Diet and Nutrition

Bulking Up SUCKS!!!

Hey guys,

Today I'm going to break down something very BIG when it comes to building muscle and gaining weight. And it's the "Good", the "Bad" and the Ugly when it comes to "Bulking" up.

Specifically I'm talking about the "Bulking" Technique. If you don't know what that is, in simple terms it's when your diet and training are both focused on MAXIMUM muscle gain and a large part of this has to do with consuming very large amounts of calories each day.

Now there's a good side to this, a bad side to this and an UGLY side to this (as you'll soon see). And in the next few minutes you'll know if it's for you and if it isn't what other route you can take to reach your muscle building goals.

Here are some pics from my most recent transformation using the Bulking Technique:

Even though the "bulking" technique is an effective way to build muscle it's not for everyone. So if you're thinking about "bulking" then there's some key things you need to know FIRST to see if it's right for you.

The Good Side of Bulking

It's a Proven Method to Build (LOTS Of) Muscle

As I said before the "bulking" technique is an effective way to build muscle. It's been used by many top pro bodybuilders and fitness professionals for YEARS. And because this technique uses the approach of MASSIVE calorie intake I feel that the bulking technique is great for:

"hardgainers"
skinny guys
ectomorphs
guys with fast metabolisms
basically anyone who naturally struggles with building muscle.

The reason why I say this is because the bulking technique helps you build muscle and gain weight no matter how stubborn your "genetics" are.

It's also fairly simple to follow and very focused. Aside from eating the wrong things at the wrong times, you can "almost" eat whatever you want, as long it it provides the right amount of carbs, proteins, and fats.

And probably one of the main benefits of the bulking technique especially for newbies trying this out for the first time is that results are seen rather quickly compared to other muscle building strategies.

The Bad Side of Bulking

You WILL Experience Fat Gains

Probably the biggest down side to Bulking is that, if done correctly you WILL see fat gains. Since you're essentially "over eating" (consuming more calories then your body burns) on a daily basis then should expect to see some fat gains.

May Be BAD For Your Health

Bulking, can actually be bad for your health. For starters when you "Bulk" it's typical to decrease the amount of cardio you do, so you can dedicate more calories to muscle growth. Second, it's typical for things like your cholesterol and blood pressure to increase due to fact that you're experiencing extra muscle and fat gains and doing less and less cardio. And it's for these reasons why Bulking is meant to be a short term strategy for fast muscle gains. That's why most bodybuilders only "bulk" for a few weeks or at most a few months in their off season and then take more conservative approaches to reach their goals.

Since fat gains go hand in hand with bulking it's best to start a "bulking" phase when you're at a low body fat. (Trust me on this one) If you can't even see the outline of your abs then you'll need to drop some body fat first BEFORE you start a "bulking" phase.

Due to the fat gains that you'll experience, this technique is also not ideal for those who want to keep their waist line small and their body fat % down while they're building muscle.

The UGLY Side of Bulking

Unwanted Fat Gains

If done incorrectly you can put on ALOT of unwanted body fat using the "bulking" technique (Which you'll soon see).

And going with that, the more body fat you have, the longer it takes to "cut" the fat and shed those "pudge" pounds. Trust me, if you thought building muscle was hard, going on a cutting diet for months in my opinion is 10x worse.

True story...

So when I first set out to transform my body the first technique I learned was the "bulking" technique. Following a meal plan and workout plan designed to build MAXIMUM muscle gains just made the most sense for me at the time, especially for someone like me who seemed "allergic" to building muscle at the time.

After about 4 - 5 months I gained ALOT of muscle, but also ALOT of fat (which as you know is somewhat expected but in large part was due to some KEY mistakes (which i'll touch on shortly)

Even though this "initial" transformation was over 2 years ago I didn't realize how much fat I actually put on during that "bulking" phase until I looked at a picture of myself this summer after my six pack challenge with my sister.

(Keep in mind that fat gains are expected when you use the "bulking" technique but the MONSTROUS FAT GAIN I experienced was due to ALOT of mistakes on my part.)

Here's what happpens when you Bulk up the WRONG WAY:

My First Transformation: Me at (184 lbs) and 4 Months Later (226 lbs)

So here are a few Key Mistakes I made that lead to those fat gains:

Didn't Do the Recommended Cardio

Remember how I said you have to "limit" your cardio when you're bulking. Well I took that a little too far and virtually ELIMINATED cardio from my workout plan, which is a BIG NO NO when you're bulking up PERIOD (unless you're actually underweight with a low body fat and even then that's only for your first few weeks).

