I thought I'd post some of the factors that went into deciding my most recent bulk, and what goes into it when planning. Not so much the technical parts; those have been covered on this site repeatedly. I meant more practical/personal issues to consider, that I think get overlooked sometimes.
Time: How much time do you have, or do you want to invest? If you have a year to invest, then you can go much cleaner than I did. If you have a short period of time to add the mass, then you may have to go dirty. I also didn't want to be 230 lbs. in the middle of July heatwaves in New England, so I had to start cutting by around March 1st, if I want to resvelten in time to be comfortable. This bulk for me skirted the line between dirty and clean. None of the food I ate was junk. As such I gained about 20 lbs. of LBM in 6 months, which is pretty freaking good for someone who has been training for over a decade. Now let's say I had done it much cleaner, over the course of a year....Maybe I gain 10 lbs. of lbm, and only 10 lbs. of fat. But that brings me to my next point
Metabolism/Ease of Cutting: How easy is it for you to cut? I don't have a sweet tooth, abhor soda and all junk food, and can completely change my diet over night without any pains. If you happen to have difficulty cutting, then a cleaner bulk may be for you. I gained around 25 lbs. of fat this bulk, but that doesn't bother me. I find cutting easy, so if I gain fat...big deal. My ultimate goal is LBM, the fat's easy enough to burn off for me. If you find it harder to shed fat, or get attached to junk food, again, go with a cleaner bulk. It'll be less of a struggle.
Looks: I don't particularly give a shit what I look like. I've never done a single rep of a single set of a single exercise in the 12 years I've been training on account of how I'd look to others afterward. Now the thought of walking around with slabs of fat on me in June wasn't exactly appealing, but it was more about comfort, and that's why I started my cut on March 1st. Don't get me wrong; there is NOTHING wrong with going to the gym hoping to impress someone with the results. If you are thinking about looks though, a clean bulk will be more in order. Again, I live in New England, and in the depths of winter the only time I'm unclothed is when I'm making sweet bang to a lady. The lights stay off.
Mental Makeup: It is HARD cramming that much food in. Plus doing it in such a way that doesn't shoot my endocrine system to shit as well. Some of those meals I listed would take me a half hour to eat (I didn't pound a 1/2 pound of PB in like 2 minutes). The last month I was so sick of eating, but I kept doing it. I hit 231 by mid February and then plateaud there. I was fine with that. I hit or got very close to all my goals, absolutely destroying my benching goal which is something I've chased for years. So it was worth it to me. But you have to ask yourself how much can you eat, how much can you hold down, and how much would make you miserable? I will NEVER eat 5000 calories again, because I'd know from the start what I was in for.
Time: How much time do you have, or do you want to invest? If you have a year to invest, then you can go much cleaner than I did. If you have a short period of time to add the mass, then you may have to go dirty. I also didn't want to be 230 lbs. in the middle of July heatwaves in New England, so I had to start cutting by around March 1st, if I want to resvelten in time to be comfortable. This bulk for me skirted the line between dirty and clean. None of the food I ate was junk. As such I gained about 20 lbs. of LBM in 6 months, which is pretty freaking good for someone who has been training for over a decade. Now let's say I had done it much cleaner, over the course of a year....Maybe I gain 10 lbs. of lbm, and only 10 lbs. of fat. But that brings me to my next point
Metabolism/Ease of Cutting: How easy is it for you to cut? I don't have a sweet tooth, abhor soda and all junk food, and can completely change my diet over night without any pains. If you happen to have difficulty cutting, then a cleaner bulk may be for you. I gained around 25 lbs. of fat this bulk, but that doesn't bother me. I find cutting easy, so if I gain fat...big deal. My ultimate goal is LBM, the fat's easy enough to burn off for me. If you find it harder to shed fat, or get attached to junk food, again, go with a cleaner bulk. It'll be less of a struggle.
Looks: I don't particularly give a shit what I look like. I've never done a single rep of a single set of a single exercise in the 12 years I've been training on account of how I'd look to others afterward. Now the thought of walking around with slabs of fat on me in June wasn't exactly appealing, but it was more about comfort, and that's why I started my cut on March 1st. Don't get me wrong; there is NOTHING wrong with going to the gym hoping to impress someone with the results. If you are thinking about looks though, a clean bulk will be more in order. Again, I live in New England, and in the depths of winter the only time I'm unclothed is when I'm making sweet bang to a lady. The lights stay off.
Mental Makeup: It is HARD cramming that much food in. Plus doing it in such a way that doesn't shoot my endocrine system to shit as well. Some of those meals I listed would take me a half hour to eat (I didn't pound a 1/2 pound of PB in like 2 minutes). The last month I was so sick of eating, but I kept doing it. I hit 231 by mid February and then plateaud there. I was fine with that. I hit or got very close to all my goals, absolutely destroying my benching goal which is something I've chased for years. So it was worth it to me. But you have to ask yourself how much can you eat, how much can you hold down, and how much would make you miserable? I will NEVER eat 5000 calories again, because I'd know from the start what I was in for.
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