I am overextending muscle, or if I should cut out my high calorie diet.

Background on where I was---So I am new to weight lifting, and I don't have much experience with it. Up until now, I focused on having 2000 calories a day. I stayed a solid 170, and I grew in strength. Went from benching 90 lbs, three sets of 10 reps, to benching 135 lbs, three sets of 8 reps. Also I my genetic background is endomorph.

Bulking up: Recently though, I heard that I should up the calories. I decided to up the calories on a lot of people's advice. I saw a good strength increase. Going in the span of a week from barely three sets of 8 135lb to easily doing three sets of 8 (and a little more on the burn out on the last set) of 145.

The Problem:Then I had a week break, and I couldn't get to the gym. I was in a different city, doing a lot of walking around the city, and eating less, and taking caffeine, so I figured "Hey its like a short week of cutting!" I came back and I was back down to 135 lbs. Over this week, I have still gained weight. I am now 179. 9lbs heavier than 3 weeks ago.

The Question: So am I not pushing up strength because I have worked to much or what? But if my muscles are just tired, then how come I am still gaining weight? Am I just gaining fat?
Thats my biggest worry. Getting fat but not gaining any strength.

The Workout: Each day about 1 hr. I worked chest on Monday(with some core ab stuff). Came back exhausted and slept a good bit. I worked out back, shoulders, and forearms Tuesday(with some side ab stuff). Wednesday I went to Karate, and just did kicks and light aerobic. (this is my "off" day.) Thursday I lightly worked out with forearms and some chest. Nothing big. Friday I worked out chest and back.

I was sore from Monday until Wednesday morning (mostly because I had had a week off)

Nutrition: 2977 calories, 106.5 g of fat 198 g of carb 179.4 g of protein

Supplement: 2500 mg of L-argine, 2 scoops of weigh protein, 4 TestoPRO capsules, A serving of creatine


Summing up: Should I stick the program of eating more? Is my lack of progress due to overextending muscles?

Also a picture of me is in my profile album if you need additional reference.
 
EasyEJL

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You are gaining fat. Its impossible to gain 3lbs of muscle a week, even with steroids. you should drop calories to a more reasonable middle ground between where you were maintaining at 2000 cal, and where you are now.
 
nynone

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here's my take... you're gaining some fat, maybe water weight also. i've seen huge gains in a couple weeks from an increase in water weight (drinking more during workouts, etc.) make sure you find a proper training regimen for you that works too. mix it up, shock your body, and keep it guessing. just when you're body is expecting you to hit the legs, do some arm workouts, and when you're body is thinking shoulders, do neck exercises!

ok, maybe that was a bit extreme, but you get my point. don't keep a steady regimen of things, mix it up. i personally do an all around workout each time i'm in the gym. i find it nice to do it, since it keeps my entire body worked. what i've found best for me is to focus on one body part for the day, and do some work on every other body part as well to keep those loosened up, and strong. anyways, i'm off track...

back to the original question, i say to decrease you're calorie count a bit, and put in more time in the gym. go heavy with weights (whatever is heavy for you), and eat when you feel hungry. eating is key to gaining muscle. also, up your cardio, and do cardio either post-wo when you're near dead tired, or in the morning before breakfast. that will utilize the most fat burning for energy. hopefully this helped, even though i got off track a bit :D
 

Cervantes

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Good advice true. I am going to cut my calories.


Am I overextending my muscles though? Is that why I had so much trouble getting up to what I was? Or is this just my genetics playing against me?
 
John Smeton

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Cervantes is a decent calculator the last one on the left

AST Sports Science - High-Performance Sports Nutrition Supplements

simply put man if you want to gain you have got to eat big and train intense to build that muscle. If you are not eating with too little calories you wont grow.(and there are degrees to it) you can reduce body fat and gain muscle but itll take much much longer than if you are supplier your body with adequate calories



On your k's

2977 calories, 106.5 g of fat 198 g of carb 179.4 g of protein

I can tell you if you want to take in 3000 k's the protein needs to be at 1.5 while training intensity. carbs and fats are individual with what you want to do.

