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2003/02/04, 04:24 PM
I am trying to decide whether I should begin a bulking phase. By way of background, I am a male, 6’ 3”, 172 pounds, and about 12.5% bodyfat. When I started my fitness program about ten months ago I was 215 and 25+% bodyfat. Am I lean enough to start a bulking phase? Obviously one can start at any time, but would I be better off trying to get down to 8-10% bodyfat first. On the one hand, I feel that my weight is already pretty low so I don’t necessarily want to weigh that much less, which is what I would have to do to get to 8-10% BF. On the other hand, as someone who has had weight problems their whole life, and finally has pretty much lost his belly and love handles, I would hate to see them come back so quickly when bulking, and therefore, think I should get as low as possible before significantly increasing my eating.
Assuming I do try to bulk, what is a reasonable goal of increasing weight per week so as to maximize muscle gain while minimizing fat gain. I heard that the more slowly you put on mass, the less likely you are to have a lot of it be fat. Is that true? My initial thoughts in this regard were to shoot for 1/2 pound per week, on average, of total weight gain. Thus, I would try to eat net calories (net of calories burned) of my maintenance calories plus 500 per day. (For me that would be about 2700 net calories or around 3200 calories total). Does this sound right?
I know there are a lot of questions there but any thoughts you may have are greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Peter
New York, New York
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2003/02/05, 11:14 AM
In your case I would strongly recommend a 4 week on, 2 week off type gaining phase. You could even go 6 weeks, it depends on you. Meaning, go 4-6 weeks on a gaining phase. After this 4-6 weeks, take a look at yourself. If you are pleased with what you see, continue on. If you are starting to see signs of "love handles, or any real fat you don't like, then go on a 2 week "leaning" phase. Drop your fatty, sugary heavy carbs, replace them with strictly fibrous type, increase your cardio to 25-50% more than you were doing during your gaining phase, and get happy again. Then go back on a gaining phase. This will go a long ways toward keeping those stubborn love handles from ever getting totally out of hand, and also keep your mental state "happy". Hope this idea helps, believe me, it is easier to stay leaner. I have personally done the all out bulking, throw caution to the wind as some do, and they like it and it works for them. But, it is so much easier to drop 5-8% bodyfat than 20-30%. I would much rather diet 6 weeks than 16 weeks! Good luck...
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Failing to plan is like planning to fail!
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2003/02/05, 02:35 PM
bb1fit, thanks for the suggestion. I think that is a really good idea for me. I am not looking to gain a huge amount of mass anyway, so I think this measured approach is probably best for me. Some people don't store fat that easily. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. I would definitely not like to go up more than 4% in terms of bodyfat at any one time before leaning back down again. I will try this for about three months and report back on how it is working. All the best.
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Peter
New York, New York
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