Nutrition for Bulking up

So last week we talked a bit about bulking up, let's look now at the specifics of nutrition when you're getting big.


When bulking up, you need an organized eating plan. Also you have to educate yourself about carbs, protein and fats. You need to know how calories work, and how to calculate your meals.
First off you need to form a ratio.  50/30/20 (carbs,protein,fat) works best for gaining quality weight. Now since the body gets used to the amount of food you're giving it, you will have to up the calories by 300 every 2 weeks.
The first week that you start bulking you will go +500 calories and then 300 calories every 2 weeks from then on. The 300 calories will be the same ratio as your diet. You will bulk up for 14-16 weeks, or until you decide to cut down.
Let's say you were eating 2000 calories before you started. That's your maintenance. First you will add 500 for the first 2 weeks, and then 300 for every other week.
Therefore, it will look something like this. This is only a model, so add 500 calories to your maintenance calories.

Starting at 3,000: Weeks 1-2 = 3,500 cal Weeks 3-4 = 3,800 cal Weeks 5-6 = 4,100 cal Weeks 7-8 = 4,400 cal Weeks 9-10= 4,700 cal Weeks 11-12= 5,000 cal Weeks 13-14= 5,300 cal Week 15-16 = 5,500 cal

You can stop at anytime if you feel you reached your goal, or are gaining too much fat. Let the mirror be your judge. Don't follow the scale or a program. It would be foolish if you are happy at week 13 and you continue to week 16 and gain 5 or more lbs of fat. Always look in the mirror.
Having logs and looking at the scale is fine too, it's actually necessary, but always let the mirror be your main source for judging your progress. Next week we'll look at the best foods to eat while bulking.

New Goals for the Winter

Winter is coming and that means you'll be wearing heavier clothes. This is a great time of year to put on the mass. The problem people usually have is that they do not eat enough, remember that if you eat more calories than your burn you will gain weight.  Audit what kind of calories you are taking in and if you are not gaining the mass like you want you'll probably find that you're not taking in as many calories as you think. 

One concern you may have is gaining too much body fat...well just get over it!  When you are building for mass you will gain fat along with the muscle.  The trick is to get on a good cut diet to show everyone what you've been working on over the winter. 

That's the overview, we'll look more specifically at the calories you should be taking and what types of food you may want to eat for your winter bulk up.

Buff Dad Busy Dad Workout

Hey all, check out the latest workout:
I'm working out at night time since work has me in too early...it's been working out OK.  I put the kids to bed at about 8:00 pm and hit the road.  Here's the latest schedule...the short term goal now is putting on the definition for summer.

Monday: Back and Bi (after warmup 3 sets of 8-10)
barbell curl
seated curl
concentration curl
bar bell bent over row
one arm dumbbell rows
machine row

Wednesday Chest and Triceps (after warmup 3 sets of 8-10)
Flat barbell bench press
Dumbbell Flies
Incline Press
Close Grip BB Press
Cable Push Downs
Overhead DB tri presses

Friday Abs & Legs (after warmup 3 sets of 8-10)

BB Squat
Lunges
Ham Curls
Calf Raises (seated or standing)

Abs weighted crunches 3 sets of 10 w/ 25 lbs.

Cardio 5 minutes to work up before weights and 10-15 post weights.

Supplements: Whey protein during the day / Glutamine X-tend sipped during the workout.

Good News...bad news

Hey, I have a job!  I'm a warehouse supervisor at a lacrosse/hockey goods distributor. 
Bad news is I'm working quite a bit longer hours and my workouts have fallen off significantly.  I'm now at one time per week, which is OK for maintenance but I'd still like to be making gains.  I might be able to get some equipment for home but that's in the works.  I'd like to get back posting health & fitness related stuff but I guess we'll see how I get with this schedule, but I hope to see you soon.

5x5 Workout

Today we'll talk about the 5x5 workout.  This falls under the strength gaining type of program.  The idea of this program is low reps and higher weight. 
Who is this for?

• If you want to hit new records on the squat, bench or deadlift this program is for you. 
• If you want more strength in general--that is for daily life
• If you want bigger muscles this will help you lift more weight when you get into a hypertrophic cycle.

How is it done?
The gist of this program is that you do 5 reps of 5 sets with compound exercises--generally the bench press, squat, dead lift or olympic lifts like the power clean.  Additionally you will do isolation exercises that target muscules that get left out of this program like barbell or dumbell curls.

Where do I start?
Check out this GREAT site on the 5x5, called the Bill Starr "MadCow" 5x5....this guy is an idol in the strength and conditioning world.  The site has lots of detail for questions that you've got and also a great spreadsheet to download and put together a great workout for you!

Long Needed Update

OK, I'm still here.  I hope to get posting more regularly starting this week.  I'm still looking for a job but things have been progressing.  I've got two options that may turn out to be a job for me but we'll see!
This week and possibly into the future I'll be doing a series on different types of workouts.  You can categorize workout programs into three basic groups: 1) Gain strength 2) Gain size and 3) endurance--of course there is a whole lot of overlap in these but I'll be putting programs into these three groups.  Keep healthy y'all I'll see you later this week!

Happy New Year

OK Y'all, I've already seen people talking about good and bad of New Year's resolutions, but I'm gonna post them here.  I talk a lot about goals, so it makes sense that I make some new ones for the year.  I got way off course with the job loss but we're gonna get that licked soon-I don't know anything but there's too much action for me not to have a job soon. 

So here's my fitness goals for 2009:

• Bench 245# 8 times
• Squat 400# 8 times
• Visible 6 pack
• Bigger Chest & Arms (I will add specifics to this later)

Make your goals if you don't already have them, write them down or print them out and post them in a place you see everyday so that you don't forget them!

Here's to a great and blessed new year!