Mythical "clean bulk"

My definition of "dirty bulk" vs. "clean bulk" would include both quality of foods as well as the amount of calories eaten above maintenance.

First of, to bulk, the goal in my mind is to put on muscle mass while trying to put very little fat on as much as possible. Offcourse there are a couple of different ways to do this: 1) slowly with small increase of calorie excess or 2) quickly with huge calorie excess followed by a cutting phase that includes eating below maintnenance. (bulk/cut/bulk phasing); but more on that in a second.

Second, you need all the tools to buld muscle mass, not just protein. I weigh about 190 lbs (6'2") and my goal is to eat at least 200 g of protein / day. But your body also needs good healthy fats in order to synthesize muscle mass. In my opinion the best source of protein comes from animal products (meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs), because of the abundance per gram eaten verses the amount of protein found in other sources (i.e. vegatables and legumes). But animal products come at a cost of saturated fat verses the good heathy fat aka essestial fatty acids (EFA). The good fats or EFA's (Linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid) are both unsaturated fatty acids that the human body cannot produce on it's own and are vital for muscle development and good all around heart health. So they have to come from outside sources. You may have heard of Omega 3 and Omega 6, these make up your EFA's. Fish and certain legumes are good sources of EFA's.

My goal is to eat mostly lean poultry products and other lean meat sources combined with a lot of fish. I also eat avacados and almonds and cashews which when combined give a good protein to EFA ratio with limited amounts of saturated fat. I also mix protein powder into unsweetened almond milk.

To me, this is the beginning of my definition of "clean bulking". Now throw in finding carb sources that are high in fiber and complex carbohydrate that slow digestion and absorbtion and thus controlling your blood sugar levels. Slow source of carb absortion decreases your blood sugar spikes which in return slows your body's harmone levels in the blood which promotes fat gain. It also controls the "crashing" you feel later on when blood sugar is at a lowered than normal level.

Now last is the amount of calories above maintenance. Your body only needs so much calories. Going above that level too much promotes fat building. But not enough calories puts your body into a canibolistic state as opposed to the anabolic state you seek when muscle building. So it is a touch and go / experiment as you go along kind of deal. That is why certain folks would rather go way over maintenance and do a cut phase later on to reduce the fat that was gained during the bulk phase. Kind of the definition of a "dirty bulk".

So the amount of calories you need to eat and to what ratio of macros will be determined on a lot of factors. Your body's natural ability to recover from strength training (determined by your DNA), the amount and intensity of your training, the quality of foods you are eating, and other factors that I cannot recite at the top of my head.

By the way, I am still learning myself. But to conclude, my defintion of a clean bulk would include something like 500-1000 cals above maintenance with heavy strength training and a good ratio of lean protein, EFA's, good complex carbs, minimal amounts of saturated fat and simple carbs.

A dirty bulk in my opinion would be anything above 1000 cals that is in excess of maintenance, high amounts of protein sources with no regard to saturated or unsaturated fats or quality of carbs whether they are simple or complex. Kind of synomous to the "seafood diet - or I see food and I eat it diet". Just make sure you get your protein in and go way over in cals because we will cut the fat later kind of attitude.

With regards to a bulk, clean is a low surplus to attempt to gain as little fat as possible while gaining muscle. Dirty is eating at a big surplus to gain as much as possible with little regard to the fat:muscle ratio. It has nothing to do with food quality other than it's easier to create a large surplus eating foods that are calorie dense and associated with "dirty eating".
This deifinition has been around at least 20+ years when I heard it in the small town gyms I started in.

My definition of "dirty bulk" vs. "clean bulk" would include both quality of foods as well as the amount of calories eaten above maintenance.......


To me, this is the beginning of my definition of "clean bulking". Now throw in finding carb sources that are high in fiber and complex carbohydrate that slow digestion and absorbtion and thus controlling your blood sugar levels. Slow source of carb absortion decreases your blood sugar spikes which in return slows your body's harmone levels in the blood which promotes fat gain. It also controls the "crashing" you feel later on when blood sugar is at a lowered than normal level. ...

Except that insulin is anabolic and you want to repeatedly spike your insulin to build muscle....I think you will find that bodybuilders on gear also often take insulin for this very reason.

^im sorry but i disagree with your "clean/dirty" bulk definition. Yes, a surplus is a bulk regardless but clean/dirty isnt from the amount of surplus but rather where they come from. I.e. if you are at a 500 calorie surplus but most of it is from fat/carbs that would be considered dirty. Well, at least this is how I interpret it?

Exorbitant amounts of protein aren't going to do you any good unless you're doing steroids anyway. A 500 calorie surplus that didn't contain a lot of carbs would almost certainly contain a whole lot of protein that couldn't be synthesized by a natural anyway.

Exactly, a clean bulk is vain, not efficient.

1.5 grams of protein per pound of boydweight seem exorbitant.

Peak muscle building efficiency is reached at a lower intake than dirty bulking.

However typical lean bulking intakes are lower than what you would need for peak efficiency.

To reach peak efficiency, you have to be in a calorie surplus 24/7, an intake high enough that the body stays in a surplus despite low intake periods like sleeping and gaps like lunch to dinner.

Standard bulking, neither lean nor dirty bulking, is about the sweet spot. Fat gain is real but not a big deal. The energy is there for the body to be building 24/7.

But a person Clean bulking but not eating enough to gain the Max they can is less efficient than the person who is eating too much as they are eating enough. So yes it is down to genetics but the guy eating too much will always be gaining whilst the other guy is tweaking his cals. If you knew Exactly how much to eat that's a different matter altogether.

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You gain about 6-8 pounds just by eating some proper meals after a cut so people who clean bulk 12-14 haven't really done much I would call that just filling out!

You get fat when you bulk that's why people are doing less efficient things.

I doubt I'll ever Dirty bulk ever again, but if you want that big base getting fatter is gonna be the best bet. If you just want to be a slightly bigger you then put all that effort and planning and logging into a clean bulk.