8 Powerful Bulking Tips For Weight Gain and Increased Muscle Mass
Beginning your bulk: 8 Easy Tips for Bulking that worked for Me
The Rock can eat a lot: Can you eat enough to pack on the size and achieve your bulking goLA
Are you trying to get big? Are you hoping to pack on size or become a mass monster?
Are you aiming to emulate Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler and Dorian Yates by needing to buy clothes from the plus size catalog stores?
If so, we have some simple bulking tips to help you grow.
Author’s Note on Bulking
Before you read on, let me make it clear that I have been in your position, and I’m in it again myself right now.
I lost a load of weight because of Coronavirus and gyms being closed. However, I have bulked on and off, and over the years I have done a few, so these bulking tips are from experience.
For reference, I am a 5’10 male who really struggles to keep weight on, especially muscle mass.
If I stop eating a certain amount or have a period away from the gym it just falls off.
A lot of annoying people always tell me how nice it must be to be able to lose weight so easily, but these are the very same people who then point out how thin I look. So they can jog on.
Dear reader, just know that these tips come from a place that you might be in now. I have successfully put on 28 pounds in one bulk, and in my last one I added about 20.
It’s not easy for me to gain weight so the advice I’m sharing is what worked for me. This might not work for you or you may disagree with some of it but as I said, this works for me.
I’m going to assume you know your general calorie requirements, if you need to know what you have to consume to stay at your current weight please check out this calorie calculator to help you work out your TDEE.
If you don’t know what you need but already track your calories or macros, add about 2-300 calories a day, to begin with, and after 2 months you should have put on some size.
If not, up it to 4-500 per day, or just go crazy and eat 750-1000 more than you need a day to go ham on the thing from the get-go.
Without further delay, here are my 8 personal bulking tips.
1. Drink lots of your calories: It will help your Bulking Goals
If you struggle with appetite or you aren’t hungry in the morning or simply don’t like food that much, then consider drinking a lot of your calories.
I don’t suggest just pounding Coke or Fanta for the sake of the calories but when you are on a bulk you need to get them in no matter what.
So for example, if you swapped the expensive pre-workout for a Coke, had some kind of fruit juice with every meal as well as added glucose and BCAA’s to your water bottle, you can add 3-400 calories right there with ease.
Now they are all high in carbs and full of sugar so that may not work for you, again, it helped me add in a way that was not intrusive. I eat plenty of healthy stuff as well but in terms of drinks, I just made them all count in some way.
I know we need water but throwing in some glucose powder won’t hurt, and every extra calorie helps.
I also drank a load of full-fat milk and used it in my shakes as well. This is not for everyone but again, it is good calories and high in all the macros. Drink!
2. Lift Heavy when bulking
This may seem pretty obvious but you’d be surprised how many people mess around doing loads of accessory work and are surprised when they aren’t gaining muscle quick enough.
For me, I saw the best results in terms of weight gain by concentrating on my chest and back, my legs just don’t respond well to lifting heavy.
Pick up heavy objects to help put on size
But I would up the weight and reduce the reps, and I would not do any more than I needed to. Honestly, 45 mins of lifting fairly heavy and I would be totally wasted.
My back would be numb and that was a sign to me that it was time to go home and eat. On chest day I would still do tricep pushdowns or dips but not loads of stuff on them.
For me, it is wasted energy that could be going to a big muscle group or spent doing one more heavy lift. I’m bulking here not sculpting.
3. Find food that is quick to prepare: Bulk Simple!
So there are a million eating videos out there for bodybuilding and whatnot, but not many of them focus on specific products that can really change the way you look at your bulk.
I had a huge breakthrough when I discovered Veetee Rice, especially the jasmine version which I love. Yeah it tastes good and I like rice but the key is that the stuff is ready after 2 mins in a microwave AND comes in a perfectly portable format.
So if I was at the office and wanted to just get 500 calories in I would cook a pack of the rice, add some olive oil and whatever seasoning was around, soy is good and just wolf it down.
Peanuts are the same, so quick and easy and full of half-decent calories. As are protein bars like the ones from Grenade that we reviewed here.
