Started bulking, have a few specific questions (pics)

scorpsjl · Sun, April 11th, 2010, 03:09 PM

Hello everyone! I've been lurking for about a week, and this community seems great, sincere, and very supportive. About me: after doing a lot of research, I finally started lifting exactly 3 weeks ago. I have a lean body type (eat-anything ectomorph throughout college, and also played a lot of sports), but after getting less exercise per week in grad school, I started noticing what I thought was fat! So I started eating super healthily and dieting, but soon realized that to look good, with my body, it made more sense to gain muscle than lose fat.

For 3 weeks I was following a very basic every-other day full body work out (getting up regularly at 7:30, in gym by 8, was a revelation! This above all else made me realize how great this "weight-lifting routine" idea is). I didn't notice significant visual gains, but my muscles felt firmer, and my lifts went up, e.g. from 25 to 35 for bicep curls, and from 85 to 105 for bench press. Still, now that I've found this site, I think it makes sense to get more serious. I looked at SCHTEEVIE's bulking plan, and it seems to fit my needs. Any better ideas?

Here are my few specific questions that I haven't been able to answer:

(current weight: 147.5, height 5'11'1/2)

A) from my pictures, what would you estimate my body fat is? The thing that got me started on this journey was that pinch in the third picture. Is that excess fat, or just skin, or something else (if it's possible to tell from the picture). Those things on the side, are those obliques or love handles or both? And below my belly button, is that a ponch, or muscle?

B) As I said my diet is very good (I'm an organic-health-freak type, and I've been getting a lot of protein), but I do have a question about carbs. How many carbs, e.g. whole grain bread, oats, quinoa, barley (brown rice?) should I eat? I already eat a fair amount of beans (for protein) (as well as many many vegetables and fruits). (as for total cals, I don't want to get too bulky... For now I've been doing about 2500 cals a day). (Actually, I've also been eating pastries occasionally, only recently, since I'm visiting Berkeley for the second half of the semester, and there are so many good bakeries! That has to stop. But I can still eat their whole wheat bread, right? How often?)

C) How about cardio? Currently I'm doing a short run every other day, about 1.5-3 miles at 7:30 - 8:00 minutes a mile. Does that have to go? I've never had a period of my life where I didn't regularly do cardio, it would feel strange.

D) I have a question about fat gain. You see, I already had a fair amount of muscle tone, from my days as an athlete (I was a 400m hurdler for the first part of college). Do I have to gain some weight and lose that if I want to build upper body muscle? But, I don't want to get huge, just stronger and have slightly bigger muscles. Is there anyway I can do this without losing muscle tone or getting any "fatty" look?

E) why do I look so much worse unflexed than flexed??

Thanks a lot! These pictures are after 3 weeks, but they don't look so different. They'll be my before pictures, and I can't wait to see my progress after a month! Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any help.

Big Blue · Sun, April 11th, 2010, 05:43 PM

A) from my pictures, what would you estimate my body fat is? The thing that got me started on this journey was that pinch in the third picture. Is that excess fat, or just skin, or something else (if it's possible to tell from the picture). Those things on the side, are those obliques or love handles or both? And below my belly button, is that a ponch, or muscle?

Those are not love handles your very lean, id say 12% bf. But its hard to tell.

B) As I said my diet is very good (I'm an organic-health-freak type, and I've been getting a lot of protein), but I do have a question about carbs. How many carbs, e.g. whole grain bread, oats, quinoa, barley (brown rice?) should I eat? I already eat a fair amount of beans (for protein) (as well as many many vegetables and fruits). (as for total cals, I don't want to get too bulky... For now I've been doing about 2500 cals a day). (Actually, I've also been eating pastries occasionally, only recently, since I'm visiting Berkeley for the second half of the semester, and there are so many good bakeries! That has to stop. But I can still eat their whole wheat bread, right? How often?)

If your going to be bulking to gain weight I would not see how eating some whole wheat bread would be bad, as long as it falls within your calories.

