How To Bulk Up

Winter is in full swing, which can only mean one thing: bulking season!

But where do you start?

The big guy at the gym with the weight belt around his bulging midsection told you to eat everything in sight. But you did that once and it didn’t go exactly as you hoped. You looked a few months pregnant and sleepwalked through the day.

You know you need to be in a calorie surplus to gain mass, but it shouldn’t be one long trip to the buffet. If you aren't consuming enough calories, muscle growth will stall, but that doesn't necessarily mean the more you eat the more muscle you'll grow.

Ever since the 60s, bodybuilders have included bulking and cutting phases. However, bodybuilders from the '60s and '70s relied on steak, whole milk, and eggs. They ate a ton of it, but it was still good nutrient-dense food. Nowadays, that’s been misconstrued to an all-out “dirty bulk” with a focus on fast food, pizza, donuts, and Pop Tarts.

RELATED: This Four-Week Bodybuilder-Themed Arm Workout Will Rip Your Sleeves Open

The smartest approach is the slow and steady one -- aim to gain no more than 1% of your body weight (0.5 to 1.5 pounds) a week. It’s much the way you’d diet when losing fat, aiming for small, incremental changes each week.

This guide will show you exactly how to get your bulk right this time, including:

• How to set up your bulking diet for “clean gains”
• How to optimize nutrition around your workouts
• How to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously (is it possible?)
• Tips to increase appetite
• Supplements to pack on mass

Setting Up Your Bulking Diet The New Way

There’s a lot of noise out there when it comes to nutrition, but there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to eating, calories and macros being equal.

You could eat three square meals a day, eat every three hours or load up your calories in one or two meals. The one you choose has to fit your lifestyle.

That said, there may be an optimal way. One study in the Journal of Nutrition split the study participants into two groups. Each group was fed different quantities of protein in each meal, and protein synthesis was measured throughout the day.

RELATED: The 10 Best Protein Powders For Massive Gains

One group ate the majority of its protein at dinner (63 grams of 90 grams total) while Group 2 spread the day’s allotment over three meals equally -- more so emulating the typical bodybuilding approach.

Protein synthesis was greater in Group 2 by as much as 25 percent over the course of 24 hours.

What this all means for you is simple: space your meals out and consume protein evenly throughout the day, rather than trying to scarf down a 16-ounce steak at dinner after fasting all day.

Let’s look at how you’d set this up.

Carb Cycling: The Golden Ticket To Bulking?

Have you heard of carb cycling? In the simplest terms, carb cycling is a daily fluctuation of your carbohydrate intake used to gain muscle and minimize fat gain at the same time.

You could simply set up your carb cycling diet this way:

Moderate-carb days: for training days to maintain performance and gain muscle in a surplus.

Low-carb days: for low activity days when you’re off from the gym, where you struggle to put yourself in a calorie deficit.

Why Carb Cycling Works

Without a doubt, carb cycling fits well into the average lifter’s lifestyle. You simply eat your protein and veggies with more carbs on the days that you lift weights and then just fewer carbs on the days that you don’t.

Carb Cycling: How-To

Here’s the base macronutrient setup on your carb cycle diet:

Protein: 1 gram per pound of body weight

Fat: 0.5 grams per pound of body weight

Carbohydrates: The remaining number of calories left over, which fluctuates daily based on activity levels.

Now we’ll have to determine your baseline caloric requirements. First we must calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is essentially how many calories you would burn if at rest for, say, one full day. It is the minimum amount of energy your body needs to function.  We want to calculate this because the BMR formula is more accurate than calculating body weight alone. But it doesn’t account for lean body mass and activity levels. That’s where Total Daily Energy Expenditure comes in.

RELATED: Your 101 Guide To Carb-Cycling

TDEE is the amount of calories you body burns in a 24-hour period, factoring in exercise, sleep, work and other daily activities.

