Trust me, this is not a situation you want to be in. He can continue bulking and gaining muscle, but knows that that means an even further increase in body fat… or he can put the brakes on his entire muscle building phase and go through the tedious process of having to shift into a cutting phase to strip off the excess fat he’s gained. He hasn’t come anywhere close to the level of muscular development he desires, but he’s also carrying around an amount of excess fat that he isn’t comfortable with. However, I’ve seen it countless times before where a naturally thin guy begins training hard and simply eats a ton of food every day without really tracking anything, and a few short months into his program is shocked (and quite unhappy) with the amount of body fat he’s gained. I remember saying this exact same thing myself when I first got started.
Many guys who start off on the skinnier side and who simply want to pack on overall size will often say that they “don’t care about gaining excess fat as long as they get bigger”. Secondly, a dirty bulk can potentially throw your entire program off course if you aren’t careful. There are set limits on how much lean tissue your body can build over a set period of time, and simply stuffing your face with more and more food is not going to magically speed up the process to any significant degree.Īny excess calories that you consume above and beyond what your body can use to maximize its muscle building potential in any given day will simply be stored as fat.Ī dirty bulking approach that provides your body with far more calories above and beyond what it can actually divert to lean muscle growth is nothing more than a recipe for pounds of extra fat gain over the long term.
BULKING AND CUTTING RATIO FULL
The primary mistake that most people who follow a full blown “dirty bulking” approach make is the idea that if a smaller calorie surplus builds a certain amount of muscle, then a larger calorie surplus will automatically build more.
Here are 4 key reasons why maintaining a small to moderate calorie surplus is the superior approach for most people in comparison to a larger and less controlled calorie surplus…Ĥ Reasons To Clean Bulk Instead Of Dirty Bulkįirst off, your body can only build a limited amount of lean muscle tissue in any given day no matter what you do. However, in the vast majority of cases, I would definitely recommend that you aim to stick more to the side of “clean bulking” and focus on increasing your overall body weight at a slower, more gradual pace. When it all comes down it, there is no one definitive answer that will apply in every single situation, and a case could be made for either approach depending on the individual’s goals and preferences. So, which is the superior bulking approach, and why?Ĭlean Bulking Vs. “ Dirty bulking” refers to creating a larger, more “flexible” calorie surplus in order to build muscle at a faster pace, but with the understanding that greater gains in body fat will also result.Īlthough not true in every single case, those on a “clean bulk” will also tend to be more deliberate when it comes to tracking their overall calories and macros, while those on a “dirty bulk” will tend to follow a simpler “eat lots and eat often” approach without being as strict about their precise calorie totals or food choices.
“ Clean bulking” refers to creating a smaller, more tightly controlled calorie surplus in order to build muscle at a more gradual pace while also minimizing gains in body fat. This is accomplished by first finding your calorie maintenance level (which is the number of calories that you require each day in order to maintain your current weight) and then increasing that number by a set figure to ensure that you’re maintaining a calorie surplus over time to support new muscle growth. This provides your body with the extra energy that is needed to synthesize new muscle tissue.
You’ll hear various definitions for these two terms depending on who you speak to, but for the sake of simplicity, here’s how we’ll define them…įirst off, as you probably already know, in order to gain muscle you must create a “calorie surplus” by consistently consuming more calories than you burn each day. What is the best approach to take when it comes to your mass gaining diet, a “clean bulk” or a “dirty bulk”?