As opposed to lean or “clean” bulking, which focuses on healthy foods and aims to build muscle without adding fat to the body, dirty bulking is a no-stops approach to getting yourself into a fast calorie surplus to get you bigger faster. The idea is to pack on weight, hopefully, muscle, by eating calorie-dense foods.
There really isn't any guidelines to follow when going on a dirty bulk and you will gain weight quicker than with a clean bulk, but the weight will be from fat, not muscle. If you eat a large quantity of junk food when you bulk, you will get to your targeted weight quickly, but it is not that healthy for you.
Rather than setting a small addition to calories, this bulk comes from eating lots of calories. Dirty bulkers will tend to see results quicker than the alternative; however, the gain will likely come with fat increases.
Dirty bulking will actually stunt your muscle growth
That's right, you can eat the contents of your fridge in a sitting and still not get the nutrients your muscles need to get bigger, says Frost.
Dirty makes it easier to get into a calorie surplus. Clean bulking is healthier. Both can work, but both have their disadvantages. Namely, dirty bulking isn't as healthy and can cause disproportionate fat gain, whereas clean bulking is unscientific and needlessly strict.
When to Start Cutting. Whether you did a lean bulk or a dirty bulk it doesn't matter. The only thing that's certain is that now you've got some fat loss to take care of, and there's a good way and a bad way to go about it.
Being skinny doesn't mean you need to dirty bulk. Instead, try increasing your calorie intake with healthy foods first and make sure you hit a decent calorie surplus. Then if you find you're still not gaining weight, you could try a temporary dirty bulk to see if it helps you break through your plateau.
There's no real harm to it. For example, Dan bulked aggressively, gaining an impressive amount of muscle and strength, but also some fat. You can see both the muscle gains and fat gains quite clearly. The extra muscle looks great, and he's still got a healthy amount of fat.
When you have poor nutrition habits, your exercise performance suffers. That means you'll never be able to reach your peak or get the most out of your workouts because your body isn't supported correctly. This also translates to not being able to effectively burn the calories you want to.
If you're looking to build muscle or gain weight, it's important to create a modest calorie surplus of about 250-500 calories per day, and to ensure that your diet is nutrient-dense, including plenty of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and vegetables.
It depends on how much muscle you want to gain and your current body composition. Folks often bulk anywhere from 1 month to over 6 months to get their desired results. Following up with a cut will typically be shorter, usually 2 to 4 months.
During a bulking phase, it's inevitable that you'll gain some fat. Due to all of the health concerns that can result from a high body fat percentage (such as an increased risk of heart disease or type 2 diabetes), many people are afraid to gain weight intentionally.
In a “dirty" bulk, the athlete consumes processed, highly palatable foods: burgers, fries, pastries, ice cream, milkshakes, fried chicken, doughnuts, candy, and other calorie-dense foods.
While you can certainly eat whatever you want and gain weight (assuming you are in a caloric surplus), the types of foods (macronutrients) you consume can and will impact your lean muscle growth, fat gain, and performance.
For a 3,000-calorie diet, you may want to think about each meal consisting of 700 to 800 calories and snacks providing about 200 to 300 calories. Including adequate balances of protein, fat, and carbohydrates at each meal and for each snack will keep you fuller for longer.
Dirty bulking may be a viable option for those who struggle to gain weight by conventional means, but it does come with some health and performance risks as well. The existing body of scientific evidence does not support dirty bulking as being any more effective for adding muscle than a traditional hypercaloric diet.
Instead, the names refer to how much attention you pay to calorie counting. With dirty bulking, you'll have a more “anything goes” approach to your bulk. Clean bulking means you'll be counting calories and tracking macros during your weight-gain phase — you'll just be getting more of them.
You need to eat big to get big. The funny thing is, what makes dirty bulking bad for others makes it perfect for newbies. Hardgainers can dirty bulk to build a foundation of muscle without adding too much fat. Whereas a normal gainer would get super fat dirty bulking.
Competitive bodybuilders typically follow a cutting diet for 2–4 months . A person can decide the duration of a cutting diet according to their individual needs, but it is not a long-term diet. Bodybuilders usually go through a bulking phase before a cutting diet.
If your main goal right now is to add more size, build muscle, gain strength, and set PR's in the gym, then a gaining phase is probably the best option as long as your current body fat % is around 10-15%. But if it's closer to 20% or above that, then start with a cut.
This phase involves eating in a calorie deficit in order to promote a “catabolic” (breakdown) state which will lead to fat loss and enhanced muscle definition. On average, a bulk is typically 4-6 weeks and a cut is typically longer, around 6-8 weeks.