Calculate BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) in metric units:

Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)

Men BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)

For example:

Male

Age: 27 years

Height: 178 cm (5’10")

Weight: 93 kg (205 pounds)

To calculate your TDEE, determine your activity factor from the table below and multiply this number by the BMR you just calculated above.

TDEE = BMR x Activity Factor

For this example, we selected moderately active, giving an activity level of 1.55, someone who finds the time to train 4-5 days per week. Multiplying his activity level of 1.55 by his BMR of 2,047, we get a baseline calorie requirement of 3,427.

TDEE = 2,047 x 1.55 = 3,173 calories

Now because you’re looking primarily for lean gains, you’ll set your starting calories slightly above that baseline.

Increase TDEE by preferred percentage:

10% -- Slow and steady muscle gain

15-20% -- Aggressive muscle gain (accepting some fat gain along the way)

Let’s take the TDEE of 3,173 and increase calories by 10%.

Our example is left with 3,490 calories to start his mass-gaining phase. Now that we have the calorie target, we can set about getting the numbers for each macronutrient (protein, fats and carbohydrates).

How Much Protein Do You Need?

To determine how much protein to consume, simply multiply your current body weight by 1. This will give you a protein intake of 1 gram per pound of body weight.

Example Male’s Protein Needs

Current Body Weight X 1

205 lbs x 1 = 205 grams

How Much Fat Do You Need? 

For fat, multiply current body weight by 0.5. This will yield a fat intake of 0.5 grams per pound of body weight.

Example Male’s Fat Needs

Current Body Weight X 0.5

205lbs x 0.5 = 103 grams

How Many Carbs Do You Need? 

Carbohydrates are where the remaining caloric needs will come from. To find this number, calculate the total calories from protein and fat by multiplying the number of grams of each by their calorie values per gram. Protein has four calories per gram, while fat has nine.

Protein Calories

205 grams X 4 calories = 820 calories

Fat Calories

103 grams X 9 calories = 927 calories

1,747 calories combined from protein and fats.

Calories remaining for carbohydrates then would be:

3,490 calories – 1,747 calories = 1,743 calories

So we are left with 1,743 calories for carbohydrates, which have 4 calories per gram. Dividing 1,743 by 4 yields a carbohydrate intake of 436 grams of carbohydrates per day.

A high number, no question, but you have to assess response for yourself.

Also, our example male is very active and the last thing we want to do is start compromising lean body mass gains. Remember, carbohydrates are reduced on non-training days, so you’ll have points throughout the week where fat loss is optimized.

Here’s the breakdown of his low, moderate and high carb days.

Off-Day Macro Breakdown

Protein: 205 grams | Carbs: trace from veggies | Fats: 160 grams (2,400 calories)*

*Note: If you’re an ectomorph or naturally skinny guy you can probably bump up your carb intake on off-days -- aim for half of the amount you take in on training days (about 250g in this case)

Gym Day Macro Breakdown

Protein: 205 grams | Carbs: 498 grams | Fats: 103 grams (3,740)

Here’s the carb cycling approach broken down weekly:

Monday – Train Upper Body | Moderate carb

Tuesday – Train Lower Body | Moderate carb

Wednesday – OFF DAY | Low carb

Thursday – Train Upper Body | Moderate carb

Friday – Train Lower Body | Moderate carb

Saturday – OFF DAY | Low carb

Sunday -- Train HIIT | Moderate carb

Nutrient Timing Around Workouts

One way to optimize muscle gains without needlessly adding fat is to structure your carb intake strategically around your workouts when they’re needed most.

“The key to the gain phase being ‘clean’ and not adding layers of fat with it, will depend on how you consume calories around training, or in other words, nutrient timing,” says John Meadows, physique coach and founder of MountainDogDiet.com. “If you don't think nutrient timing matters, eat all your calories at one meal, and watch how your body composition goes the wrong way. By putting easily digestible carbs and protein around training times, you are increasing the chances of pushing nutrients into muscle cells and not fat cells. The harder you train, the more important this becomes.”

How would this look in practice?

Well, you could “save” your calories for your workout by consuming few carbohydrates during non-active times of the day.

