Another winter brings the unbearable dilemma: should you give ‘bulking’ another try? The ‘bro-science’ lurking around the fitness industry screams “yes,” but you ask yourself why this time will be any different than last year, when you gave your all trying to lose the bulking weight to fit into your swimsuit during the summer. Here is an explanation on what bulking is and how to do it properly.
If you have been around gyms and have a few friends that are lifting, odds are that you have heard of bulking before. If not, ‘bulking’ is a phase of bodybuilding in which one gains weight and increases muscle mass, preferably adding as little body fat as possible.
For most, the bulking phase occurs in winter. Lifters usually work to cut down during spring, shedding away body fat and aiming for the perfect beach body, with — ideally — a visible set of abs. Bulking is achieved by eating more calories than you burn — a caloric surplus — whereas cutting is the opposite, and you eat less than you burn — a caloric deficit.
While the research agrees that muscles are built on a surplus, the bulk could backfire, and you may wake up one day with a beer gut, wondering where it went wrong.
Where most lifters go wrong is in trying to gain too much weight too fast — trying to gain more than one pound weekly, for example. Lifters start looking bloated, and hold a larger amount of water weight during the traditional bulk.
What I recommend instead is an attempt at a ‘lean’ bulk. This oxymoron has much more restrictive implications. The purpose of the lean bulk is to add as much muscle mass as possible without the additional body fat that follows the traditional bulk.
The goal is to gain one to two pounds of lean body mass every month. This process follows a much more patient approach compared to a regular bulk, but, remember: slow and steady wins the race.
With this more controlled approach, the lifter is able to experience the best of both worlds. Without adding too much body fat, they can stay lean and keep the visible abs, gaining as much muscle as possible. And since the lifter would not pack on much fat to begin with, they will not see the need for a mentally and physically exhausting, restricting diet during the sunny days of spring to make their abs reappear after the bulk.
If you follow a lean bulking program, you will be fine with a more relaxed ‘mini-cut,’ or maybe you will not even need to lose any weight for the summer.
In short, if you want to pack on some muscle, be patient and don’t try to rush it. Working out is a long journey; you should enjoy it, not skip to the finish line. Chances are, by being too hasty, you will do more damage than good.
