Long Term Gains Strength Accumulation

[Nathan A Richmond]

I have been playing around with Density Bulking however for various reasons I am inclined to stick to SA. Partially because I enjoy having a more ripped midsection and I fear losing that through over doing DB.My question is this - over the long haul let's say that you do SA at or around a caloric level that is basically maintenance for me this is about 3100 calories - do you think you'll still put on some additional gains over time even if this isn't at a rapid pace? Obviously if you do extreme DB you could add lbs in a matter of weeks or months however if you are doing SA you aren't going to be adding the scale weight as rapidly. Thoughts?

[Brandon D Christ]

It depends how you define “maintenance”.  If you define maintenance as no caloric surplus, you can certainly get gains as the amount of energy it takes to build muscle would be included in your metabolic rate.  If you define maintenance as the amount of calories it takes to maintain a body mass, then obviously no you are going to have a difficult time putting on muscle.  You need to eat more as your bodyweight increases to put on muscle, unless you are overweight.  In that case it's possible to eat at what seems to be a caloric deficit and still put on muscle size.

[Nathan A Richmond]

Thanks for the reply. I guess what I mean is this; I kind of view the difference between SA and DB as being somewhere between 2 g of carbs per lb of lean mass and 4 g of carbs per lb of lean mass.Now for me I feel more comfortable in terms of how I look and feel doing roughly 2.5 g per pound of lean mass. Let's say that I did that indefinitely while doing roughly .5 g of fat per lb and 1.25 g per pound of protein, combined with hard training, proper supplementation. Now obviously the scale weight isn't going to really go up too much, with the exception of the random dirty back load night, but should I still experience gains over time, albeit slower?

[Brandon D Christ]

Thanks for the reply. I guess what I mean is this; I kind of view the difference between SA and DB as being somewhere between 2 g of carbs per lb of lean mass and 4 g of carbs per lb of lean mass.Now for me I feel more comfortable in terms of how I look and feel doing roughly 2.5 g per pound of lean mass. Let's say that I did that indefinitely while doing roughly .5 g of fat per lb and 1.25 g per pound of protein, combined with hard training, proper supplementation. Now obviously the scale weight isn't going to really go up too much, with the exception of the random dirty back load night, but should I still experience gains over time, albeit slower?

You'll be fine.  What you are eating is plenty, except I think I would eat a bit a more fat and less carbs.  Unless you have are doing very high volume workouts like Crossfit or Strongman, I don't think you need anymore than 2 g/lb of carbs in a backload.  It's up to you though.  Many people are successful with lower fat/higher carb diets.

[Trevor G Fullbright]

What you are eating is plenty, except I think I would eat a bit a more fat and less carbs.  Unless you have are doing very high volume workouts like Crossfit or Strongman, I don't think you need anymore than 2 g/lb of carbs in a backload. 

Totally agree.

[Nathan A Richmond]

Obviously if you were in a major Density Bulk putting back 500-600 carbs a night your going to put on some weight at faster pace correct? Now obviously you are probably going to lose some leanness in doing so compared to a slower SA of 200-300 carbs, correct? (I am basing this on my current weight of 220 lbs) In terms of pure mass gains the DB is going to get you from point A to point B faster however you are going to have to accept some level of loss of leanness.

[Brandon D Christ]

Obviously if you were in a major Density Bulk putting back 500-600 carbs a night your going to put on some weight at faster pace correct? Now obviously you are probably going to lose some leanness in doing so compared to a slower SA of 200-300 carbs, correct? (I am basing this on my current weight of 220 lbs) In terms of pure mass gains the DB is going to get you from point A to point B faster however you are going to have to accept some level of loss of leanness.

Yes, that goes without saying, of course you'll gain more weight with 600 g carb backloads.My point was that I doubt you will put on more muscle eating like that.  You'll certainly put on more weight, but the additional weight come from water and fat gain.  Big calorie surpluses do not result in more muscle.

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