I understand this is my first post ,and it surely is a touchy subject to attempt a good(hopefully)discussion on, but I want to finally settle the whole “bulking” discussion with a theory I have. Before I even attempt to present the twofold theory, I would like to ensure that Bulking is properly defined. First of all, when we talk about Bulking, we need to understand it HAS to be synonymous with MUSCLE. I’m sick of Bulking being misrepresented as simply gaining weight–including fat. Even some supposedly “educated” people in the exercise field still believe in some mysterious substrate called “bulk.” Someone who “bulked up” is “bulky” and I’m pretty sure they mean “appreciable amounts of muscle (by their standards of course) and a noticeable amount of fat.”
This mysterious understanding leads to additional misconceptions. Now, people have accepted myths that are daughters of the great whore â??Bullqueenâ?? All of a sudden rep ranges are immediately associated with Bulk and his evil brother Cut. You see, Bulk fathered low reps, but Cut fathered high reps. â?¦of course unless Bulk was an illegitimate child of bull queen. What if Bulk did not descend from the blood of the Bullqueen but instead the BULKING, the true muscle builder.
In case you didnâ??t get the analogy, Iâ??m basically trying to reiterate the point that when we talk about Bulk but not BULLk, it means muscle. Now I will construct my argument with the following premises.
- First, if you lift weights you have to lift for size or* strength (* inclusive DISJUNCTION—means size or strength or both.) If you are lifting weights for any other reason you are automatically wasting time.
- If you say you are bulking you mean â??muscle building.â?? If you mean any other thing you are wasting time.
- If you want to build muscle, you need a surplus of nutrients.
- If you need a surplus of nutrients than you need a surplus of food.
- If you need a surplus of food, then a surplus of calories follows
- You lift weights either to waste time or to get bigger or* stronger (*inclusive disjunction)
- You donâ??t want to waste time.
- Therefore, if you lift weights, then you need a surplus**(**indicating an above maintenance amount) of calories.
Someone may now say â??Butâ?¦.what if you are cutting?..you are not lifting for size or strength so does that mean it is a waste of time?â?? First of all, my response additional premises:
X. A necessary condition for you to cut is that you have built an appreciable amount of muscle. If you have not built an appreciable amount of muscle you are wasting time.
Y. When you cut, you need to avoid losing strength. Some strength loss is likely, but the goal is to try to maintain strength. So if you are cutting, you are still training for strength.
Z. Maintaining as much strength as possible on a cut is the best way to ensure you are retaining the muscle you have built.
So the question arises: How much of a surplus of calories do we need? Well part of my theory is that there are two kinds of trainees. One kind of trainee adds a minimal amount of calories so that his muscle building diet is â??clean*â??(another child of the great whore).
The other trainee trains so hard that his body will scream hunger to him. His stomach just begs him for copious amounts of food. So this trainee overeats without even knowing it. It becomes like that situation where a human has not eaten for a long period and so he overeats when he finally gets his hands on food.
This is one of the reasons why starvation diets often end up in a huge rebound: Due to the fact that when they finally eat, they eat so much so fast their body cannot tell them they are full until twenty five minutes after the fact. So another argument results:
N. If you train, then you should be hungry. If you are are not hungry you are not training hard enough.
S. If you are trying to build muscle or strength, then you need to train hard enough.
O. If you are not training hard enough then you are wasting time.
Q. You donâ??t want to waste time
Therefore, you are bulking. (Due to the fact that if you are bulking than you are training hard enough because you are not wasting time).
Part II:
I. A necessary condition for extreme results is an extreme training lifestyle.
II. You want extreme results
Therefore, you have to have an extreme training lifestyle.
My huge problem with 97% of people who train is that they want something, but donâ??t want to do what it takes to get there. This is not exclusive to building muscle, this is part of humanities hubris from original sin. In history, anybody and everybody who ever succeeded was always extreme in some fashion. Christ, Mother Theresa, MLK, Muhammad, had extreme success because they themselves were extreme. They were â??out of this worldâ?? or â??Out of their mindsâ?? â??Crazyâ?? â??obsessedâ?? â??weirdosâ?? â??lunaticsâ?? or whatever have you. Most scoffed at them initially. This will happen to you if you want to build muscle. You will be seen as a weirdo or obsessed. People will give you some good old fashioned psychoanalysis that you have to lift weights because you are â??compensatingâ?? for something. It comes with the territory though.
The people who scoff at you are the 97% I talked about. They are the homogenous bunch that opposes you because they hate to see someone having some kind of blatant success. They are like Satan and his bunch: They are all the same and miserable, so they want you to be like them. Misery loves company. So avoid the 97% like you would had you come across the Devil himself.
How extreme do you have to be? It depends on how extreme the results you seek are. Most people are busy. They have Jobs, Family, God (whether you think so or not) that all takes up part of their day. Regular life stressors are a given. Basically, if you really do want to build muscle or strength it has to be prioritized. I donâ??t buy that even people who work 70 hours a week donâ??t have time to train. There is always time. One hour a day isnâ??t very much to dedicate to training but if someone did 5-6 days a week for years (assuming they are training hard and right) very extreme results will occur over time. The thing is: How many people actually do this: I would say less than 3 percent of people who â??lift weights 5-6 times a weekâ?? actually go 5-6 days a week or if they do go they arenâ??t actually training.
For someone who wants the highest extremity of muscle has to make it his whole life. (aka bodybuilders, the Seraphim ofâ?? Bulkingâ??). Bodybuilders are the biggest and strongest because they make it their lives. Most people cannot do this, thus, they will never have a bodybuilderâ??s body. So:
III: If you want the muscle of the bodybuilder you have to train, eat, and live like one, which is extreme.
Therefore, if you want to have the muscle of a bodybuilder, you have to be as extreme as a bodybuilder. This is a universal principle, and final conclusion. I tried to lay it out as cohesive as possible so that from this point on, there is absolutely no confusion. The BULLqueen has now been bound and we can get on with our lives.