Bulk Building Advice

More Tips, Advice, and Program Suggestions for Winter Bulk-Building

     After writing my last two articles on bulk and power training—the 1st on Hugh Cassidy’s training and the second on another, similar winter bulk building program—I figured that was it.  I mean, not as if I’m done writing or need to take a break from hacking away at my laptop.  No, I just mean that I thought that was it when it came to advice for cold weather bulk building.  I have a few other articles that I am already about a ⅓ of the way through at the moment—the 4th part of my "bodyweight and beyond” series, an essay on “pain”, and another one on Bill Starr’s advice for tailoring workout programs for your own needs and goals, along with a few others, in addition to outlines and notes for around 20 more—so I had every intention this morning of finishing up one of those assorted pieces.  But then I received an email.

     A reader messaged me.  He was a little confused.  He needed some advice.  He said that he was interested in exactly the subjects I had written about in my last two posts—training and eating in order to gain some much-needed weight during the winter months.  However, he wrote that he had planned on using a program more similar to one of my high-frequency training (HFT) programs.  He didn’t know exactly which one, but he was trying to decide between an easy strength routine, such as my 30-Rep Program, or one of my 3-days-per-week regimens, such as my recent Mass Made Super Simple program or my Mass on Demand routine, both of which use the heavy-light-medium concept.  He wrote that he wanted to train at least 3 days per week but also liked the idea of doing something even more frequently, and he knew that he could train 5 or 6 days on an easy strength program.  But then, he said that he read my recent bulk-building programs, and he didn’t know what to do.  Should he just train 2 days per week, with much more “intensity” such as what I recommended in those two articles?  Or should he train more frequently, using an easy strength program or a 3 day per week program with varying workloads?  Basically, all he really wanted to know was which program would allow him to gain the most muscle this winter.  We emailed back and forth a couple times, so that I could know his training history, his age, his current strength levels, and his exact goals—that sort of stuff—before deciding on a program that I thought would best work for him.  I’m not going to go into those details here.  That’s not the point.  The point is that there are multiple methods that can be used for bulk-building.  If you are in a similar boat and are looking for a good bulk-building workout, I will go over some other methods for gaining mass, and how to select a program that will work well for you.

     First, let’s look at the components that all bulk-building programs should have in common, whether they are “brief but brutal” workouts or whether they’re HFT routines.

     If you are attempting to put as much muscle on your frame as quickly as humanly possible, I think you should utilize full-body workouts.  As I have written elsewhere, there is just something more “anabolic” about training your entire body as a unit.  Yeah, I know.  That’s not a very “scientific” answer.  And, apparently, according to my two 20-something sons, who are both hardcore lifters, there’s a whole “science-based” community of bodybuilders on the internet who debate this stuff.  I don’t know what some kid on YouTube might blabber on about—maybe he would say that full-body programs are the best.  Maybe he would say you get better results from multi-split routines.  I really have no clue.  But I do know this.  Old-school bodybuilders, before the advent of steroids in bodybuilding became mainstream, wholeheartedly believed that full-body programs were superior to split programs.  Sure, some of them used split programs, but usually just two-way splits, and only then because they pretty much had to because their full-body sessions were lasting a couple to several hours.  And when I first started lifting weights in the ‘80s, all of the “old timers” at the gym told you to use a 3 days per week, full-body routine.  Lifters did.  And they grew big and strong.  Okay, I know that’s just a really long-winded way of writing that full-body workouts are a necessity.  But full-body workouts are a necessity.  So, if you’re looking for some winter bulk, do them.

     The 2nd important element is to use basic, compound movements with free weights.  They can be barbells or dumbbells; kettlebells if you have access to ones that are heavy enough.  You must do some sort of heavy squat, the traditional barbell back squat being the best.  If you don’t squat, then you can all but hang up gaining a lot of mass.  Even if you’re just after big arms, you still need to squat.  The squat, in some guise, is just that important.  Period.  (Although I do confess to writing an article a couple months ago called “No Squats, No Problem,” for anyone who simply can’t squat.)  You also need to do heavy pulls—various deadlifts, cleans, snatches, and high pulls.  After that, you should incorporate in some heavy presses, both horizontal and vertical versions.  In other words, you shouldn’t just bench press.  You need to do some overhead presses, as well.  Throw in some various rowing or other upper body pulls, and you have just about all you need.  Some lifters will need to do some curls, and some won’t.  It all depends on how your arms get worked in the other compound lifts.  In other words, some lifters can grow big “guns” through bench pressing, rowing, and chinning movements alone.  These are usually “limb” lifters.  They have genetically larger arms and legs than they do torsos.  Other lifters, and I’m in this group, must do some sort of heavy curls and triceps movements because their arms don’t grow from the aforementioned lifts.  I’ve always had a large chest and a large back with very long arms.  Great for pulling monstrous deadlifts.  Really sucks for building large biceps.  The only other movement that might be good is some sort of loaded carry.  Farmer walks, sandbag carries, tire flips, sled drags—do any or all of those, or anything similar, and greater are your chances for gaining bulk.

     I probably sound like a broken record at this point, since I’ve been preaching it for so long.  But it, nonetheless, bears repeating.  If you want to gain mass fast, then you must utilize the Big 4.  You must squat something heavy, pick heavy stuff off the ground, press heavy stuff over your head, and drag or carry heavy stuff.  It’s that basic.  Most of your average trainees at the average gyms in the average cities of our world, sad to say, don’t do any of those.  But you know better.  So, do them!

