Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Bulk season is upon us! Ready to get huge?

Bulking season is finally upon us. The days of eating to gain every pound possible while throwing around new PR's in the gym are all too familiar. However, smart gaining is the best gaining. Gaining lean and true mass while avoiding excess fat accumulation can be very challenging during the bulking months. "Clean" bulking  is a lot harder than "dirty" bulking, but the body can benefit far greater from a lean bulk cycle. You should keep the protein intake around 1-1.5g per pound of body weight while keeping the carbohydrates and fats in a high but reasonable range. Eating at a caloric surplus without throwing in a large quantity of junk or fast foods is difficult. Ensuring that you ingest a higher level of "good" fats alongside high quality carbs will allow you to hit your calorie requirements. Sometimes, however, it may be difficult to consume enough meals to reach your daily calorie goals. Weight gainer shakes and casein protein blends are great add-ons to a diet to hit those caloric numbers.When gaining muscle mass is your ultimate goal, you should push to ingest 18-23 calories per body pound per day. So let's say you weigh in at 200lbs, you should be consuming 3600-4600 calories per day to gain mass. There are also a few supplements that you could include in your arsenal which increase protein synthesis (your body's ability to break down proteins and shuttle them into your skeletal muscle) to make your bulk cycle more efficient by allowing your body to utilize more and waste less of the protein that you ingest found here. A high level of training intensity alongside a caloric surplus diet will allow for a very anabolic bulking season.
                                                            - Pete M.