Advice on next step to take

Gleedog

I've been bodybuilding for the last 6 months after having done distance running for 10 years. Over the past 3 months I've been following this plan : muscleandperformance.com/article/the-three-month-mass-gain-plan-11091

I'm onto the 2nd last week and have been following it fairly strictly - just a few varying exercises than what's outlined. I perhaps over did it in my 2nd month when I began doing 5 sessions a week so by the time the 2nd month was over I would have done 6 back & bicep days instead of the prescribed 4. I recover fairly well and haven't had any injury issues thankfully.

For the 3rd month I've had no choice but only do 4 sessions a week due to other commitments and overall I've had a pretty successful time of it.

I want to keep up bodybuilding but I'm unsure of what the next step should be - should I take a week off training and find a new bulking plan or go right back to week 1 of this plan but with the heavier weight that I can now lift?

One area I fall down on for sure is the amount of food I take in. I'm 5 10 and about 76kg (I started off at 68kg) but my body fat % is fairly low, so I should be consuming about 3500 calories + to be keep gaining weight/muscle but finding it hard to be so disciplined. Training isn't an issue so does anyone have any tips on how to keep the food intake uo? I already drink a weight gainer every day so maybe it's just about prepping more food and being more disciplined - or take a step back and realise to put on serious muscle takes time. I feel a lot of these 'get ripped in X weeks' are a load of nonsense and probably not aimed at high level distance runners (I don't run anymore but years of racing had my body fat % as low as 7% in January).

Cheers,
Paul

Blacktie.

You said it yourself it's not going to happen quickly.

I find keeping track of my calories is very very important to make sure I'm getting in what I need. Do you track your calories? Also filler foods are handy to have to get your calories up when you need them.