---
title: 'The ULTIMATE Guide to Bulking'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=11vfttahxAU'
video_id: '11vfttahxAU'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 1687
---

# The ULTIMATE Guide to Bulking

> Source: [The ULTIMATE Guide to Bulking](https://youtube.com/watch?v=11vfttahxAU)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive, experience-based guide to bulking, answering the top 10 most common questions. The speaker covers when to start and stop bulking, how to calculate calories and macros, the importance of clean eating, supplements, training adjustments, and strategies for increasing appetite.

### Key Points

- **When to Bulk and When to Stop** [0:24] — Start bulking when you're at a comfortable body fat level (visible abs for men, around 18-20% for women). Stop when you start losing your abs, appetite drops, or lifts plateau.
- **How to Start: Calories and Macros** [1:48] — Track everything you eat for a week to find maintenance calories. Add 300-500 calories to start. Set protein at 1g per lb of body weight, fat at 20-30% of total calories, and fill the rest with carbs.
- **Clean vs. Dirty Bulk** [5:51] — Prioritize whole, single-ingredient foods for better digestion and nutrient absorption. Avoid dirty bulking; cheat meals are optional for mental relief.
- **Best Supplements for Bulking** [11:14] — Creatine is the top supplement. Digestive aids like glucose disposal agents and betaine HCL help with nutrient uptake. A post-workout shake with 50g protein and 50-75g carbs is recommended.
- **Training on a Bulk** [14:19] — During a bulk, increase training volume and intensity (drop sets, rest-pauses) since your body can handle more stimulus. Keep weights heavy but focus on hypertrophy.
- **Cardio on a Bulk** [16:52] — Yes, do cardio for heart health, digestion, and to help eat more without gaining excess fat. 20-30 minutes daily is sufficient.
- **Rate of Gain and Duration** [19:15] — Aim for 0.5-2 lbs per week. Longer bulks (6+ months) help retain muscle better during cuts. Avoid goal-hopping.
- **Increasing Appetite** [23:34] — Manage cortisol and stress to improve appetite. Eat in a calm state, use smoothies to pack in calories, and time carbs around workouts.

