Dave Tate's Westside Gym Bulking Story

[Soldier]

I did that diet for a while. It was called being a fatass and weighing over 300lbs my first couple years after college.

Typical day-
Breakfast- Subway cold cut combo, 44oz regular soda.
Lunch- Chicken tender sub from publix with lots of cheese and a 44oz regular coke.
afternoon snack- An ENTIRE publix frozen pizza, eaten in one sitting-
Dinner- Usually some sort of chicken or steak dish with plenty of carb filled sides, and ALWAYS a second plate.

You would be very surprised at how much you can eat when the only qualification for wanting to eat is NOT being so stuffed that you are sick. As soon as I stopped feeling queesy I would eat again if I could. It was insane. I ate probably around 6k calories on an AVERAGE day, and probably 600g+ of carbs.

When I was 22 I got fed up and lost 100 lbs. in a year. Since then I haven't gone over 230, and usually stay around 210.

I will NEVER go back.

[BendtheBar]

I ate big in college but it was probably around 4000-5000 calories per day. I put on around 40 pounds in 18 months but started at only 155 or so.

[LtL]

Realised the other day that the guy imparting this wisdom to Dave Tate was JM Blakely. That diet is an excerpt from his bulking article.

LtL

[BendtheBar]

A bit off topic...I see a lot of bulks go horribly wrong because hard training isn't involved. How many times do you see a kid on a forum bulk up to 210 in a year but he hasn't made any strength progression. Quite a lot. They aren't doing the heavy lifting aspect so most of the gains are fat, fat and more fat.

[LtL]

I agree Steve if you're getting bigger and you're not getting stronger, you're doing it wrong.

LtL

[Kuytrider]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

A bit off topic...I see a lot of bulks go horribly wrong because hard training isn't involved. How many times do you see a kid on a forum bulk up to 210 in a year but he hasn't made any strength progression. Quite a lot. They aren't doing the heavy lifting aspect so most of the gains are fat, fat and more fat.

Starting Strength is supposed to be one of the best around for getting strength gains. I imagine I will gain a certain amount of weight over the next 6 months or so. I am currently 191 so who knows where I will end up? Thing is, the heaviest I have ever been was 209 and I wasn't lifting near what I do now. 3 good weight sessions and 3 good conditioning sessions a week will ensure I don't get too fat
I have locked down my main goal to strength. I want my lifts to rise and not worried how I do it. Don't want to turn into the Michelin Man but a 20 pound gain won't be bad. I'd prefer to be 210 and hitting 1000+ for the big 3 than 190 and staying at 830. I can always cut when the lifts go up.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Kuytrider

Starting Strength is supposed to be one of the best around for getting strength gains. I imagine I will gain a certain amount of weight over the next 6 months or so. I am currently 191 so who knows where I will end up?

I think if you're training hard and progressing you'll get very strong really quickly, long before you become a Michelin Man.

I ate huge in college and really didn't gain all that much fat, but I did gain a lot of muscle very rapidly.

I'd prefer to be 210 and hitting 1000+ for the big 3

That's about what I would expect if I were in your shoes...a 20 pound weight gain while adding strength really quickly.

I mean if you get to 220 and your squat isn't 315 for reps, something's broken.

Many guys on this forum get strong without getting above 180-190 but I'm not one that can do that. Diesel Weasel is king of lean and mean.

[Kuytrider]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I think if you're training hard and progressing you'll get very strong really quickly, long before you become a Michelin Man.

I ate huge in college and really didn't gain all that much fat, but I did gain a lot of muscle very rapidly.



That's about what I would expect if I were in your shoes...a 20 pound weight gain while adding strength really quickly.

I mean if you get to 220 and your squat isn't 315 for reps, something's broken.

Many guys on this forum get strong without getting above 180-190 but I'm not one that can do that. Diesel Weasel is king of lean and mean.

Took me long enough to figure out what I was looking for. Get strong and big will probably come with it because I do gain weight reasonably quickly. When I got to 209 I slimmed down on purpose because I was carrying way too much fat. A lot of those pounds came from alcohol and junk. Now they will come from junk and chicken
The cutting thing can come later but it's not even a speck on the horizon. Get the lifts up, that's what I want and dammit I will eat! I love food so that helps

I think Faz is around 190 and is extremely strong.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Kuytrider

Took me long enough to figure out what I was looking for. Get strong and big will probably come with it because I do gain weight reasonably quickly. When I got to 209 I slimmed down on purpose because I was carrying way too much fat. A lot of those pounds came from alcohol and junk. Now they will come from junk and chicken
The cutting thing can come later but it's not even a speck on the horizon. Get the lifts up, that's what I want and dammit I will eat! I love food so that helps

I think Faz is around 190 and is extremely strong.

He is. I think one of the issues that clouds this discussion is the idea that eating big always ends up with a lot of excess fat. For some people it can if they are eating too big relative to their metabolisms.

If you do gain fat rapidly my personal opinion is to eat very few processed foods at all, but to rely more on things like milk, eggs, beef, pork, butter, almonds, cheese...things with calories that aren't carb heavy. I'd rather see an easy weight gainer eating fewer grains and more fats.

I am far from an eating guru though.

[Kuytrider]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

He is. I think one of the issues that clouds this discussion is the idea that eating big always ends up with a lot of excess fat. For some people it can if they are eating too big relative to their metabolisms.

If you do gain fat rapidly my personal opinion is to eat very few processed foods at all, but to rely more on things like milk, eggs, beef, pork, butter, almonds, cheese...things with calories that aren't carb heavy. I'd rather see an easy weight gainer eating fewer grains and more fats.

I am far from an eating guru though.

One of the ways I dropped weight and increased lifts was by cutting carbs after about 6-7pm. I had carbs at dinner but my final meal would be a tin of tuna or cottage cheese (having both together from now on). An exception is Saturday when I like to enjoy some pizza or cake or something like that. Vast majority of my eating is non-processed as my wife loves cooking This ensures that rice, potatoes, yams, beef, tuna, chicken, turkey, eggs and homemade beans are always on offer. I also have oats, protein shakes and yoghurt too. I would say my diet is now 80+% good. If I can stay nearer the 90% mark, I won't be worrying about the other 10%. Heck, I am gonna have cookie dough, ice cream and nachos later on