Mass Gain Hacks For Your Next Bulk

From a theoretical standpoint, gaining body and muscle mass is pretty straightforward. One would employ a resistance training routine that progressively overloads target muscles while consuming enough protein and being in a caloric surplus. Energy in needs to be consistently greater than energy out.

It can get more difficult from an implementation standpoint, seeing as our training and nutrition do not exist in a vacuum. We all have various work, family and other commitments, not to mention differing genetics and levels of psychological baggage. All of these represent challenges in meeting our goal, of gaining additional muscle mass, over a sustained period of time. Let’s simplify the implementation with the following bulking hacks.

Measure Your Intake

You’ve probably heard, “That which doesn’t get measured doesn’t get managed”. Tracking your caloric intake is obviously beneficial when aiming to achieve a specific outcome from your fitness and nutrition efforts. However, most of us (myself included) use our gaining phases as a period to take a break from strict tracking, which we reserve for cutting weight. I advise this approach to make tracking calories sustainable in the long term; however, spending at least one day per week tracking calories in a surplus would be helpful. This will help in keeping your intuition sharp when it comes to eyeballing your caloric intake.

The next part of measuring what needs to be managed is your bodyweight. This is much less onerous than tracking calories, so when in a bulk, it is helpful to weigh yourself every morning as you wake. You would then take your average weight throughout the week as your weekly record of your body weight. Measuring this is crucial, as it indicates whether or not you are even achieving a calorie surplus.

And lastly, measure your progress across your lifts. Your performance in the gym will be a great indicator of whether or not you are truly in a calorie surplus.

Embrace Calorie Dense Foods

There is no objective definition of what “clean” food is because it doesn’t exist, and the same thing is true for “clean” or “lean” bulking. So long as you are meeting your daily calorie, protein, fibre and micronutrient requirements, there is no reason why you can’t regularly include “dirty” foods such as pizza, burgers, etc.

Once you are within a surplus of approximately 10%, you are not going to see any significant difference in fat mass gained when comparing a “clean” bulk with a “dirty” one. You still need to eat like an adult, but you don’t need to eat like a robot.

Aim for a surplus of 10% of your maintenance calories, five servings of fruit and vegetables daily, with approximately 1 gram of fibre for every 100 calories consumed.

If you were dead-set on eating “clean”, you can still do so through the inclusion of high-calorie, low-volume foods such as nuts, oils, and avocados.

Manipulate Quantities of Existing Meals

Switching between dieting phases is difficult, primarily because your routine is thrown off, and there are more variables to track, especially if you are going from a cutting phase to a bulking phase. To minimise the variability, you could take the meals you eat daily on your cut and simply increase the quantity of some ingredients. For example, I frequently eat a bowl of oatmeal mixed with protein. All I need do is increase the quantity of oats and swap water for milk. In doing so, I have eliminated a whole host of overthinking associated with completely overhauling my meal plan. In a cut, I typically eat 4 x 800-calorie meals, totalling 3,200 calories. In a surplus, I’ll increase that to 4x1050 calorie meals, totalling 4,200 calories.

This approach might sound boring and can be, but it is efficient. If you suspect you will get bored, at least do this for half of your daily meals. Have staple meals that can easily be adjusted if your intake requirements change.

Trust the Process

I have an entire post on this topic, but I felt the need to reiterate it. The greatest hack one can employ is that of consistency. If you are genetically predisposed not to build much muscle mass, the waiting game can be extremely tough, but rest assured, that given enough time, you can outwork your genetics.

If you would like to work with me, I can be booked for personalised online coaching on this page.