Bulking whilst training for a Triathlon..advice needed!

[Pascal87]

Hi Guys,

Hows it going?

I have been weight training on and off for the last 2 years but want to finally commit to adding some lean muscle to my frame. My initial goal is to reach 85kg at 12% body fat but the issue I have is that I am also training for a Triathlon at the end of May and I am unsure how to best go about eating and training for an endurance event whilst also trying to bulk up. Here's an overview of current stats, food intake and training.

Im 24, 6.1", 79kg, 13% body fat.

My current food intake is approximately 2500 kCal/day - 60g Fat, 325g Carbs, 120g Protein. This is made up pretty much all from whole foods; I try and eat pretty clean.
These figures dont include training days where I have a post-workout shake of 1 heaped scoop of instant whey, 1 heaped scoop of dextrose, 1 heaped scoop of maltodextrin, and approx 5g of l-glutamine and HMB. I also take alpha men and omega 3/6/9 everyday.

Training up to this point has consisted of a standard 4 day split:
Day 1 - Chest and Tris
Day 2 - Back and Bis
Day 3 - Shoulders and Abs
Day 4 - Legs
Mainly doing compounds with a few isolation exercises thrown in. Tend to do around 4 exercises per muscle group each with 3 sets of 12/10/8 increasing the weight slightly on each set.
My one rep max on each main compound is nothing special; Squat 100kg, Deadlift 110kg, Barbell Chest Press 90kg, Barbell Shoulder Press 60kg, Bent Over Row 70kg.

Basically I need all the advice and tips I can get/you guys can offer re training schedule/calorie intake etc as I'm serious about hitting my weight/body fat goals and also killing the triathlon...Ive got mates competing so my pride is at stake!

I have been thinking about how to structure my training in order to get the right balance of Tri training and weight training and this is a rough idea of a schedule that I have come up with:
Day 1 - AM: swim approx 45 mins (interval based), PM: 6km run
Day 2 - Pull Day: Wide Grip Pull Ups / Bent Over Row / Upright Row / Chin Ups (4 sets of 8 on each)
Day 3 - AM: swim approx 45 mins (interval based), PM: 40min bike ride
Day 4 - Push Day: BB Chest Press / BB Standing Shoulder Press / DB Fly / Lateral Raises / Tri Dips (4 sets of 8 on each)
Day 5 - Legs and Abs: Squat / Dead Lift / Hanging Leg Raises (4 sets of 8 on each)
(I need to train swimming 2x/week as this is definitely my weakest of the 3 disciplines)

In terms of diet I was thinking that I need to seriously up my calorie intake, maybe to about 3500 kCal/day in order to account for all the cardio and to try and promote for growth/weight gain.

What do you guys reckon? Please feel free to tear this apart and tell me im an idiot haha...i just need some solid advice.

Thanks very much guys!

Pascal

[theotherjb]

I won't comment too much on training other than to say that changing to Push/Pull/Legs seems a good idea for you. Personally I don't see the need for a 'shoulders and abs' day in the first place. Your shoulders were probably getting hit hard enough on your chest and tris day. Also, you will be having more recovery time. However you may find your legs have trouble recovering from squatting and deadlifting for volume on the same day and the cycling/swimming/running throughout the week. I would consider swapping deadlifts for Chin Ups or Pull ups on pull day and having them at the start OR rotating squat + assistance with deadlift + assistance on legs day.

In terms of calories you will need to eat LOTS MORE than 2500/day. In fact you are likely in a calorie deficit at the moment given the amount of training you do. To give you an idea of where you need to aim for, I'm currently on a bulk doing 3 gym sessions a week and playing squash once or twice. I'm shorter than you (5"9) and lighter than you (70kg) and doing less exercise than you and I'm making slow but clean gains on 3000 calories a day of which 160g is protein and at least 105g is fat the rest made up of carbohydrate and fat (higher proportion of carbs on training days). I calculated this using the Diet and Nutrition section of Spider Dan's Beginners Guide (Sticky in the beginners section - READ IT it helped me a lot).

Hopefully some others will be able to pick up on some of the more detailed aspects of triathlon training etc. Don't be surprised to start eating 4000+ calories a day.

[Pascal87]

Thanks for your advice theotherjb! I appreciate it.

I had thought about putting deadlifts on the Pull day. I will give it a go and see how my legs feel after.
Would you mind posting a run down of your 3 gym sessions/week?

As for the calories, I figured I would need to dramatically increase my intake. Im starting the new regime as of next week and I think im going to keep a journal on the forum of how its going so I will keep you updated.

Thanks again mate.

[theotherjb]

Hi Pascal, keeping a journal is a great idea both for motivation and goal tracking. You'll also be able to get help from other forum users.

I am currently following a routine called Westside for Skinny B******s. It's aimed athletes looking to get stronger and pack on some muscle. I went with it because I liked the variety it allowed for and because it seemed to fit in well with the sport that I played (squash on weekends). Here's the link. Have a read of the whole article and see if it might be for you.

Westside for Skinny *******s A modified lifting program for "Hardgainers" - DeFranco's Training

In summary, it has a max effort day for each of lower and upper body and a high rep upper body day, the former with a focus on strength, the latter with a focus on size and I have made gains in both areas since starting to follow it in mid October.

[Pascal87]

WfSB looks good mate. Think im going to give it a try as of next week.

Going to start the food and training journal next week too.

Thanks for the tips!