I have a question. Is there an amount of post-workout simple sugars that would be excessive and fuel fat instead of muscle? For example, a 450ml bottle of my favorite chocolate milk contains around 68g of carbs. Is it too much?

How long does the bulk phase typically last?

Can I still do cardio (I’m a soccer player) while bulking up? Or do I need to slow down/stop the cardio while in the bulking up phase?

My goal isn’t to get huge or anything. Just a moderate increase in bulk.

But I don’t think you can digest any protein fast enough to significantly increase the serum amino acid concentration during the short time after exercise when it would be beneficial. Instead, I believe the serum AA used by post-workout muscles is already in the bloodstream as a result of pre-workout meals.

Therefore, I think it’s more important to get some high-GI carbs (simple sugars) which easily enter the bloodstream and are used to fuel protein synthesis. It’s for these reasons that chocolate milk (or its equivalent) is a trendy post-workout drink. It combines some protein with a lot of simple sugar molecules.

Question here is : 80% of your proteins are “slow” proteins right? Aren’t you supposed to take “fast” proteins in the 30mins after your workout to put you in anabolic state? Because i’m only seeing an intake of 1-2g of fast proteins there.

A bit about me…I’m getting back in to power lifting after a long lay off with only light lifting due to a torn rotator. Your advice on shoulder conditioning and care is spot on. I was so frustrated getting injured as without full shoulder strength and flexibility I could hardly lift a 10kg dumbell overhead without being in agony…not surprising I flagged any overhead work.

I spent all of last year power lifting and competed in two novice competitions so I’m a firm believer of compound lifting (my 3 lift total was at the end of last year 445kgs) In fact I refuse to train any other way, aside from some light isloation exercises to maintain strength in my rotator cuff.

With regard to diet I completely agree that one will never gain without the correct dietry intake. As a powerlifter there wasn’t the need to be super strict as one needs to be when body building. But it was vital to get the right quantities of food in to me especially with the volume of lifting we were doing at the time. I gained 9kgs in approx 10 months which for a light guy like myself was remarkable. I’m 42 years old, 182cms (approx 6ft) and was 71kg when I started powerlifting. I weighed 63kg approx 2 years prior when I first got back in to the gym. I weighed in at 80kg at the beginning of this year and yet even though I had more body fat than I can ever recall, a body fat test showed I was only carrying 11.8% fat!.

I’m now down to about 74kg. So I’m back on the trail to 80kgs again ( I need to be a touch under 84kgs if I plan to compete again to sit at the top of my weight class in IPF) I know I’ll get there and have set a goal to reach 80kgs by Christmas, I’ve also set a goal to get my 1RM for my dead lift from 180kgs to 200kgs by the same squat back to 160kgs and bench to 110kgs). I will be using your site and myfitnesspal on my mobile phone to plan my menu and track my food intake.

Keep up the good work as I am very pleased to have found your site.

Cheers

Adam

The Harris Benedict Equation allows us to estimate your calorie needs at a moderate level of activity, so multiply your BMR by a factor of 1.55 to get a final figure of 2660 calories per day.

That figure is an estimate of the energy you need to maintain your current body weight.

A caloric surplus of 3500 calories will deposit around a pound of body weight (in the form of fat, muscle, or some combination thereof).

Spreading this 3500 calorie surplus over a week’s time means eating 500 calories per day in excess of the figure we arrived at above, because 7 days multiplied by 500 calories per day equals 3500 calories.

Therefore, 500 plus 2660 is 3162 calories per day.

This is an estimate of the number of calories you need to consume daily to add a pound of body weight per week on a typical weight-lifting program. Your mileage may vary.

I’m not looking to bulk up in the sense of bodybuilding. It’s more of an approach on needing to be able handle a 500cc bike and gain at least 4 stone to get to 12.5 which is really a minimum. What I want to know is can I use regular distance swimming as a substitute for a gym? Butterfly and breast stroke being the main two to be used.

Also worked out via the moderate excercise guide that I should be on 2475 cal. For what I want to do at 5’4″, 28 years and 8st 5.5lbs, is that too much? Or too little?

I’m 6’6″ and I weighed in today at 178.8lbs. Yeah…I know. This morning I started my diet based on this article. I used the BMR formula you listed above to determine what I need to be consuming on a daily basis, then placed my entire diet, (carbs, fat, serving sizes, quantities, everything…) into an Excel spreadsheet that calculates my totals out for me. After reading your article I decided to give weight lifting another shot. This will be my fourth attempt.

