Is bulking without gaining fat possible?

[Joe12]

Title says it all.
My weight has gone up to 195 before, but I notice my fat increases a lot anytime I move past 185. I like the way I look in cloths at a higher weight, but dont like the fat when I take off me shirt, lol. Has anyone had any success bulking without gaining a bunch of fat?

 

[bwdill]

Not possible. It is however possible to minimize fat gain while in a caloric surplus.

 

[fakenatty3]

While adding mass it's going to be hard to not add fat. You can keep it at a minimum by tracking your macros, progress and doing cardio. Also depending on your body type will indicate how often and much cardio you should do.

 

[muscleupcrohn]

While adding mass it's going to be hard to not add fat. You can keep it at a minimum by tracking your macros, progress and doing cardio. Also depending on your body type will indicate how often and much cardio you should do.

This. It's very difficult to add mass and not add at least some fat in an absolute manner. What I mean by that, is if you gain, say, 5lbs of muscle, you'll probably gain at least some marginal amount of fat as well. With that said, if you take your time to figure out how to minimize the fat gain while in a caloric surplus, you can end up looking leaner, or even having a lower body fat percent even if you technically gain a bit of fat, because you gained more muscle than fat. This means that you can't go all-out crazy bulking by eating anything and everything in a huge surplus, so you may not pack on muscle quite as fast as possible, but you will minimize fat gain much better, which helps you not have to constantly yo-yo between bulking (and gaining too much fat) and cutting (and losing too much muscle). I'm not sure what supplements or other stuff you're using, but I always like betaine, whether I'm bulking or cutting, as it has research showing it can improve lean body mass as well as reduce fat, making it a perfect addition to a lean bulk IMO. Creatine is another staple too (I get both from PowerMax XT). For someone who is natural, I take every advantage I can get. Of course, proper training, diet, and recovery are undoubtedly the key factors, but supplementing them with some supplements can help you get past a little obstacle. I've always been a fan of a more moderate approach to bulking for most people (those who don't have a crazy-fast metabolism) and not bouncing between drastic extremes of caloric surplus and deficit. I know people who are always either bulking or cutting, but never really make any progress at the end of the day.

 

[Joe12]

Not possible. It is however possible to minimize fat gain while in a caloric surplus.

Yea, 400-500 calories above maintenance is about the normal target. I know a slow steady bulk should help minimize fat gains, but I was curious if anyone has achieved this natty. I know this is 100% possible with peds. I am mainly interested in the calorie surplus, and how much cardio was involved.

 

[AntM1564]

Yea, 400-500 calories above maintenance is about the normal target. I know a slow steady bulk should help minimize fat gains, but I was curious if anyone has achieved this natty. I know this is 100% possible with peds. I am mainly interested in the calorie surplus, and how much cardio was involved.

I wouldn't even go that high over maintenance cals. I would just stick with a few hundred if you want to slowly bulk and try to minimize fat gain. Another thing I would do is supplement with forskolin. Forskolin can increase lean mass while helping a user lose fat, here are some good reads.

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You could go with many natural test boosters, such as AlphaMax XT, to get a full 50mg of F95 or you could look around for the ingredient solo. Some companies sell it.

For those that have trouble with bulking and spill over easy with carbs, carb cycling is great. As well as supplementing with a GDA, like SlinMax, that will help with glucose uptake in muscle cells and help alleviate a spill over. However, a spill over is largely going to be determined by carb intake, which is why I suggest carb cycling.

 

[double s]

Good luck with your goals. Definitely keep some sort of cardio involved. Many people get focused on eating and weights but always forget one of the most important muscles in the body....the heart...

 

[AntM1564]

Good luck with your goals. Definitely keep some sort of cardio involved. Many people get focused on eating and weights but always forget one of the most important muscles in the body....the heart...

Great point. Even while bulking, I do one 30 minutes LISS/MISS session a week.

Even taking the stairs or parking further away helps.

 

[Joe12]

Good luck with your goals. Definitely keep some sort of cardio involved. Many people get focused on eating and weights but always forget one of the most important muscles in the body....the heart...

I love my cardio, and bike like crazy. I also liked AntM1564 recommendation to use AlphaMax XT with F95 in it. The last time I used XT I definitely noticed a nice thinning affect, even though I was eating above main. at the time. At this point, I am just going to stick to a recomp or a super lean bulk. Last winter I jumped up to much, to fast, so I added more fat then I wanted. I certainly don't want to repeat that again.

