Bulk Diet Guidance

Hey guys,

Sooo, after my previous thread and diet which was more aimed at weight loss (lost a few kilo's was more vascular, didn't lose too much strength) I realized one very important thing. I'm no where near ready for a proper cut. I don't know I'm like an awkward skinny fat, not muscular, not fat and not thin. So, I uped my calories abit but now I'd like to redo my diet so I thought I would post up my proposed diet and see what you guys think. Please keep in mind that I want to build muscle but I don't want to gain too much fat.

Stats:
Weight 87kg's
Age - 18
Height - 181cm

My training plan is:

Mon - Legs end with 5 minutes HIIT on treadmil only burn like 50 calories though
Tue - Shoulders end with 5 minutes HIIT
Wed - 45min eliptical slow chilled pace
Thur - Back end with 5 minutes HIIT
Fri - Chest end with 5 minutes HIIT
Sat - Core and Triceps (maybe biceps depending on how they feel) end with 5 minutes HIIT
Sun - 40min Eliptical slow chilled pace

One thing I'm unsure of is would my above training split be classed as "Very active BMR x 1.725 hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week" as per the dieting basic thread? Because if so then I know why I'm not building as I Should - too little calories as I've used the BMR x 1.55, so there's about a 300 or so calorie difference.

Proposed diet:

7/8:30
6 egg whites + 2 yolks
Oats
1 table spoon peanut butter
1 Banana
Coffee (no sugar) Multi-vit, Vitamin B complex, Omega 3-6-9, Magnesium

10:30
200g tenderized steak
100g lentils

12:30
200g chicken breast
20 almonds

2:30 Pre gym
1 apple
1 tin Tuna
Oats

3:15 train

Post w/o Shake:
Low Fat Milk with 2 egg whites and whey protein powder

17:30
200g skinless chicken
+ random chicken pieces if there is
125g potatoe

18:30
Vegies/mash and crumbed fish/ chicken, normal supper

20:30
Cottage cheese (luxury), will have sometimes if I can

Roughly looking at about

Calories Carbs Fat Protein
3,697 316 123 311

So you could say its a 40:40:20 split

Any advice an info would be much appreciated,
Regards J

When i bulked up i stoped with cardio and my training was very heavy.

10:30 add protein shake with glutimine
Your post glutimine, dextrose and protein
Before sleep protein with futurelife and peanut butter

Drop your training intensity and number of sessions a week. more is not more when it comes to training. 4 sessions a week is ample in my experience. and one can see great gains. drop the cardio to 2 times a week when really trying to bulk up.

concerning diet.

first save yourself some money. only go for omega 3. not six and 9 combined. one gets enough of 6 and 9 in diet. 3 is needed though.

move the tuna to post workout id say. add something such as coconut milk pre workout. it contains mct oils which i have been experimenting pre workout and feel great during training. give it a try.

add a meal before sleep with some protiens such as meat etc. and a glass of milk. i found this did wonders for me

other than that. keep it going bud !!

I would drop the HIIT.

2-3x/week do LISS/MISS just to keep your aerobic system where it needs to be. It's not a goal to be improved during a bulking phase, just maintained.

Busting your balls in the gym is taxing on the CNS as we know. What does HIIT do? Hits the CNS also. So instead of helping your bulk it will hinder it.

You want to minimise taxing the CNS as much as possible because I find in the gym it's not muscle that hinders things or muscle recovery, it's nervous system recovery.

Thanks for the info guys!

I hear you's, think I've been getting too obsessed with the training lately and coupled with the stress from school etc it's been hindering progress.

Will cut out the HIIT, stick to heavy weights and low reps (8-10 rep range) and will just do some light elliptical at home 2x a week if I feel up to it.

Will def look into the coconut milk as I love anything to do with coconut haha.

Ohja, how important would it be to have carbs in my protein shake right after my workout? Would it be a necessity or would the potatoe that I have when I get home after gym suffice?

Carbs is essential post workout. Insulin is very/the most anabolic substance. So a sugar spike after gym is essential to stop the catabolism from training and start the recovering/growing process.

Get dextrose/glucose or whatever is the latest rave which wil spike your bloodsugar.
add creatine as well as the insulin will absorb that as well