New Lifting/weight gain program...

[luckireds]

Folks:

I've been lifting fairly regularly for over 12 years. I'm a hardgainer (I know y'all hate that term...ho-ho-ho), which is to say I have a fast metabolism, am naturally lean, I don't care for ram-stuffing 4,000 calories a day into my maw in order to gain size (although I have done so about six years ago when I was on two bulking cycles), and I never do traditional cardio, for fear of losing any mass that I have acquired over the years.

These days, I'm in the entertainment business, so I don't want to get huge for it wouldn't gel with my act.

My frame: 6'2", 190 lbs. (FYI: when I was on gear years ago, I managed to get up to 231 lbs.- what a feeling!)

Anyway, what I'm looking to do is maybe put on 5-10 pounds of natural, lean muscle. I'd consider a 10 or 12 week cycle again but I'm not willing to put the eating into it so it probably wouldn't be worth the money (anything worth doing is worth doing right after all).

My lifting regimen will be 10-12 sets per week per body part of core exercises (isolated dumbbell curls my arse! :finger. What I need help with is my diet and protein supplementation. At my size, what should my daily calorie and protein intake be? Again, I don't want serious mass, just lean additions. I want to polish my eating habits and get the most out of my workouts.

All input is appreciated!

 

[saudades]

If you want to increase mass, whether you eat clean or not, you have to have the calories there to grow. You might not necessarily have to eat like you did previously, but you will have to increase calories over what you're eating now.

 

[luckireds]

When I was bulking years ago, I used to make two-inch thick sheets of meatloaf, chop them into huge squares and then freeze them. Perhaps that's an option again for a nice 40 gram dose of protein and 350 calories per sitting.

Say if I increased my protein intake but didn't necessarily increase my caloric intake as much, how would that affect me?

 

[rbethel]

i think ud basically 'maintain' weight ......what ur going for is a 'lean' bulk but even then u have to increase ur calories above maintenance....I did exactly what ur talking about , increased protein to near 500g and kept cals at around 3200 and my weight hovered around the same, dropped some carbs and i started to lean out quite a bit...thats about it....it u dont want to gain a bunch of bad weight jus eat a lot but eat smart as well....cheat meals on weekends

 

[Chris-Winfield]

...

 

[luckireds]

Solid advice. Thank you, fellas.