How Much Of A Calorie Surplus Should I Be In Whilst Bulking?

Sadly, we must gain SOME body fat when the goal is to grow muscle.

However, it's not all doom and gloom!

We CAN in fact gain maximal muscle whilst gaining minimal fat. 

What this comes down to is HOW we bulk, and making sure we get it right.

The Dirty Bulk For Muscle Gains - Yes Or No?

There's not too many more famous dirty bulk images than that of bodybuilder Lee Priest (speaking of Lee, check out the video below for when Lee and I trained arms together).

These photographs of Lee Priest below are the prime example of the dirty bulk: 

The dirty bulk entails eating anything and everything to ensure you're in a calorie surplus for muscle gain.

Whilst it definitely works, it makes the job so much harder.

The Perfect Calorie Surplus For Building Muscle  

Don't take the "eat everything in sight" approach, and don't make the mistake of consuming too much protein when bulking either - it's just not required!

The trick here is to work between the 10%-15% surplus range - anything extra is not going to really benefit you and may even cause you issues.

I'll get to why in a minute. 

How Much Protein When Bulking? 

I go through the A-Z of protein numbers here in this article - the key factor here is that you should decrease protein numbers when you're bulking, and increase them when you're cutting. That link will give you precise numbers, get stuck into it.

And to give you more information about what I'm saying - one study (1) into trained strength athletes found 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day was required to ensure they were in a positive nitrogen balance (a nitrogen surplus, favourable for muscle growth).

Whilst other research (evident in the link above) has found only 0.8g/kg of protein may be all that's required for optimal muscle growth in other trained subjects. However, there's no harm in taking it a tick over, just don't go too far overboard - it's not required.

Also, a gigantic surplus leads to more body fat, thus more time dieting.

Not what you want!

Why You Shouldn't Do A Dirty Bulk - The Case Against

Moreover, fat gains lead to a drop in testosterone (2) and also cause insulin resistance (3), which can mean TWO things at worst:

1. You will ultimately end up storing MORE fat

2. Insulin resistance downgrades the signalling responsible for protein synthesis, meaning you'll build LESS muscle (4).

Now this is worst case, but not worth the risk. 

So start with a 10% calorie surplus for bulking, and potentially leave it there - but go no higher than 15%.

To be straight up - 10% is really all you need - you don't want it to backfire for the reasons listed above, and you want to be able to get lean relatively quickly when you need to! 

"Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!" 

Let me carve you the PERFECT bulking diet plan for MINIMAL fat gains...  

References

(1) Tarnopolsky MA, Atkinson SA, MacDougall JD, Chesley A, Phillips S, Schwarcz HP. Evaluation of protein requirements for trained strength athletes. J Appl Physiol. 1992;73:1986-95.

(2) Mazur A, Westerman R, Mueller U. Is Rising Obesity Causing a Secular (Age-Independent) Decline in Testosterone among American Men? PLoS One. 2013 Oct 16;8(10):e76178

(3) Dyck DJ, Heigenhauser GJ, Bruce CR. The role of adipokines as regulators of skeletal muscle fatty acid metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2006 Jan;186(1):5-16.

(4) Wang X, Hu Z, Hu J, Du J, Mitch WE. Insulin resistance accelerates muscle protein degradation: Activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway by defects in muscle cell signalling. Endocrinology. 2006 Sep;147(9):4160-8. Epub 2006 Jun 15.