For most of the people out their weight loss is more common than gaining it. However, gym-goers tend to be more interested in gaining weight and enlarging their muscles. Bodybuilding can be done in multiple ways. Some of them cause excessive fat, which isn’t appreciated by athletes & fitness enthusiasts. Muscular physique demands hard work & dedication. For building up your muscles clean bulking is the most healthy and desirable strategy. This article will guide you through it.
What is clean bulking?
Muscle bulking is achieved by sustaining a calorie surplus. The general rule is consuming more calories than you shed. Excess calories cause that gain in weight by muscle building or fat. Your calories should necessarily be combined with resistance training for boosting muscle growth & strength.
A clean bulk is also known as lean bulk. You get to tightly regulate the calorie surplus which prevents excessive gain of fat. Your diet should be primarily composed of foods that promote lean bulking. It is common among athletes who wish to stay lean in the off-season, like mixed martial arts, boxers, strength athletes, gymnasts, & physique athletes. Clean bulking is not for everyone. This weight gain occurs far slower than other bulking methods.
Clean vs. Dirty Bulking
Getting big & fatter isn’t the ideal strategy for bulking. Bigger & better is old-school now. Putting on 5-8 pounds of lean muscle mass is far more impressive than adding on 10 pounds of muscle along with 20 pounds of fat. Conventional bulking strategies come under the umbrella of two categories.
The wrong approach is believing that as long as you are eating protein, you can take whatever food you want irrespective of its quality. In most cases, crap loading combined with physical workout works but in the long run, it’s not a healthy approach.
If you’re taking loads of food with sugar content, trans fats, & omega-6 regularly the integrity & elasticity of the cell membrane in your body will be compromised. It makes you vulnerable to various health risks. A well-managed diet combined with adequate strength training, leading to lean bulk is a healthy approach. This method is highly appreciated by athletes, however, it isn’t an easy approach for people with common careers & lifestyles.
Basic Rules for Clean bulking
The first step in the way of lean bulking is the maintenance of calories you consume. You must take the calories your body requires for maintaining your weight. Then start eating 10-20% more than the required calories. Make sure your protein intake stays between 0.7–1g per kg of your total body weight. The rest of the daily calories should be carbs & fats. Keep a record of your weight progress.
1) Master your Nutritional Intake:
For putting on weight, take more healthy calories. Breakdown your micronutrient intake and count it. For clean bulking, you must make smart diet choices when it comes to fueling your body. Take carbs before working out. And don’t compromise on your protein intake. Here is an example of calorie consumption for a male who weighs 176 pounds. Calculate according to your body weight.
Calories:
16calories per pound of the body weight
16 x 175 lbs = 2,800 calories per day
Protein intake must be:
1gram per pound of the body weight
1gram x 175 lbs = 700 calories (175grams of protein)
Fat intake must be:
25% of the calories required in a day
2,800 calories x 0.25 = 700 calories (75gram fat)
Carbohydrate’s intake must be:
Calculate remaining calories
2,800 – 700 – 700 = 1,400 calories (350gram of carbs)
- Refrain from sugar & Processed Food
Sugary & processed diets such as burgers & fries help in quickly meeting the calorie intake limit, but aren’t good for the body. Sugar & saturated fuels the calorie count but not in a healthy way. A 1k calorie pizza does not give calories as brown rice, potatoes, spinach or tuna gives.
Take calories from organic food. Stick to your nutrition plan to make sure you don’t take extra calories. Stay away from junk food and enjoy your healthy meals.
- Do Cardio
People shy away from cardio when they try to bulk up. There are a lot of reasons why you should keep up the cardio training, while you aim for enlarging your muscles. However, refrain from HIIT and high-intensity workout, stick to low-intensity training sessions. Doing them promotes your cardio health, boosts the recovery process & helps in shedding the fat.
- Do Compound Movements
Keep your focus on compound exercises. Compound workouts put on the muscle mass fastly while training your multiple body parts at the same time. Aim for doing more reps of the exercises you perform. They are highly effective because of the following reasons. The more muscles in the body work together, the more testosterone will be produced by your body which plays a great role in building the muscles. The more muscles you have the higher metabolism you will have which leads to clean bulk.
- Make sure you take Adequate Rest
Recovery periods play an important part in your way to mass gain. Performing high reps & sets in the gym every single day will get you overtrained & you are more likely to suffer from fatigue which itself a hurdle in your training. Overtaking is dangerous if you want clean bulk. Plus your body will crave more sugary food for staying active.
Make sure you get proper sleep of eight hours every night. It gives your body the proper recovery time it needs. Don’t forget to take rest days during your training. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
- Do not Bulk For Too Long
Your Bulking cycle should be of a certain period. Break your journey into phases. And check your body’s progress at the end of each phase. It will help you in determining the results accurately and you will know when to quit the call. Consult your doctor for knowing the limits of your body and do not exceed them.