First I'm not gonna lie, I was lazy. I kept saying I'll do cardio next time (for months). Not only is this bad for your heart and your entire cardiovascular system but its also bad for your fat gains. Since I was consuming SO MANY CALORIES each day, that 20 - 25 minutes of cardio per workout was CRUCIAL to keeping my fat gains to a minimum.

I can go on and on about the excuses I made, but let's just say live and learn. And FYI, cardio is essential even when "bulking".

Ate ALOT of Things I Shouldn't

Since I was under the impression "the more calories I consume the better" I basically ate whatever I wanted, when I wanted. I remember eating things like pasta, yogurt, ravioli and nuggets at crazy hours in night (hey, I was a college student alright )

Now that I think about it, my cholesterol must've been through the roof with all the packaged and pre-made stuff I was eating (they're usually jam-packed with sodium). And what made it even worse was the fact that I was eating this stuff at all the wrong times. So multiply these daily bad eating habits throughout 4 - 5 months and BAM you get MASSIVE Fat Gains.

So as you can see Bulking has some good things about it, some bad things about it and some UGLY things about it. But overall I do believe that this is still a very highly effective way to build muscle, especially if you're a naturally skinny guy like me and you natuarlly struggle building muscle.

Who Is "Bulking" Really For???

If you're:

a hardgainer / skinny guy / ectomorph
a person who has a fast metabolism
don't mind gaining some extra fat to build ALOT of muscle
a person who naturally struggles with building muscle
a beginner to intermediate weight lifter

then I'd say the "bulking" technique might be your best way to go. The best program I've seen (and actually used) that'll teach you how to bulk up with the "bulking" technique (the right way) is the No Nonsense Muscle Building Program, if you fall into the category above then I highly recommend you give it a shot.

But if you:

already have a low body fat and have a six pack
want to keep your waist line where it's at while building muscle
want lean musle gains without the fat

then I'd say the "bulking" technique isn't for you. If you fall into the category of wanting to build lean muscle without the fat then I highly recommend you give The Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer program a try, everything about this program (from the workout plans, meal pleans, post workout shakes, etc) is designed to help you build muscle with virtually no fat gain.

Ok guys, that's my rant for today. I hope this helped. Let me know what you think about the bulking technique by leaving a comment below.

Train hard,

Rich

The #1 Reason You Aren’t Building Muscle!

Filed Under: Diet and Nutrition 4 Comments

So you're doing everything you can possibly think of to build muscle and gain weight.

You're:

Busting your butt in the gym
Eating more food
Drinking these crazy supplements
Following the muscle building magazines
Spending hours on Youtube trying to figure it all out
Reading TONS of articles
Signing up for countless newsletters

and at the end of it all, weeks later..... You still look EXACTLY the same as the day you started.

And because of this, you're frustrated, tired, pissed off, down, depressed and feel like giving up.

How do I know all this?

BECAUSE I WAS THERE!!!

"I Know What It’s Like to NOT See Results"

To “slaughter” yourself in the gym and still not see any difference. To spend money on “miracle” supplements and none of them work. And the hopeless feeling of not knowing what the heck you’re doing wrong….

Yeah I've been there!!!

But ever since I figured out the "secret" formula if you will, to building muscle I get alot of questions.

And from the countless number of emails I respond to where guys tell me EXACTLY what they're doing to build muscle I've pinpointed a major common factor between most of them.

The #1 Reason You Aren't Seeing Results

The truth is... if you're reading this right now and you know you fall into this category I can tell you that there's a 99.9% chance that....

You're Simply NOT Eating Enough

That's right, the day I started seeing some life changing PERMANENT results was the day I realized I wasn't consuming enough calories each day to ALLOW my body to build muscle AND did something about it.

I used to think all it took was for me to suck down some "miracle" protein drink, nibble on a few snacks here and there and maybe eat a big breakfast and BAM muscle gains.

I'm going to tell you something right now that you NEED to realize.

How to Tell if You're Not Eating Enough

Put it this way:

If you're a skinny guy or a hardgainer and you aren’t constantly nibbling on food and eating every few hours, then you're NOT eating enough.
If at any point during the day you feel hungry or your stomach feels empty then you're NOT eating enough.
If you're trying to gain weight and build muscle and you’re “comfortably” consuming your meals for the day, in other words, it's not a "challenge" for you to complete each and every meals for the day then you are NOT eating enough.

