How To Clean Bulk

While a lot of us know what a bulk cycle means, not everyone knows how to do it right, especially when talking about a clean bulk. The bulking season is the period when you aim to gain weight. If that’s your goal, I’m pretty sure you’re looking to gain weight from the muscle mass, not fat. In order to achieve it, you need to learn how to do it the right way. It’s pretty obvious that nobody would want to gain a load of fat in the process of bulking up. That’s why, whereas there are several ways to bulk up, you need to learn how to do it the right way.

Getting fat is actually something we all want to avoid. In fact, we tend to lose the fat that we gain throughout the cutting cycles that we commonly go for on season, usually, in the spring and summer seasons. So, a clean bulk is important to gain muscle in a healthy way, while we maximize muscle gains and reduce fat gains.

Yet, before we’re going to dive into how to clean bulk, we need to first understand what a clean bulk means.

What Is a Clean Bulk?

In short, in order to gain weight, you need to eat more calories than you burn. This means that bulking suggests you should be eating in a calorie surplus. The aim here is to gain weight in the form of muscle (sometimes, depending on the goals, it could be weight in the form of both muscle and fat), alongside high intensity resistance training to yield those muscle gains.

A clean bulk, often referred to as a lean bulk, means that you are paying close attention to the amount of calorie surplus you’re eating, in an attempt to gain excessive fat. It also involves paying attention to the food type that you’re eating to get the right macro balance.

Because it is important to maintain the right macro balance, bulking up does not mean eating anything and everything, as some people mistakenly think about. During a clean bulk, it is essential to pay attention to the calorie surplus you’re eating, but also to limit the calorific junk food and eat quality foods in order to promote lean muscle growth.

Is clean bulk the plan that everyone should go for? Probably not. That’s because while I strongly recommend being smart about the bulking plan you’re going for, weight gain during a clean bulk can be slower than other bulking methods. That’s why others (especially those who find it very difficult to gain weight), tend to opt for other bulking methods.

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Clean bulk foods vs dirty bulk foods

What’s the main difference between clean bulking foods and dirty bulking foods?

During a dirty bulking plan, there are just no foods that you can’t have. There’s basically nothing you should say no. That’s why it is called a dirty bulking plan. You are not selective about the foods you’re eating, so you do not eat clean. You are allowing yourself to eat whatever you like. This usually involves packing on as much weight as you can, without being worried about gaining fat.

A clean bulk, however, limits your food choices. That’s why, as I earlier mentioned, a clean bulk may be a slower approach to a bulking plan. That’s why, whereas a dirty bulk could be incredibly effective at gaining muscle and strength fast, there are also side effects that you should take into consideration. They include:

Excess fat gains
High cholesterol
Hypertension
High blood sugar levels
Likely to feel sluggish

A clean bulk approach means that you are paying close attention to the type of foods that you’re eating. It promotes a controlled calorie surplus from controlled foods. This usually leads to significantly fewer side effects and less fat gains but may lead to slightly slower muscle and strength gains too.

In the end, a clean bulk is, in most cases and for most people, the best approach. There are very rare circumstances when a person would rather be recommended to go for a dirty bulking plan.

Starting Your Clean Bulk Diet

A dirty bulking doesn’t focus on how many calories exactly you’re eating. The point is to eat in surplus, regardless of how much. A clean bulk, however, involves eating only a controlled calorie surplus amount, because even higher calorie surplus usually leads to fat gains.

That’s why, to start a clean bulk diet plan, you need to know what your maintenance calories are. You can do that by using online calculators where you indicate your age, gender, height, and weight, as well as weekly activity level. That’s not the most accurate reading, but it is still something you can start with. The maintenance calories amount is the number of calories that allows you to maintain the current weight, without changes.

So, once you know your maintenance calories, only add about 10 to 20% of calorie surplus. More than that will likely lead to fat gains. Less than that will be ineffective for bulking. So, assuming that your maintenance calories are 2500 calories per day, you will need to add about 250 to 500 calories, meaning that for your bulking plan, you need to eat 2750-3000 calories per day.

But that’s when it comes to calories. You also need to work out your macros. There are three macronutrients: fat which contains 9 calories per gram, as well as protein and carbohydrates which contain 4 calories per gram. Assuming that your bulking calories are 3000 per day, around 40-55% of it should come from carbohydrates, 15-30% from fats, and the rest from protein. Usually, in order to support muscle gain, people aim at a daily protein intake of about 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight.

Remember that you should adjust the calories every once in a while as you’re gaining weight.

Master Nutrition During a Clean Bulk

So, the two main things that you should pay attention to when talking about a clean bulk are: how much you’re eating (calories) and what you’re eating (macronutrients). You need to nail your calorie intake in order to put on weight, but by keeping track of your calories, you’ll also see how the food is broken down into protein, carbohydrates, and fats.

