It's time to don the sweatpants and start bulking up after a wonderful summer. So all you have to do to lose weight is eat more calories than you burn off while working out in the gym till you pass out, right?
Okay, no. Not gaining weight is the difficult. The difficulty is gaining quality weight, or what we refer to as clean bulking. Building lean muscular mass while reducing body fat is essential for a successful bulk.
For some guys, bulking and cutting form an unhealthy, vicious cycle: stuff yourself silly with junk food all winter to bulk up, then go on a crash diet to get rid of the extra pounds. It's not exactly sound, is it? This kind of eating behavior can undo your hard-earned improvements in addition to being incredibly harmful for your entire body.
With so many various bulking regimens available today, it is simple to get lost and perplexed about how to build muscle properly. We've put together a list of 10 guidelines for you to keep in mind during the bulking season to assist clear up any confusion. Let's begin:
1. Avoid bingeing on junk food
Of course, this had to come first. The most frequent and harmful mistake bodybuilders make while bulking up is that they just use the bulking season as an excuse to indulge in all of their cravings, which typically involves consuming enormous quantities of junk food every other day.
You need to "eat lean," which refers to consuming the right amounts of high-quality protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats in your diet, if you want to gain as much muscle as you can without gaining weight. Remember, a poor diet cannot be overcome by exercise. Here is an illustration of a clean eating diet.
Eat more, but not excessively.
According to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, obese participants who dieted and did weight training for 90 days dropped 35 pounds while also building a lot of muscle.
In other words, the most crucial element in increasing lean muscle mass is stimulating muscles through exercise. The research also implies that you don't need to overeat to get there; on the contrary, doing so would just encourage the storage of more fat.
We advise you to strive for between 14 and 18 calories per pound of body weight each day, or to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein, 2 grams of carbohydrates, and 0.4 grams of fat per pound of body weight.
3. Adaptation Is Your Friend
It's a good idea to make some significant alterations to a program you've been on for a long now. Since the training stimulus is the main determinant of muscle growth, fully overhauling your training program just before you begin your bulk will increase your chances of seeing higher gains.
If you have been circuit training, for instance, try moving to an upper/lower split for a bit. Reduce the reps if your volume has been high and increase the weight. Introduce drop sets, supersets, rest-pause training, or weekly rep cycling to raise the intensity.
The stimulus's inherent novelty alone will produce excellent results.
4. Keep Cardio in Mind
Never stop doing cardio, no matter what. As you consume more calories, this will keep you thin and, more importantly, will keep your heart healthy. Even though excessive cardio will burn off the extra calories you consume, most people won't ever be in risk of performing too much cardio!
Stick to low-intensity exercises that boost cardiovascular health without burning too many calories to reap the full benefits of cardio for decreasing fat and preserving the heart.
Simply incorporate it into your weekly weightlifting practice, or just do it for roughly 30 minutes in the morning. Cycling, jogging, and walking all have significant benefits. Additionally, studies have shown that fasting cardio, or exercising on an empty stomach, is beneficial during a bulk since it concentrates much more on fat burning.
5. Avoid getting too bulky.
In this instance, perhaps less is more? There is no getting around the fact that the longer you bulk, the fatter you will get. Even if you consume a lean, healthy diet, the extra calories will eventually turn into body fat and sabotage the figure you've worked so hard to achieve.
Further bulking may result in rapid fat gain because your body's insulin sensitivity starts to drop quickly at about 15% body fat.
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