Clean bulking vs Dirty bulking – Which One Is Better?

‘Bro, dirty bulking is the fastest way to bulk’, ‘Bro, dirty bulking is not the right fix’, oh! Sometimes these broscience logics will be such that they can neither be denied nor be trusted as they lack any proper validation. If your head is spinning with these bro science logics about bulking, don’t worry, we’re here to help!

Well, our main agenda today is to find out why something dirty is being suggested as a strategy for bulking.

In this blog, we’ll do a reality check on clean bulking and dirty bulking and you’ll understand for yourself as to which type of bulking is right and which is not.

Let’s understand what bulking means in the first place…

WHAT IS BULKING?

You must be aware that eating in caloric surplus will cause weight gain and creating a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss. In case you are not aware of what ‘caloric surplus’ and ‘caloric deficit’ means, we would clear that up here for you…

If you eat more calories than you burn per day, it is called a caloric surplus. The opposite of this is a calorie deficit, if you eat fewer calories than your body expends per day (or relative to the number of calories needed for the maintenance of current body weight). You can calculate how many calories you burn at rest (your basal metabolic rate) through the BMR calculator available online.

Okay, now you know that eating in excess will cause weight gain. Hardgainers and skinny people intentionally eat more calories than required to increase skeletal muscle mass and maintain body weight. This is referred to as bulking.

Bulking is a controlled phase of overfeeding combined with resistance training that will maximize skeletal muscle gains while minimizing fat increases.

Now, there are two ways you can achieve bulking, one by dirty bulking and the other by clean bulking.

Also Read: Lean Muscle Vs Bulk Muscle – What’s The Difference?

WHAT IS DIRTY BULKING?

Dirty bulking is one weight-gaining strategy where you prioritize body weight over body composition. If you didn’t get that, it is a period of weight gain where you stay in caloric surplus by eating any food (without tracking calorie count and type of calories you consume), so here you’ll have less control over body fat accumulation.

WHAT IS CLEAN BULKING?

Clean bulking is eating in a controlled caloric surplus, where you moderately increase the calories through healthier food choices. This means, clean bulking focuses on the source of calories and doesn’t simply on a caloric surplus. A moderate increase in calories through healthier food choices minimizes fat gain, focuses on muscle building, and helps you stay lean during bulking.

SIDE EFFECTS OF DIRTY BULKING

• This way of bulking accounts for eating excess calories from tasty, calorie-dense foods. Eating without any restrictions on food type will make you feel sluggish. Non-nutritious, junk foods, high-calorie foods, and processed foods can elevate your cholesterol levels, and cause high blood pressure and diabetes.

• Eating excessive sugary foods, and high GI carbs can cause rapid blood sugar spikes, which cause more insulin release. The insulin will cause a drop in blood sugar, which makes you feel hungrier. The more time your body interacts with too much sugar in your blood, the less sensitive it becomes to insulin, leading to a condition called insulin resistance.

• The food you eat is like fuel, providing your body with good fuel will keep it running in good condition. Consuming a diet of mainly processed foods, oil-fried items, and a diet lacking vital nutrients will result in gastric distress such as bloating, diarrhea, and constipation.

• Depriving your body of vital nutrients will deprive you of proper muscle-building capacity and make you gain more fat mass. The fat building will slow your process of muscle building.

• Your digestive system may get weaker over time if you deprive it of prebiotics, probiotics, and fiber content found in whole foods.

• The muscle-fat ratio is worse here due to disproportionate/uncalculated macro intake.

• Inadequate protein intake challenges whole-body protein balance and negatively impacts muscle-building potential.

Also Read: Bulking Vs Cutting – What’s The Difference?

CLEAN BULKING VS DIRTY BULKING

The first and foremost difference between clean bulking and dirty bulking is food choices/calorie intake.

Clean bulking requires you to eat healthy foods, whereas dirty bulking doesn’t track macros.

In clean bulking, you create a small calorie surplus necessary to gain weight, whereas, in dirty bulking you create a large calorie surplus to maximize weight gain.

In clean bulking, you gain muscle with minimal fat gain whereas in dirty bulking, you gain excess fat gain.

HOW TO BULK UP IN A RIGHT WAY?

The approximate normal daily calorie requirement for an adult male and adult female who performs light physical activity is 2500 and 2000 respectively. You need to increase your calorie intake by 500-700 calories more than your total daily energy expenditure and if you are adding sufficient protein to your calorie count and training frequently, you should be just right to bulk up.

In order to grow your muscle mass, you need to provide proper stimulus to your muscles through resistance training. The muscle cells then repair and increase in size (technically termed muscle hypertrophy).

Later on, you should go for progressive overload by adding more weights, reps, and sets.

Focus on getting enough recovery, and managing stress levels.

Get good fuel – In a typical 2000 calorie diet, make sure 20-30% of your calorie intake comes from protein, 20-30% of calories from fats, and 40-60% of calories from carbs.

If you are someone with a low appetite or have a higher rate of metabolism, you won’t be able to gain weight despite eating high calories daily. In the busy lifestyle, if you don’t have enough time to prepare large meals, or you find it hard to eat solid foods consistently, then take the aid of mass gainers.

ATOM MASS GAINER

ATOM MASS GAINER is a well-designed high-calorie supplement that ensures you get the complete nutrients you need for gaining mass, not just calories.

Also Read: Can You Take Mass Gainer If You Don’t Do Workouts?

WHEN SHOULD YOU THINK OF BULKING?

If you are too skinny, really lean, individuals whose body fat level and muscle mass are relatively low, a man with 10% body fat or less, and a woman whose body fat percent is less than 20%, if your body mass index falls below 18.5, you should think of bulking.

Also Read: 5 Major Reasons You Are Not Getting Results Of Muscle Gain

Now, tell us, do you wish to gain body mass at the expense of gaining excess body fat?

Dirty bulking will cause you to gain weight but dirty bulking is called dirty bulking for a reason! What do you say?

Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5786199/

Also Read: How Do Fast Foods Impact Fitness & Muscle Building?

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