When you start to pay attention to these elements, you start making smart choices. Seeing fuel as fuel is going to help a clean bulking diet, making it more sustainable. You should see foods as fuel and the source that packs on muscle mass by helping repair muscle and provide what your body needs in order to keep on growing. People who are new to clean bulking foods may find it beneficial to keep track of their progress. It is important to pay attention to the nutritional intake in fine detail, as a beginner, to have a better understanding of the calories and macronutrients that you’re eating.

As said, a good breakdown of clean bulking foods macros would be:

15-30% fats
30-60% carbs
20-40% fat

So…

This would provide a combination of healthy fats to provide the body with its energy needs, carbs to help fuel your workouts, and protein to help with recovery. This would be the key to reaching your fitness goals. Before a workout, you could have slow-releasing carbs like brown rice and sweet potato which helps you feel full of energy. After the workouts, you will need to provide the body with its protein needs for muscle recovery and growth. In short, you need to ensure a healthy mix of all three.

When you have a healthy diet, your body usually gets all of its micronutrient demands too. Something we cannot say about a dirty bulking plan that usually involves processed, high fatty, and junk foods.

Clean Bulking Food to Eat (And Foods to Avoid)

Unlike a dirty bulk, a clean bulk diet plan focuses on whole, unprocessed foods. You can still have a small amount of high calorie, processed foods during a clean bulk. However, you need to keep their levels to a minimum.

So, check below the clean bulking foods that you should eat and those that you must avoid during a clean bulk diet.

Foods To Eat

Healthy fats like avocado, nuts, olive oil, flaxseed, chia seeds, fatty fish, nut butters, and others.
Lean proteins such as fish, turkey, pork, chicken, greek yogurt, reduced fat cheese, eggs, tofu, tempeh, protein powders, and others.
Fruits include lots of berries, bananas, apples, oranges, pineapple,s and others.
Legumes such as chickpeas, all beans, kidney beans, and numerous others.
Vegetables (veggies) such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and others.
Dark leafy greens include kale, swiss chard, spinach, and others.
Drinks like water, seltzer, coffee in moderation, tea and kombucha

Foods To Avoid

Whereas there are various foods that would be a great idea to add to your regimen, there are also foods that you should avoid or at least limit during a clean bulk cycle. Some of them include:

Drinks. Sodas, sweetened coffee or tea, soft drinks, lemonade, or other sugary drinks. Needless to mention, you should avoid all alcohol.
High processed junk foods. Avoid fried foods, sugary cereals, chips, fast food, canned soups, full fat ice cream, cookies, candy, cakes, packaged pastries, and processed meats like sausage, bacon, ham, salamin and others.
Saturated fats. Some oils as well as butter or especially margarine
Proteins full of fat. Better avoid the processed beef or pork sausage or fatty cuts of pork or beef.

Get A Lot of Sleep

You work hard in the gym and you eat correctly in your clean bulk cycle, but your rest periods are just as important as long as you want to gain muscle mass. If you’re trying to hit the gym hard every day and you’re lifting heavy, you could risk overtraining and feeling fatigued, as your body may not get the time it needs to fully recover. This can hinder your recovery, which hinders your gains. It can make you feel tired and fatigued, and when feeling this way, you can end up being tempted into eating sugary and processed foods – the no go for a clean bulk diet.

It is important to reward your body with high quality sleep of at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Some who work out very intensively tend to sleep even more. The point is to give your body plenty of time to recover. If you’re doing heavy weight training, you should provide regular rest in order to make sure that the body has the time to grow muscle by repairing muscle cells.

Cardio During a Clean Bulk

We all know that cardio is associated with losing weight, however, adding some cardio during a clean bulk can help promote cardiovascular health. Indeed, you shouldn’t overdo cardio, as it may burn more calories than your body needs to grow. On the other hand, you should start doing cardio as long as you notice adding fat during your clean bulk cycle.

While you’re searching to bulk up during your clean bulking diet, you need to avoid high intensity cardio. It may tire you out too much. What you should focus on is low intensity cardio to warm up and/or finish your gym session. Cardio done right will help you burn excess fat while aiding recovery and keep you generally fit and healthy.

Including Compound Movements

Most people are often targeting certain muscles in order to increase muscle growth in the places that they want the most. While the isolation lifts are perfect as accessory workouts, compound exercises are the most important during a bulking cycle plan.

Isolation exercises are still important. Your arms may get stacked during bicep curls. Nevertheless, compound exercises are going to allow you to train multiple parts of the body in every lift. The more muscles you’re working during a lift, the more testosterone the body is secreting. This will support muscle growth and other important hormones that help achieve your goals. Moreover, you could lift more with more resistance during compound movements as you use multiple muscles. This promotes better and faster mass gains.

