to bulk or lean bulk....the dilemma

[RuhlFreak55]

so it's that time of year again and i'm bulking........but i'm scared to go all out because i'm doing shows next year, and yet i don't know how to make myself mellow out on the bulking.........suggestions.....comments?

[IronReload04]

why not just eat what you got to eat to make rapid strength gains

and use things like carb cutoffs, green tea, off day empty stomache cardio and anything else at your disposal to use intelligently to curb fat gain and or keep it to a minimal.

growing muscle mass is not an excuse to eat junk food. if anything, i eat way more strictly when growing than when dieting. i just eat so much to bring up muscle, that some fat gain is inevitable, but I am smart about it and keep it to a minimal keeping the thought in the back of my head that I can drop the fat in as little as a month, month Nhalf, maybe 2


edit

so what I would do
1. always eat your protein first in a meal....then fill up on the carbs to satsify hunger....anywhere between 5-8 hours before you go to bed (that choice comes with experieince), switch out the carbs with veggies and fats like fish oil and peanut butter
2. always, always on days you do not lift, preferably 3-4 days a week, do an hour of easy somewhat easy cardio on an empty stomache for about an hour as soon as you wake up
3. you can drink green tea for a good portion of the day or use fat burners to increase your metabolism even more.

[novastepp]

ruhl, if you put a diet together, send it to me. i will critique and we can see how BIG we can get you this offseason

[Reed]

Lean bulk son. Its gonna be more difficult to come in contest shape with a higher bf%. More than likely you won't be able to make it if your too far out. Arent you already pretty high like 17%??

[RuhlFreak55]

Lean bulk son. Its gonna be more difficult to come in contest shape with a higher bf%. More than likely you won't be able to make it if your too far out. Arent you already pretty high like 17%??

i don't have a clue where i am.....may sound like an excuse but i have so much hair obscuring shit i can't tell what's what

[RuhlFreak55]

ruhl, if you put a diet together, send it to me. i will critique and we can see how BIG we can get you this offseason

lemme see what i can come up with

[Bigmax]

Lean bulk son. Its gonna be more difficult to come in contest shape with a higher bf%. More than likely you won't be able to make it if your too far out. Arent you already pretty high like 17%??

agree!!!...as king kamali said to me recently..not worth it...why be 290 with 20%BF???...its going to have to come off ...and the diet will be harder and more suffering...

[Bigmax]

you're better off keeping it clean and every few days have you a cheat meal...meaning some sushi or something comparable.

[RuhlFreak55]

you're better off keeping it clean and every few days have you a cheat meal...meaning some sushi or something comparable.

i keep it clean....but my body just doesn't like staying lean.....i haven't had a cheat meal since last weekend.....i eat clean all week when i'm bulking and on the weekends usually stray a little bit....make whole wheat spaghetti or something

[IronReload04]

agree!!!...as king kamali said to me recently..not worth it...why be 290 with 20%BF???...its going to have to come off ...and the diet will be harder and more suffering...

ya, but there's a guy who never ever would have gotten where he is without getting his overall bodyweight up there imo.

you have to seperate the roid bloat from bodyfat too.

[IronReload04]

i keep it clean....but my body just doesn't like staying lean.....i haven't had a cheat meal since last weekend.....i eat clean all week when i'm bulking and on the weekends usually stray a little bit....make whole wheat spaghetti or something

that might be where your problem is....just read what you just said

"but my body just doesnt like staying lean" (neither does mine)

but then you say "on the weekends I usually stray a little bit"

this is where you have to decide, am I a bodybuilder, or is this a hobby? read my first post in this thread. I said straight up, my diet is one hell of alot better when I am actually GROWING compared to dieting. its just the way it has to be. no doubt about it, you need food to grow if your name is not paul dillet or flex wheeler. those reccomendations are not from me, they are memorized and regurgitated from the top dawgs at intensemucle.com.....300 plus pound competing mother ****ers, they know their shit.




again, their is no physiological reasons to be cheating while growing. and I use growing not bulking. bulking implies weight gain, growing implies muscle growth. we are eating so much, our metabolism is is in pretty ****en high gear from all the clean food we eat. cheating is better left for metabolic resets when dieting.




if you are like me, putting junk food on top of the higih calories you need for growing is asking for adipose tissue laydown.

[abbot138]

that might be where your problem is....just read what you just said

"but my body just doesnt like staying lean" (neither does mine)

but then you say "on the weekends I usually stray a little bit"

this is where you have to decide, am I a bodybuilder, or is this a hobby? read my first post in this thread. I said straight up, my diet is one hell of alot better when I am actually GROWING compared to dieting. its just the way it has to be. no doubt about it, you need food to grow if your name is not paul dillet or flex wheeler. those reccomendations are not from me, they are memorized and regurgitated from the top dawgs at intensemucle.com.....300 plus pound competing mother ****ers, they know their shit.




again, their is no physiological reasons to be cheating while growing. and I use growing not bulking. bulking implies weight gain, growing implies muscle growth. we are eating so much, our metabolism is is in pretty ****en high gear from all the clean food we eat. cheating is better left for metabolic resets when dieting.




if you are like me, putting junk food on top of the higih calories you need for growing is asking for adipose tissue laydown.

Well fvckin said! I recetly switched over to calling it a "growth phase" as well. Im two months into my growth period and havent had one cheat. What I will do however is every 2 weeks Ill take a day and eat the same foods as every other day but take in an obscene amount of calories. I feel this helps keep me from plateauing....And some steady- state AM fasted cardio twice a week def helps keep fat gain to a minimum.

