A Beginners Guide to Bulking
The basic principle is to eat more food than your body requires to maintain your weight. For example if you calculate you roughly consume 2500 calories each day and are not gaining or losing weight then I would just add an extra 300-400 calories each day plus a structured training plan in order to gain Lean Body Mass (muscle with minimal fat).
Food Frequency and Amounts
I would opt for 7 x 400 calorie meals each day for a consistent calorie overfill which will allow for Lean Gains. As this is a basic guide I would not worry too much about calories burned more emphasis should be given to hitting the right foods at the right time consistently.
Types of food
Some not all sources have been listed below
Protein
- Beef
- Chicken
- Fish
- Lamb – not often
- Pork
- Quark
- Yogurt
- Milk
- Cottage cheese
- Whey protein
- Milk protein – pre bed
Carb Sources
- Oats – any time of the day except pre-bed
- Wholemeal pasta/rice – any time of the day except for pre-bed
- White rice and pasta- To be consumed post workout
- Potatoes – preferably post workout
- Sweet potatoes – any time of day except pre-bed
Fats – generally avoid this pre and post workout
- Fatty fish e.g salmon – not post workout
- Nuts
- Oils
- Peanut paste/butter
- Olive oil
Vegetables
- Variety with most meals
A rough daily meal plan
Upon waking – BBW Premium whey protein – ripe banana
40-60 minutes later – breakfast :Eggs with some yolks, turkey rashers, wholemeal toast or oats, half-fat cheese,
Supplements – green tea extract, multi vitamin, fish oils, cissus
2-3hours later – Meal Replacement or weight gainer
90 mins later - train – Pure iBCAA 8:1:1 - electrolytes
PWO shake – Performance Protein V2 – 40 g of dex/malto – 5g of taurine
1 hour later – chicken breast – rice or pasta or potatoes – salad – minimal fats
Supplements – green tea
2 hours later – low fat yogurt with half scoop of bbw whey and nuts
3 hours later – beef/fish/turkey – salad – low carb – moderate fats
Supplements – multi vitamin, fish oils, cissus
3 hours later – BBW Premium Casein Protein/quark/cottage cheese with spoon of Udos or Olive oil – Fish oils
Training
Should be intense and structured, I would keep cardio to a minimum and at a slow pace. If you do decide to do more cardio than thrice weekly then more calories will need to be added to them days depending on expenditures.
Rep Range – I would opt for 8 – 12 rep range to pack on lean mass and minimise impact on joints.
Exercises – compounds e.g. bench press, squats, militaries and dead lifts, I would also use a few isolation moves at the end of each session to pump blood and nutrients in to the muscles. Each compound exercise should consist of 1 warm set or more if necessary and then 3 working sets where you gradually up the weight so you can start failing on the last rep of the last set.
Splits
- Chest and triceps
- Back and Biceps
- Shoulders and calves
- Legs
by Mark Marcou
