Bulking: The ART of increasing the clay pile you have to work with when it comes time to sculpt the Greek God physique during cutting.

There are two types of bulking called Clean and Dirty. These terms simply describe how far out from maintenance calories you are operating. Generally, a surplus of <=500 is considered Clean, and greater is Dirty.

Bulking is an Art. Some peoples' bodies spit in the face of traditional bulking methods and are far more resilient to change. I am NOT one of these people. I have a very simple time putting on both muscle and fat.

This guide is meant to build off of the previous cutting one.

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed health professional. I have been training for 5 years, making mistakes, accumulating injuries, fighting, lifting and generally having a good time learning about the human body. I have gone from 5'11 215 lbs @ 30% body-fat to 176 12%.

Part of that transformation process was bulking. So let's get started.

Benefits of Bulking:

  • Increased Muscle Mass
  • Increased Sex Drive during Bulking
  • Increased Intimidation Factor
  • You look better in a shirt... (Why you don't cut in the winter, I'm a moron though)

The dirtier you bulk, the longer you have to cut, please keep this in mind, but your mass gains will also higher (up until a certain point. This can be optimized, and comes with experience).

How To Bulk

  • Find your maintenance calories again, add 300-500, put them to whatever macro-nutrients you want. My personal preference is carbs. I load all 500 of these calories into carbs, and eat one extra pre-workout meal for fuel. Some like to consume dextrose shakes during their workouts. I laugh at them.
  • Track and measure foods as you usually would, but don't be disappointed in yourself for going 100 calories overboard. If you were cutting, this would actually be detrimental
  • If you're one of those guys who claim they can't gain weight, and you don't have a medical condition...go look in the mirror, tell yourself you can do this, despite how hard it may be, and add an extra 200 calories to your caloric intake until you start gaining.
  • Lifting: Progressing in weights while maintaining good form is KEY. Get an app that allows you to input your own workouts and track every workout. Add 2.5 lbs every week to all your big lifts (Squat, Dead, Bench). Add weight to EVERYTHING, every week. TRP understands that small additions can have drastic changes. Keep at it. If you get stuck, you try again next week.

Routines: Layne Norton's PHAT, All Pros Routine, Madcows 5x5, Starting Strength. You don't want routines that advocate too much hypertrophy (PHAT is an exception), Hypertrophy is repetition ranges over 5.

Sleepiness: A lot of people who bulk properly will be more prone to sleeping. This is your body telling you to fuck off and stop pushing food into it. Don't listen. Take naps if necessary, this means you're doing something right.

Other Tips: Get a good workout playlist, this will pay dividends when you don't feel like working out, something to pump you up. Get enough sleep, you get to feel like a BEHEMOTH for the next few months/weeks. Seriously, if you're bulking correctly, you'll feel significantly more alpha and horny.

Supplements: ZMA, Valerian Root, Melatonin, purely for sleep. None of these are necessary, but they do take you to next level sleep experiences.

I'll be adding to this as people comment and I realize things I've missed/possible errors...