Don’t Bulk For Too Long

A bulking cycle, even if we’re talking about a clean bulk, can’t go on for too long. It is simply not sustainable and may even be unhealthy this way. Whereas you can bulk for a lot of time, you should still stop every once in a while. Moreover, I would recommend trying the clean bulk for 4 weeks and then assessing your results. Then you can decide whether you need to continue or not, adjust something or not.

It is important to understand that you shouldn’t gain too much fat during a bulking cycle. Besides it being unhealthy, you will also find it harder to lose it later. The body’s insulin sensitivity starts to decline after 15% of body fat. This makes it harder to lose fat and easier to gain fat.

The Benefits of a Clean Bulk

A dirty bulk allows you to eat whatever and how much you please. This will help you gain weight faster and likely gain muscle faster. However, a clean bulking diet has various great benefits instead.

Clean bulking foods limit excess fat gain

Eating whatever you want sounds like a dream come true. Especially if it adds muscle faster. Nevertheless, I still recommend a clean bulk and that’s because, unlike a dirty bulk, a clean bulk cycle will limit excess fat gain. Since you’re eating well, quality foods and a calorie controlled approach, you focus on those foods building muscle, not adding fat.

The calorie surplus is controlled in a way so it can build muscle. A way too much surplus will make your body store the extra calories in the form of fat. During a dirty bulking, the calorie surplus could easily exceed the 500 extra calories and even way more than that. Moreover, eating whole foods and limiting junk food is going to support muscle gain, not fatty gain. Besides the fact that you will not gain as much fat, you will also be able to easier and faster get rid of the fat after a bulking cycle, when you’re going to attempt the cutting cycle in order to reveal the muscle definition by burning excess fat.

Reduces health risks

It is not only the fact that you get less fat, but you also stay healthier! With the right approach to clean bulking foods, by eating a variety of healthy foods and having an overall a healthy diet – you will greatly lower health risks. We’re talking about the risks associated with consuming too many calories and with the risks associated with unhealthy foods.

Staying in a significant calorie surplus (necessary for a bulking plan) puts you at risk of higher cholesterol and high blood sugar as well as high blood pressure. This risk is much higher when attempting a dirty bulk. However, a clean bulk will promote a regulated calorie surplus while eating whole, unprocessed foods. It is pretty obvious that this will greatly reduce the risks of health issues.

Great nutrition

During a clean bulk, most of your foods are whole, unprocessed foods that are packed with protein, healthy fats, and the right kind of carbs. Therefore, you can naturally fuel your body with perfect nutrition. That’s why, during a clean bulking diet, you will get a lot of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. These are all important to both help build muscle, look better, feel better, and stay healthier.

For example, a diet rich in fiber can greatly help with a good digestive system and reduce the risks of type two diabetes, heart disease, and others. During a dirty bulking plan, you usually do not get enough fiber.

Clean Bulk Downsides

Indeed, a clean bulking diet has a lot of benefits and advantages in comparison to a dirty bulk. Nevertheless, there are still a few downsides that you should take into consideration. That’s why people still choose a dirty bulk instead of a clean bulk plan.

May not progress as fast

Considering that a clean bulking diet usually involves a controlled calorie surplus, your bulking progress could slow down. By having a larger calorie surplus, you are going to notice a faster weight gain progress. That’s especially true if you’re new to clean bulking. You could easily misjudge your calorie needs which may lead to a cessation of muscle gain before you even realize it.

In order to avoid this, you should start with a solid surplus of at least 350 up to 500 calories. Keep track of the progress and weight gain along the way. As you are gaining, you need to adjust the calorie surplus, so you should adjust gradually to reach your desired weight.

A clean diet is pretty strict

During a clean bulk diet, your body is most likely going to benefit in a variety of ways. It is going to receive a good balance of macronutrients and will receive a lot of micronutrients including fiber, vitamins, minerals, protein, and so on. The problem is that a clean bulking will also require a relatively strict eating program.

Sometimes, it involves being tough on yourself in regards to the foods that you can and the foods that you cannot eat in order to support weight gain and muscle growth, while avoiding fat gains and unhealthy issues. This however, can make it easier to stray towards foods that you can’t have. It is way harder mentally. Therefore, such a rigid eating plan could be hard to maintain long term. Especially when you’re a beginner. And especially when holidays and parties are coming into the mix.

Clean Bulk Conclusion

Whereas a clean bulking diet could appear pretty restrictive, a clean bulking is the right way to gain muscle and strength without putting your health at risk or your physical appearance by gaining too much fat. Moreover, you could find the sweet balance between a very strict clean diet and a dirty bulking diet, by combating a clean bulk plan with some cheat meals every once in a while. You could dedicate about 90% of your calorie intake to unprocessed, healthy, and whole foods. But still allowing that 10% remaining to be from high fat or high sugar foods such as cheat meals to avoid feeling too daunting to the clean bulk diet.

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