An Overview Of The Bulking Phase In Bodybuilding

Rohan Mathew

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An Overview Of The Bulking Phase In Bodybuilding

When you bulk, you eat a whole lot more calories than you need. Bulking has been likened to the period of calories abundance. But what is bulking, why do people bulk and for what reason do you even have to consider bulking at all?

This is what I will share with you in the overview of the bulking phase in bodybuilding. If you need more hints on how you can improve your bodybuilding chances using supplements, open More hints now.

Bulking is an essential part of bodybuilding, anyone who wants to build muscle needs to supply the body with the right nutrients. For this reason, I have compiled a list of the foods you should limit and the ones you should consume. 

When starting a bulk, you need to focus on high nutrient and high calorie content food in order to stimulate rapid muscle gains. Consume healthy fats, Fruit, Legumes, high quality carbs, and lean proteins: beef, chicken, fish, turkey, pork, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, olive oil, avocado, nuts, nut butters, fatty fish, and seeds like chia, hemp, and flax seeds, all beans, including chickpeas and kidney, navy, black, and Great Northern beans,water, seltzer, diet soda oats,  cauliflower, Brussels, quinoa, whole grain pasta, rice cakes, breakfast cereals,pizza, regular pasta, white and sweet potatoes, and white and brown rice, apples, oranges, bananas, pineapple, grapefruit, and all types of berries.

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Items to avoid are: deep-fried foods, chips,ham, bacon, salami fast food, full fat ice cream, soft drinks, sweetened coffee, sweet tea, lemonade and margarine amongst others.

To start a bulk, determine the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. Mark up the figure you have with a 10-20% surplus. According to a reliable source, the ideal weight gain target per week should range between 0.25–0.5%.

It is highly recommended to pair your bulk with high intensity resistance training to maximize muscle gains. This is because resistance training increases myonuclei in the muscles which is believed to increase muscle growth. 

So when resistance training pairs with bulking you enter an anabolic state where the potential to build more muscle increases. 

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What are the adverse effects of bulking?

  • Bulking may cause excess fat gains. When bulking you are packing both muscle and fat simultaneously and an expert opined that if the fat cells undergo hyperplasia you will retain this increased number of fat cells even when weight is lost. 
  • Transitioning to cutting may become difficult once you have formed the habit of eating too much calories. Findings reveal bulking can decrease insulin sensitivity due to the increasing fats which sets the stage for things like blood sugar imbalances, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

What are the benefits?

  • promotes muscle mass: you will be able to grow your muscle mass once you bulk the right way.
  • increases bone density and strength: improved muscle mass means improved strength, your days of struggling to do certain  chores becomes a thing of the past. 
  • promotes healthy libido