Since I was a little kid (looking back at family pictures even) I was a skinny, lanky little runt. I was skinny well before I had any control over the food that was being fed to me, and when. “A skeleton” one of my cousins shouted, as we rolled through some old family photos together. I got angry. Why was I so skinny then? I was only 4 or 5. Other kids my age had some meat on them. I wasn’t weak, I was actually quite strong as a kid. Fast, agile, coordinated. Why so small?

BAD EATINGS HABITS.

My parents did not instill good eating habits in me as a kid. If I didn’t finish what was on my plate, I could still go out to play. A diet of Kraft macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. The conclusive evaluation of my body type has always been “I have a fast metabolism.” WRONG.
I self diagnosed myself with that excuse one too many times.

It wasn’t until I moved in with my now fiance that I realized my eating habits suck, and its not my fault. My parents never conveyed to me the importance of atLEAST 3 core meals a day.

My fiance cooks at exact times every day. Makes healthy meals. Will stop what she’s doing to eat, when its time.

Where as someone like me will continue to browse the internet. Play a video game. Go walk around in the back yard. Anything to procrastinate from having to cook. There would be days when I would plain old ignore my stomach gurgles and chug right through my bodies check engine light telling me “Hey Idiot! Feed me!”

I even lifted heavy through my teen years but never saw muscle. Used protein shakes (ON’s Serious Mass) to pack in my calories because it was a quick effortless fix. Not ONCE did I ever consider the cold, hard truth. My body has been so malnourished for all these years thanks to terrible eating habits from birth that my body simply CAN NOT grow muscle yet. I’m 28 now.

It’s not about body type. It’s not about being a “hard gainer”, an ectomorph, a what ever other name it’s called. It’s lazyness. Either by choice or by improperly instilled eating habits as a child.

I sit here tonight typing this up as I finish my 6th meet for the day. Whole grain rotini, multigrain roll, vodka sauce and a towering glass of cow juice. I feel damn good. I spaced every single meal 2.0 to 2.5 hours a part today and have been eating like a mad man.

It’s about food. This article has finally opened the door for me that I always knew was there, but was just affraid to admit it. I was eating like a little girl and using any excuse I could find to give myself false credibility after failing over and over a gain.

Gents. Hit the grocery store and start cooking. It’s everything. I’m just sad it took me this long to “get it”.

Thomas, thanks for the article and for this site. You have a new fan.

ps: sorry for rambling. I’m excited to be on this new journey!

pss: I used CalorieCount to track my progress throughout the day. Here is the break down with calorie amounts and totals:

Breakfast
1,596
Oatmeal–RAW Pure and Simple – Multigrain Hot Cereal
320

Egg, White – Raw, Fresh
16

Egg, Whole – Cooked, Fried
90

Milk, Lowfat, Fluid, 1% Milkfat – With Added Vitamin A
256

Tuna, White, Canned In Water, Drained Solids
220

Freihofers Whole Wheat Bread
360

Milk, Lowfat, Fluid, 1% Milkfat – With Added Vitamin A
154

Mayonnaise – Signature Dressings
180

Lunch
548

Water 16 oz
0

Chicken – Breast, meat only, Raw
114

Milk, Lowfat, Fluid, 1% Milkfat – With Added Vitamin A
205

Olive Oil
60

Almonds, Dry Roasted – Without Salt Added
169

Dinner
974

Homemade Vodka Sauce
80

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Bar
240

Milk, Lowfat, Fluid, 1% Milkfat – With Added Vitamin A
205

Rolls, Dinner, Whole-wheat
125

Rotini Multigrain Pasta – Barilla Plus
210

Chicken – Breast, meat only, Raw
114

Snack
466

Romaine Lettuce – Fresh Vegetables
15

Carrots – Whole, Raw
8

Celery – Raw
6

The Bee`s Knees Natural Peanut Butter
180

Milk, Lowfat, Fluid, 1% Milkfat – With Added Vitamin A
256

TOTAL
3,584

By the way, how long does the bulking phase need to last?

I also want to start running and swimming 3 times a week as i’m going for the ‘toned but big’ look.
Do i bulk up THEN start this cardio and lifting
or do them simultameously (start cardio, bulking and lifting like tomorrow)?

cheers

I’m assuming you’ve been checked by a physician for hormone irregularities and overactive thyroid. If not, put your mind at ease by getting checked out.