this is just a quick guess if i were you so do not take this as truth

you being an endomorph
300 protein
250 carbs
50 fat

cardio at least a couple times per week on off weight training days

train using a system like max-ot or german volume training for a couple years without switching to another system to get buck strong. make sure form technique comes first with these systems to goal is strength and most people forget to lift usi8ng good form instead of just moving the weight from point a to point b

I would have to personally train you myself for in depth advice; however take it for what it is worth.


remember the more muscle you gain the more calories your body requires so youll have to up the protein/calories as you get bigger and bigger or you simply will wonder why you can not get any bigger this is one of the most overlooked common mistakes
 

Cervantes

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Yeah, I train at pretty heavy weight level, I mean as much as I can. I think I will lower my fat and up my protein. Any suggestions on how I can do that? I live on a college campus, and I am bound by the meal plan, so my options are really limited.

What do you mean 1.5 intensity?

And like I said, is my lack of ability to bench 145 like last week just because I have overextended? Anyone?
 
Young Gotti

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i believe he means 1.5 grams of protein per lbs of body weight.....smeton seems to know his ish so listen to him....i always take my body weight times it by 20 and shoot for those calories, the testpro and creatine will both help with strength also but calories and protein are key
 
John Smeton

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Yeah, I train at pretty heavy weight level, I mean as much as I can. I think I will lower my fat and up my protein. Any suggestions on how I can do that? I live on a college campus, and I am bound by the meal plan, so my options are really limited.

What do you mean 1.5 intensity?

And like I said, is my lack of ability to bench 145 like last week just because I have overextended? Anyone?
1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight while training hard.

if you do not plan to succeed and have the kind of food you want to eat ready to eat every 2-3 hours you will fail. you can drink oatmeal and whey shakes in between classes in two seconds you can cook your food the night before and p
ut in a lunch box.

I cut the bench press four years ago always blow up my front delts and did not do that much for chest. In my opinion bench press is an injury waiting to happen

Goodluck
 

Cervantes

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Sounds good. I have been using protein bars. I think I will try the shake thing too, and look into packing things more. I can get a decent amount of protein out of a chicken wrap, and it packs pretty good too.
 
EasyEJL

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Am I overextending my muscles though? Is that why I had so much trouble getting up to what I was? Or is this just my genetics playing against me?
no, no, and no. Your strength progress is ok so far. If you are looking more for strength then you should change your workout routine to one more purposefully designed for that.
 
nynone

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when it comes to bulking up, i've found that longer rest periods are best. strength training, i've found that short rest periods (30sec to 1min) are best. but, it depends on the way your muscles are built too. fiber distribution is one thing i've noticed most people don't talk about. so, some people have harder times building muscle due to that as well.

and for the "no strength gain" thing, don't worry too much.just take a day or two off, recover for a bit, and focus on something else (traps, lats, quads, anything). if you've over trained, you'd know it. i dont think there's such a thing as over training personally. i can go every two days to the gym, and put up the same intensity of a workout on the same body part. the only major factor is the calorie intake i've had that day, and sometimes i'm just exhausted before the end of the second run. if you're worried about over training, start at once a week per body part, and work it up if you like.
 

Cervantes

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no, no, and no. Your strength progress is ok so far. If you are looking more for strength then you should change your workout routine to one more purposefully designed for that.
And what kind of workout routine would that require?
 
EasyEJL

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And what kind of workout routine would that require?
One that people who are professionals designed, that has strength gain as its primary goal. I'm wondering what the rest of your routine is like as well because bench press strength is affected by many other things. I'd look at powerlifting type workouts.

But overall "how much can you bench press" is not the best way to judge whether how successful you are. How you look in the mirror is far more important, or tests of meaningful strength. You'll likely never have an actual use in your entire life for a practical use of flat bench press strength.
 

Cervantes

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Haha, true. Unless a pillar falls on you and you have to push it off. But as you can see from my picture on my profile album, I look like a white piece of dough in the mirror.

A typical chest work out is: 3 sets, 8 reps, 145 lbs bench press (barely getting 8 reps in on the last set)

1 set of 20 push ups, followed by 12 sets of pushups that go until collapse, with a 1 minute rest in between sets (so typically it starts out at 12 reps and by the end, I only do 6 before collapse)

3 sets on the fly machine at 165-170lbs

Also I add in 3 sets of 20 rep "prayer kneels" at 100 lbs for a core ab work out.


