How do you ...

[CSB]

go about judging success of a bulking cycle, and improvements , is it all about weight to you ? gaining 15-20lbs a cycle , is it strength gains and you leave the scale alone? Mirror only ? or just an overall combination of them all

i find bulking cycles the hardest for me to determine success as i over analyze everything and to an extent suffer reverse anorexia lol which rules out the mirror , i just never seem to appear bigger to myself no matter how much i gain, tracking the scale usually is a big mistake as well as i find it a bad indicator , if i allow myself to get stuck on it, and i platue gains wise for a week or 2 it messes with my motivation , even when those close to me are noticing very visible changes on my physique over the same time and my strength is increasing week on week.

I find with cutting its far easier , as i am more in tune with the mirror and dispite weight i can track progress week on week via bodyfat loss in various areas , i dont have the guess work on whats bloat / fat and muscle determining my weight gain in a bulker

 

[stevesmi]

for a bulker i go by if my shirts get tighter on me. for example if your suite you wore a year ago no longer fits, you are doing something right.

 

[CSB]

for a bulker i go by if my shirts get tighter on me. for example if your suite you wore a year ago no longer fits, you are doing something right.

good point , forgot about clothing , i go through the quickly, i am lucky in that my delts and back are a very strong points and any growth see's me stretching shirts

funny i been tearing my underwear during deads and squats every week , must be true what they were saying about tren Coc... nah for once now i been concentrating on squats my upper thighs have exploded

 

[squatzilla]

for a bulker i go by if my shirts get tighter on me. for example if your suite you wore a year ago no longer fits, you are doing something right.

Excellent point Steve. When I got serious w/ my lifting in Fall 2006 I wore a size 44 coat, now I wear a 48, but my weight is only up 5-8 lbs. I wore size L shirts, now I wear 2X.

 

[Not4me]

instead of going by sight because you look at yourself everyday in the mirror, make weekly measurements or something like that. its always hard to see a differance in my body doesnt matter how much weight i put on or take off i always see myself the same way.

 

[stevesmi]

my pants have a hard time fitting around my quads. they are skin tight. anyone else notice this issue ?

i've always had muscular legs but since i've been cycling the past 3 years they have gotten to the point where putting pants on is difficult.

 

[CSB]

that was what i was getting to squatzilla you nailed it, your much bigger but its not necessarily reflecting on the scale , i have been to wrapped up in the scale , and it has led me astray a few times where if its not moving i get crazy with the calories only to put on alot of fat , if your eating the right calories , training hard and getting rest and strength is increasing chances are your body is growing, and your body composition is changing for the positive

Not4me, good point, i gained a couple pounds 3-4 , decided to measure my arms they were up just under an inch, even losing those pounds again and some more lol my arms still held firm size wise.

steve the pants are the hardest as with being in shape our waist is small , i dont have the biggest legs 27 inches at the moment but my waist is only 30 , i generally need size 36 plus pants to fit quads comfortably

 

[zwhit]

My first two bulking cycles I was all about the scales and weight gain. I put on and kept a good bit of weight/muscle and started stripping away the fat. After getting down to around 10% bf I don't won't to get too much higher than that even on bulking cycles. From now on I'm going for lean quality gains.

 

[sterolizer]

for a bulker i go by if my shirts get tighter on me. for example if your suite you wore a year ago no longer fits, you are doing something right.

lolololol Steve sounds like an expensive way to tell if you grew at all

 

[stevesmi]

^^^my new gf keeps giving me shit that i dont have a suite that fits in my closet, she doesn't understand how much mass i've put on in the past few years. heck even the past 6 months. i told her it would be pointless to buy a suite now as I plan on getting bigger but she just doesn't get it