 

[john.patterson]

Great advice in here. I also notice that my carb choice plays a large roll in weight gain, energy and performance. I always try to stick to complex carbs while bulking and carb cycle to minimize fat gain. I would second the recommendation for a GDA product, and I find them very helpful while doing a lean bulk.

Adding in a product like Slinmax can help your body utilize the carbs you eat better, and can help control insulin levels. I'm probably more carb sensitive than most, but I find that I'm able to stay leaner while adding in more calories when I'm using Slinmax. I also feel like my strength and energy levels while training are higher, and I feel less bloated after a large meal. Slinmax would be a great product to consider if you're trying to up your carbs and stay lean

 

[TonyKush]

Yes it's called "Lean Bulking" basically where your looking to gain the most weight while eating clean. Old school bulking as you know is eating whatever In sight trying to get the most calories. Bradley Martyn has good videos of how to Lean Bulk

 

[ericos_bob]

Yeah I've done it naturally, that is gain muscle without gaining any bodyfat. It's slow going though. Always found a clean bulk with a little fat gain followed by a cut nets much more gains given the same time frame.

 

[Tylerfife71]

Absolutely

 

[Jjjjjjj]

Not possible but you can gain LBM while keeping the same amount of BF%. Not gaining fat but gaining muscle theoretically would mean lowering BF%. In other words, you can gain weight and still have the same amount of fat% relative to the current state of your physique.

 

[bigmacdaddy18]

Zig Zag your overall caloric intake. By that I mean look at your average caloric intake per day over a 7 day period. Let's say it's 2200 on average. If you go to 3000 calories the next week your going to get fat. If you have high calorie, low calorie and mid calorie days and the overall intake for the week grows, great. I do low calorie days on Mon, Tues, Thursday. Mid calorie on Wednesday and Saturday and high calorie on Friday and Sunday. Increase the average but fluctuate the days. This MAY help you not gain fat.

Just my opinion.

 

[Joe12]

Hey guys, I decided not to bulk but to stick to a clean reacomp. I eat more on workout days, and slightly less on non workout day. I have managed to drop fat while not dipping down in weight, but I think the Andros have helped, lol.

 

[double s]

Hey guys, I decided not to bulk but to stick to a clean reacomp. I eat more on workout days, and slightly less on non workout day. I have managed to drop fat while not dipping down in weight, but I think the Andros have helped, lol.

Love it, great idea. Always confused why people lean out only to bulk back up to where they started

 

[AntM1564]

Hey guys, I decided not to bulk but to stick to a clean reacomp. I eat more on workout days, and slightly less on non workout day. I have managed to drop fat while not dipping down in weight, but I think the Andros have helped, lol.

Awesome. I do the same, but lower cals on low carb days. It works great IMO.

 

[Joe12]

Awesome. I do the same, but lower cals on low carb days. It works great IMO.

as long as stay between 180-190 I'm good. I would rather be lean and cut vs thick with a belly. Right now I'm only 182, but I'm stronger, more cut & harder then I was at 195. I just got tired of cramming a bunch of food in me just to turn around and cut weight to show definition. I figured, screw it, I want to looks sexy all year around, not just in the summer haha!

 

[Eldthursar]

Well I see this thread is pretty much run its course but for my $.02 if someone runs across this is as such: is it possible to stay cut and still gain? Of course. The biology is pretty straight forward. The problem usually comes in practice. Riding the anabolic/catabolic line is tough. Unless you have an incredibly detailed and diciplined diet, we're talking blood sugar math every 30 min, then you will slip onto the catabolic side at some points and protein synthesis will slow down. In practice it's much more effective and efficient to bulk with a healthy caloric surplus. The folks I coach will never cut until they're 15-25% bigger in lean mass than they have as a target. That means some run a bulk continuously for maybe more than a year at a time. In some cases years. I've found a couple of years of work yields results that most people will fight for a decade to achieve with the traditional bulk/cut/bulk/cut BS. But it does require a ton of patience and acceptance, I won't lie about that.

 

[Dustin07]

I'm always happier when "lean" bulking vs "dirty" bulking because a slow fade of the abs is less depressing then looking in the mirror all the sudden and wondering what the hell happened. your ability to gain lean mass without gaining much fat is also going to be dependent on your current body composition. I was at one time pretty heavy at 240lbs. I "leaned up" all the way down to 168ish. but I didn't have near the definition i have now at 180. my best was 185 with about 6% bodyfat. My specs are pretty similar to yours in terms of target weight and height etc.

this calculator is pretty good for helping to determine macros.
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as mentioned, discipline and good application of nutritional science is key. anything is possible with hard work.