To get the best of both worlds, skip the carbs at breakfast and during the early part of your workday. Instead, opt to replace carbs with healthy fats and keep your protein intake constant.

This means something like a three-egg omelet with spinach instead of a carb-laden breakfast of pancakes and waffles.

When your workout comes around, introduce carbs to maximize recovery.

This isn't particularly new info, but one study found that 50 grams of pure carbohydrates in a workout drink consumed during a resistance training session completely eliminated cortisol elevations compared to a control drink.

Subjects within this study with the lowest cortisol – and the greatest muscle gains – were entirely from the group who drank the carb drink, whereas subjects tested with the highest cortisol showed the least gains. One placebo participant on the control drink even lost muscle size during the study.

You could consume a fancy workout drink containing cyclic dextrins and essential amino acids, but a few tablespoons of Gatorade powder in water should serve your purpose here in a pinch.

Then you can follow up your workout with some complex carbohydrates – maybe even some fun ones in moderation – when your muscles are most sensitized to absorbing them.

How To Train To Gain

In a fat loss phase, you’re trying to increase the metabolic demands of a workout through high intensity training, circuits, supersets and the like. When focused on mass gains, the workout should be structured differently.

Often skinny lifters looking to bulk up are doing too much of the stuff that gets them tired, but not big.

Make sense?

There are many different training programs you can implement in bulking periods, but they should have a few common themes:

• Train no more than three to four times week.

• Use mainly compound (multi-joint) movements.

• Use longer rest periods and focus on strength and hypertrophy over fat loss 

The Workout Split 

There are a number of ways to go about this, but the word count on this article is getting up there so let’s hone in on one! You could simply have a lower-body day and an upper-body day and rotate back and forth. Ideally, you’d train four times a week so you’re training each muscle group twice a week.

The typical bodybuilding routine of hitting chest on Monday (and not again until the following Monday) has been found to be inefficient.

A recent meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Brad Schoenfeld confirmed that higher training frequency (more than one time per week) induced greater mass gains than a body-part split routine, even when volume was matched between groups. The increases, they theorized, are likely due to more frequent breakdown of muscle tissue and subsequent protein synthesis signaling in the group that trained their muscles more frequently.

Here’s how your split could work…

• Day 1 - Upper Body
• Day 2 - Lower Body
• Day 3 - Off
• Day 4 - Upper Body
• Day 5 - Lower Body
• Day 6 - Off
• Day 7 – Off

Day 1

Exercise -- Sets x Reps 

Push-ups -- 3 x 15-20

Floor Bench Press -- 3 x 6-12

Barbell Row -- 3 x 8-10

Lat Pulldown -- 3 x 12-15

Six Ways -- 3 x 8-10

Rear Delt Flies -- 3 x 12-15

Tricep Extensions -- 3 x 12-15

Incline Dumbbell Curls -- 3 x 12-15

Day 2

Leg Extensions -- 3 x 15-20

Squats -- 3 x 8-10

Lying Leg Curls -- 3 x 12-15

Stiff Leg Deadlifts -- 3 x 8-10

Standing Calf Raises -- 3 x 8-10

Crunch -- 3 x 20-30

Day 4

Incline Dumbbell Press -- 3 x 12 -15

Dumbbell Flies w/ band  -- 3 x 8 -12

Seated Cable Rows -- 3 x 8 -12

Single Arm T-bar Rows -- 3 x 8 -12

Dumbbell Lateral Raises -- 3 x 8 - 12

Tricep Skullcrushers -- 3 x 8 -12

Day 5

Front or Goblet Squats -- 3 x 12-15

Reverse Lunges -- 3 x 8 -12 per leg

Leg Extensions -- 3 x 12-15

Seated Leg Curls -- 3 x 8 -12

Standing Calf Raises -- 3 x 8 -12

Calf Press -- 3 x 8 - 12

Tips To Increasing Your Appetite 

At some point in your bulk, as you continually push calories incrementally, you are going to find that your appetite starts to drop off. Here are some tips to mitigate that.

