Is it better to dirty bulk or clean Bulk?
While a dirty bulk may be extremely effective for gaining muscle and strength quickly, its side effects include excess fat gain, feelings of sluggishness, and high cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Clean bulking promotes a controlled calorie surplus for building muscle while minimizing fat gain.
Dirty bulking has a few advantages, especially for skinny guys who are having trouble gaining weight: Junk food is less filling per calorie, making it easier to eat enough calories to gain weight (study).
Dirty bulking is one way to get bigger faster. As opposed to lean or “clean” bulking, which focuses on healthy foods and aims to build muscle without adding fat to the body, dirty bulking is a no-stops approach to getting yourself into a fast calorie surplus to get you bigger faster.
There are countless negative effects of dirty bulking but the most important revolve around potential health risks and diseases. By consuming fatty foods and maintaining the consistency of a poor diet, you put yourself at risk for serious diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Dirty Bulking vs Clean Bulking: The Facts
Dirty bulking, on the other hand, is when you pay less attention to the size of your calorie surplus. You'll likely build muscle faster this way, but the downside is you'll also have less control over body fat during the process.
DIRTY BULK
This is when you eat whatever you want, and as much as you can, to gain weight as fast as possible. Typically this includes a lot of unhealthy junk food. With a dirty bulk, a lot of the weight gained will be from fat, which will not help your situation if you are skinny fat.
Unfortuantely, whether you go on a lean bulk or do a dirty bulk, fat gain is unavoidable. So, after ending one it's ideal to enter a cutting phase to lose the excess fat gained and to get leaner so the muscles you've developed really pop out!
While dirty bulking is the easy way to gain weight fast, it's not for everyone. It's best suited for hardgainers.
Clean bulking is a smart approach to building lean mass. It focuses on consuming nutrient-dense, whole foods and can also focus on consuming the proper calorie surplus to maximize muscle gain while minimizing adding body fat. A clean bulk should last a minimum of 16 weeks but can go up to 52 weeks in some cases.
A bulking phase can last anywhere from 1 month to over 6 months or longer, depending on your goals. To start bulking, add a given number of calories to your typical daily calorie intake.
What fat stops bulking?
If you want to gain muscle and strength as quickly as possible and you're at or below 10% (men) or 20% (women) body fat, then you should bulk. And if you want to lose fat as quickly as possible and you're at or above 15% (men) or 25% (women) body fat, then you should cut.
Body Fat in the Bulk / Cut Cycle
While advice differs, it's generally said that a bulk should begin when one reaches 10% body fat for men and 20% for women, or under. Of course, this is all up to you. If you're comfortable putting on slightly more weight in fat to get some gains, then that's up to you.
Varies from person to person but in most cases it's easier to bulk and then cut for better gains. Professional bodybuilders bulk for most part of the year and then cut when they near competition season.
DO add in cheat meals (1-2 times per week depending on your goals) to increase metabolism and help break through plateaus. While following a bulking meal plan, your body will become accustomed to eating the same foods and the same number of calories.
How long should a bulk and cut last? It depends on how much muscle you want to gain and your current body composition. Folks often bulk anywhere from 1 month to over 6 months to get their desired results. Following up with a cut will typically be shorter, usually 2 to 4 months.
A cutting diet lasts 2–4 months, depending on how lean you are before dieting, and is normally timed around bodybuilding competitions, athletic events, or occasions like holidays ( 4 ).
“As muscle mass increases, it will trigger the body to produce more testosterone.”
There has been research showing that it is beneficial for a bodybuilder to NOT gain too much fat off-season. The leaning down phase will take much longer time with more fat to loose. I am an advocate of lean bulk. It is actually healthier and it puts more focus on getting the right macro nutrients.
The sweet spot for a lean bulk is to gain no more than 0.5-1 pound of body weight each week. For most people this will be split 50/50 between muscle and fat gain.
For a basic understanding, lean is when people want to look more defined and athletic, while bulk is when people want to add size to their muscle and look more muscular. It is simpler for them to increase their muscle mass and equally easy to put on fat. Therefore, bulking is easier for them while toning down is not.
How long does it take to see results from a lean bulk?
Most beginners will see noticeable muscle growth within eight weeks, while more experienced lifters will see changes in three to four weeks. Most individuals gain one to two pounds of lean muscle per month with the right strength training and nutrition plan.