Bulking Isn't Dead...It's Misunderstood

I absolutely love a good bulking phase, and here's why.

In this article:

• What does it mean to ‘bulk?’

• Why do people hate on and misunderstand the bulk?

• The reality of bulking and why I love it.

What is Bulking & Why the Hate?

Regardless of what you may have heard from haters of the term, bulking describes a nutritional phase focused on weight gain, as in ‘bulking up’ or ‘adding bulk’ to one’s frame. To bulk, you must consistently eat enough food to achieve a calorie surplus, which causes weight gain.

For 99% of the population, the primary goal of a bulking phase is for the gained weight to be muscle, not fat.

As odd as it sounds, there are people out there who have it out for the bulk. I’ve seen people condemn the term, which I find strange. In their minds, they believe it means something it doesn’t. To them, it means muscle gain, but always at the cost of excessive fat gain. Truly, it’s just a misunderstanding on their part. Excessive fat gain is not a result of every bulk; it’s the result of bulks done incorrectly.

The Current State of the Bulk

Honestly, a big part of me believes that if you’re under the age of 20, maybe even 30, you might not even be familiar with the term ‘bulk.’ I say this because, in recent years, the word bulk seems to have been replaced with refreshed terminology because people feel the need to constantly re-create the wheel, annoying as it is. Some of these replacement terms include lean bulking, clean bulking, and lean gaining.

While the term ‘bulk’ may not be as aesthetic as those buzzword-laden replacements, its principles are still the foundational concepts behind them all.

Looking at those recent replacement terms, it’s easy to see what’s happened here. The word ‘bulk’ doesn’t scream lean, shredded, diced, or ripped. In the social media era, where image is everything at all times and highly-searched keywords matter so much, people feel better about discussing their ‘lean bulk,’ ‘clean bulk,’ or ‘lean gains’ phase versus telling the world they’re bulking or ‘bulking up.’

Also, I believe that by simply seeing the word ‘lean’ or ‘clean’ as part of the approach someone is taking, they’ll think it actually changes the outcome. They’ll think it’s a special new concept. They’ll believe that they can stay lean, or perhaps even get leaner, while eating in a calorie surplus for weight gain. Of course, this just isn’t how things work from a physics standpoint, making it a physiological pipe dream. Bulking, clean bulking, lean bulking, and lean gaining all require a caloric surplus state.

Knowing that, let’s get one thing straight; you cannot consistently have a surplus of calories within your body and not gain weight.

The part that makes me laugh a little on the inside is that, whether they know it or not, anyone who is eating in a consistent caloric surplus is bulking.

They can tell you they’re not ‘bulking’ until they’re blue in the face...they’re still bulking. Call me what you will, but I think their denial is funny. I’m not afraid to use the word and they shouldn’t be either…but they are.

Why I Love The Bulk

It’s like this, if you want to build muscle in the most efficient manner, you need to provide your body with excess nutrients each day. This allows your body to take care of it’s mandatory tasks using a portion of your nutrient intake and have building-block leftovers for things it doesn’t necessarily need…aka, the new muscle you’re forcing it to build through training.

Without excess nutrients in the picture, your body won’t be efficient at constructing new muscle. Perhaps it won’t be able to build any at all, depending on your actual nutrient intake versus your body’s needs.

Knowing that bulking, by definition, consistently provides your body with excess nutrients, and excess nutrients result in efficient muscle growth, can you see why I love it? I love it because I’m all about muscle growth and it’s literally the golden ticket to muscle growth for the beginner, the amateur, or the expert!

The Reality of Bulking

The reality of bulking is that it doesn’t automatically result in excessive fat gain, as so many bulking haters would have you believe. These haters have a skewed vision of the results of a productive bulking phase because there are certain pictures floating around of people who’ve taken it to the extreme. These guys did bulk too hard, they did hold too large of a calorie surplus for too long, and they did gain more fat than they needed to or should have. Here’s a couple of the classic pics, which are both examples of extremes, and give bulking the bad rap it never deserved…

While these pictures are impactful, let’s be logical and level-headed here. Logic tells us that the body can only gain muscle so quickly, or at a certain rate. This tells us that when bulking, more weight gain doesn’t always mean more muscle.

Think of it this way; if a 500 calorie/day surplus allows your body to gain new muscle at it’s maximal rate, without excessive fat gain, would it make sense to bump that surplus up to 1000 calories per day? The answer is no.

If you did make that jump from a 500 to 1000 calorie surplus, those extra 500 calories would be put towards energy storage. Another way to say energy storage, is, you guessed it, fat storage. While you may accelerate your weight gain on the scale with the 1000 calorie surplus, you’re not actually gaining muscle any faster. You’re just adding more weight due to fat gain, which isn’t desirable. This is how you end up resembling the pictures above…the ones of the fat guys, not the ripped guys.

In circling back to the reality of bulking, it’s this; bulking will always be the most efficient way to gain new muscle, as it simply means to consistently be in a caloric surplus.

The end result of your bulk depends on how well you dialed in your caloric surplus. Did you figure out that magic number for muscle growth with minimal fat gain or did you throw caution to the wind and adopt the see-food diet? Did you bulk responsibly or did you forget about tracking and let things get out of hand?

You see, like with everything else in life, there are always extremes on each end of the spectrum. With bulking, these extremes exist in the following forms:

• The calorie surplus being reached is too small, leaving the body in need of more materials and holding it back from maximum muscle production. This isn’t efficient for muscle gain, but it does virtually eradicate fat gain.

• The calorie surplus being reached is too large, leaving the body with more nutrients than it needs for maximum muscle production. This is great for efficient muscle gain, but really packs on the fat.

The sweet spot is between these two extremes and it takes trial and error to find it. It takes weeks of tracking your nutrition, weighing in daily, assessing your rate of gain over time, and adjusting intake as needed. This process requires multiple skills, and can be daunting.

The cool part is that once you’ve put in the work and figured things out, you’re going to have knowledge of your body that you can use for years to come. There is clearly work up-front, but the rewards last forever.

• Where should your daily calorie starting point fall?

• How much weight gain is too much?

• What amount of each macronutrient should you aim for each day?

Asking for Help is Smart

These are all valid questions, but I don’t expect you to have the answer if you’re a beginner, which is why I recommend working with a heavily-experienced coach who can guide you and answer your questions.

As someone who has been helping people bulk and build muscle, responsibly, for decades, this is obviously where I come in handy. Guiding people through a proper bulk and watching them grow is my favorite thing to do, and I’m passionate about it.

If you would like me to help you, reach out! I’m happy to answer your initial questions, provide you with a complimentary assessment, and tell you how my services work (remote or local). You’ll save time, gain confidence and knowledge, and be happy you looked in my direction.

Take your muscle gain seriously and reach out for an assessment:

• Text ‘BULK’ to 919-671-8585

• Email your inquiry to ryan@trainingwithryan.net

• Comment on this article with your request.

Reaching out is always worth it.