1. Avoid Drinking With Meals.  By including fluids with meals you are diluting the gastric juices and intestinal enzymes, causing some delay in the digestion process. This can make you stay full longer. In a bulking phase, we don’t want to feel full longer than we have to.

2. Ditch The Veggies. On a diet, veggies are your friend. In a bulk, they’re your foe. Fiber in veggies will satiate you and decrease hunger. With the higher intake of quality calories, you shouldn’t be lacking in micronutrients. If you are worried about fiber intake, try a fiber supplement like Metamucil before bed.

3. Add Liquid Meals. Again, when in a diet, solid calories become precious for decreasing hunger levels. But when bulking, the opposite is true. This is a time when you can and should fit in liquid meals with lots of calories. Mixing whey protein with oat flour in a blender goes down easy and tastes good, too.

4. Help Your Digestive System. Start your day off with warm water and lemon. Have fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir or kimchi as staples in your diet and watch your hunger levels increase.

Can You Gain Muscle and Lose Fat Simultaneously? 

The answer: it depends.

The body of research on this has shown this can happen in untrained individuals and a few specific populations, including:

• Older women and men
• Overweight, sedentary adults
• Young, untrained men and women

In one study, researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, found it’s possible to gain muscle while cutting fat—in just four weeks.

In their month-long study published last year, 40 overweight men in their 20s followed an exercise program and ate a calorie-restricted diet of 40% fewer calories below maintenance.

The wrinkle? Half the men followed a lower-protein diet (1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight) and the other half followed a higher-protein diet (2.4 grams per kilogram of body weight).

The results: After 28 days, the higher-protein group saw 2.3 pounds of muscle gain and 10.5 pounds of weight loss. The lower-protein group retained their muscle mass (broke even) and lost about 8 pounds.

RELATED: Here's The Best Ways To Build Muscle AND Lose Fat (Without Getting Huge)

To be fair, these were basically untrained individuals, so if you’re an advanced gym-goer you can expect less dramatic results. If you’re starting with more than 50 pounds to lose and haven’t been to the gym in a while, there’s hope here as well.

As fitness expert Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes wrote, “if you have excess body fat, part of your body fat can go towards new muscle. This does not mean fat ‘turns into muscle,’  what it means is that with excess fat stores, if you are eating enough protein and weight training appropriately, then you can experience muscle gains even while dieting for fat loss.”

What About Supplements? 

This section is at the bottom of the article for a reason, but supplements can be a worthwhile addition to a bulking diet if the core principles are in place.

Here are two staples.

Whey Protein: If you want to lift weights and build muscle, eat a high protein diet. It’s often difficult to meet your protein needs from whole foods alone, so that’s where whey protein comes in handy - convenience.

Creatine: It is the world’s most effective supplement for adding muscle mass, with a large body of research behind it. According to an article on Authority Nutrition, in one study, participants followed a six-week training regimen. Those using creatine added 4.4 lbs (2 kg) more muscle mass, compared to those who did not.

Further, a comprehensive review demonstrated a clear increase in muscle mass, compared to those performing the same training regimen without creatine.

Bonus Tip: Keep Your Body Building Muscle While You Sleep

New research lead by Van Loon, and publicized by Chris and Eric Martinez of Dynamic Duo Training, has proven that overnight protein administration stimulates muscle protein synthesis. There were two studies done, the first being in elderly men and the second being done in recreationally active young males and they both showed that protein ingestion prior to sleep stimulated muscle protein synthesis overnight.

Paddon-Jones and others  compared 30 g of high quality protein to 90 g of the same source and showed that 90 g had no further benefit over the 30 g dose. But again -- not so black and white -- this 30 g dosage will also depend on the size of the individual and their overall total daily macros.

Mitch Calvert is a certified personal trainer and fat-loss coach – who works specifically with men like his former self who have weight to lose and confidence to gain. He hosts Mansformation Challenges for guys looking to get over the fat-loss hump.