In the midst of fall we are entering a time known amongst most fitness circles as bulking season. This is when everyone decides they want to pack on muscle and aren’t afraid to gain a little fat in the process. And so as the temperatures drop the calories rise and the bulk fest commences.
This bulk season usually entails big calorie surplus’s and 4-5 lbs of weight gain per month over a 4-6 month period – leading to an unsightly rise in body fat. I consider this approach to be rather unbecoming and in direct contrast with the theme of kinobody, which is to maintain a certain level of leanness and style year round, while enjoying life.
At the end of the day, the bulk and cut approach is not what the doctor ordered. Unless of course you want to spend a big chunk of the year looking sloppy and the other chunk of the year enduring low calorie diets. Not exactly the most efficient route because once you hit a certain calorie intake – anything above and beyond that will lead to fat storage.
The kinobody approach is to get lean once and from there slowly pack on muscle while staying chiseled. Our lean bulk macros don’t rely on huge amounts of calories to trigger muscle growth. That approach is only ever effective with sky high testosterone levels from drug use.
Lean bulking naturally is a slow and steady game and the main driver is performance increases in the gym (getting stronger and adding weight to the bar). The lean bulk macros ensure you’re getting adequate protein and enough calories to support your weight, well then you’re working at about 80% of your muscle building potential.
Packing on muscle will be slow, but it will be consistent and you’ll effortlessly hold your definition. Now the last 20% of lean bulking potential means accepting a steady rise in fat. And it usually works against you because to get back to lean condition you have to diet, and when you’re dieting you won’t be close to your muscle building potential.
So basically the traditional longterm bulk and cut approach means putting in twice the work with nothing to show for it, except chubby cheeks and stretch marks.
What if there was a better way?
Gaining muscle while staying chiseled (snapped these photos today)
What if you could maximize your muscle building potential while staying lean in the process? Well in this article I will show you the best way to gain muscle mass that is the basis for my Superhero Bulking Program and Greek God Program…
This is a lean bulking macros protocol that I haven’t really seen before but it works gangbusters and I strongly believe that in the next couple years, this is what everyone will be doing! So get ready to build a rock hard physique complete with razor sharp abs.
This Is The Kinobody Lean Bulking Outline
The approach I’m talking about is going to consist of short cycles of higher calories and lower calories. The personal lean bulking approach I like to use is to do three consecutive higher calorie weeks followed by one lower calorie week. This protocol absolutely demolishes traditional bulking for several reasons.
Firstly, by doing short mini lean bulk and cut cycles you ensure you stay within 1% of your current body fat. Every month you’ll be a couple pounds bigger and just as defined! What’s more, shifting back into a calorie deficit every few weeks has tremendous benefits. You see when you’ve been overfeeding for a few weeks, your fat burning machinery will be ramped up. This is absolutely the best way to gain muscle mass
Testosterone and leptin will be very high and your appetite levels will be very low. This means when you shift gears to lower calories you’ll drop fat very efficiently for a short while (a couple weeks). Ever noticed that you lose fat the fastest at the start of a diet? Well with this protocol you can capitalize on that each month.
What’s more, during a week of calorie restriction, your anabolic receptors become unregulated so that when you go back to eating higher calories, you’ll be able to temporarily direct a lot of calories and nutritients to building lean muscle tissue.
If you’ve ever seen someone come off a cut and start to up their food intake, usually the first couple weeks they gain a lot of muscle size with minimal fat gain. It’s almost like their muscles become sponge like and soak up all the calories. Only after a few weeks do you tend to see a noticeable rise in body fat from high calories.
Well with this approach you’ll be capitalizing on the benefits that calorie restriction and surplus calories provide. And thus, you will become bigger, harder and leaner with each month that passes.
How Do You Put it into Action?
Week 1-3: 500 calories over maintenance per day
Week 4: 500 calories under maintenance per day
With this approach you will alternate between 3 weeks of surplus calories with 1 week of deficit calories. During the high calorie phase you should gain about 2 lbs of muscle, 1 lbs of fat and 2-5 lbs of extra weight from glycogen and water.
During the lower calorie week you should drop about 1 lbs of fat plus an additional 2-5 lbs from lower glycogen and water levels. So every month you should have an extra 2 pounds of muscle. For advanced guys who are already at a very muscular weight, well expect to gain about 1 lbs of muscle per month.
For the beginners and intermediates, two pounds of lean mass each month is very realistic. After 10 months of this protocol you should have 20 extra pounds of muscle, steel and sex appeal.
Should You Use Intermittent Fasting For Bulking?
During the three week bulking portion, you will be eating a lot of calories! If you’re going to be skipping breakfast and eating 2-3 meals per day then be prepared for a lot of food. This is how you do intermittent fasting while bulking. I personally love this approach and welcome tons of carbs like potatoes, rice, rice pasta, gluten free pretzels, low fat ice cream and gluten free pancakes.
My protein and meat consumption stays unchanged but with the higher calorie phase I consume more carbs and fats. The reason for this is because once you have sufficient protein (0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight), more protein isn’t beneficial. It’s best to fill the rest of your calorie intake with carbs and fats, which best supports natural testosterone levels and glycogen storage.
What workout should I do?
The best workout for this type of program would be the superhero physique workouts from my Superhero Bulking Program. This is absolutely the best program to really pack on the muscle while maintaining leanness. I’d suggest 3 weeks of superhero muscle building workouts during the high calorie phase and then 1 week of the strength and density workout during the lower calorie phase.
*Your results may vary. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results and are not intended to guarantee, promise, represent and/or assure that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.
