Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Looking forward: Bulking cycle

Under 8 weeks left (7.5 to be exact), and all this not eating has me looking forward to the next phase. I am planning on starting a bulking cycle immediately after the September competition. What does this entail? Lifting heavy & often ( 5 times/week instead of 4) and eating a ton (4,000-5,000 calories/day instead of 1,700-2,500).

Lifting:

Day 1: Chest & Tris
Day 2 AM: Back & bis
Day 2 PM: Hamstrings & Calves
Day 3: Shoulders & Traps
Day 4: Cardio or off
Day 5: Quads/Calves
Day 6: Shoulders/Traps
Day 7: Cardio or off

This should address my weak legs by splitting them into two days, and what I've been told are underdeveloped front and mid delts by lifting them 2x per week. Most likely I'll use this as my main split, but once a month or so I'll do a split that hits bis & tris 2x per week, and then another one that hits lats 2x per week. In each of those splits I'll only do shoulders once, but still split quads and hams into two workouts.

Eating:

Planned macros (updated each time I go up 10 lbs, using the next 10lb marker as my 'bodyweight'):
.5g/lb Fat
3g/lb Carbs
1.5g/lb Protein

That puts me at ~4500 calories to start (using 200lbs as my first marker). It would start out something like this:

Morning shake (immediately on waking up):
5oz banana
50g whey
30g maltodextrin
30g waxy maize

1 hr later
9 egg whites & 1 whole egg (jumbo)
1.5 cups oats
1 serving chia seeds

Mid-morning shake
50g protein blend
3/4 cup oats
50g maltodextrin
1 serving fruit blend (20g carbs)
1 serving almonds

Postworkout Shake
50g whey
4oz banana
20g dextrose
20g maltodextrin
30g waxy maize

Lunch
1.5 serving whole wheat pasta
3oz salmon
3oz chicken
2 HB egg whites
Pasta Sauce
1 serving fruit blend (20g carbs)


Afternoon Snack
2 tbsp peanut butter
4 oz ground turkey/ground beef
3 oz chicken
4 slices whole wheat bread



Dinner
400g Sweet Potato
3 cups spinach
4oz steak
3oz chicken
1/2 cucumber
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup carrots
1 tomato
1 bell pepper
2 servings chia seeds


Before Bed
50g Casein Shake

Rules:
Must have morning shake, breakfast, and afternoon salad. No exceptions. Mid-day meals are adjustable, but I'm going to try and stick to it as religiously as possible. Pizza, ice cream, burgers, chinese, etc. is all on the table so long as I make sure I'm getting enough calories in and it's within reason as far as how often I have it. Of course, all this is predicated on me getting and staying healthy.

My last bulk I was full all the time, to the point where it was time for my next meal but I wasn't particularly hungry. The results were good though, and at this point in my cut it feels like there's no such thing as being full as I haven't really been full in about 2 months now. All this food is making me hungry (no my salad did not fill me up & I still have another 45 mins until my night time shake), so I'd better stop talking about food. 7 more weeks!

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