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Bulking for strength athletes
Bulking, or in simple words, the process of getting bigger by putting on as much muscle as possible (ideally without increasing fat) is one of the most exciting parts of a strength athlete’s life. For most people the idea of eating more, watching these beautiful muscles growing and as a result getting stronger is fascinating. This is what we, strength athletes, do. Besides that, we train hard and get hungry, most of us anyway. But there are exceptions to this rule, especially among vegans. The thing is that a typical vegan diet, especially WFPB (whole foods plant-based) is high on fiber, and as such - on volume and also less calorie-dense than most other diets which can create some challenges. In either case, this article is designed to help you make this process both efficient and enjoyable.
Bulking philosophy explained
Bulking is all about creating a caloric surplus. No matter what your diet is - low fat, low carb, vegan, even intermittent fasting - you will gain weight only if you create a caloric surplus. It also works in the opposite direction - if you are in a caloric surplus you will gain weight no matter what else you do. Keto for bulking is not better than Paleo, WFPB or any other diet of your choice. All the fad around choosing the right diet for weight management is just nonsense and marketing games. The truth is fairly simple - you can use any diet you like for cutting, bulking or maintenance. If you are in deficit you will lose weight. In surplus, you will put pounds (only muscle if done right) on. Eat just enough and you will maintain your current weight. End of story.
There are two main approaches to bulking: clean and dirty. Clean bulking is about going slower but gaining predominantly or ideally only muscles. Once you achieve your target weight/size, there is nothing else to do. Dirty bulking is about gaining as fast as possible which will inevitably result in gaining both muscles and fat. Typically once dirty bulking is finished, there is a need for a cutting cycle to get rid of unnecessary fat. In my opinion, dirty bulking is unnecessary in most cases since you rarely save time but in the process, you definitely will put too much stress on your body. Clean bulking is a healthier choice for sure.
Once you have internalized these foundational facts the most important question to ask is: how do I know how many calories are “surplus” for me?
How to establish a proper caloric surplus
First of all, what “surplus” is? It’s fairly simple actually - it’s a positive difference between your intake (what you eat) and what you burn. For successful bulking, you will need to eat more calories than you burn.
While “what you eat” is quite simple, the “what you burn” part deserves a more detailed explanation. It consists of two parts, the first is your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) or, simply put, what your body burns at rest in 24 hours, the second is the extra calories your body needs to perform normal daily activities including any kind of exercise. BMR is strictly based on your lean body mass, in other words on the weight of your muscles only (I will have a separate article on that). The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn at rest. Typically BMR is a bigger number than your activity burn. What you burn during exercise can be only roughly estimated based on activity type, intensity, duration, and body weight. You can also try using stuff like smartwatches or other heart rate monitors but while they might be somewhat reliable for cardiovascular activities, the error for strength training is typically too big. Anyway, it’s not absolutely necessary since there are practical ways to figure this stuff out that I highly recommend.
One approach that always works: Know what you eat. Install a calorie tracker that is easy to use and has an inclusive nutritional database of most commercially available products, a full history of the products you typically use, recipe and meal recorder and other options to reuse info. Meticulously record everything you eat, at least for the first couple of weeks.
Track your weight or better, body composition (how to monitor body composition) to see the trend.
Establish a baseline based on the information above and come up with what a potential surplus looks like. Use your estimated BMR (how to estimate BMR) and your estimated energy expenditure based on your activity for that purpose. The combination of the two gives you an estimate of maintenance calories (daily amount of calories to maintain your current weight).
Don’t expect it to precise, because it’s a rough estimate. Only in rare cases, using professional-grade body composition monitors that estimate your BMR pretty accurately (I am lucky to have access to this one), and having a good idea of your caloric expenditure you will get it relatively close right away. Otherwise, use your guesstimate to make the first attempt to create your first caloric surplus. I recommend starting with no more than 200-300 kcal a day if clean bulking is what you want to do, you can try up to 400 kcal if you feel really adventurous. Just add it to your presumed maintenance and you are good to go.
Plan your meals based on your estimated number of calories. Establish proper daily macros (carbs, protein, and fat) that will provide both caloric and nutritional needs. There are different opinions about choosing proper macros, I personally recommend the following approach (read here) which is efficient and also doesn’t fight your physiology, unlike some others. Using a tracking app as a planner also helps. I normally put all I am planning to eat starting with breakfast and see how my macros behave so I can change and rebalance everything as needed, so no surprises when I eat. It’s especially useful when you plan on changes in your normal meals or eating out at night. Knowing what you are going to eat throughout the day really helps to keep things under control.
Monitor your body weight and/or body composition changes over the course of one week. Since your body weight may fluctuate significantly based on hydration levels, sodium intake, the emptiness of your stomach and other factors that are impossible to precisely control so I weigh in every day to watch the trend to be sure.
Based on the results adjust your caloric intake and macros accordingly. Since your goal is to build muscles without gaining fat, you should not see 1 pound (or about 0.5 kg) or less added weight a week. If you use any kind of body composition monitoring methods you should see your fat percentage being stable while muscle mass is should increase. If you didn’t put on weight go ahead and increase your intake by another 200-300 kcal a day and monitor for another week. Repeat until you have achieved the desired muscle gain speed. If at some point this approach stops working (and it probably will) before you achieved your target weight, make the same adjustments again until you reach your goal. From that point, you are in maintenance so your caloric intake should decrease slightly (about 200 kcal) which should be enough to maintain your target weight.
How to create a surplus and enjoy it
The most common way of creating a surplus is by increasing food intake. If you like the idea of eating more look this is good news for you. However, if you struggle with pushing more food down your throat, you might rethink what you eat and I’m going to help you with that. You can also increase the surplus by decreasing the amount of cardio/conditioning if you have no problem with that. By the way, I don’t mean ditch the cardio altogether, but if reducing intensity or duration (or both) might help. Saving two-three hundred of calories per session can definitely support your bulking goals. This works best for those who aren’t too far from the target caloric intake. Below you will find useful tips and tricks for both flavors of bulking (high volume, low density or low volume, high density) that will make your bulking enjoyable regardless of the chosen approach.
Prioritize foods with high caloric density with lower volume. Foods that are high on fiber and low on fat will require eating enormous volumes and create issues of slow digestion and bloating. On the contrary, things like avocado, nuts, seeds, and other calorie-dense foods will reduce the volume and might be easier on you. In this sense nut-based sauces and dressings are a blessing, eating nut butter with your toast will not only be yummy but also deliver results. Adding hemp and chia seeds to salads and other foods will provide you with omega 3 and extra calories you need.
Drink water before and during eating. It helps with digesting fiber and prevents unpleasant effects. In carnivore life, this advice would give you the opposite effect, so if you heard that drinking while eating is bad, don’t believe that. What is bad for carnivores is good for vegans.
Use high-quality digestive enzymes, both before and after meal versions help. First and foremost, look for enzymes designed to break down predominantly fiber and protein. Your body (especially if you are older) can create a limited amount of digestive enzymes on its own so ingesting more than your body is ready to digest will lead to poor nutrient absorption and bloating. Trust me, this is not what you want.
While bulking, you can and should get most, if not all of your protein from real food. On caloric surplus, it’s really easy to get plenty of protein this way without supplementing. Keep your protein high but don’t overdo it. Too much protein is hard on your kidneys and on the digestive system (remember bloating?).
I hope these tricks will make your bulking experience enjoyable.
Good luck with your next bulking!
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