Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Bulking , feels weird

I have been really busy with work and family these few days, but here I am writing again. The stuff I had written about was definitely incomplete, but that was weighlifting for beginners, you have to practice to master it.

Things to remember while bulking :

1) Remember your input has to be greater than your output by about 200-500. On workout days, you use more calories so eat more , vice versa.

2) Diet matters. If you bulk on junk food, you are FAILING the program as you are gaining more fat than muscle. No ice cream, sweet stuff, pop/soda/coke, potato chips, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza and many more. Rule of thumb, avoid high calorie food (fat and sweet). Exception to sweet things are only post and pre workout.

3) Please remember, you are not in cutting/ fat loss phase , so please don't go low carb or switching to low calorie high volume food. For example getting your carb only from oats or avoiding carbohydrates. We need the carbohydrates during bulking, please remember that insulin helps to sens muscle cells with your nutrients and protein. Eating only high volume, low calorie carbs like apples/fibre type of food or oats is good for the your bowel movement, but you are probably going to puke because you have to eat so much of them to fill up your daily caloric needs. Wholemeal and white bread is still fine. Rice is acceptable too.

4) Once you get used to the weightlifting exercises, make a schedule. The schedule should include a cardio day to boost your heart performance, improve blood vessels that can boost our muscle gain. It could look like :
Monday - upper body + mid
Tuesday- lower body + mid
Wednesday - rest
Thursday- cardio
Fri - repeat from monday
You know yourself better than I do, so make your own.

5) Get enough rest, pretty basic. Since you build muscle during rest, you need to rest, seriously. Go for 9 hours a day of sleep.


These are some of the responses that people got when people tried bulking and my answers to them :

1) Bulking is so great, I am losing my weight and I am becoming slimmer significantly....
ANS: If you do the program correctly, you are supposed to gain muscle. So if you lost a significant amount of weight and you can feel that you are becoming thinner chances are that instead of BULKING , you are CUTTING. In other words you are not getting enough calories to compensate for your output.


2) Can I cut first then bulk later ? I am not comfortable with gaining weight ...
ANS: It's your own choice, I am just recommending you the things that I have learnt from experience. Personally , it's faster for you to reach your goals, if you bulk first. Remember that the muscles are like a supercharger that you install in your engine, it makes you go faster.

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