Strength training to prepare for bulking?

[Sleaze]

So I've been training for about 5 months now and I've gone from 5'11 ~153 5% to about ~175 8%. My routine has been the typical push/pull/legs split, taken to failure, each part worked about once every 6-8 or so days. What I'm considering now is possibly switching my routine to more of a strength based, high set, low rep, longer rest, non-failure routine where I would train my parts more frequently. I've been trying it for a couple weeks now and I've got a few questions I'd like to ask.

Switching to a strength based training would be quite good for future bulking phases, would it not? My lift numbers are beginning to plateau and I'm sure it's affected my hypertrophy. Focusing on increasing my strength seems just the thing. When I begin another bulk phase, and I begin to increase my time under tension with the heavier weights, my muscles should respond well, shouldn't they? Has anyone any experience with this?

I'd like to cut a bit of this gut for summer if possible, without losing much muscle.. Would morning interval sprints be a better idea while on a strength based routine?

Should I expect my lean body mass to increase much if I go strength based? Should I change my diet? As of now I eat about as many good calories as my mom will let me.

Should I expect to be more or less sore?

Thanks in advance..

 

[gettinlarger]

"I'd like to cut a bit of this gut for summer if possible, without losing much muscle.. Would morning interval sprints be a better idea while on a strength based routine? "

not if you want to bulk.

 

[Sleaze]

no no.. bulking wouldn't be the goal during the strength phase. I wouldn't mind if I didn't gain more than a few pounds of lbm over a course of a couple months of strength training, just as long as my lift poundage continues to go up. The real bulking would come later, after strength training is complete.

 

[needsize]

I would suggest (not that this will surprise anyone around here) the 5x5 routine, it's great for building thickness and lots of strength. There is a recent post in this forum about it.

 

[Sleaze]

Oh, I know! 5x5 is a great routine and reading about it is one of the reasons why I decided to switch over. The routine I'm doing is a direct variation of 5x5.