8 month bulk questionS

[SEAviator]

I got my diet in check... but I have a question...

Im planning on clean bulking for 8 months, then take 2-3 to cut down the fat.. goal is to get close to 190 then cut back to 8% then clean bulk to 200..


Umm.. what's the ideal amount more or less of lbs or kilos a natural bodybuilder should gain per week and month?


When you stop gaining weight, how much time do you have to wait until you increase calories? in other words, how much time your weight needs to stall before you increase calories?


how do you determine if your gaining too much fat?


how to determine when you aint gaining weight, but because your gains are slowing down and not because you need more calories?

thanks in advance

[gbrice75]

I got my diet in check... but I have a question...

Im planning on clean bulking for 8 months, then take 2-3 to cut down the fat.. goal is to get close to 190 then cut back to 8% then clean bulk to 200..


Umm.. what's the ideal amount more or less of lbs or kilos a natural bodybuilder should gain per week and month?

For the average bodybuilder, probably 0.5lbs per week if he's lucky. Anything more and you can almost be positive it's bodyfat and/or water retention.


When you stop gaining weight, how much time do you have to wait until you increase calories? in other words, how much time your weight needs to stall before you increase calories?

I'd personally give it a month. From what I see, it's not linear; it comes in spurts, alot like fat loss.


how do you determine if your gaining too much fat?

Mirror, calipers, even a measuring tape around the waist if you have nothing else. I think you'll know.


how to determine when you aint gaining weight, but because your gains are slowing down and not because you need more calories?

Not sure how to answer this or what you're looking for exactly. You want to know that if/when you stop gaining weight, how can you tell the cause? I don't know if there's an answer to that; trial and error... everybody's different.

thanks in advance

Comments above in bold

[SEAviator]

gbrice you're always the first to help not only me, but pretty much everyone here....

I just want to take the time to say thanks man.. you're one considerate and helpful person...


couple more questions...

so Im having muscle memory now, I could gain a lil more per week right?

everyday when I wake up I take a piss to make sure I have no water in me, and weigh myself and measure my waist..

is this a good way to measure my progress for bulking?

Umm, naturally, its pretty hard even impossible to bulk without adding a lil bit of fat... how many cm or inches should I expect to be added to waist?

oh and one of my questions was how to determine if your lack of progress was due to lil calories, training, or rest... imagine I gu not gaining weight, goes and increases cal thinking thats the problem and gets fat! but yea, the answer is trail and error..

[noMuscles]

gbrice you're always the first to help not only me, but pretty much everyone here....

I just want to take the time to say thanks man.. you're one considerate and helpful person...
Agreed.

couple more questions...

so Im having muscle memory now, I could gain a lil more per week right?
I believe muscle memory is more about strength, than size, but I could be wrong here

everyday when I wake up I take a piss to make sure I have no water in me, and weigh myself and measure my waist..
I have been told numerous times this is the best time to weigh yourself, I do the same thing. I think ideally you should only do this 1 time a week though, say every Monday because weight can fluctuate a lot in just 1 day, so once a week would be a better indication.

is this a good way to measure my progress for bulking?
Your weight, your strength, and the mirror are all decent for measuring progress.

Umm, naturally, its pretty hard even impossible to bulk without adding a lil bit of fat... how many cm or inches should I expect to be added to waist?
Depends on cleanliness of diet, genetics, etc.

oh and one of my questions was how to determine if your lack of progress was due to lil calories, training, or rest... imagine I gu not gaining weight, goes and increases cal thinking thats the problem and gets fat! but yea, the answer is trail and error..
Make sure you aren't over training, and only increase the cals slowly so you keep fat gain minimal. Make sure you get 8-10 hours of sleep a night as well.

See bold.

[gbrice75]

gbrice you're always the first to help not only me, but pretty much everyone here....

I just want to take the time to say thanks man.. you're one considerate and helpful person...

Thanks for the kind words bro! So many good people helped me out when I came here, I just want to give back, and I actually enjoy doing it.


couple more questions...

so Im having muscle memory now, I could gain a lil more per week right?

Possibly, but the difference may not be very noticable to your eyes or a scale. The body just doesn't have the ability to (naturally) add that much LBM in a short period of time. The only time you can see 1lb - to even 1.5lbs is when you're a pure beginner. It gets harder as you advance in your training

everyday when I wake up I take a piss to make sure I have no water in me, and weigh myself and measure my waist..

is this a good way to measure my progress for bulking?

Yes and no. As Nomuscles said, i would not do this every day. The scale more than anything else will fvck with your head, and with water retention alone, you can fluctuate +/- 5lbs easily within a few hours. I wouldn't measure more than once a week; every 2 weeks would be optimal IMO because progress will SEEM to be more, and keep your spirits up (more mental stuff, but positive this time!)

Umm, naturally, its pretty hard even impossible to bulk without adding a lil bit of fat... how many cm or inches should I expect to be added to waist?

You can bulk while adding very little fat. Yes, you will definitely add some, even with the cleanest diet ever. Excess calories at some point will be stored. To answer your question, an 8 month bulk is a really long time bro. I would knock it down to 3 months then reevaluate where you're at. Nobody can really say how much you can expect to gain because again, we're all different. I would say though that if you're adding 1/2 inch over 2 week period, back off on the calories and/or up the cardio.

oh and one of my questions was how to determine if your lack of progress was due to lil calories, training, or rest... imagine I gu not gaining weight, goes and increases cal thinking thats the problem and gets fat! but yea, the answer is trail and error..

It really is trial and error. The best you can do is just do everything you know to be proper from the jump street; get your sleep, eat clean, train like an animal, and if you're still not getting the results you think you should (be realistic here), make MINOR changes and adjustments until you find your sweet spot. That's one big mistake I made (keep making?) - I freak out because I don't think something is 'working', so I completely change everything - now how do I know what component was wrong? Baby steps...

Comments in bold

[SEAviator]

thanks a lot guys...