What is the bulk period?
Bulking is a method especially used by bodybuilding athletes to increase their muscle mass. Bulk period is the name given to the time period that concentrates on increasing muscle mass. Most of the time during this time period is to consume more calories than normal and exercise more. Athletes consume more calories during this period. Therefore, they match the general bulking period to the off-season, ie time interval.
Bulk period, is it necessary?
The main goal during the bulk period is to increase muscle mass. So, can the muscle mass gained by eating more calories and training more intensely be increased? Is it possible to make a small benefit at least? The answer to these questions is no.
Bulking limiters: Limit to gain muscle
The bulking era has become a concept that has been frequently applied by professional athletes and has been applied by amateurs after professionals.
Professional athletes have an important difference from amateurs like steroids. Steroids both accelerate the protein synthesis of muscle cells and increase the metabolic rate at an abnormal level. In this way, athletes using steroids can still remain lean and increase their muscle mass seriously, despite taking thousands of extra calories per day during the bulking period. But this is not the case for amateur athletes.
Bulk period allows professional athletes to build muscle mass much faster than normal. However, the situation is different for amateurs and athletes who do not use steroids. Because the amount of protein that muscle cells can produce daily is very limited. This limit corresponds to about 150 grams of muscle mass gain per week. So a normal individual can build up to 600 grams of muscle mass per month.
This situation also restricts individuals during the bulking period. So even if you eat more calories than normal, you can train more, the limit you can reach is clear.
Bulking limiters: Excessive calorie intake
Another problem seen in the bulking period is excessive calorie intake. Taking more calories than the athlete’s daily need facilitates the increase in muscle mass. The only reason for this has to do with being able to devote better energy to protein production and recovery tasks. However, calorie intake taken more than normal during the bulking period causes an increase in fat mass.
It is necessary to evaluate this increase in fat mass according to the benefit-harm principle. As I explained, protein synthesis, ie muscle mass gain, is limited. While this limited increase can be gained with a normal diet, taking extra fat mass will cause muscle loss during the diet period following the bulking period.
As a result, although taking excess calories under the name of bulking period on the basis of benefit and loss may seem positive in the short term, it is a concept that has no long-term return.
Steady state gain
The thing to do with this type of muscle gain strategy is to establish the optimal diet for muscle gain and to get rid of the handicaps of the bulking period.In the bulking period, people can turn to unhealthy diets to get more calories. However, the need for diet after bulking may lead individuals to a worse diet. This situation causes the deterioration of health-related parameters and excessive fat.
Individuals with intense weight gain goals appear larger during the bulking period. Part of this appearance is related to glycogen stores and some to subcutaneous fat. For this reason, after the bulk period, individuals may think that they have lost excessive muscle due to sudden shrinkage and may also experience collapse.
For these reasons steady state gain seems to be a better option than bulk period. It is quite wrong to constantly focus on gaining muscle. It is necessary to avoid excesses. There’s a pretty simple rationale for increasing muscle mass. Trying to gain muscle constantly and logically and not overdo it. You don’t need strict rules, heavy meals.
As a result, the bulk period has a structure that slips into damage due to the risk of excessive fat and the limited protein production of your body. It is necessary to stay away and focus on the principle of constant, constant muscle gain.
