BULKING FOR BEGINNERS: FOOD, SUPPLEMENTS, TRAINING AND MORE! If you’ve started your journey towards building a bulked up body recently, a range of questions may be arising in your mind. These may be about finding the right supplement, knowing what workout to do and what to eat. Below is a beginner’s guide for eating, supplementing and training right. Food Here is a compilation of food options that you should have on your grocery list. You can pick and choose from the food categories as per your tastes and preferences.
Proteins
Egg White
Fish
Chicken
Protein Powder
Complex Carbs
Oatmeal
Black Beans
Cereal
Brown Rice
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Fibrous Carbs
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Bell Peppers
Spinach
Other Produce and Fruits
Lemon
Onion
Tomatoes
Banana
Zucchini
Healthy Fats
Olive Oil
Almonds
Peanut Butter
Salmon
Flaxseed Oil
Dairy and Eggs
Egg Whites
Cottage Cheese
Non-Fat Milk
Calorie and Meals When you are bulking up, you tend to eat more frequently to meet your increased calorie requirements. Always do this by indulging in small bites multiple times in a day, instead of 3 regular meals. Also, make sure that your diet is rich in protein, carbs, and fats. The meal that you consume does not have to be significant. It could be something as simple as an apple with peanut butter. In this way, you could consume 6-8 small meals per day. By eating more often, you can ensure a constant supply of nutrients to your muscles to help them grow. What are the benefits of this? It will keep your metabolism up, so you don't start adding body fat. It would be best if you take 1-2 grams of protein per kg of body weight. So, if you weigh 75 kg, your ideal protein intake should be ranging between 75-150 grams of protein a day. Each of these meals can be spread out at 2-3 hours intervals.
Supplements
When you are new to bulking and want to supplement, you have a range of options to choose from. Here are a few supplements, which can be a part of your beginners’ stack. Whey Protein (Concentrate or Isolate) Proteins are the building blocks of life and without protein, bulking up won’t be an easy task. The most popular protein supplement available in the market is the Whey protein, which can be consumed at any time of the day. You can take it pre or post workout, or as a snack. Alternatively, you can add some fruit and throw it in the blender to use it as a meal replacement. Casein Protein Casein protein is a slow-digesting protein, which slowly breaks down over a span of around 6-8 hours. Unlike the Whey protein, it's taken before going to bed. Multivitamin A multivitamin is essential to get the daily dose of vitamins and minerals that you can't get from food alone. As bodybuilders live active lifestyles, they need more nutrients than the average non-active person. Therefore, it is essential to choose the right multivitamin to build strong muscles.
Creatine From recovery to gaining lean mass, Creatine is crucial for bulking up. It can be consumed both at pre- and post-workout stages. Compound Movements Once you have decided your food and supplements, the next step is the workout. For someone who is looking forward to bulking up, compound movements play an important role. Compound movements are what make you grow. Isolation movements are more for shaping muscles rather than jacking up the growth hormones in your body and gaining some mass. Compound movements are squats, deadlifts, barbell presses, military presses, and similar movements. Many movements require more than one muscle to execute an exercise. These are the foundation to bodybuilding and bulking. Rest While working out on a daily basis is a must, rest is critical as well. Getting adequate sleep at night is crucial to increase the level of growth hormones in your body, which in turn helps you gain lean muscle mass. It would be best if you get no less than 8 hours of sleep per night. Anything less and you will be cutting yourself short with your gains. Post-Workout Meal The food you eat before workout gets used as fuel for the body during exercise. Then as your workout comes to an end, the body is starving for more. If you don't feed your body at this stage, it won’t grow. A proper postworkout meal is also important because it is when your body absorbs nutrients the best. In a post-workout meal, you need to take around 45-50 grams of protein and one to two times that amount of carbohydrates (90-100 grams). If you are a hard-gainer, make it closer to 2 times with almost all of them coming from simple sources. If you tend to gain weight quickly, it's better to stay closer to the equivalent of the amount of protein.
Have Fun!
While you bulk up, don’t forget to have fun. You need to find something that motivates you and go with it. Set some short- and long-term goals for yourself, check on your progress, and re-evaluate things. Evaluating your progress and seeing the improvements should be enough to make you want to keep hitting the gym. Moreover, this is how you will get started and get the body of your dreams.