Bulking is a terrible idea

[tom joad]

I've never gone full-fledged bulk mode.  Can't remember a time when my abs weren't at least somewhat visible.

[pellius]

Everything in life is a matter of degrees. There's smoothing out and then there's Shizzo level blubber.
But, if you want your muscles to get bigger you have to get
bigger and that's never going to happen unless you are on a caloric surplus. There's no other way
around it. Training by itself is not going to do it. Of course, if you are in bad shape you can play around
with body composition. Lose fat while gaining some muscle while overall body weight remains the same.
But if you are a seasoned bber looking to advance it's not going to happen if you stay at 6%. I guess if there were some way to exactly determine the precise amount of protein, carbs and fats that will allow you to optimize muscle growth without adding an ounce of fat that would be ideal. But in the real world it puts the odds more in your favor to have an overabundance of nutrients at your disposal. I mean, it's hard enough as it is for a season trainee to put on additional muscle even under ideal conditions.

[ESFitness]

"Bulking" without drugs and you'll end up like Shizzo, SF1900, or black Vince.

In fact, most drug using bodybuilders with a number of years experience who actually look like bodybuilders never even use the term "bulk".

That should tell you something.

[Weedlejuice]

Can we all agree on this now?  If you aren't on a lot of drugs, bulking is one of the worst things you can do.  If it's your first year of training you can be a little relaxed on what you eat as you will put on 10-15 pounds of muscle.  After that, there is no reason to eat more than a 5-10% calorie surplus.  Every time you go on youtube you see these fake natties talking about bulking and their "off season" diet.  What it's become is the lazy narcissistic mentality of the fitness community justifying over eating, complacency and food wasting.

What's your opinion and or experiences with bulking?

Without drugs true, with? I think its pretty much mandatory

[lilhawk1]

Everyone should diet hard at least once a year.  Contest type diet, get shredded.  You'd be surprised how much better you'd look.  Most guys won't do this though because the harsh reality is they will be devastated to realize they only weigh 175 when they're actually in shape.  If that.  If you do this it is nearly impossible to get fat no matter what you eat when you're not dieting. 

[Mr Anabolic]

For natties, you can get away with eating more calories when you are in your 20's.  I routinely ate 4000 a day, while training hard 6 days a week.  I gained lots of muscle and the fat gain was minimal.  No cardio at all. 

However, you cannot do this as you age.  Your metabolism slows down, hormone levels drop and your body is not as efficient at utilizing those extra calories.  You get fat much easier.

[tres_taco_combo]

Everyone should diet hard at least once a year.  Contest type diet, get shredded.  You'd be surprised how much better you'd look.  Most guys won't do this though because the harsh reality is they will be devastated to realize they only weigh 175 when they're actually in shape.  If that.  If you do this it is nearly impossible to get fat no matter what you eat when you're not dieting. 

I AGREE

1x a year do a hard core 8-12 week diet. even if you drop down to 175lbs to important to cut up

your summer pool time will be worth it

[The Wizard of Truth]

10-15lbs ? I put on 30 my first year. And 30 my 2nd year. And 20 or so my 3rd yr.

Eat enough to grow. Simple as that.

If you're not using PEDs, you're not really "bodybuilding"... Not unless you have some sort of elite genetics. 90% of "bodybuilders" , without steroids, can at best hope to achieve a Men's Health physique.

Without steroids, like most people here, you're just weightlifters.

So you started out at 70lbs?

[ESFitness]

So you started out at 70lbs?

Started at 90lbs

[VladimirVersic]

Usually i have a certain weight in both cutting and lets say offseason or the bulk.
Offseason im max 7kg heavier. And it is fat and water of course. 

[Sexybeast777]

the problem with bulking is that it can make you gain a ton of fat. after gaining 50 lbs, chances are 10 lbs are muscle, 8 lbs is fecal matter, 12 lbs is water retention and 20 lbs are fat. Later you learn that burning the fat off is not that easy, while losing muscle is very easy

[tres_taco_combo]

plus after a serious bulk your proportions get out of whack too.

loose those lines/enter the world of endomorph terrority

[chokeslam]

I'm turning 32 soon and I've been lifting for just a decade. But thankfully I only spent a bit more than half that time permabulking before I started questioning the anonymous idiots on the internet.

I think you just shouldn't worry about staying super ripped while you put on muscle. Don't "bulk", but don't worry about abs. That should give you enough of a buffer to make great gains without holding yourself back.

Bulking does absolutely nothing. Carrying sheaths of fat and having a sweaty ass all the time doesn't do anything whatsoever. Just look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. Never worry about the shit that other people do or say.

