Bulking Info and Supplements
Bulking requires a calorie surplus to "bulk." Bulking means that you're intentionally trying to gain weight, overall weight - muscle and fat. The purpose of gaining weight is to gain more muscle and develop strength.
A calorie surplus is required if you're wanting to become bigger. If you're shredded right now and want to get bigger, it won't happen. I mean, it may, if you do a lean-bulk, but either way, it's a tedious route when it comes to being shredded and trying to gain size. Sacrifice the shredded physique for some time, and enter the bulking phase.
We have two different kinds of bulking; clean and dirty bulking.
- Clean bulking means that you eat clean foods to gain weight - eating clean in a calorie surplus
- Dirty bulking means that you eat absolutely anything to gain weight - eating dirty/junk foods in a calorie surplus.
Both will get the job done, however, dirty bulking is quite an unhealthy approach as opposed to eating clean.
Benefits of Bulking
1) Add more Muscle-Mass
3) Improved Strength
4) Improved Power
5) Reset the Body from Hard Dieting practices
6) Improved Health - if you're super-lean for some time, it affects your body overall.
Here are some supplements that will help with your bulking journey
1) Creatine
Creatine is the most scientifically researched performance supplement in the world. Creatine itself is a non-essential dietary compound found in fish, meat and also naturally occurring in the human body. It is stored in our muscle cells and is used to power high-intensity muscle contractors.
Due to the low amount in the body, supplementing with creatine has proven effective. How? By increasing the energy supplied to muscle cells – which means you can get extra energy during periods of high intensity, short burst resistance training. What this means in plain English is that creatine allows a lifter to get through a few more reps, by decreasing time to exhaustion.
For someone looking to bulk up, the more weight or reps you can lift, the better overall muscle breakdown and repair you’ll achieve. As such, creatine monohydrate helps lifters push that little bit harder, and therefore get that little bit more. You will need to consume at least 3g of creatine per day to see a beneficial effect. Due to the increased water in your muscle cells, you may also notice the appearance of increased size.
2) Protein Powder
Whey protein is one of the world’s most common supplements, used by performance athletes from all walks of life. It is, quite simply, a way to boost your protein intake to ensure you’re getting a large amount of protein.
The body needs protein to grow, and supplementing means you can quickly up your protein levels. Whey protein is the fastest-acting of the main ‘types’ of protein (whey, casein and soy) and therefore suits post-workout consumption.
Here at Maximuscle, we’ve written extensively about the benefits of whey protein. Without going over old territory, the reason it’s so good for bulking is because active athletes need 1-2g of protein per KG of bodyweight. Whey protein powder helps you meet this target. Consider our MaxiMuscle whey protein concentrate, which contains 21.2 grams of protein per 30g serving.
3) Mass Gainers
It is recommended to take mass gainers for the intake of those extra calories.
Mass gainers also have protein, but the main difference between the two is that mass gainers have a high percentage of fats and carbohydrates. This helps the user intake more calories to increase their weight. The ratio of carbs to protein in mass gainers is usually 2:1 and the majority of the calories obtained from this are thanks to the carbs and a mixture of maltose and glucose.
4) Carbohydrates
During the bulking phase, eat about 4-7 g of body weight of carbohydrates per day, or 270-480 g/day for a 68 kg (150 lb.) person
(2). Focus your carbs before and after your workouts to fuel yourself for your lifting sessions, and restore your glycogen stores post-workout.
(3) Carbs are important for muscle building because they're protein sparing, which means the body looks to glycogen for energy instead of breaking down muscle tissue for energy. Consuming carbs post-workout can prevent muscle loss and help repair muscles.
Glycogen is the main culprit behind sudden bouts of weight loss and weight gain, especially during a diet. The reason you can lose 10 or more pounds of weight in the first week of a diet – especially a low carb one – is because you're burning through your body's glycogen stores and not replenishing them.
-> Eat Your CARBS to fulfill your muscles - to look and become bigger.
Extra Tips:
- TRACK YOUR CALORIES
- Eat high-calorie dense foods
- Do not skip any meals! (b/l/d)
- Eat till you are full
- Force feed to gain weight?
- Eating more frequently.
- Do less cardio.
- Increase liquid calories.
- Consume high-calorie shakes.
- Progressively increase calories every week.
- Eat simpler carb sources.
- Incorporate “dirtier” foods.
With Bulking, You Should Optimize Your Training To Be More Effective - Supplements to use and info
Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin
Purpose: HBCD is a quick-digesting, rapidly-absorbing carbohydrate that’s been broken down into its simplest form so it sinks right into our bloodstream. This makes it perfect for supporting long, high-volume training sessions with a bit of glucose to fuel your pump.
Citrulline Malate
Purpose: Increases nitrogen production, raises arginine levels in your blood, reduces lactic acid and ammonia build-up while training, decreases muscle fatigue, and allows for an increase in ATP and recovery. In short, this does A LOT of great things for your training session, and is quite cheap.
Essential Amino Acids
Purpose: EAAs cover all nine amino acids on the spectrum, and can serve as a suitable substitute for a whey protein supplement.
> EAA's>BCAA's
Hydromax Glycerol
Purpose: Adding glycerol into the mix of your shake will serve to increase the absorption of the other ingredients.
Dose: In a perfect world, you want to dose glycerol in a one-to-one ratio. So if you’re using five grams of creatine in your shake, use five grams of glycerol.