I know they are not healthy but scotch eggs did a similar thing for me. A good one is about 400 calories and easy to eat and if it’s in the fridge, I just know I have something high in calories and protein to get down me. Bulking is a hassle let’s be honest, so make it easier on yourself and find stuff that you can eat with limited prep.
Any excuse to not do something, or delay the calories, or start tomorrow will set your blinking journey back a step.
PRO TIP: If you need to get some green goodness into you fast, don’t mess around cooking stuff if it’s not what you want to do. All of the things you are doing to get bigger need to be easy to execute and not a chore.
Use Athletic Greens or a similar green powder to cover you when you need extra fibre and feel like you're lacking in nutrients. Hubermann loves them so they must be good!
Read more training tips on our fitness blog
4. Cheat when you feel like you need the calories when Bulking
I’m not really a huge one for cheat meals. When bulking I just try to eat as much as I can and if I am out and see a burger that gives me 1000 calories in about 10 minutes I’ll do it. I won’t make a case of going to get the stuff but I will eat it if I feel I need it.
When you’re lifting heavy and breaking down your body, it gets hungry so I listen to it. Now I’m sure a chicken breast, some rice and vegetables is better for you, but I’m not at home and I want to eat. So I will eat.
Also, if I’m doing the right amount of lifting then the calories are going to be used in the right way, and I try to stick to my daily calorie amount, so I’m not just pounding down pizzas every night but if I am aching or have done a big session then hell yes, I’ll take down a Domino’s fast.
5. When bulking you need to nap, or at least get more sleep
I’m a napaholic. There, I said it.
It’s true though, I love a nap and when I am eating a lot and lifting a lot I feel tired, no doubt about it. And when I feel tired I like to sleep, as I’m pretty sure it is my body telling me to rest so it can do its job and repair the damage I’m doing to it.
So listen to your body, if you feel your eyes closing in the afternoon and you have nothing else on, take the nap, your body isn’t doing any growing whilst you are awake.
6. Carbohydrates are your bulking friend
So this is not just a calorie thing, although, of course, you want high-quality carbs in your calorie breakdown. This for me is about ENERGY.
I need to have a lot of energy to go to the gym. Just laying down on the bench makes me feel like going to sleep, so I need to be at it when I get there. For me, this means eating a lot of carbs for energy.
So at breakfast, I normally have 500 calories worth of carbs if I can manage it on top of 40g of Protein and all the fats you can throw at me.
As above some of these carbs will be in liquid form, but as I tend to go to the gym in the evening I have tried to eat carbs throughout the day so that when I am ready to workout I have the energy. The bulk is not just about eating enough to put on weight, but enough to make your workouts count.
I also notice I am a degree weaker under a bar when I have not had sufficient carbs.
7. Work out at night to help your Bulk
I know this will come down to personal preference and I don’t have any science to back up why I think it has helped me when bulking, but hear me out, Dear Reader.
Looks like a good gym to me…
I think it helps because;
A) I have had all day to eat enough to fuel my workout and have also expended the energy I need to walk around and work etc. After the day is done I don’t need to expend any more calories other than those required for my workout.
B) If I finish working out, I eat and have a shower and it’s evening time, I rest properly and allow my body to heal.
I find when I work out in the mornings, I then spend all day running around and going to meetings so am using up valuable energy. I prefer to get in, eat and pretty much think about sleeping.
C) The feeling of being stiff and aching but having a shower and then lying down to binge some Netflix is just too good to miss.
8. Oil, High in Calories & Your bulking friend
I don’t mean crude, I mean Olive, Rapeseed, Groundnut, Sesame and a few others too. Seriously, oils can up your game, are good for you and are high in calories.
A salad can be a bulking meal if you have some chicken or steak, some croutons or crispy onions and a load of very good olive oil. That is 500 calories easy and you get the green stuff in as well.
I add extra olive oil to tuna, on top of rice I put sesame oil and I use groundnut to cook most of my stuff in a pan.
If you want to get really creative just whack a shot or two of olive oil in your protein shakes, you’ll add the extra calories you need in no time.
So those are 8 bulking tips if you are just about to start your bulk. I hope they help, and if you disagree with them, that’s fine, just don’t do any of it, but I know it works as the scale isn’t lying.
I hope this helps in some way… we have some other Nutrition content and lots of great training advice, especially if you are looking to get big!