[Mobil]

Everything in life is a matter of degrees. There's smoothing out and then there's Shizzo level blubber.
But, if you want your muscles to get bigger you have to get
bigger and that's never going to happen unless you are on a caloric surplus. There's no other way
around it. Training by itself is not going to do it. Of course, if you are in bad shape you can play around
with body composition. Lose fat while gaining some muscle while overall body weight remains the same.
But if you are a seasoned bber looking to advance it's not going to happen if you stay at 6%. I guess if there were some way to exactly determine the precise amount of protein, carbs and fats that will allow you to optimize muscle growth without adding an ounce of fat that would be ideal. But in the real world it puts the odds more in your favor to have an overabundance of nutrients at your disposal. I mean, it's hard enough as it is for a season trainee to put on additional muscle even under ideal conditions.

i agree.... you have to bulk to gain muscle... then cut... if you eat healthy trying to gain size...its gonna take a while

[ProudVirgin69]

One thing I'll never forget, there was this huge guy on the T-nation forums, "professor x" who was a serious advocate of bulking. I remember him saying something like, "everyone gets big by bulking, then turns around and talks shit about it later in their career."

I was guilty as charged, but now I'll just say, "who knows"? Would I have been better or worse had I never bulked? Obviously, I'll never be able to say from experience.

Lmao I remember that guy.  He would always post selectively cropped photos displaying one bodypart at a time, like a forearm or a shoulder.  Made it seem like he was a muscular guy with a good physique, and he had a sizable following on the site too. 

Then T-nation brought him into their facility to be trained by that one guy Christian Thibadouae (sp?) and posted the video.  The jig was up ..  He looked terrible, like a furniture mover.  No muscle definition to be seen.  Not only that but he was in pretty bad shape too, struggling with lunges and breathing heavy in between sets. 

It was a pumpster-esque reveal, to say the leastv

[ESFitness]

I'm turning 32 soon and I've been lifting for just a decade. But thankfully I only spent a bit more than half that time permabulking before I started questioning the anonymous idiots on the internet.

I think you just shouldn't worry about staying super ripped while you put on muscle. Don't "bulk", but don't worry about abs. That should give you enough of a buffer to make great gains without holding yourself back.

Bulking does absolutely nothing. Carrying sheaths of fat and having a sweaty ass all the time doesn't do anything whatsoever. Just look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. Never worry about the shit that other people do or say.

If you're on the proper amount of drugs you should have abs year 'round.

[Mobil]

If you're on the proper amount of drugs you should have abs year 'round.

genes over power drugs...so if you have to take alot of drugs to be lean and cut....its your genes....slap your momma and dadda

[tom joad]

for a natural (at least), a clean bulk or lean bulk is the way to go.

[ESFitness]

for a natural (at least), a clean bulk or lean bulk is the way to go.

By "clean bulk" you mean "just making progress"?

[tom joad]

By "clean bulk" you mean "just making progress"?

this guy can explain it ...

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd2hp3QgwC9/

[ESFitness]

genes over power drugs...so if you have to take alot of drugs to be lean and cut....its your genes....slap your momma and dadda

Which is why I stated "if you're on the proper amount of drugs you should have abs year round", regardless of this "bulking" nonsense.

As a bodybuilder, IMO, your goal should be one of two things A) adding muscle, or B) retaining muscle. There is no "getting fat" option, which is what a lot of these people using the "bulking" term are doing.

This Bodybuilding.com Generation seem to not understand that, as they're the ones who coined the phrase "dirty bulk". That sounds a lot like "non consensual rape".

[sceagacros]

Lmao I remember that guy.  He would always post selectively cropped photos displaying one bodypart at a time, like a forearm or a shoulder.  Made it seem like he was a muscular guy with a good physique, and he had a sizable following on the site too.  

Then T-nation brought him into their facility to be trained by that one guy Christian Thibadouae (sp?) and posted the video.  The jig was up ..  He looked terrible, like a furniture mover.  No muscle definition to be seen.  Not only that but he was in pretty bad shape too, struggling with lunges and breathing heavy in between sets.  

It was a pumpster-esque reveal, to say the leastv

Proffessor X turned out to be nothing but a bloated, fat tub of lard- it was epic.

[Taffin]

My 'knowledge' (such as it is) is based on 25 year old books like the Underground Steroid Handbook, so it's probably worthless nowadays.  That said, as a meso/endo my best success in my 20's was 4 years of the suggested (at the time) bulking and cutting, with Sustanon, Tamoxifen and 'eat-whatever' for 12 to 16 weeks, followed by a period off then the same 12 to 16 of Primo and Parabolan along with very low carbs to the point of starvation.  I suppose this became the keto diet because I didn't count the calories as such, just dropped white carbs....

So bulking worked for me, but you have to follow it like people say with getting back into shape each year otherwise.....

[Go 4 It]

Currently bulking for the first time, I mean a true bulk, zero cardio, lifting 2 bodyparts per day - morning/evening sessions, trying for 7-8 meals a day.

[tres_taco_combo]

Currently bulking for the first time, I mean a true bulk, zero cardio, lifting 2 bodyparts per day - morning/evening sessions, trying for 7-8 meals a day.

good for you, you will have the most epic pumps ever.