Sport How much of a caloric surplus should be given for bulking?

[Aetom]

Using a formula, I should be taking in about 2600 calories to maintain my weight.

However, I am bulking now, and I have been taking in anywhere from 3200-4000 calories a day. I haven't really noticed any gain in the last month and a half or so..and I eating enough? Not working hard enough?

I try to work out 3x a week, if I'm not sore.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Chillen]

Using a formula, I should be taking in about 2600 calories to maintain my weight.

However, I am bulking now, and I have been taking in anywhere from 3200-4000 calories a day. I haven't really noticed any gain in the last month and a half or so..and I eating enough? Not working hard enough?

I try to work out 3x a week, if I'm not sore.

Thanks for the advice.

Where did you determine this approximated 2600c for your MT line? What is your age, hgt, and wgt?

What are your acivities like AND weight training? Be specific about your weight training: how many days a week and what you do.

Give some information on the circumference of your diet: what you eat.

A month and a half is too long without seeing weight gain results. Dont be discouraged. Your body is just telling you have to change.

I will check back to see if you responded.


Best regards,


Chillen

 

[Aetom]

Using mreik's formula (http://training.fitness.com/nutrition/nutrition-101-a-13819.html)
AGE: 16 HEIGHT: 71 inches WEIGHT: about 163

I have P.E. at school, which consists of some running and games, probably don't burn more than 200 calories (I do compensate for that loss).

I try to work out 3x a week. It really depends on if I have a sore muscle group the next day. Like last Monday, I worked out, but didn't work out until Thursday because my lats still hurt on Wednesday. I do deadlifts, benches, pullups/chinups, rows, leg raises, etc.

I try to get at least 2-3 servings of vegetables a day, along with 2 or 3 apples.
And focus on at least 150g of protein a day.
And with my lunches consisting of PB&J sandwiches, I really heap up on the Peanut butter and I drink 2% milk, so I get about 100 or so grams of fat a day as well.

I figured I had it down, but I guess not.

Thanks for your response.

 

[Wrangell]

Using a formula, I should be taking in about 2600 calories to maintain my weight.

However, I am bulking now, and I have been taking in anywhere from 3200-4000 calories a day. I haven't really noticed any gain in the last month and a half or so..and I eating enough? Not working hard enough?

I try to work out 3x a week, if I'm not sore.

Thanks for the advice.

For what it's worth, there is a highly regarded book out on the market by Lou Schuler " The New Rules of Lifting " in which he cites some academic findings that suggest a ' rule of thumb ' for how many calories strength athletes should take when it comes to issues of muscle mass. The findings he cites suggests....

- to simply maintain muscle mass : 20 calories per pound of bodyweight

- to ADD muscle mass : 25 - 30 calories per pound of bodyweight​

....so, if you're at 163 lbs and want to ADD muscle mass, the research he cited would advocate you take in between 4,100 and 4,900 calories a day. It seems you have already been taking in 4,000 calories a day as it is, so that would seem to be more of minimum benchmark to shoot for than 3,000 ( assuming the finding Lou cited are valid ).

Beyond that, you want to make as much testosterone available as possible optimize muscle growth, so beyond diet, how you train is also important. You want to employ / recruit as much muscle as possible each workout ( i.e. compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, barbell bent over rows ) , you want to optimize the load / volume during each workout and you want to maximize the intensity of each workout.

 

[Aetom]

how you train is also important. You want to employ / recruit as much muscle as possible each workout ( i.e. compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, barbell bent over rows ) , you want to optimize the load / volume during each workout and you want to maximize the intensity of each workout.

Yes, I do do those exercises.
And as for intensity, I sweat so much I go through my under armor and t-shirt, and through my workout pants.
And afterwards, I have a hard time washing my hair in the shower because my arms and shoulders are so sore. So I would think that my intensity and rep weight ratio is pretty good.

 

[Wrangell]

Yes, I do do those exercises.
And as for intensity, I sweat so much I go through my under armor and t-shirt, and through my workout pants.
And afterwards, I have a hard time washing my hair in the shower because my arms and shoulders are so sore. So I would think that my intensity and rep weight ratio is pretty good.

Sounds good to me Aetom.

You seem to have a pretty good handle on this and seem to be doing all the right things - at least based on what little you've told us.

So long as you keep your overall calories at a high enough level to optimize muscle growth, your macro-nutrient ratios are reasonable, you're hitting all the ' big ' muscles ( i.e. legs, back, chest ) with compounds, and your workout load and intensity is where it should be, you should be in good shape to add some mass ( and a bit of fat along the way too ! ) .

My sense is, if your diet is in good shape, then you have to simply double check that your workout regimen from weights is' hard enough ' ( as a % of your 1 RM for example ) to create the the overload you need in your muscles to get that growth adaptation you're looking for.

Now, I'm not sure how long you've doing a 3X a week workout regimen, but if you want to look at some ways to ' fine tune ' your training ( if time during the week permits ), you might want to explore some sort of split routine - something like a 4 or 5 day split for example. Splits are usually best for intermediate to advanced gym rats, so I'd only consider them if you've been at 3X a week FBWs for a quite awhile.

 

[Aetom]

Alright, I thank you much for the helpful information.

 

[Wrangell]

Alright, I thank you much for the helpful information.

Your welcome....train hard !