Honestly, I am on the point of giving up. I don't see why, with a mere week of being off, I lose so much strength. Seeing how easy it is for me to gain fat, and lose strength, I just don't see the point. I seem to be wasting my life 6 hours at a time. I go to gym 6 days a week including my off weight days. A guy who lives next to me, never works out, and he has a six pack. Sure, I know everyone's body is different, but at this point I don't see the point in fighting genetics. I don't want a magic wand to make me stronger. I just hate the fact that I am benching 145 which is only 10lbs more than I was benching 10 months ago. Yeah, I didn't work out during the summer, but it seems that it should be easier than this to make progress.

Ultimately I think this:

Either, I simply don't have the right make up to do this.

Maybe my recent trouble is because my testoPro has actually been heightening my estrogen levels, rather than test levels.

Maybe if I just eat more protein, I will see my strength get to what it needs to be.

But I don't think its an issue of me not "working out hard enough" because I think I am doing that. It just doesn't seem enough.
 

CJSalcedo

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Haha, true. Unless a pillar falls on you and you have to push it off. But as you can see from my picture on my profile album, I look like a white piece of dough in the mirror.

A typical chest work out is: 3 sets, 8 reps, 145 lbs bench press (barely getting 8 reps in on the last set)

1 set of 20 push ups, followed by 12 sets of pushups that go until collapse, with a 1 minute rest in between sets (so typically it starts out at 12 reps and by the end, I only do 6 before collapse)

3 sets on the fly machine at 165-170lbs

Also I add in 3 sets of 20 rep "prayer kneels" at 100 lbs for a core ab work out.


Honestly, I am on the point of giving up. I don't see why, with a mere week of being off, I lose so much strength. Seeing how easy it is for me to gain fat, and lose strength, I just don't see the point. I seem to be wasting my life 6 hours at a time. I go to gym 6 days a week including my off weight days. A guy who lives next to me, never works out, and he has a six pack. Sure, I know everyone's body is different, but at this point I don't see the point in fighting genetics. I don't want a magic wand to make me stronger. I just hate the fact that I am benching 145 which is only 10lbs more than I was benching 10 months ago. Yeah, I didn't work out during the summer, but it seems that it should be easier than this to make progress.

Ultimately I think this:

Either, I simply don't have the right make up to do this.

Maybe my recent trouble is because my testoPro has actually been heightening my estrogen levels, rather than test levels.

Maybe if I just eat more protein, I will see my strength get to what it needs to be.

But I don't think its an issue of me not "working out hard enough" because I think I am doing that. It just doesn't seem enough.
IF this is the kind of mind set you keep, you might as well give up. Bodybuilding isn't supposed to be easy, it takes hard work and extreme discipline. You're looking for a way out by blaming your genetics. There are many successful endomorph bodybuilders, all of which have learned to accept their body type and embrace what they have. I suggest scrapping your workout and starting from the ground up with a new regimen, log everything you eat and every workout. Eat right, lift hard, rest well, and you WILL see progress. Quit pitying yourself for not having the same genetics as other people and don't compare yourself to anyone but you. Remember, it's not the hand that you're dealt, but how you're playing your cards.
 

Cervantes

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Okay true, and I don't just want to just pity myself. I just don't see what I am doing wrong.
 
EasyEJL

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Okay true, and I don't just want to just pity myself. I just don't see what I am doing wrong.
Well, sort of like I said, thats the entire problem. You need to just go with a prebuilt workout routine that is geared for the goals you want, rather than coming up with your own.

remember that flat bench press strength is also covered by tricep strength, so inequalities between growth of chest vs triceps can cause slowdowns in change.

Plus I can't seem to find your pics :)
 
Young Gotti

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my buddy swears by billy starr 5x5...i believe thats the guys name, he follows it for strength and actually gains some good mass on it....i've been meaning to give it a go but just haven't yet
 

Cervantes

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Righto. I am going to keep going and see how it turn out. Thanks for the advice.
 

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