Bulking up is a process of increasing your caloric intake in order to facilitate fast muscle growth. There are entire books written on the subject of bulking up and how you can do it within a short period of time. We’ll do our best to give you the ultimate how-to guide that should set you up for healthy gains in no time. Let’s get right to it!
Clean Bulk VS Dirty Bulk
You’ve probably heard about the so-called dirty bulk and how it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Well, that’s not really the case. At least not for everyone. A dirty bulk is a very niche strategy that does work and does produce results. However, it’s a double-edged sword. Doing a dirty bulk can cause health issues if you’re not careful.
The idea behind a dirty bulk is to eat whatever you can get your hands on. That means fast food, junk food, all kinds of processed foods as long as they are high in calories. After all, the idea is to get your caloric surplus through the roof and give your muscles all the energy they could need.
Here’s the problem with dirty bulking — not all calories are created equal. Eating 400 calories of chips is not the same as eating 400 calories of tuna or beef. One is almost entirely packed with carbs, bad cholesterol, and sodium while the other is pure protein. Guess which one of these is necessary for muscle growth?
Another way to quickly bulk up is to use SARMs. Some athletes have had luck with rad 140 testolone designed to enhance your bulk phase by allowing your body to retain more nutrients without causing any muscle loss. That being said, this drug is still being researched and should be considered experimental.
Bulking Up the Right Way
Bulking up the right way can be done quickly, but it will require you to boost your caloric intake through the roof. At this point, you’re probably wondering what’s the big deal? Clean food such as healthy sources of protein, carbs, and healthy fats, aren’t necessarily packing a lot of calories.
In other words, you’ll be eating healthy, but you’ll be eating a lot more than you would if you were dirty bulking. Because of that, you might have to employ a few strategies to help you out.
Cut Down your Aerobic Activities
Weightlifting and resistance training in general is a great way to build muscle, but it doesn’t really burn a lot of calories. What does burn calories are aerobic activities such as running, cycling, or similar. In other words cardio.
Your first task is to cut down on such activities as much as possible. This could be much more difficult than it sounds if you’re an active person by default, but it is necessary.
Target Protein Intake
Muscles use protein to regenerate and build more muscle. When you’re bulking, you should be targeting proteins more than any other macro. That means eating plenty of red meat, chicken breasts, fish, broccoli, and all the other good stuff that is packed with protein. Additionally, you should also look into protein shakes, protein spreads, and pretty much any protein supplement that allows you to boost your intake without taking in too many empty calories.
That being said, you will still need to eat complex carbs as carbs are literally energy, and we need the energy to grow. However, try to eat clean carbs that give you all the energy you need without the nasty, empty calories.
The Art of Eating More
Eating a lot of food, especially clean food, is much more difficult than it sounds. So much so that you’ll likely need to develop a strategy to handle all that food on a daily basis. One thing that has proven to help is eating many smaller meals throughout the day. Think 5-7 small meals that are about as packed with the right macros as they can be.
Spreading out the food intake this way makes it easy for your organism to handle the increased intake. Additionally, by keeping your metabolism working with little to no idle time, you’re speeding it up and making it better at turning all that tasty food into actual energy.
Be Persistent
Clean bulk can be done quickly if you’re up to the challenge. Do your homework, figure out what you need to do, and devise a plan that is both realistic and effective. Make sure that you’re following through with a proper workout plan as well. Otherwise, all you’re doing is gaining weight.