     Finally, no matter the program, you need to train heavy.  Heavy, of course, is relative.  But heavy for you.  How heavy?  It depends.  If you don’t know yet what rep range provides the most hypertrophy for you, then you need to experiment.  But it’s probably going to be one of the following rep ranges.  On average, I would say that you can’t go wrong with 6-8 reps for bulk.  However, some lifters do better with lower reps—I do, for certain.  I didn’t really gain a lot of mass until I began to do most of my sets in the 3-5 rep range.  On the other side of that, you might do better with reps in the 8-12 range.  Also, you should on occasion attempt some higher-rep sets.  You still can’t go wrong with the old-fashioned, classic bulk-builder: the 20-rep “super squats” program.

     One last thing before we look at your various training options.  No matter the program, it won’t work unless you’re eating enough calories and getting enough protein.  If you read my last couple articles—and if you haven’t, then click on the links above—then you’ll already know Hugh Cassidy’s approach.  Stuck on your lifts?  Then he suggested that you learn to eat your way past your sticking points!  No one ever made prodigious gains in bulk—and this is especially true for the natural lifter—without eating plenty of nutritious but calorie-dense foods.

     Those are the musts.  Now, let’s look at the methods.

     To keep it simple, you basically have 4 options.  (1)You can train twice per week but make each session really hard.  (2)You can train 3 times per week but rotate your loads.  A classic way of doing this is the heavy-light-medium method.  (Even with a 2 days per week regimen, most lifters still need to cycle loads.)  (3)You can train 3 times per week but make each session, essentially, moderate.  You take each set a couple, or few, reps shy of failure.  The consistent training simply “adds up.”  This is the approach behind, for example, my “Full Body Big & Strong” program.  Finally, (4)you can train 4 to 6 times per week using an “easy strength” method.

     Select one of those, stick with it, and you will gain bulk.  So, how do you decide which one is right for you?  Well, first things first, if you have been training with a split routine and have never even thought about using full-body workouts, then the answer is quite simple.  Any of them.  Just select the kind of program that you think you will enjoy doing and the one you’re most likely to stick with.  If you know you can only make it to the gym 2 days per week, then the 1st approach above is your answer.  You like the idea of training 5 or more days because you love going to the gym?  Well, then the 4th approach is probably your cup of tea.  Just pick a workout.  And do it.

     If you have some degree of training under your lifting belt, and you have already used full-body workouts, then you need to take a little more time to decide which program might be best suited to your current situation.  Usually, the answer in this case is the one that you haven’t been doing.  I love easy strength methods.  I could train year ‘round and not do anything else.  I get great results from them.  But if they were the only workout programs that I did, I would stagnate.  The body needs to be challenged at times.  So, a couple of times a year, I take the basic, brief, but brutal route.  If you’ve never used the kind of training that I recommended in my last couple posts, then they will work really well for you.  Exceedingly so.  Until they don’t.  That’s how it is with brief, hard, HIT-style training.  When lifters first try them, they are often amazed by the results.  They think they’ve stumbled upon the Holy Grail of training methods, the one-workout-to-rule-them-all.  But it doesn’t last.  You need to cycle to some different, more frequent, less all-out regimens.

     If you have been training with hard, heavy, infrequent workouts, then select one of the other options above.  If you’ve never done HFT, then my 30-Rep Program, or something very similar, is the answer.  And, if you simply don’t want to train with that level of frequency, go with options 2 or 3.  When the HIT believers stop getting results from their workouts, they often make a fatal error—fatal to muscle growth, that is.  They simply do less and train harder.  They start taking more days off and start using all sorts of nonsensical “intensity techniques.”  When all they really need to do is cycle their training loads.  If you’re in that particular training boat, then go to a 3 days per week routine, and cycle through heavy, light, and medium workouts.  You can still train all-out, but just do it once per week on the “heavy” day.  You don’t even have to be all that rigorous about calculating workload, the way I typically recommend powerlifters or other strength athletes do.  Your approach to training might work something like this: assuming you train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then, on Monday, train as hard as you want.  On Wednesday, return to the gym and do about half of what you did on Monday.  Let’s say you did squats on Monday for 2 hard-as-heck sets of 6 reps with 275 pounds.  On Wednesday, do 185 pounds for 2 sets of 6.  On Friday, do 225 pounds for 2 sets of 6 reps.  Apply the same technique to the rest of your lifts.

     Keep in mind that almost any “good” workout program will work.  Until it doesn’t.  Some lifters need to rotate training plans every 6 to 8 weeks.  Others do well by training for 12 weeks or a little longer.  But sooner or later, usually sooner, you will need to make some changes to your training plans.

     There are multiple links to different programs embedded within this essay.  Look through them and find one that you think will work for you.  They’re all good for bulk-building.  All you have to do is start training with one of them and stick with it.  The gains will come if you put in the effort.

     If you enjoyed reading this article, then consider buying a copy of one of my books.  My book "Ultimate Mass and Power” is packed full of workout routines in every single chapter.  My follow-up book “Ultimate Mass and Power Essays” is crammed with great workout ideas, training theories, and even more programs - if you enjoyed this essay, then that book should be right up your alley.  And, if you’re looking for a book that can take you from neophyte beginner to a full-fledged advanced lifter, consider my book “Ultimate Strength.”  You can find more information in the My Books page.

     At the moment, I am also putting the finishing touches on my book on the training methods of Bill Starr.  It contains all of the heavy-light-medium essays that I wrote for the blog along with some brand new chapters.  So, be on the lookout for it very soon!