@kaylads I gained 24.8 lbs across 373 days on my first bulk. Which is +0.46 lbs/week. Which at most is a 229 daily calorie surplus. As even one pound of fat is only 3,500. And one pound of muscle takes only 2,500-2,800 surplus calories to create. Im also 167cm tall. So yeah 200 calorie surplus I think is too much for short kings. I did make some mistakes with my training for that first bulk to be fair. And I took the bulk faster at first and then slowed it down. But for my second bulk, even with improved training and programming, I have to account for the fact that I already made gains. And that subsequent gains will be harder.
To bulk 200, you have to really know what you are doing and also not have much muscle mass to begin with. Most beginners and novices have no clue what they are doing in the gym so they're not putting the surplus to good use. I was really green when I did my first bulk. And the intermediate and advanced lifters need to bulk even slower because of the diminishing returns on gains. A 188cm tall man (which is really tall) only has like +34% the max weight potential that I do. Tall people can bulk more but not a whole lot more. Like if a 188cm man does +200, I should be doing +149. Thats not a huge difference. I will play it by ear with my second bulk too. If my scale isnt budging and my lifts are plateauing and I know the problem isnt programming, recovery, etc. Then I know to eat more. With my first bulk, I paid too much attention to the scale and would eat more if the weight wasnt going up even if my lifts were going up. The scale is a distraction because of all the day to day fluctuations in water weight, glycogen, food, waste, etc.