But odds are, you’re just one of those ultra-skinny guys who doesn’t gain weight normally. But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. Or at least that’s what I like to think…

It’s true that one month of heavy eating isn’t really enough to see results, especially for someone of your body type. But I hope you can keep it up for a longer period of time (along with the lifting and athletics) to see if you can pack on some more weight. I find it hard to believe that you can’t increaes your 112-pound body weight on 4000 calories, but as you certainly know, not everything is set in stone.

I’ve laid out just about all I know about this subject here on this website, so I wish I had something more to tell you but I don’t. Best of luck.

I am 5 foot 10 and have been 8 stone (112 lb) exact since i was 14, not an ounce above nor an ounce below. This held true when i tried a 4000 calorie diet for 1 month including progressive lifting, looked around and tried taking vitamins and stuff that helps with muscle recovery but nothing.

Is this normal for an ectomorph and a skinny guy?

Is this normal for

You don’t need drugs or ‘supplements’. Those substances are for professional athletes and sportsmen who pay dieticians to design their nutrition plans, doctors to monitor their endocrine system, and trainers and coaches to make sure they get the most out of their exercise routines. Steroids are not for regular guys who just want to control their body weight.

Please commit yourself to spending an hour a day learning about diet and nutrition. If you start now, you’ll be very knowledgeable in a few months. Read multiple sources of information; there is plenty of good stuff available on the ‘net, but be aware that many of the sites you find in search engines are trying to make you feel bad about yourself so they can sell you something which will probably be useless (or worse). Above all else: don’t be impulsive. Good luck!

It sounds like you have a lot of knowledge. At this point, I’m not your teacher, I’m your colleague. I wish I could give you answers that will help you, but other than advising you to eat more, I don’t have any other info that’ll work for you.

For me eating is the real workout so downing a drink helps a lot to just get it over with. I do feel very full through out the day though, best to have them after meals.

Work out how much you have to spend a week, and see if you need to make cuts here and there. Eating a lot doesn’t have to be so expensive if you prepare meals for a few days.

Buy some recipe books for quick but substantial meals, and go from there. Things like bread, eggs, chicken, pasta, veg, fruit etc can all be found for a good price at your local supermarket. I assume by your “cheers” that you’re british? Isn’t there a Morrisons or something nearby? They have good prices there.

Good luck

Budget is key for me as well. Is there an answer up here somewhere for Jay and I?
Cheers.

Shoulder pain is common among lifters. But that doesn’t mean that it’s OK to just ignore it. If the pain is in the shoulder joint, you have to stop what you’re doing and let it heal. Overhead lifts are important, but not as important as squats or upper-back exercises like rows/chins. Many long-term lifters have bad shoulders. This sort of injury is preventable, so let it recover between workouts, work on your range of motion and flexibility, and be careful.

I’d rather see you using a barbell or some dumbbells instead of the machines, but you have to use whatever you have access to.

There is a cult of squatting on the internet; lots of people will tell you that you must squat. But it’s just an exercise like any other, and if your personal circumstance dictates that you don’t squat, so be it. Having said that, I still think you should squat until you can full squat at least your body weight for reps. It’s not just a leg exercise, it works the lower back and spinal-stabilization muscles and build the sort of overall strength that can’t easily be duplicated with a machine-based workout. No need to squat 500 pounds, but you should at least familiarize yourself with the exercise and use it to build a base of strength.

You don’t need a spotter for squats. If you get stuck, just dump the bar backwards off your back. You might even want to practice it once or twice if you have some bumper plates or something. For bench press, you could use dumbbells to avoid the spotter, but be careful of your shoulder joints because dumbbell bench presses are hard on the shoulders. Good gyms have a power cage that you can squat and/or bench inside of; it’ll stop you from getting crushed if you fail during a squat or bench press.

I reworked the numbers in the top section of the article and put in a note explaining why they are now changed.

I can’t give a definitive answer about how long to remain on a bulking diet. Most of my experience is with teens who can remain on it for quite some time. If they lift hard, they gain quite a bit of muscle at that age; and if they gain some flab, it burns off very easily when they start eating normally. For older guys, I’m not so sure… If I had to give an answer, I’d equivocate and say to keep careful records and stop bulking when the fat starts to accumulate at too quick a rate. Sorry I can’t give a better answer, but I try not to overstep my bounds and talk about things that I have no experience with (or knowledge of).