Packing on Mass

Sick and tired of plateauing lifts, Stagnant muscle mass gains, just so you can keep those washboard abs? I am.

And I've got just the thing... It's bulking time.

Now, before you get too excited you must ask yourself this, are you lean enough ? There are two main reasons that you should ask yourself this:

1. Fat cells! - When bulking it's likely you will gain some fat, if you are already a little chubby you're going to be creating new fat cells. Fat cells can not be destroyed, they can only inflate and deflate. The major problem is that the more fat cells your body has the more easily it retains fat, so being wary of this will save you a lot of trouble when it comes to cutting.

2.  Insulin Sensitivity - Lean individuals have far better insulin sensitivity, this is a great advantage when bulking. Other than feeling more energetic and keeping the risk of diabetes at bey, having good insulin sensitivity means more of the carbohydrates you eat will be stored in the muscle as glycogen and increase rate of protein synthesis, rather than being sent off to be stored as fat before your glycogen stores are even full. In layman's terms if you are lean you're body will use your nutrients for muscle gain and energy instead of causing your body to retain fat.

Now that you've decided your body is ready heres what we're going to do. I keep some of the basic elements as seen in my cutting diet:

• High protein - ~3-4grams protein per kilogram of body mass (mostly aquired from meats)
• Lots of veggies - try to have 2 serves of vegetables with at least 50% of meals.

 Here's what we do differently:

• High carbohydrate - carbohydrates should be consumed with every meal but breakfast, your post workout meal should contain the highest amount of carbs in comparison to other meals. Amount of carbs consumed in total should be approximately 2-3 grams per kilogram of body mass. (Ideal sources: sweet potato and brown rice)

• Start the day with a protein shake - and i dont mean replace breakfast with a protein shake, i simply mean down a protein shake while you're cooking your steak. this always helps me pack on mass in a hurry.

• Strictly eat every 2.5 hours. No exceptions! - if ever you think you're going to have to miss a meal find a way! the best trick is to have a protein shake and a bag of nuts on standby.

So you've got the basic idea, but where do you start?

Well here's an example of a day in Tom's bulk.

Meal 1: WPI/WPC protein shake
Meal 2: 250-300g rump steak, handful of roasted almonds
Meal 3: 6 rice cakes with peanut butter, coconut oil and whey (mixed)
Meal 4: 250-300g taco meat with either 300grams sweet potato or 200 grams brown rice
Meal 5: 300 grams BBQ chicken thighs, beans, 300 grams sweet potato
Meal 6: Casein protein shake
Workout
Meal 7: WPI Shake (2 scoop)
Meal 8: 250-300g fish, salad, 300-400grams sweet potato

Example of Meal 5: 300 grams BBQ chicken thighs, beans, 300 grams sweet potato