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HST requires lots of calories = getting fat?
- Thread starter robmurphy
- Start date
I've heard lots of talk about needing to get lots of calories for the best hypertrophy. I'd like to start HST, as I have now got nice strong compound lifts all above intermediate, along with about 10% Bodyfat. I would love more size though as I lost alot during cutting, and didn't get much size from strength only training.
I hate to say it but if you want to get big you have to eat big especially if you want to do it quickly. Unfortunately that means adding body fat.
I’ve made my best gains when eating 500 kCal above maintenance each day which adds about 1 lb. of BW/week. If you really want to count calories and are willing to risk missing out on some gains by not eating enough you could shoot for 200-300 kCal above maintenance but depending on your job estimating day calorie expenditure may be difficult, that’s why I err on the high side.
You are really in the perfect position to bulk at 10% BF. You could bulk up until you reach 15% and then cut back down again if you don’t want to get too fat. Are you sure that the size you lost while cutting was muscle or was it fat? If you didn’t lose any or much strength then you likely didn’t lose much muscle. If you did lose muscle I’m curious how you cut since there seem to be some very effective methods though clearly some people, I’m one of them, have no problem cutting w/o losing much muscle.
I’ve made my best gains when eating 500 kCal above maintenance each day which adds about 1 lb. of BW/week. If you really want to count calories and are willing to risk missing out on some gains by not eating enough you could shoot for 200-300 kCal above maintenance but depending on your job estimating day calorie expenditure may be difficult, that’s why I err on the high side.
You are really in the perfect position to bulk at 10% BF. You could bulk up until you reach 15% and then cut back down again if you don’t want to get too fat. Are you sure that the size you lost while cutting was muscle or was it fat? If you didn’t lose any or much strength then you likely didn’t lose much muscle. If you did lose muscle I’m curious how you cut since there seem to be some very effective methods though clearly some people, I’m one of them, have no problem cutting w/o losing much muscle.
Thanks Grunt, any idea of the fat/muscle ratio with that 1lb per week? I certainly don't mind calorie counting. My muscle loss was due to having to cut for so long. I was probably around 25%bf when I started as a novice last year. Overall, my lifts have of course increased, but not without huge deloads, making the mistake of undereating, etc. I became a little more controlled with a 500cal deficit, but towards the end, I used ECA, and when that exhausted me - yohombine.
I think you're right though, bulking to 15% then cutting is going to be the way to go. Thanks for that. What would you reccomend for effective cutting methods for me to look in to?
I think you're right though, bulking to 15% then cutting is going to be the way to go. Thanks for that. What would you reccomend for effective cutting methods for me to look in to?
My best estimate is that of the 32 lbs. I gained about 20 lbs. was muscle and 12 was fat. I say best estimate because I store most of my fat a visceral fat so I can’t rely exclusively on skin fold measurements.
The main way I cut was following a combination of the protocols in “A Guide To Flexible Dieting,” “The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook” and “The Ultimate Diet 2.0.” essentially I kick started the cut with a carb depletion workout from UD2 and then settled into about t 50% calorie deficit for two weeks while doing maintenance workouts with heavy weights. I lost about 7 lbs. of BF% and based on strength little if any muscle. Had I wanted to continue the cut I would have taken a week off dieting and settled into a slower cut with at most a 500 kCal/ day deficit to get down to 10%. If I were to go below 10% I would probably use the UD2 protocols.
Here’s the web site that describes them.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/
You can also search the internet to find most of the relevant information on how the diets work w/o buying the books to see if you think they will work for you.
The main way I cut was following a combination of the protocols in “A Guide To Flexible Dieting,” “The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook” and “The Ultimate Diet 2.0.” essentially I kick started the cut with a carb depletion workout from UD2 and then settled into about t 50% calorie deficit for two weeks while doing maintenance workouts with heavy weights. I lost about 7 lbs. of BF% and based on strength little if any muscle. Had I wanted to continue the cut I would have taken a week off dieting and settled into a slower cut with at most a 500 kCal/ day deficit to get down to 10%. If I were to go below 10% I would probably use the UD2 protocols.
Here’s the web site that describes them.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/
You can also search the internet to find most of the relevant information on how the diets work w/o buying the books to see if you think they will work for you.