Acceptable fat gain on cycle?

[johnnymctrance]

I know this may sound like a bit of a stupid question but im just wondering what an acceptable amount of fat gain would be for some of u experienced guys???

Thanks

[austinite]

Too broad of a question, johnny.

I think if you're bulking, you need to be cautious not to get into the "Amplified side effects zone". (the more fat you carry, the higher the effect of sides) This is why I don't recommend bulking unless you're fairly lean, closer to 13% ideally. If you start bulking at 15% and you work up to 19% or more, you are asking for trouble. This is where diet and patience comes in. I recently did this myself and started my bulk at 13%. I grew to 15 % and backed off. Now Im back below 13.

This also depends on your goals. Some folks just want to be huge, don't care about defenition, abs, etc... so they might be happy with 18% BF.

If you keep your macro-nutrients and caloric intake in check, you shouldnt have an issue getting fat. It's the folks that down glass after glass of milk to make up for calories that get fat.

[mbwood]

Too broad of a question, johnny.

I think if you're bulking, you need to be cautious not to get into the "Amplified side effects zone". (the more fat you carry, the higher the effect of sides) This is why I don't recommend bulking unless you're fairly lean, closer to 13% ideally. If you start bulking at 15% and you work up to 19% or more, you are asking for trouble. This is where diet and patience comes in. I recently did this myself and started my bulk at 13%. I grew to 15 % and backed off. Now Im back below 13.

This also depends on your goals. Some folks just want to be huge, don't care about defenition, abs, etc... so they might be happy with 18% BF.

If you keep your macro-nutrients and caloric intake in check, you shouldnt have an issue getting fat. It's the folks that down glass after glass of milk to make up for calories that get fat.

this mother****ers spot on

[DOSA]

so i shouldnt get my protein from milk...damm.....lol

agree with above..spot on mate

[< <Samson> >]

Too broad of a question. Like good ol' austin said, the lower the better. But, it depends on what you want.

Just remember also the more you gain the more you will most likely want to lose later.


My first run I gained damn near 10% Bf < that is shit ton. But, I gained quite a bit of LBM and retained it all throughout my cut.


Yet, I don't want to do it again this way.

[Papa-pwn]

Whatever you deem acceptable, is acceptable.

If you think going up 30% in BF is okay, then it is for you. If you think any fat gain whatsoever is unacceptable, then there you go.

I prefer to stay lean enough to Be able to flex out a 6 pack year round, and obviously much leaner around competitions.

[austinite]

Whatever you deem acceptable, is acceptable.

If you think going up 30% in BF is okay, then it is for you. If you think any fat gain whatsoever is unacceptable, then there you go.

I prefer to stay lean enough to Be able to flex out a 6 pack year round, and obviously much leaner around competitions.

I disagree. That would be dangerous, especially on cycle.

[songdog]

I disagree. That would be dangerous, especially on cycle.

Yeah I think that is pushing it a lil to far.

[ironbeck]

on a bulking cycle I might gain 2-3% bf from a standard 12.5-13%...on all other cycles i lose bf.

[Metalject]

If your diet nearly kills you (I've been there) this means you've gained too much fat, which would be unacceptable. Live and learn, go by the mirror, don't worry about the scale and while dieting will always be hard do your best to save yourself from hell dieting.

[t-dogg]

As said I wouldnt go above 15% when bulking.


Honestly you shouldnt have to gain much fat when bulking clean. If you just increase your calories by 200 or so, you will have results.

[Metalject]

As said I wouldnt go above 15% when bulking.


Honestly you shouldnt have to gain much fat when bulking clean. If you just increase your calories by 200 or so, you will have results.

Just out of curiosity, and this is for you and anyone else that wants to comment....do a lot of you actually check your body fat on a regular basis? I never used to check it during the off-season...just tried to gauge things by the mirror as best I could, that was always good enough. Also, if people are checking their body fat often are they doing so with those electronic things? I have very little faith in those. Now while I hardly ever checked my BF during the off-season I would check it when dieting simply out of curiosity. My point, my last contest diet (2006) I checked mine with calipers, the dunk tank and one of those electronic things you hold. The results...dunk tank 4.3%, calipers 4.7% (avg. after 3 checks) and electronic reader 17%...no way on this earth I was above 5% so that makes electronic deals pretty worthless IMO and I have a hard time believing most guys who say they're always checking their body fat are doing so with anything other than electronic gizmos.

