With winter around the corner
I want to talk to you guys about bulking [and] how doing it wrong can actually be sabotaging your gains all over the fitness industry
There is this misconception
that in order to bulk you should be stuffing yourself in the
Offseason to grow so you can cut for the summer months and look big and shredded
I'm here to tell you that yes, you should be in a Calorie surplus to gain muscle
But you should be doing it in this controlled way, [I] call it lean bulking and if you're not doing it this way
You're actually making your body less and less efficient at gaining muscle and losing fat when you're in a Calorie surplus
Which means you're eating more calories than your body needs for its normal functions
You will gain weight, but you need to be smart about it
So the majority of this weight is muscle when you're bulking
There's no way around it guys you are going to gain some fat
And if you're not doing it right, you will gain more fat than you should now when this happens
After each bulking cycle you will have a harder time gaining muscle and a harder time losing fat
It's a vicious cycle, and you might be feeling awesome when you jump on the scale, but you're actually sabotaging yourself now
Let's get down [to] the specifics if [your] dirty bulking and gaining more fat than you should
Here's what you're really doing to your body number one more body fat equals less testosterone
Which equals less gains stored body fat guys contains an enzyme called aromatase
This enzyme messes up the equilibrium of testosterone production in your body, and it causes it to convert your testosterone into Estrogen
Which is the female hormone and estrogen makes you store more fat
Think about how women naturally have a rounder shape and store more body fat
This is in big part because [of] Estrogen, so that's the last thing you want to increase also
less testosterone
equals Less muscle Growth
And if you know anything about making [gains] you should know that maximizing testosterone is key for getting big
Number two more fat equals lower insulin Sensitivity which equals more fat
Insulin plays a key role in how much fat you store
Why because when you eat carbs your body releases insulin to control your blood sugar
These insulin spikes cause fat burning in the body to stop so ideally you want your body to have high
Insulin sensitivity, so it releases less insulin when you eat carbs many things affect insulin sensitivity
But when you bulk and gain fat, especially belly fat you lower your levels of a protein called adiponectin
This protein is important for two reasons one it is a kind of a cleaner
And it helps with the elimination of fat in your tissues two it increases insulin sensitivity
So think about it you gain more fat
levels of this protein go down
Causing you to accumulate more fat and causing more insulin to be released when you eat carbs which in turn causes fat burning to stop
It's a real nasty cycle guys all right moving on to the next topic number [three]
Less fat equals better distribution of nutrients which equals an easier time growing muscle as you get leaner
You grow more muscle because your body gets better at nutrition partitioning
But what does that mean think about it as your body directing traffic when you eat and when you exercise
when you eat the nutrients can be directed towards your muscles to help them get bigger or
They can be directed towards storing fat also when you exercise and burn calories
Your body can be directed towards getting energy from your fat or from your muscle tissue breaking down your muscles when you get leaner
this traffic
Direction gets more efficient making your body said nutrients to your muscles when you eat and making it use your stored fat [for] energy when
You exercise. It's like you're optimizing your body like a machine to grow muscle and burn fat
So why would you dirty bulk gain more fat and send your body in the wrong direction what you're really [doing] is making it
So that you have to work extra hard to get to your goal
It makes absolutely zero sense to me number four
Once you create more fat cells they can get smaller
But they never go away
This one is easier to explain when you gain fat your fat cells swell and in simple terms when they're over capacity
Your body creates new fat cells these new fat cells will never go away
Unless you get surgery so with each dirty bulking cycle
You [are] gaining more and more fat cells
making it harder and harder to get shredded [now] think about all these things happening at the same time and
Hopefully you can see how this creates a horrible
Cascading effect that will never end and these are just a [few] of the negative side effects of gaining fat
Bottom Line is all you're doing is
Sabotaging your gains now let's talk about how bulking should be done number one
[you're] growing muscle cycles should be just as controlled as your cutting cycle
You should be counting your calories in doing business as usual guys. I know that
This is not what you want to hear, but I see a ton of my friends eating and drinking like crazy
Convincing themselves that they're gaining muscle
And the bottom line is [that] they're all getting fat
Your body has a limit as to how much muscle it can gain in a period of time
So if that number on the scale is increasing fast
Chances are most of it is fat
If you guys need [help] check out this video for a general idea on how many pounds of muscle
You can actually expect to gain each year number, two
You should be in a Calorie surplus if you want to gain muscle
and a general rule of thumb is to be above your daily maintenance calories by
250 to 500 calories a day
Depending on your current build so if you're skinny you want to be on the higher end of the scale
Don't fool yourself thinking that bulking is a license to binge. [I] don't see any of my professional
Bodybuilder friends gaining excess fat during
Bulking they pay attention to the bulking just as much as cutting and still eat the same good foods
Just in larger quantities number three your ratio of protein carbs and fat is still critical
You should be eating lots of protein
Enough carbs to supply energy for your workouts and promote muscle growth and to control the amount of fat to promote
Testosterone production and
Guarantee the health of your cells you can check out this video on how to calculate your macros if you need any help and
number four eat
Quality Foods, it's okay to treat yourself with your favorite foods every now and then but this should not [be] the norm
Bulking is not this magic period of time where you get to eat, whatever the hell you want
vitamins and Minerals play Key Roles in nutrient absorption by your muscles
Regulate testosterone levels and many other important processes so eating tons of junk food is not wise especially
if you're not taking your vitamins
So there you have it [guys] don't get [stuck] into the ridiculous notion that eating junk is cool
And you can look big and shredded while doing it unless you're one of the very few people with the fast
Metabolism to support this lifestyle or you're taking something to enhance
Your gains you should be smart about what you put in your mouth. If anyone is telling you otherwise
Well, maybe it's time you
Reevaluate who you're taking your advice from be sure to like and subscribe if you need any more help with reaching your fitness goals
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