Want to go on a good bulk

[gtrain]

Hello,

I would love to go on a good bulk cycle this winter. I am very small for a male (5'5 and 140lbs @27yrs old....fml) and feel like I really need to add weight as I can not add height.

I was doing cross fit earlier this year and loved it but 1)obviously not good for bulking and 2) no longer live by a cfit facility. I have been looking at the workouts listed under muscle building section. Is there one that would be better than another? Any recommendations? I would ideally like a 4 day split routine.

As far as diet, I live in South Korea currently. I have a little extra money which is good b/c protein here is ridiculously expensive....chicken,beef etc is a lot. So is protein powder. (140 dollars for 6 lbs) But I do have a limitless supply of rice so my carbs will be very easy to come by. Will white rice be ok to eat? They have brown rice and I will try to get in when ever possible but white rice is like water here.

I plan on doing eggs and oatmeal in the morn with some fruit, lunch is usually rice and some veggies and sometimes protein (not all the time) but when it is there I am going to load up on it. Dinner will most likely be chicken breast and veggies. Then hopefully almonds whole milk and protien powder shakes throughout the day. Fish is also abundant here which is good. Also, there is no non stick cooking spray so everything from eggs to chicken I use olive oil to keep it from sticking. This should help with the good fats.

Post workout I am going to try and find a Korean BBQ place which will provide lots of pork and rice.

So anything advice that can be offered would be very helpful. I feel like it is impossible to gain weight as I tried last year and I gained about 13lbs in the year and that was eating any and everything. Thus, I am open to all tips and criticisms. Thanks for your time/help.

[BendtheBar]

Welcome to the forum. Before we get into diet specifics I want to ask you about your lifting background. Have you ever been on a style of program like this before where progression of weight, or adding weight to the bar over time, was a primary focus?

Reason I ask is that this will help us determine what type of program might be a good place to start.

[gtrain]

Last year I went to a non crossfit gym. I kept a notebook to see how much weight I was using so I could try to increase it every so often. It was a mix of compound and iso exercises. Wasn't really focused if I remember correctly and prob should have been more compound then iso.

[Carl1174]

Im not going to go in to diet specifics, but you say protein is very hard to come by, but do you have much access to eggs, milk and other dairy. These are a fantastic source of protein as well as meat to help bump up the protein that you are getting.

Program wise I would go back to basics. You dont say how often you want to train, so rather than say do this or do that I think you should have a look through the workout page, but also look at the fullbody section and the Real Results workouts section, there are honestly some fatastic programs in there and a lot of them would be suitable to you and your goals I believe.

Have a look in there select a couple that you like the look of, then perhaps post up and we can try to guide you along a little more.

hope this helps

Carl.

[Off Road]

Your last bulk of 13 lbs in a year was good. Do that for a few years while getting a lot stronger on some basic lifts.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by gtrain

As far as diet, I live in South Korea currently.

Nice, I lived near Suwon for about a year. Whereabouts are you?

[BendtheBar]

GT,

I personally recommend a fullbody style workout. You will train 3 days per week on non-consecutive days. This will serve you well. A good place to start is a template that includes a pulling exercise, a squat and a pushing exercise. Something like:

Monday
High Pull or Power Clean
Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Dumbbell Row
Heavy Abs

Wednesday
Deadlift
Goblet Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Barbell Curls
Dips

Friday
High Pull or Power Clean
Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Pull Ups
Heavy Abs

This is merely one example.

[bruteforce]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

GT,

I personally recommend a fullbody style workout. You will train 3 days per week on non-consecutive days. This will serve you well. A good place to start is a template that includes a pulling exercise, a squat and a pushing exercise. Something like:

Monday
High Pull or Power Clean
Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Dumbbell Row
Heavy Abs

Wednesday
Deadlift
Goblet Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Barbell Curls
Dips

Friday
High Pull or Power Clean
Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Pull Ups
Heavy Abs

This is merely one example.

^This. Doing something very similar to this right now, and its by far my favorite program I've run. Heavy weight, in and out quick, and primes you to eat like a farm boy.

[gtrain]

Originally Posted by Carl1174

Im not going to go in to diet specifics, but you say protein is very hard to come by, but do you have much access to eggs, milk and other dairy. These are a fantastic source of protein as well as meat to help bump up the protein that you are getting.

Program wise I would go back to basics. You dont say how often you want to train, so rather than say do this or do that I think you should have a look through the workout page, but also look at the fullbody section and the Real Results workouts section, there are honestly some fatastic programs in there and a lot of them would be suitable to you and your goals I believe.

Have a look in there select a couple that you like the look of, then perhaps post up and we can try to guide you along a little more.

hope this helps

Carl.

I would like a 4 day split most likely. And while there is protein here it is just crazy expensive. But I found a place with cheap chicken eggs and milk so those will be my staples.

Originally Posted by Off Road

Your last bulk of 13 lbs in a year was good. Do that for a few years while getting a lot stronger on some basic lifts.

Seems so long lol. And that was eating anything. Chicken and broccoli or McDonalds, I ate it all. Still only 13 lbs. I have about 5/6 months this year I would like to bulk for so hopefully I can do 10+ lbs in that time.

Originally Posted by Fazc

Nice, I lived near Suwon for about a year. Whereabouts are you?

Living in Daegu. Awesome so far. What did you do in Korea?

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

GT,

I personally recommend a fullbody style workout. You will train 3 days per week on non-consecutive days. This will serve you well. A good place to start is a template that includes a pulling exercise, a squat and a pushing exercise. Something like:

Monday
High Pull or Power Clean
Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Dumbbell Row
Heavy Abs

Wednesday
Deadlift
Goblet Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Barbell Curls
Dips

Friday
High Pull or Power Clean
Squats
Bench Press/OHP alternate
Pull Ups
Heavy Abs

This is merely one example.

So would this be better than a 4 day routine? And how many sets and reps of each would be ideal? Also, how long should I do this routine for before switching it up? Like I said above 5/6 months of pure bulking is what I want to do. So after a couple months should I switch it up?

Can I do light cardio as well? Nothing crazy like HIIT but maybe a few miles on the treadmill every workout?

Thanks for all the help thus far everyone. Much appreciated.

[gtrain]

Originally Posted by bruteforce

^This. Doing something very similar to this right now, and its by far my favorite program I've run. Heavy weight, in and out quick, and primes you to eat like a farm boy.

So you are finding some good results with this? How long have you been doing it?