Bulking is generally frowned upon. It is associated with flab, bloating, unhealthy excess weight, junk food and everything considered sinful in a physique-focused lifestyle. Yet people forget the benefits that come with it: muscle growth and increased strength—the very things we mean when we talk about progress.
Bulking is ugly and unhealthy; no one can deny that. Yet many impressive physiques would never have been built without it. Some of today’s top bodybuilders claim to stay in shape all year round, and some really do, but others lie or at least dress up the truth a little. Many have also forgotten that when they were younger and building the bulk of their muscle mass, they too had cheerful, round cheeks and a high body fat percentage.
McDonalds is part of many professionals’ off-season diets, just as chicken and rice are staples during a cutting phase. But that does not get written about in magazines. When they appear on the covers, quite a few try to present themselves in a slightly more favorable light than reality warrants. That is perfectly understandable, but it is also misleading, especially for anyone trying to copy exactly what the top bodybuilders do.
Why is it out of favor?
Why does bulking have such a bad reputation these days? It may be because the current trend says you should have a six-pack all the time. Of course, it would be great if that were possible. Most people still want to gain muscle mass, though, and that is hard to do on just enough calories to cover your basal metabolic needs, or by eating only a few grams more than you burn. If the absolute elite of the sport—the professionals—are anything but in shape during the off-season so they can make progress, how can ordinary recreational lifters who are terrified of fat expect to progress? Usually, they do relatively poorly, although there are exceptions.
Who is it for?
Who is bulking suitable for? Anyone who can mentally cope with losing sight of their abs, gaining weight and adding a thicker layer of fat. If you actively compete, it is not particularly wise to let your weight climb far above your competition weight, but bulking is one option for building muscle mass, though it is not the only way. Bulking is generally recommended for people under 30.
Some young lifters very quickly find their progress slowing to almost nothing because their training leaves something to be desired. Combine that with needless tinkering with their diet, and nothing good will come of it. Overeating can compensate for training mistakes to some extent. But bulking is not for the “I want it all now” crowd, nor is it a “get in shape for summer” program. Bulking takes time, both to gain the weight and to lose it. For women, bulking is a bit of a double-edged sword. Of course it works, but because women are more prone than men to developing eating disorders of all kinds, it is best not to rush into it. Getting help from someone knowledgeable is one option.
Benefits
Suppose two identical young lifters weighing 75 kilograms want to make progress, and let us take five years as our timeframe. Both do everything the same way, except that while one keeps admiring his abs, the other eats sufficiently above his energy expenditure without worrying about gaining fat. Which will make more progress over those five years? You might think, “Okay, the fatter one will definitely have more muscle and strength, but he’s flabby!” Well, the other guy probably has not even passed the 80-kilogram mark. Then consider which will take longer: losing weight or building muscle. We can assume that the “fat” guy will shed those extra kilograms in half a year, while the ab admirer will not build much muscle in that time. So when one has burned off the fat and revealed the impressive muscles underneath, the other will look much the same as he did five years earlier. That is when the usual “he must be taking something” talk begins. It is a slightly crude example, but gyms are full of cases like this.
How?
So how should you bulk? Weight gain should be slow, rather than leaving you thirty kilograms heavier after a couple of months. The goal is to build as much muscle as possible, not fat. Fat is an inevitable by-product, not a goal in itself.
Your diet should therefore provide enough of the right things, primarily protein and calories. Again, the aim is not to gain as much weight as possible in a short time by eating chocolate and drinking oil. Most of your calories should come from solid food, and supplements should retain their original role: supplementing your diet. You also need to make sure you get healthy fats, fluids, dietary fiber, vegetables, vitamins and minerals. Once you have eaten your protein and everything else you need, you can decide for yourself what else to eat. Pizza every day may sound like a good idea at first, but spare a thought for your stomach. You still need to be sensible about it. You can eat other things alongside nutritious foods, but if those extras start getting in the way of eating what you need, it will not work. Knowing your own body matters here too. If something does not feel good, do not do it.
Lately, it has also become common to alternate between bulking for 1-10 weeks and dieting for 1-10 weeks. Do not put too much faith in phases lasting just a couple of weeks, though, because your body needs time to adjust to any change. Muscle growth does not happen instantly. Bulking for a couple of months and then dieting for a few weeks may help someone preparing for a competition keep their condition in check before starting a full cutting phase. But if you are still building your foundation of muscle mass, this sacrifices one of the main purposes of bulking. A higher body weight allows you to use heavier weights in training, which in turn is one of the most effective ways to build muscle.
Some experts believe you should increase your weight gradually and then maintain it at that level for an extended period. While maintaining that higher weight, you also start improving your condition. They believe this makes the muscle more lasting and easier to retain as your body gets used to its new, larger size. Weight loss should not mean trying to shed everything in one go, either.
Another option would be to spend a couple of years gaining weight, then lose some of it. You then build more muscle mass, but keep your body weight below a set limit—this time considerably lower than the weight you reached during your first bulk. Repeat this pattern until you reach the condition you want to maintain during future bulking phases. This gradual reduction in body weight is also supported by avoiding a major drop in strength and keeping your weight from rebounding to its bulking peak after you lose weight.
Effects on training
Eating plenty, training hard and steadily gaining weight should translate into lifting progressively heavier weights in your workouts. If your performance is not improving despite eating a lot and seeing an ever-higher number on the scale, you are probably doing something wrong. Hard training is essential and plays the leading role in muscle growth. Bulking is not a way to play bodybuilder if you love eating a lot and taking it easy in the gym.
How others see you
When you are bulking, many other gym-goers will consider you fat. They will also think you are getting stronger because you are fat. And as far as they are concerned, you are fat because you are lazy. But once you have shed the fat and your muscles start to show, that will surely be down to all sorts of substances. The same goes for your strength. That is the nature of the game: it always has been, and it will not change. People who know nothing about the sport will very often simply see you as really big. Some will like it and some will not, which is hardly surprising. Most ordinary people cannot tell the difference between a bodybuilder, a powerlifter and a bulking pig.
Effects on everyday life
You are lying on the sofa watching TV when you notice that the remote is too far away to reach without getting up. You will probably think twice about whether there is anything on another channel good enough to make getting up worthwhile. You take the elevator instead of the stairs. Overall, you will probably become a little lazier, or at least “more selective” about unnecessary movement. Finding clothes that fit also becomes harder. Sweating is another thing that comes with weight gain, and you will spend more money on food than usual.
The problems with bulking
The biggest problem with bulking is that, at some point, you have to start losing weight. If you cannot do that, there is no point. If you decide to go ahead with it, first think carefully about whether you can stick to a diet as well. Losing weight is just as much a part of bulking as gaining it. For quite a few people, bulking is an excuse for being fat. Of course, that does not apply to everyone. I do not believe that someone under thirty will do themselves much harm by bulking, even if it means their body weight is high. Older people may have a harder time when their family doctor starts crying over their body mass index. Of course, you also need to pay attention to how you feel as your weight increases, because some people’s bodies cope with a high body weight better than others. So if you notice that your body cannot handle the extra weight, this is not for you. The surest way to stop muscle growth and progress is to ruin your health.
Translated from Body magazine; Author: Kalle Aaltonen
Author: Greta
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