It is winters, and that means hot chocolate, cool clothes, fantastic weather and the perfect time to get those gains. Winters are the best time of the year to add those extra muscles. This is mainly because of the cold weather, and the body does not heat up as quickly which in turn means that you will lose body fat much more slowly.

This does not mean that you can go to the gym all guns blazing and expecting to become huge in a week or a month, there is an entire science behind bulking, from workout to diet and everything in between. Luckily, we are here to break that down for you so that you can go beast in no time.

Watch what you eat:

We all have heard this at least once in our life that building a good body is 80% diet and 20% workout. Bulking is no different, you need to watch what you eat. Proteins are a given in this situation since they are essential in building muscles, but there are some changes in your diet that you’ll need to make to get the best results. Bulking doesn’t mean you gorge down food like there’s no tomorrow, you have to be calculated with what you eat.

Caloric Surplus:

Now when understanding what to eat and eating it responsibly, you need to know how “calories taken” and “calories burned” works.

It’s not rocket science, to be honest, it’s just simple math. If you burn more than you take, you lose weight. If you take more than you burn, you gain weight. Mind-boggling, isn’t it? On the other hand, you need to understand that caloric surplus can be different for different people based on a number of reasons, such as; training, gender, genetics, etc.

Count your calories:

Just because you can, does not mean that you eat 500 extra calories, it doesn’t work like that. It depends how long you have been training and how much muscle mass you’ve gained. The longer you’ve trained, the less caloric surplus you need to bulk. Keep in mind the factors that affect caloric surplus in an individual. Excess can be different for men and women on each stage.

For beginners (0-2 years of training), it is advised to take 300-400 surplus of calories that you burn in a day. As you continue your training, you can decrease it by 100 calories every couple of years.

A diet plan you can use:

Now obviously every person would need a different amount of calories on a daily basis. The diet plan below adds up to about 3,300 calories in a day which you can increase and decrease as per your need but try and keep the nutrient ratio the same. The ideal ratio for bulking is 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat.

This diet plan isn’t ironclad, you can tweak it as per your preference and requirement. The critical thing is to remember to keep the ratio consistent.

Go hard or Go home:

Bulking means that you need to increase body mass. This means that you will have to go through strength training to allow your muscles to grow quicker and bigger. This means that the training routine that you follow is going to be rough, to say the least, but trust us when the dust settles, you will come out with the body of your dreams.

Workout routine:

Again different methods work on different people, which means you can do the workout based on your body type and for as many days as you want. Below is a 5-day training routine that can be followed.

It’s tough but it will be worth it. Now that you’ve got the diet and the workout plan you’re ready to hit the gym and work towards your bulk. Good luck and #LeadThePack!