bulking up, yea or nay?

[Knives]

What is your guys' opinions on bulking up?  By bulking up, I'm referring to doing minimal or no cardio, and eating a ton of food, as to gain muscle mass, but also fat.  Of course, you then have to eventually burn the fat off.  However, some people say you can be more conservative with your diet, do cardio, and still gain muscle while remaining lean.  What is the most effective way to gain muscle?

Opinions on both natural and hormonized bodybuilders welcome.

[Rearden Metal]

Something in the middle. The leaner you can remain, the better your body will be at putting on muscle. Conversely, you won't gain without having adequate nutritional needs met.

[Moen]

A definite nay

You can not hasten the growth process by eating a lote MORE than you need

Ofcourse you have to eat ENOUGH

The only way to hasten the process is ...

[Your MAAAAaaaa]

Agree with whats already been said, there is no need to scoff everything for the sake of it, also leads to lots of poor quality food being eaten if you lose all discipline.


ta ta

[240 is Back]

one idea would be to diet down before you start.  get 10% lean.  abs and veins.  And yes, your back and shoulders will shrink and you'll feel like crap.  Then you bulk back up and it's more of a quality bulk.  or so i've heard.  i'm still in the small shoulders/back and feeling small phase now.

[Tapeworm]

Probably depends a lot on your age.  If you're young, make your gains (on quality food).  Over 30, be more careful.

[Knives]

Good question man.

Hard to say though.  I wonder if sometimes overeating leads to the body adjusting by just not absorbing things as easily b/c it is trying to cope with the amount of food being put through.   When you are on a diet it seems as if every last bit of food is getting processed. 

There may be a better strategy of periodic days of dieting to get the body absorbing maximum amounts of food, and then days of eating much more than what is required while the body is still tricked into absorbing things. 

Just a thought, not sure how well it would actually work, but I have heard similar ideas in the past.

yeah, i think gh15 has said that when gaining, it's not a bad idea to keep carbs at medium/low levels for 4 days, then do a high carb day.

it's probably also a good idea to eat multiple times throughout the day, so that food is better absorbed, but of course that's bodybuilding 101

[Mars]

Good question. i wished there would be more research material on this topic.

[marcus]

Check out this article.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1268956

[Knives]

Check out this article.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1268956

thanks man, great article, i think he really hits the nail on the head

[gordiano]

Something in the middle. The leaner you can remain, the better your body will be at putting on muscle. Conversely, you won't gain without having adequate nutritional needs met.

Good "advices".

[The True Adonis]

Only idiots overeat.

Undereat every day. 

[Knives]

Only idiots overeat.

Undereat every day. 

how do you gain muscle if you undereat?

[boonstack]

Only idiots overeat.

Undereat every day. 

try again.... but this time, make sense

[Earl1972]

bulking more than 15-20 pounds is a waste of time, money, and food

anything after the 20 pound mark will be just fat and water

E

[pumpster]

anything after the 20 pound mark will be just fat and water

E

Possibly, but without defining the time frame that's not necessarily true.

[Earl1972]

Possibly, but without defining the time frame that's not necessarily true.

if you're gaining a pound every 1-2 weeks

E

[Bluto]

im surprised you're so negative against bulking 

it has worked wonders for people like the squadfather who is intimidating people wherever he goes

[canadaphiliac]

Only idiots overeat.

Undereat every day. 

Only idiots don't want to look like they crawled out of Auschwitz.

[dr.chimps]

Only idiots overeat.

Undereat every day. 

Yay. Negative caloric balance: the number one way to build muscle. 

/good to see ya back

[chaos]

What is your guys' opinions on bulking up?  By bulking up, I'm referring to doing minimal or no cardio, and eating a ton of food, as to gain muscle mass, but also fat.  Of course, you then have to eventually burn the fat off.  However, some people say you can be more conservative with your diet, do cardio, and still gain muscle while remaining lean.  What is the most effective way to gain muscle?

Opinions on both natural and hormonized bodybuilders welcome.

should have come to the seminar

[Knives]

should have come to the seminar

i would if i had a means of getting there.  what did they say?

[bigmc]

people who bulk tend to keep on bulking and live in self denial about how much fat they carry

how many guys do you see in the gym that are permanently off season

remember after you bulk you got to drop the fat and that can be a bitch

[210 and growing]

Its only hard to drop the fat if you keep eating like you were eating. I did my biggest bulk this year and got up to around 238, and did have a gut on me, but have been dieting around 2 months and the gut has totally gone, and i havent even done much cardio. Its all in the diet - its just that many people cannot stick to it and have no willpower when it comes to fatty foods, cakes etc.

[slaveboy1980]

a controlled bulk!

there is no reason to become obese but for best growth, adding a bit of fat is ok.