This is such a a BIG mistake I see with alot of skinny guys and hardgainers that it's actually the very FIRST mistake I go over in my "30 Day Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide"

How to Get Over This Hurdle "Blazing" FAST

So I realized that alot and I mean ALOT of guys don't know what, when and how often to eat to truly build muscle and start seeing results.

And that's why...

"I've Included A PROVEN, Super Simple, Easy and Cheap, 30 Day Muscle Building Meal Plan In My NEW 30 Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide"

(Release Date: Thursday July 7, 2011)

I really want you to start getting the results you deserve, which is why I decided to include this Meal Plan with your 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide.

So if you're not getting the results you want and you know your diet isn't up to par then you owe it to yourself to claim your 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide while you still have the chance

In all honesty, when I release this training guide on my blog on Thursday July 7, 2011 this training guide MAY OR MAY NOT have a price tag attached to it.

BUT, I will be releasing this guide to a few select people absolutely FREE of charge who are REALLY interested, and ready to apply what I reveal in this guide to their lives.

So if you want to GUARANTEE that you'll get your 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge FOR FREE then I highly recommend that you fill out the quick form below and put yourself on the Early Release Notification List before it's too late.

Download your 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide

You might be kicking yourself later if you don't.

Train hard,

Rich

P.S. - I'm releasing my 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide on Thursday July 7, 2011

But I don't want people to DE-VALUE the life changing results this guide WILL bring, which is why I'm SERIOUSLY thinking about charging for people to get their hands on this guide. It covers ALOT.

BUT, I will be releasing this guide to a few select people absolutely FREE of charge who are REALLY interested, and ready to apply what I reveal in this guide to their lives.

So if you want to GUARANTEE that you'll get your 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge FOR FREE then I highly recommend that you fill out the quick form below and put yourself on the Early Release Notification List before it's too late.

You'll seriously be KICKING yourself if you miss out.

Download your 30 Day Build Muscle Challenge Training Guide

How to Eat Massive Amounts Of Food Throughout The Day To Build Muscle Fast!

Filed Under: Diet and Nutrition 13 Comments

What's up,

Just got a great question and I wanted to share the answer with everyone because this is one of the reasons ALOT of guys don't gain the amount of muscle they want. And if you struggled with building muscle and putting on weight then you NEED to read this post

Here's the question:

"The thing i struggle most with is food. I try to eat more but my stomach gets full so i cant eat any more so i dont gain weight! Any advice or tips for that?"
- Dave

That's a damn good question Dave. It wasn't until I learned how my body works and how to eat more throughout the day that allowed me to start stacking on the muscle.

First lemme just go over the basics because they're so important yet alot of people fail to follow them.

In order to gain weight you NEED to eat more calories than your body burns on a daily basis. For example if your body burns 2,000 calories each day just to maintain itself. Then you should be eating above and beyond 2,000 calories EACH DAY in order to gain weight and build muscle. Why?

Well it takes approximately 3500 EXTRA calories to build new body mass. And I say body mass because depending on where those extra calories come from (i.e - from fats and bad carbs (like chips and soda) or from protein and good carbs (like tuna and whole wheat bread) will have the biggest impact on whether you body builds new muscle with those extra calories or store them as fat. So, if you do the math if you eat 500 EXTRA calories each day, you'll gain 1 pound a week.

So that's why being able to eat more food is extremely important if you want to gain weight and build muscle fast. If you want to build muscle fast you have to consume 3500 EXTRA calories for each pound you want to gain and and do it fast. And if you know how to eat MASSIVE amounts of food each day you can accomplish this in no time. (Being able to eat MASSIVE amounts of food is absolutely vital for skinny guys, hardgainers and those with a fast metabolism and anyone else who has a hard time putting on the pounds).

So How to eat more food throughout the day so I can grow massive?

Ok so here is your crash course in:

The Eat and Grow MASSIVE Action Plan

Step 1: Eat smaller "muscle building" meals.
Eat a small meal high in protein, moderately high in carbs and low in fat. A good break down I like to use is 40 / 40 / 20. Which means 40% of my calories come from protein, 40% from "good carbs" and 20% from fat. (Eat to comfortably to fill your stomach up but don't get it stuffed)

Step 2 - Eat a small "muscle building" meal every 2.5 to 3 hours
There are so many benefits to eating a small meal every 3 hours. Here's just a few:

Constant nourishment: When you eat every 3 hours your body can constantly provide nutrients to help your damaged muscles (from your workout) recover and build new muscle.