C) How about cardio? Currently I'm doing a short run every other day, about 1.5-3 miles at 7:30 - 8:00 minutes a mile. Does that have to go? I've never had a period of my life where I didn't regularly do cardio, it would feel strange.

Once again if your bulking you don't need to do cardio, but it wont hurt as long as your eating lots.

D) I have a question about fat gain. You see, I already had a fair amount of muscle tone, from my days as an athlete (I was a 400m hurdler for the first part of college). Do I have to gain some weight and lose that if I want to build upper body muscle? But, I don't want to get huge, just stronger and have slightly bigger muscles. Is there anyway I can do this without losing muscle tone or getting any "fatty" look?

You could do a very slow bulk, eating barley over maintenance calories. But you would still gain fat, but you could just lose that again once you attain your strength and size goals.

E) why do I look so much worse unflexed than flexed??

Everyone does

If you cant tell I think you should bulk, don't worry about gaining weight. It also seems like your not sure what direction you want to take, you want to stay lean and get bigger(a hard thing to do). My bulk right now has gained me ~15 pounds. Sure yeah Ive definitely been more cut and lean. But Ive never been stronger and that feels great. Your about the same height as me right now but minus 25 pounds. I say bulk up.

scorpsjl · Sun, April 11th, 2010, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Blue

If you cant tell I think you should bulk, don't worry about gaining weight. It also seems like your not sure what direction you want to take, you want to stay lean and get bigger(a hard thing to do). My bulk right now has gained me ~15 pounds. Sure yeah Ive definitely been more cut and lean. But Ive never been stronger and that feels great. Your about the same height as me right now but minus 25 pounds. I say bulk up.

Thanks a lot for the advice! Isn't there a "lean muscular body look," which is significantly more muscular than I am but still "lean?" Maybe I'm letting the word "bulk" scare me. Would you say you look better, as well as feel stronger, after bulking? Or does the "look better" part only come after cutting (I know it's a matter of opinion, which is why I'm asking...) Thanks!

Big Blue · Mon, April 12th, 2010, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scorpsjl

Thanks a lot for the advice! Isn't there a "lean muscular body look," which is significantly more muscular than I am but still "lean?" Maybe I'm letting the word "bulk" scare me. Would you say you look better, as well as feel stronger, after bulking? Or does the "look better" part only come after cutting (I know it's a matter of opinion, which is why I'm asking...) Thanks!

Yeah there definitely is a lean muscular body look, a good example would be John Stone. For example http://johnstonefitness.com/php/enla...th_compare.jpg. That's a difference of 1%bf, but an increase of twenty pounds. You can see he "looks" a little softer but not really worse.

As a guy I would say that I definitely look better cut, but I love gaining weight(should say attempting, stalled lately) and eating lots of food. Not to mention hitting a personal best in at least one of the three big lifts each week. I would say form the view of most women being cut would look better. But I would say if you gain 10-20 pounds and get to your current body fat you would look great, and you would also be surprised about it as well.

The-UK · Sun, April 18th, 2010, 04:32 PM

And you don't need to worry about 'getting huge' - you won't be Arnie in a few months or even in your lifetime if your genetics arn't up to it and you don't want it to happen.

KoNcEpT61 · Mon, April 19th, 2010, 01:10 AM

Men generally store fat around the midsection due to testosterone, and just because you can pinch and grab doesnt mean its fat. You're quite lean.

Cardio doesnt have to go, but cardio wont make you bulk. i've heard before that due to the acid build up during cardio, it eats away at protein in your body, namely your muscles.

the main thing for bulking is lifting big and eating a lot. you should calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and then add on 300 Calories to start bulking. Eat clean and you'll see gains.

Just remember that with bulking comes fat. If you use a scale to measure your body fat, be aware that it will fluctuate greatly depending on if you're dehydrated. One day i was 18% BF, the other I was 14%!!