Most people look at bulking as an excuse to stuff their faces with loads of fattening and non beneficial calories in an attempt to gain muscle mass. Although it does take an excess of calories, there is no reason to be gaining a surplus of fat while bulking up. You may gain some fat – that’s granted – but keeping lean is not out of the question and will help you once contest prep or cutting comes around.

Not only are you risking gaining a surplus of fat, which will make you feel uncomfortable and will be hard to measure how much lean muscle mass you’ve gained until cutting comes around, but doing a sloppy bulk is not so great for your health. To maintain your lean gains while minimizing fat, you’re going to have to bulk slowly. This means gradually increasing your calories and not trying to rush into the 200 or 300 + pound zone. Your best friend will be the mirror – whether it be off season or contest time – to judge your progress.

Number one rule: Take those “Bulk Foods” and forget about them

Most weight gainer products and diets that consist of high, “dirty calorie” foods are mostly intended for those that are extremely small and cannot gain weight no matter what they eat. Depending on your body type – whether you’re an ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph, will determine whether or not you really need these dirty foods to gain weight. Considering that the United State’s obesity rate is climbing every year, most likely you will benefit from a slow, clean bulk.


Weight gainers are packed full of sugars, low quality carbohydrates, fats, and generally have more calories than needed for your average person that is trying to gain weight while not gaining that much fat. Most “hardgainers”, or those that do not gain weight very easily, are going to be advised to eat very calorie dense foods such as peanut butter, pizza, and every thing that you might be probably looking for an excuse to eat.

So – what do I eat?

Since you need an excess of calories to gain weight, and in this case you’re trying to gain muscle, take everything that you would be eating to get lean and just increase it. You might make some slight changes in your carbohydrates and the types of protein you’re eating.

Instead of the sweet potatoes and brown rice, you might want to switch to carbohydrates that will promote a little weight gain, such as pastas, and instead of eating fish every day, throwing in some skinless, boneless chicken breast and lean steak will keep you very lean.

A little cardio will not kill you

I’m sure you’ve heard that cardio needs to be reduced in the offseason or while trying to gain weight. Although you shouldn’t be doing two one-hour sessions per day, this does not mean you should cut your cardio off completely. Do a few sessions of cardio per week to keep your metabolism going. This will not interfere with your gains.

Train insane! It is going to be more work to add muscle the slow and clean way rather than throwing insane amounts of calories in your body. But the difference is that when you see gains, whether it be on the scale or in the mirror, you can be sure that you’ve gained quality weight and you have less of a chance of losing it when you get shredded for a competition or just for the sake of getting lean.

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