[IronReload04]

Well fvckin said! I recetly switched over to calling it a "growth phase" as well. Im two months into my growth period and havent had one cheat. What I will do however is every 2 weeks Ill take a day and eat the same foods as every other day but take in an obscene amount of calories. I feel this helps keep me from plateauing....And some steady- state AM fasted cardio twice a week def helps keep fat gain to a minimum.

glad more people start seeing it that way too. the word bulk should just be shunned imo.


I actually kind of do the opposite, one day a week, when I have 2 days off in a row from lifting weights, i will do zero carbs, then resume the carbs the day after, and be full the following day when I lift....I feel this will increase insulin sensativity.



here is one of my personal views on cardio. NOt only can it directly get rid of fat, but also this.


I feel that eating carbs throughout the day has benefits for muscle growth. Insulin and anything else that comes with it, and growth factors + stimulis to grow + calories does so much for muscle growth. problem is, those carbs that cause that environment will accumulate over time causing fat gain. Now if you do that cardio frequently enough, you burn off some of those carbs you ate yesterday.....making room to repeat the carb intake and to get those benefits all over again.

[abbot138]

^^^^Absolutely agree on the cardio. I see waht you are saying with the zero carbs day, I do something along these lines also, I will cut my carbs in about half for 10 days or so to help with insulin sensitivity. Only reason I do the hypercaloric day is bc i am a "hard gainer" (I know, another phrase I dont like to use). But I was always thinner when i was younger, so I really have to force my body to grow.

[BIG TEXAN]

...you should be in a constant growth phase unless you're prepping for a show or photo shoot or ok..I'll go as far off as a trip to the coast or vacation...but come on...even when bulking you never allow your bodyfat to get out of hand...I diet down for my shows, other than that I'm working to grow year round...never understood the whole yo-yo thing that so many people try to follow....

[novastepp]

...you should be in a constant growth phase unless you're prepping for a show or photo shoot or ok..I'll go as far off as a trip to the coast or vacation...but come on...even when bulking you never allow your bodyfat to get out of hand...I diet down for my shows, other than that I'm working to grow year round...never understood the whole yo-yo thing that so many people try to follow....

my body's composition has changed 100X for the better once i started doing this. i can lose some fat while progressing in my lifts just my manipulating my diet a little, rotating carbs in meals, and increasing cardio. never changes much at all. if anything i frequently eat more, so i can keep bumping up. this summer was the best i have ever done. i reduced my bf% and increased EVERY SINGLE LIFT by probably 20lbs. 3-4 months. all diet prep, and training/cardio manipulation.

[oneshot]

+1 for clean!!!

[Amorphic]

i don't have a clue where i am.....may sound like an excuse but i have so much hair obscuring shit i can't tell what's what

shave you sasquatch

[RuhlFreak55]

shave you sasquatch

i don't see the point when the hair on my back is half as long as my pinky finger and i can't reach any of it....

[BIG TEXAN]

my body's composition has changed 100X for the better once i started doing this. i can lose some fat while progressing in my lifts just my manipulating my diet a little, rotating carbs in meals, and increasing cardio. never changes much at all. if anything i frequently eat more, so i can keep bumping up. this summer was the best i have ever done. i reduced my bf% and increased EVERY SINGLE LIFT by probably 20lbs. 3-4 months. all diet prep, and training/cardio manipulation.

Exactly...to many guys will set a number of weeks to bulk and than figure they have to diet down...problem being they pay no attention to their bodyfat while bulking....getting bigger doesn't mean getting fatter. Yes chances are your body fat may increase but no need to let it just get out of hand...off season I grow and I average around 11%...come contest time than I drop bf and focus on leaning out...anyways...it's all about just manipulating your macros...and adjusting cardio....

[RuhlFreak55]

i also feel like i'm wasting my gear when i think about "lean bulking" i know it's a false thought but i still think it.

[Reed]

Listen to these guys Ruhl. You have some top people telling you what to do. I like what Iron said with its time decide whether your a bodybuilder or if its your hobby. If you want to compete, dial in, and not look like a fool on stage you need to keep your bf% in check. The whole mass monster/huge gut era is over, as it should be. Quality over quantity. I've been around you long enough to realize that I hear a lot of excuses on why your bf% doesn't stay in check, only being honest and its tough love. You except judges to sugar coat and put you in 1st due to excuses of not being able to get lean enough?? That will get you over looked and you will be just another body on stage.

"Excuses are tools of the incompetent and those who specialize in them seldom go far"

[RuhlFreak55]

Listen to these guys Ruhl. You have some top people telling you what to do. I like what Iron said with its time decide whether your a bodybuilder or if its your hobby. If you want to compete, dial in, and not look like a fool on stage you need to keep your bf% in check. The whole mass monster/huge gut era is over, as it should be. Quality over quantity. I've been around you long enough to realize that I hear a lot of excuses on why your bf% doesn't stay in check, only being honest and its tough love. You except judges to sugar coat and put you in 1st due to excuses of not being able to get lean enough?? That will get you over looked and you will be just another body on stage.

"Excuses are tools of the incompetent and those who specialize in them seldom go far"

i will never put myself on stage in sub par condition....if i can't get lean enough pick a later show......i guess the real question is how long can you realistically prep for a contest and still maintain fat loss levels? Assuming things are done right....and i may have to hire someone i don't know, not that i cheat on my diet when i'm dieting but maybe i don't exactly have all the knowledge and tricks and people don't seem apt to give them to you unless you're paying.

[Reed]

Yeah get someone to watch over you. Thats what I'm doing. Time to get RUHL!!!!

[RuhlFreak55]

Yeah get someone to watch over you. Thats what I'm doing. Time to get RUHL!!!!

OMG i wonder if i could........i'm his biggest fan after all