Bulking: is 1.5lb/week too much?

[anotherbutters]

What's a sensible amount to try to put on per week whilst bulking?

I'm managing to put on 1.5lb per week reasonably consistently, but I'm not sure if the amount of fat I'm putting on is too much as I've never bulked before. I feel like I'm on a razor's edge. If I miss the odd meal for whatever reason, my weight drops, so I don't know if I could put on say 0.5-1lb per week.

I'm planning on starting cutting in Feb/Mar, so I won't find out how much muscle I've put on until then. If I'm putting weight on too fast now, I might as well tone it down a bit (if you pardon the pun), so I don't have to cut so much later.

 

[Tweakle]

natural bulking = piggy wiggy woo

if you're not running some serious anabolics or are very underweight then that seems a little much bro, eating for size is a different game training clean.

 

[anotherbutters]

Yes, all natty. I should have said - I started off 155lbs, currently 174lbs.

I was just going off the "Mark is routinely able to get 30-40lbs onto a new lifter in 6 months" quote in 'TRAINING NEW LIFTERS - Glenn Pendlay and Mark Ripptoe'. I know I shouldn't take that kind of thing literally, but I haven't bulked before, so I didn't really know what was reasonable.

Mind you, I wasn't really expecting to get to 200lbs and for it all to be muscle

I'll try to tone it down a bit. Thanks Tweakle.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Look in the mirror. How do you look compared to when you started? If you notice any visible fat gain, then you may want to tone it down. If nothing much has changed, or you're not world's pudgier, I'd keep it where it is. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot by dropping back calories too much. If you plan to do this, try 100-200 less for a few weeks. Any more could be detrimental.

 

[bassman]

I am natural and currently bulking. From what I have read the ideal weight gain to shoot for is around 1lb per week, that is what I aim for. I am tracking my progress with skin fold calipers and a weight scale. My bodyfat is going up but not at an alarming rate. I have been averaging a weight gain of 1.66lbs/week which equates to .76lb a week of fat and .90lb a week of LBM according to my skin fold tests.

 

[Cynical Simian]

I agree that 1 pound per week would be a good, pretty typical rate. Most people who go above that without , um, pharmaceutical assistance seem to find that the ratio of fat to muscle gain is a bit high.

 

[tay1506]

If ur gaining 1.5 lbs. a week i would be doing alot more cardio rather than cutting calories. That is if u have time for it and i would cut down ur fat intake. Right now im gaing aproximatly 1.25 lbs a week and would be more but i do some hard cardio 80% max heart rate for 2 hours a day 1 hour morning and 1 our evening while lifting 1:30 a day and im doing pretty good as of now.

 

[Basic_wonder]

I am putting on 2 lbs a week right now, but then I weigh 140 and am 6'2", I haven't seen any change in body fat yet, I still have none. My journal is around here somewhere. I think it is up to the personal, if your a super ectomorph (whatever one for skinny people is), then 1.5 lbs should be no problem. If your any of the other body types that might be a bit much.

 

[mayhems]

question is... have u seen strength increases yet?

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

A note to people who have trouble adding mass and who end up gaining fat at the same time:

Eat more calories, but use cardio to bring you back down to a respectable level over your maintenance. Cutting calories out isn't as good as eating more and then burning them off is. You end up with better nutrient partitioning with the latter.

 

[anotherbutters]

Thanks for the answers guys. I forgot to add, I'm 5'9", not sure what body type - naturally reasonably slim, but not skinny.

Except for the odd set here and there, I've seen weekly strength gains in every lift since I started 11 weeks ago. I have a single factor 5x5 journal on here.

I want to carry on bulking for another few months but my concern is that I'm definitely putting on too much fat for my liking. I guess that answers my own question - I need to cut back a bit.

Maintenance is anything from 2500-3000 calories. I had to get up to 4000 calories before I started putting on weight. My bodyweight seems to fluctuate quite a lot when I change my diet, which makes it hard to control how much I put on, but I guess I'll just have to cut down on a couple of the meals and see how it goes.

Putting on 1lb per week does seem more sensible.

As far as cardio goes, I work out from home and don't have any cardio equipment, so I'd have to go out for a run and it's getting cold here in the UK I don't want anything affecting my weekly strength gains, but adding moderate cardio a couple of times per week would probably be ok. I might see if I can get myself a cheap spinning machine.

Thanks again.