*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***

So I'm right at the beginning of understanding body building. I want to do this as properly as I can, I've read the GordyR thread next I'll be watching videos on the exercises he mentioned in his sample routine.

One thing that strikes me though, I'm 5'10" 226lbs and 36" waist. If I go straight into the bulking that's over 4k calories per day, surely I'll just balloon?
 
PaulStat said:
So I'm right at the beginning of understanding body building. I want to do this as properly as I can, I've read the GordyR thread next I'll be watching videos on the exercises he mentioned in his sample routine.

One thing that strikes me though, I'm 5'10" 226lbs and 36" waist. If I go straight into the bulking that's over 4k calories per day, surely I'll just balloon?
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I would suggest cutting back, first. Whilst "strong and stable" is a bit last week, you can still trim down whilst making gains if you are new to the gym (pretty much the only time this trick works)...
 
Over 4k calories to bulk also seems massively high at that weight unless you're already a ripped mountain.
 
I think someone has been a little over enthusiastic with their activity multiplier.

As an example, for your height and weight you would need a body fat of 11% and an activity multiplier of 1.5 to need 4k calories to bulk!

1.5 is a high multiplier, use 1.25, unless you genuinely are pushing 5-6 workouts a week.

At 1.25 and 18% bf you only need 3.1k to bulk.
 
It's always worth remembering that a typical session of lifting weights, especially more strength based stuff that's not super high volume doesn't really burn much in the way of calories and activity multipliers should be approached in terms of how active you are over a whole day. Someone who works a desk job, drives to work and lifts x3 a week should probably use the sedentary setting as a starting point. I've only walked less than 10k steps once since the start of the year (when I spend a day in a hospital bed), lift x4 a week and go to yoga once/twice a week and I still generally still use 'lightly active' as a starting point.
 
I'm on 4k calories a day since 4th May, currently at 212lbs/96.2kg at 6ft5in, and barely increase in weight now so may have to bump it again. It's taken 7 months to gain 8kg, started at 3,400 calories. :(
 
Ok thanks, I was just going by the body weight in lbs * 18 in the gordyr thread perhaps I read it wrong

. To get a good rough starting figure for the amount of calories you should be consuming take your bodyweight (lb’s) and multiply it by 18. Therefore if you weigh 170lb’s you should be consuming at least 3060 calories per day to begin with. If you find you are not gaining then up the calories. Aim for 1.5-2lb’s weight gain per week. Any more than this and you are likely gaining more fat than you need to be so cut back the calories slightly.
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MikeTheNative said:
Do you have an active job? That's a lot of food everyday.
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I work in IT so at the desk most of the day, but I try and go to the gym 4 days a week for an hour a day doing weights. I've always been able to eat what I want, an extreme hard gainer. I started off around 12 stone back in 2015 after not going to the gym for a couple of years, was up to over 14st last year but stopped going to the gym in April and keeping up the calories and within a couple of months was back down to 12.5. This time I've been trying to eat a lot cleaner with brown rice, wholemeal bread/bagels, wholewheat pasta, fruit, sweet potatoes, Huel etc. Tbh it's becoming a bit of a chore eating so much (vegetarian as well so limits things)

When I first started the weights in 2015 I was doing 2 hours a day on a 2 day split twice a week (Mon & Tues then Thurs & Fri). Not seeing as much progression with just an hour per day on a 4 day split at the moment. I'm tempted to try the ICF5x5 for a change and to increase volume.
 
Freefaller said:
It's not that much really - hes' also quite tall and weighs nearly 100kg
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Its a lot when his figures come out as him requiring 3.3k to bulk at a BF% of 15 and an activity modifier of 1.35. Maintenance is 2.8k. So 1.2k over your maintain is a lot!

MattTheTall77 said:
I'm on 4k calories a day since 4th May, currently at 212lbs/96.2kg at 6ft5in, and barely increase in weight now so may have to bump it again. It's taken 7 months to gain 8kg, started at 3,400 calories. :(
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8kg in 7 months sound to me like quite a sweet spot. You are naturally limited by how much muscle the body can put on, so the aim is to slowly creep up in weight without piling on to much excess fat. I would be pretty damn happy with 8kg in 7 months and would argue that even that is to much. 1lb to 2lb per month should be the aim.
 
Yes but that's just a guideline - we don't know his hormonal profile or activity.

End of the day 4k is not a lot of food - that's my point.

However I suspect he is not getting 4k a day if he's not able to bulk up.
 
maybe I've missed the post,
but what calculation are you guys using to get these numbers?

also where do most people find their fat percentage?!

My current plan was to just keep adding calories till my weight finally goes up!!
 
I can eat a lot of food and 4k a day is a lot! At least to me, unless you massively stack carbs and fats that is.

The guideline figures are pretty close, and considering maintenance is at 2.7k, even with a 10% variance to the positive that would be 2.9k, so bulk would be guided at 3.4k and even adding a further 10% is only 3.75k!

That's a lot of variance and still not even close to 4k.

Still manlet who gains weight at 2k per day crew checking in!
 
No of course you're right - but there may be mitigating circumstances. However I agree, and suspect that he's not eating 4k.

Personally though, 4k is not something I struggled with when I did it for several years! :(
 
That's a lot from shakes! Also I would say you have a lot more muscle then MattTheTall77 and so your BMR will be a fair chunk higher.
 
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