# Bulking help



## TIXED (Feb 17, 2021)

So I am of small frame, around 11 stone.
I have bulked to get to 12.5 stone before however most of it was around my mid section, despite eating adequate amounts of protein and getting stronger in the gym I mainly just seemed to get fat, 4 inch waist increase etc.

How can I as a natural avoid this happening again and what rate of weight growth per week would keep me in a safe range for fat limitation?


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## Uptonogood (Feb 23, 2021)

You can't truly avoid fat gain whilst "bulking" however you can minimise fat gain by -

Starting from a lean position of around 10% and not allowing to get above 15% during the bulk

Keeping calorie surplus moderate - aim for no more than 0.5-1kg of weight gain over a month 

Avoid processes foods & sugars 

Do your cardio regularly and with intensity 

Make sure you are well rested & recovered


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## TIXED (Feb 17, 2021)

Uptonogood said:


> You can't truly avoid fat gain whilst "bulking" however you can minimise fat gain by -
> 
> Starting from a lean position of around 10% and not allowing to get above 15% during the bulk
> 
> ...


Seems I need to get leaner then, anorexic look here I come


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## drwae (Jul 25, 2017)

TIXED said:


> Seems I need to get leaner then, anorexic look here I come


If you are an 11 stone male losing weight is a ridiculous idea


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## Uptonogood (Feb 23, 2021)

drwae said:


> If you are an 11 stone male losing weight is a ridiculous idea


Well it would seem that way but to be fair we are looking at his weight in isolation. We probably need more information to give good advice

@TIXED what weight, height & bf% are you currently? What Training split do you use? What are you squat/bench/deadlift numbers? How quickly did you bulk from 11 to 12.5 stone? What if any cardio do you do? What do you do for employment?


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## G-man99 (Jul 15, 2008)

Uptonogood said:


> Well it would seem that way but to be fair we are looking at his weight in isolation. We probably need more information to give good advice
> 
> @TIXED what weight, height & bf% are you currently? What Training split do you use? What are you squat/bench/deadlift numbers? How quickly did you bulk from 11 to 12.5 stone? What if any cardio do you do? What do you do for employment?


You forgot NI number, mother's maiden name, favorite holiday destination and which football team he supports


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## TIXED (Feb 17, 2021)

Uptonogood said:


> Well it would seem that way but to be fair we are looking at his weight in isolation. We probably need more information to give good advice
> 
> @TIXED what weight, height & bf% are you currently? What Training split do you use? What are you squat/bench/deadlift numbers? How quickly did you bulk from 11 to 12.5 stone? What if any cardio do you do? What do you do for employment?


5'10" body fat I'd say around 20%

Took me about 6 months to gain around stone and a half, training has always been 3 day ppl 

QuOTE="G-man99, post: 6794849, member: 8798"]
You forgot NI number, mother's maiden name, favorite holiday destination and which football team he supports
[/QUOTE]


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## Jamming (Aug 8, 2012)

5ft 10 and 11 stone at 20% bodyfat...sounds like you have big problems with diet and / or training. Plus a 4 inch waist gain....from say 27" to 31" waist does not make you fat.

Sounds like you need a PT...PPL is a good routine but do it twice over 6 or 7 days if you want to build serious muscle. Focus on compound exercises and progressive overload. 

At that weight I would be eating in a min 500 calorie daily surplus. Don't worry about putting on a bit of fat...it will take you years to build a decent frame from a starting point off 11 stone if you are going to worryabout a little bit of fat.


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## Uptonogood (Feb 23, 2021)

TIXED said:


> 5'10" body fat I'd say around 20%
> 
> Took me about 6 months to gain around stone and a half, training has always been 3 day ppl
> 
> ...


[/QUOTE]

So 5 10 @ 12.5 stone (80kg) & 20% bf? That suggests not a significant amount of muscle mass considering you have been training a while. 1 stone over 6 months is roughly 1kg per month which is pushing the limits of natty gaining - for most its excessive and I would look to progress at half that rate personally.

You MAY also have some insulin sensitivity issues which would work against you for muscle gain - and as stated above diet/training are probably not where they need to be. 

Don't take this as a slandering - most people train 3-5 years before they really understand diet/training and actually start making progress. You have to get things wrong to learn how to get things right - pretty much everyone ends up in the same boat as you're in at some point in their training career. 

In terms of what you should do now? Firstly you need to bring you BF level down to somewhere in 12-15% range - you should do this through a mix of clean diet and training. As with bulking, natty cutting is a slow process. Aim to lose no more than 0.5kg per week - anything from 0.25-0.5kg would be optimal - I think you need to lose somewhere in the region of 6kg so 12-16 weeks is about a reasonable timeframe to achieve this in. 

PPL is a great split for intermediate and advanced lifters - however I would suggest you need to focus on getting strong first and something like juggernaut or 5/3/1 boring but big would possibly benefit you more and teach you the principles of progressive overload. Both are a 4 day program and I would suggest pairing that with 3 cardio/endurance sessions per week. This will help reduce BF and improve insulin sensitivity.

I would agree with jamming that employing a PT, even if only for 2 sessions a month would be possibly one of the best investments you can make


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## felladrol (9 mo ago)

TIXED said:


> So I am of small frame, around 11 stone.
> I have bulked to get to 12.5 stone before however most of it was around my mid section, despite eating adequate amounts of protein and getting stronger in the gym I mainly just seemed to get fat, 4 inch waist increase etc.
> 
> How can I as a natural avoid this happening again and what rate of weight growth per week would keep me in a safe range for fat limitation?


Unfortunately there are really no magic tricks to avoid some amount of fat gain. 
Obviously it's heavily going to depend on the caloric surplus so you don't want to do that. However in the same breath you also don't want to severily underdo it either. I did this mistake myself and basically ended up just spinning my wheels and not making any noticeable progress neither in performance or physique. It's going to take a little while to figure out that sweet spot for you but once you've there then the rest is up to your genetics.


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