Calorie Surplus Mode and Biolayne Workout Program Question

[darkdog786]

Hello Guys,

After meeting a nutritionist, we decided that in order to put more size in the muscle i will have to increase my calorie.

I am 5'10, 171LB with 19%BF. I am in a 2500 calorie diet. Everything is going great. i also decided that since i want to really see results why not get a good workout also.

I searched on bodybuilding forums and online and decided to contact a fitness trainer online who can create a workout program for me which will tailor my bulk mode nutrition also. I contacted BioLayne LLC and they provided me an 8 week first block workout program.

When i looked at the 8 week plan, it is a 5 day workout with 6 exercises, 3 sets per exercises and 12 reps. Also, below is my 1RM for below exercises :-

1) Bench : 225
2) DL : 225
3) SQUAT: 175
4) Overhead Press: 135

The workout plan calculates 60% of your 1RM and ask you to do that. This means i cannot do heavy lifting for 8 weeks at all.

This got me really confused. If i am not mistaken, most of the time when a person is BULKING, they will be doing 3 or 4 day workout with 3 sets but the REP range will be 5 or 6 so you can increase your strnegth but this workout is totally different. WHen i email the workout creator, he stated that it's a one year plan and this is the first block. The next block of workout will be different from the first block and it's a 1 year plan.

I was just wodnering if anyone has gone through with the workout mentioned above and how was their transformation and what is the science behind more reps in BULK mode with not doing your 1RM =(. ?

[SuffolkPunch]

How much of a surplus? It might not be necessary since you aren't that lean. You may be able to achieve the same at maintenance.

[darkdog786]

How much of a surplus? It might not be necessary since you aren't that lean. You may be able to achieve the same at maintenance.

As per my maintenance calorie calculation, i am on an extra 300 calorie SURPLUS. I was just thinking that this workout looks more like a LEAN vs muscle size.

[SuffolkPunch]

The workout doesn't really have a bearing other than it either stimulates hypertrophy or it doesn't.

If you are 19% (more I would argue) now then a surplus will likely make that higher. You don't need a surplus to gain mass.

[darkdog786]

The workout doesn't really have a bearing other than it either stimulates hypertrophy or it doesn't.

If you are 19% (more I would argue) now then a surplus will likely make that higher. You don't need a surplus to gain mass.

Thanks man. So your recommendation is to keep following the workout with more reps and not lifting heavy for 8 weeks ? That is exactly what he mentioned also. Hypertrophy !

[SuffolkPunch]

I'm not that familiar with the program but I feel that if you are only using 60% of 1RM, every set should be taken to within 1 rep or so of failure. Don't just stop at 12 reps if you have 3 or 4 more for example.

[darkdog786]

I'm not that familiar with the program but I feel that if you are only using 60% of 1RM, every set should be taken to within 1 rep or so of failure. Don't just stop at 12 reps if you have 3 or 4 more for example.

Got it. Thanks man

[Ghawk21]

Based on some of his other programming he uses a lot of reps in reserve which is very similar to RPE. You could always ask if there's supposed to be a target. Other guess is it might be an 8 week block for noobies so you may be starting off very low and then adding weight every week which would give extra time to work on form. If it was a free 8 week block then I definitely think it would be the latter just to give you an idea of how they program over each week to decide if you want to drop some money.