[t-dogg]

Just out of curiosity, and this is for you and anyone else that wants to comment....do a lot of you actually check your body fat on a regular basis? I never used to check it during the off-season...just tried to gauge things by the mirror as best I could, that was always good enough. Also, if people are checking their body fat often are they doing so with those electronic things? I have very little faith in those. Now while I hardly ever checked my BF during the off-season I would check it when dieting simply out of curiosity. My point, my last contest diet (2006) I checked mine with calipers, the dunk tank and one of those electronic things you hold. The results...dunk tank 4.3%, calipers 4.7% (avg. after 3 checks) and electronic reader 17%...no way on this earth I was above 5% so that makes electronic deals pretty worthless IMO and I have a hard time believing most guys who say they're always checking their body fat are doing so with anything other than electronic gizmos.

I dont check it much. Im pretty good and guessing it now.


Having a bf% checked by others is tuff for me. I had calipers done before and they said I was like 9% lol, and I wasnt training much. He was wayyyyyy off. Personally only way I would do now if I was tested is in a bod pod. Cheap and almost/just as good as under water testing. Electronis is trash imo and calipers are almost as bad.


Hell even my buddy was tested with me the same time on calipers and they had him at 4.3% lol. Again wayyyy off.

[Metalject]

I dont check it much. Im pretty good and guessing it now.


Having a bf% checked by others is tuff for me. I had calipers done before and they said I was like 9% lol, and I wasnt training much. He was wayyyyyy off. Personally only way I would do now if I was tested is in a bod pod. Cheap and almost/just as good as under water testing. Electronis is trash imo and calipers are almost as bad.


Hell even my buddy was tested with me the same time on calipers and they had him at 4.3% lol. Again wayyyy off.

Calipers can be hard and off base. You have to have someone who knows what they're doing and to get an accurate ready you've got to do more than the standard 3 spot check...7-9 is more like it.

There's always those guys out there who carry fat a little differently...this is why guessing can be off sometimes. I had a buddy once who was convinced he was around 6-7%. He was pretty lean up top, borderline shredded but we dunked him and he was a little over 10%...thought he was going to cry. Carried a lot of fat in his butt and legs, which is kind of odd for a guy but it does happen. Me though, I'm all gut and face fat, never carry any in my legs. Even if I get overly fat my legs stay fairly vascular and lean. Everyone's a little different.

[t-dogg]

Yeah. My fat is carried right in the mid section. everywhere else Im kinda scary lean. Its weird how that is. My vote is bod pod.

[mbwood]

By the way.. I am of the mindset that when on a bulking cycle it's probably better to gain a bit more weight than you need to than to gain less. You want to take advantage of all the anabolic potential in your body and that means eating enough food to fuel maximum muscle synthesis.

[Metalject]

By the way.. I am of the mindset that when on a bulking cycle it's probably better to gain a bit more weight than you need to than to gain less. You want to take advantage of all the anabolic potential in your body and that means eating enough food to fuel maximum muscle synthesis.

Only problem with that is you then have to diet harder and depending on how lean you want/need to get you may end up regretting that extra bulk. Equally important, the less fat you have to lose the better you'll typically look in the end. If you have to diet yourself into the ground your body takes even more of a beating.

[johnnymctrance]

agreed, thats what i was thinking...i want to be a little bit over to take max anabolic benefit.... i know it was a broad question just getting some points of view from people on here

[Allaaro]

Stop bulking when you are about to lose abs is the rule I think makes most sense. Don't need to worry about BF% and the like, just look in the mirror.

[Metalject]

Stop bulking when you are about to lose abs is the rule I think makes most sense. Don't need to worry about BF% and the like, just look in the mirror.

If you only gauge things by your abs you can get into trouble....see above post

[Alinjr]

A couple won't hurt depending what your BF% is before starting a bulk cycle.