Its Bulking Season. We have all head it every time around fall people shouting it from the roof tops, posting it on social media. Here is a quick guide as to what bulking is and how to get started.
Well muscle doesn’t appear from the air. If your goal is to gain more muscle you need to eat enough calories to support muscle growth. I Know I know eating more sounds super scary but it doesn’t always have to be that way.
Here are some tips on how I have been able to gain muscle while minimizing fat gain.
1st What is Bulking
Bulking is eating at a caloric surplus, with the purpose of gaining weight. It is the Complete opposite of cutting which is where you are in a caloric deficit and are burning more calories then you are consuming to allow your body to use your body fat reserves instead.
While bulking you are eating at a slight caloric surplus 5-10% increase. this allows you to gain a small amount of fat, preventing you from gaining too much weight and you can also bulk for a longer period of time.
2nd Workouts
Your workouts should mostly consist of compound movements, You will want ot be within the 8-12 rep rang preforming between 2 ad 5 sets per exersice. the more advanced you are the more sets you will be able to preform.
In order to keep growing you’ll need to change up your workout routine. The body has a way of adapting to stresses we put on it and without A CONSISTANT CHANGE OF STIMULATIOM YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF COMING TO AN ABRUPT HALT IN YOUR PROGRESS.
Try Drop Sets, Compound Sets or Super sets, These always seem to work for me.
3rd Rest Breaks
You don’t want to make your rest breaks too generous when you are trying to put on size. Keep your rest periods between 60 and 90 seconds. This will give your muscles time to recover so you can push them hard once again and will enhance the release of testosterone in your body.
4th Cardio
The intensity/duration of Cardio will slow down your bulking process. If you decide to include Cardio in your training program, Your best bet is to preform 1-3 HIIT ( Hight Intensity Interval Training) sessions.
This type of training is not a long duration so it wont give your body mixed signals as to what type of muscle fibers you are hoping to train. Preforming HIIT also has another advantage, Since it is so intense, you actually create a similar anabolic environment in your body that a strength training would.
This type of training is much more encouraging to muscle growth rather then muscle breakdown as endurance does. Additionally when you push your body this hard, you will keep your metabolism revved up, reducing your chances of putting on bodyfat while eating at a caloric surplus.
5th Calorie Needs
Protein : a good recommindation for your protein needs will be to ensure you are getting 1.0-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. these recommendations are slightly higher then that for th general strength training individual since you are not only looking to increase your strength but to add additional mass. Most Proteins used are Turkey, Chicken Breast and Fish & Salmon.
Carb: Since you are going to be eating a diet relatively high in calories you are going to want to incorporate carbs, this is where the bulk of it will come from. Take care to ensure your carbs are coming from good sources, this will increase your chances of gaining lean muscle mass with limited amounts of fat. Good options of carbs are whole wheat breads and whole what pasta, brown rice oatmeal and sweet potato’s.
Fats: Your fat intake will go up slightly due to your increased calorie needs, however not as much as your protein and carbs. Fat is much more concentrated source of energy, at 9 calories per gram compared to 4 for proteion and carbs so consuming fats will help to makes this gaining wieght period a little more tolerable. Still keep in mind that you will want your fats to come from healthy sources. Good exampels are Peanut Butter, Olive Oil and Avocados.
Side note: Keeping well hydrated will also help you feeling your best and will help supply your body with the water it needs to flush out your system of any excess byproducts and toxins that have worked up throughout the day.
In a Nut Shell:
If you are trying to gsain some lean muscle mass, make sure you are traing correctly to achieve this goal also evaluate your diet and see where you need to make changes. Make sure you are eating enough Protein to supply your body with the correct building blocks to build this new tissue and then taking in enough Carbs to provide the body with energy for this process to occure.
Determination and planning you should be able to see success and notice a great change in your body shape.
Disclaimer : I am not a certified personal trainer or nutritionist, these are tips that i have researched and have tried that work for me
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