Bulking queries: Ratio of fat to muscle during bulking.

**terrance85** · 16-08-2009 11:19 AM

Good day all,

I am a 5'9", 24 year old male.

A bit about my progress to date:

I started lifting (free weights) in October 2008. I got some 'newbie' gains in the first couple of months but soon plateaued. After maintaining my routine until march 2009 I then stared a cutting diet (did plenty research and got all my ratios and numbers right, consistently lost ~1.5-2lbs/week) and kept lifting to remind my newly built muscles to stick around. I lost over a stone and reached my goal weight of 140 lbs (<10% BF) after 2 months.

My goal now is, for the first time, to bulk up a bit. I really only want to build my upper body. My legs, I guess it's genetic, are somewhat larger than my top half (thighs are 21" and my chest is 36"). So I want to add a few inches to my arms, chest, shoulders, etc. I am going for a more proportionate aesthetic - the grecian ideal. I'd like to bump my chest up to around 40" and my arms to about 14".

Ideally, I would like to put my body in a positive lean muscles building state to minimise the chance of gaining excessive fat.

Having done plenty research it looks like the diet and routine presented in the forum post "BULKING - A beginner's guide" is suitable for minimising fat gains and optimising lean muscle gain. I will be eating approx. 2900 kcal/day.

I was wondering how much fat (compared to lean muscle) I should expect to gain during my bulking session?

Also, I read that it is good to work the whole body regardless of what 'show muscles' one might be aiming for as it promotes growth hormone release. As my legs are already the size I want them, should I simply increase the reps to 10-12 to stop them getting bigger while on a surplus diet? Or should I stick to upper body only in my case?

Thanks guys and look forward to reading any responses.

**bad_horse** · 16-08-2009 11:55 AM

train your legs dude, its the only way to go. you'll probably want to train them eventually anyway if you start to get big up top.

**James** · 16-08-2009 12:47 PM

training legs, they are the largest muscle group in the body, helps the body to create and release the hormones that will help your upper body grow too. NEVER leave out any major body part/area when weight training!

**terrance85** · 16-08-2009 02:55 PM

Thanks very much for your replies chaps.

So the consensus seems to be that I should definitely work my whole body to yield the greatest benefits. Does this mean I have to just accept that my legs will grow - because thats not really what I am wanting?

I thought it would be easy to spot grow my upper body. Perhaps I should have put this in the beginner section. Sorry.

PS - I know I don't have typical "body building" goals, so I hope this is not alienating anyone.

Thanks.

**SpiderDan** · 18-08-2009 10:03 AM

You cant have legs that are too big

big legs = stong person

You can focus on your upperbody by specializing but I think you'd be better off just growing in general

If you want a guide to how much fat compared to muscle, I've read this somewhere before not sure how accurate but anyway

Spot on diet = 3 pounds of muscle for 1 pound of fat
Good diet = 2 pounds of muscle for 1 pound of fat
Average diet = 1 pound of muscle for 1 pound of fat

but then again its down to genetics naturally lean people will stick on muscle with very little fat gain, naturally fat people will stick on more fat when building muscle.

If you want a "good" physique at your height I think you're gonna need to be about 180 pounds at a similar body fat.

Im 5'8" its my aim to be above 200 before I begin to consider cutting again, but thats just me

**terrance85** · 20-08-2009 04:01 PM

Hi folks,

Thanks very much for all your input. I've decided to follow the routine outlined in 'Starting Strength' by Mark Rippetoe. Much of what I've read so far was echoed by yourselves. So it looks like I'll be squatting, bench pressing, deadlifting, pressing and power cleaning for the foreseeable future. Looking forward to getting started (I collect my power rack tomorrow, just need to organise the barbell now).

Thanks again guy.

**astraturbo** · 28-08-2009 05:35 PM

what sort of rack ya got and how much ya pay for it?

**terrance85** · 01-09-2009 09:26 PM

Quote

Originally Posted by astraturbo

what sort of rack ya got and how much ya pay for it?

hey man,

i got this as new for 200 notes

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marcy-Power-.../dp/B000Q55B8U

it's got way more than I need for now, but after I get my strength base up and start adding to my routine it will be handy. i don't think there's much that can't be done with this bad boy.