It makes me laugh how much mental effort some put into the idea of getting big, bulking up.
The science involved isn’t rocket science. It’s quite simple really. You have to eat more than you’re burning. Yes there are times when you will recomp,but that’s not the topic here.
Bulking : How To Do It , The Pluses And The Minuses:
How:
Eat more. You’ll want to get more protein in, but carbs will be how you really up the calories. They can cost pennies and are easy to eat in copious amounts.
After wrestling season ended my junior year of high school in ten days I went from 195 to 215. How you ask? I ate everything I could get my hands on, and wasn’t running 3-5 miles near daily.
During spring track I was between 225 and 235.
Over that summer I force fed up to a little over 250 (253lbs), again eating everything I could get my hands on, and in large quantities. I’d drink a gallon + of whole milk daily,often eat ground beef mixed with cheese by the pound, eat every available home cooked meal, and lots of junk food. Yes I got fat, but after dropping down to 225 I looked fine. I honestly feel at the time this was the only way I’d get bigger.
Pluses:
You can radically change your homeostasis point for size.
You can become far larger than nature sans force feeding and weights would have you. For me to get past 185 at 6′ I had to force feed. 185 to 195 , was olive oil mixed into chocolate milk/protein shakes. 195 to 215, everything, 215 to 250 even more so, 225 to 245 slower,with conditioning, but with the same diet approach.
Minuses:
Doing it dirty/Sumo wrestler style , you will get more fat. This isn’t the end of the world. If you keep in conditioning work this can be mitigated, and give it time and you will lean out at a new bigger bodyweight set point.
Foods:
I know some who eat only “clean” foods. That’s not me. I got bigger with milk as my staple. Often when I want size or faster strength gains I add in more dirtier sources such as frozen pizza, mozzarella sticks, or straight up junk food like soda,honey buns, Doritos etc.
I don’t believe you really need gram+ of protein per pound of bodweight. You can make do with far less. The more important part of the game is calories. Hit a minimal amount of protein say 150 grams day and then get to 4-6k calories daily. This guarantees that you’ll be big. If you train hard enough, and condition hard you won’t be fat, you may have a normal level ie not particularly lean level of bodyfat,but not fat either. Train long enough and as you get stronger you’ll slowly recomp.
Recap:
Dirty bulking and big compound lifts are how I was able to get far past 200lbs, and stay there.
Keep in calisthenics and conditioning with this though. This keeps you from getting sloppy. A minimum level of performance in each is very useful to maintain.
Get It.
-J