Faster Metabolism: Your body will begin to adapt to the constant stream of nourishment and will literally boost your metabolism to help you digest more food. if you already have a fast metabolism don't worry, since you're constantly providing the right nutrients to your body and eating massive amounts of food this boost in metabolism will actually help you build more muscle.

The most important gem to take away is to NEVER let your body go hungry. If your stomach is growling than your not eating frequently enough. If your stomach can't find food to draw energy and nutrients from than it will find it by breaking down your muscles (which will reverse everything you did in the gym), that's why it's important to NEVER let your stomach go hungry.

Step 3: Drink a tall glass of water immediately after your meal

Drinking a tall glass of water after each meal is absolutely crucial. Without H20 your body CANNOT digest food. And if you have your previous meal still sitting in your stomach when it's time for meal number 2 than guess what, you're stomach's gonna say "Sorry bud, I'm full come back later" and there goes those extra calories you need to consume to build muscle. Drinking a glass of water right after a meal will help speed up your digestion big time.
Step 4 - Drink another tall glass of water 1.5 hours after that.

Yep another glass of water is required. If you're worrying about being too full on water to eat your next meal, don't be. In all honesty you should be drinking this amount of water regularly, your body is made up of about 70% water, and demands it constantly. But once your body has used all the water necessary to digest it's last meal and maintain it's bodily functions, it's simply going to get rid of the excess water it doesn't need. Which means you're going to be "pissing" alot more than normal but that's ok because not only is your body properly hydrated but you also have more room in your stomach for your next "muscle building" meal.

Step 5 - Repeat daily

You have to constantly perform this routine daily and here's why. As your body adapts to the vast amounts of food and water you'll not only build more muscle but your body will naturally begin to crave more food. Before you know it, what used to fill you up will barely fill you up. Your body will start to demand more food and more nutrients from you and that's when the REAL muscle gains begin. But this can only be achieved if you repeat this routine daily.

Step 6 - Each week add more water until you're up to 2 cups in between meals

This is the goal you should work towards in the beginning. As you start building muscle and gaining weight your body WILL demand more nutrients from you. The more food you consume the more water you'll have to consume to properly digest it. So remember the more you eat the more you drink (water that is).

I can't stress this enough...so I'm going to repeat it again

Drink lots of water.
THIS IS (NO B.S.) WHAT HELPED BREAK ME OUT OF MY SKINNY FRAME

When I'm not eating something I'm sipping on water. Why is this SOOOO IMPORTANT?
Because the more water you have in your system, the faster your body will digest food. (Period)

(if you haven't done so, go in the kitchen right now and pour yourself a nice tall glass of water and start sipping it while you read the rest of this post - I'm serious, I'll wait)
...
...
...

If you're not drinking AT LEAST 2 cups of water between meals than you're going to have a hard time consuming those extra calories your body NEEDS to build muscle. If you feel too full to eat your next meal than one of these three things are to blame.

A - You're eating too much per meal
B - You're not drinking enough water between meals
C - (Both)

The good news is you can easily correct the two by using the advice on this page. So Dave (and anyone else who's stuck with this problem as well) let's recap that action plan again.

The Eat and Grow MASSIVE Action Plan

Step 1: Eat smaller "muscle building" meals.

Step 2: Eat a small "muscle building" meal every 2.5 to 3 hours

Step 3: Drink a tall glass of water immediately after your meal

Step 4: Drink another tall glass of water 1.5 hours after that.

Step 5: Repeat daily

Step 6: Each week add more water until you're up to 2 cups in between meals

I wish this system could be harder (so I can seem like some muscle genius) but it isn't, it's literally THAT SIMPLE to eat more throughout the day. If you can stick with this for 2 to 3 weeks your body will start demanding more food from you because it's digesting it so quickly. And more (of the right) food = more muscle.

Hope this helped. Now go out there and EAT And Grow MASSIVE and let me know how it goes.

Please let me know if this helped by leaving me a comment below. Also if you have any additional questions you want me to answer leave me a comment as well.

Rich

P.S. - I'm working on a fitness calculator that'll help you determine how many calories , protein, carbs and good fats you need to consume in order to reach your goal weight. Let me know if something like this will help you and I'll be sure to add it to the blog ASAP.

Bulking Up SUCKS!!!

The Good Side of Bulking