## Transcript

what is up YouTube today I'm going to be
going over the top questions people ask
me on how to bulk any questions I get
towards bulking I've kind of compiled in
like a top 10 and I'm going to be going
going over all of them today so you have
them in a concise area pretty much based
off my experience rather than just
purely science-based stuff it's
everything I've done and learn from my
mistakes throughout the years so you
guys can learn from what I've done right
and done wrong and hopefully learn
faster than I did first question is
always how do I know when to bulk and I
find this such a funny question people
ask me cuz I have no [ __ ] clue when
people should bulk it's very like
situation dependent person dependent
goal dependent but as a whole I would
say obviously if your goals put on
muscle you should bulk and if you're not
fat you can bulk and fat is obviously
very different to the average person but
if you're unhappy with the level of body
fat you're at that's super important i
don't think you should bulk yet come
down to a body fat that you're happier
with maybe a little bit below even and
then work your way back up but as a
general rule of thumb I like to be like
around 12% body fat for men maybe 18 to
20 for women but having visible abs for
men specifically it's easier to gauge so
if my abs are still poking through a
little bit then I'm good to go and I
know I haven't bulked too far or I'm
good to bulk next question tail off that
last one is how do I know when to stop
bulking and similar to when you know if
you should bulk if you start to lose
your abs or if you get too much of a
high body fat percentage I always
struggled to say that i got it that time
then you know it's time to slow down
there's a few other things like when
your appetite is absolutely like in this
[ __ ] like you can't eat at all it'll
be tough to eat when you're bulking
really hard one is completely gone
sometimes you need to just take a step
back if your lifts in the gym are
plateauing if your weight is stagnating
all these different things it's kind of
time to give your body a little bit of a
break whether it be for a week or a full
cut it kind of depends on your goals and
situation of course but again big thing
is if you have some abs you're still
happy with how you look you're not too
fat yet then you can keep pushing that
weight all right so how to start how to
start your base calories macros meal
plan whatever it may be the simplest
thing and that everybody needs to do in
the suggestions quote is he always says
what isn't measured isn't managed so the
more you measure the more you can manage
the more you can adapt and you know what
changes you're making are causing the
changes in your body so the most
important step of starting anyone's
fitness journey really is tracking
everything you eat consistently and
calculate the calories and macros on
that maybe do it for a week take the
average and see what it is and weigh
yourself during all those days as well
so if I'm 250 lbs I'm eating 4,000
calories every single day then my base
to maintain 250 lb is 4,000 calories so
if I want to lose weight I'll go under
that if I want to gain weight I'll go
over that typically you'll increase by
like 5 to 10 probably like 5% I would
say i usually go on more so like 300 to
500 calorie increase when I start a bulk
so if I'm resting at 4,000 I'll go up to
4500 and then from there you count your
macros through that obviously most
important if you're trying to bulk put
on muscle is protein and you don't need
quite as much protein when you're
bulking because carbs are actually
protein sparing when you're really low
carb your body is going to use protein
for energy whereas when you're really
high carb you have all the carbs to use
for energy so your body uses the protein
to build muscle therefore they're like
they help you spare protein so when
you're in a low low carb deficit your
body's pulling from your protein source
in order to make energy not just rebuild
you need to add more protein to make
sure that you're actually rebuilding
properly as well as getting the energy
from it so I stick to a minimum of 1 g
per pound of body weight everyone knows
that number it's so simple just stick to
it make sure you're at least hitting
that and that's what you prioritize so
then you take that i'm 250 lb that's 250
g of protein with four calories for
every gram of protein so multiply that
by four you're already at 1,000 calories
and then if I'm trying to hit 4,000
calories total then I'm going to take 20
to 30% of that total caloric intake and
make that into fat and so whatever that
is in fat I'm not that quick at math
what is that 20% of
4,000 200 800
800 quick math so that would be 800
calories for me in fat so then I have
1,000 calories of protein 800 calories
of fat and then I just fill the rest
with carbs and then there's your macros
right there that's literally how simple
it is and the most important thing is to
continue to track going forward make
sure those are hidden with right track
your body weight look at yourself in the
mirror monitor your lifts if things are
moving in the direction you're happy
with just keep doing it that's what's
important if you start to lose weight or
you're not gaining weight fast enough
you add a little bit more calories and
then you keep those ratios the exact
same you can play with that a lot of
people do better with higher carb or
higher fat and you kind of rotate
through typically most people do that 20
30% fat that's what's worked best for me
i enjoy eating a lot of carbs not crazy
amounts of fat but also as I get to the
end of my bulk and I'm eating like 6,000
calories I'll start to just cover things
in olive oil just because I need
anything to get those calories in so
obviously there's a place to start but
the number one thing in being successful
at anything is knowing that you're not
stuck between these confines if it works
for you it works for you that's all that
matters doesn't matter if someone else
tells you what to do if I do it or not
works for you you're making muscle the
other thing to take note when you're
counting your protein the 1 g per pound
of body weight is there are some extreme
cases where when people are really like
underweight like if you weigh 100 lb and
you're a male and you're tall and you're
just really skinny you might want to
bump that up from the beginning and if
you're heavily overweight so you're 400
lb and you don't have that much muscle
on you you don't need 400 g of protein
if you can eat it I guarantee you you
will lose weight more efficiently having
more protein rather than fats or carbs
in your diet but it's not necessarily
for putting on muscle so if it's too
hard to eat 400 grams of protein that's
a lot of protein then bump that down to
something that's a little bit more
appropriate what you would guess your
lean body mass would be and then use
that number it's an estimate again
doesn't matter you kind of play with
things as they go if you're really
overweight losing weight all that really
matters is that your calories are below
what your basil basil metabolic rate is
all right next question is what type of
food to eat cheat meals clean bulk or
dirty bulk rule of thumb for this in my
absolute belief is whole foods are the
most important thing something that
grows from the earth something that
caveman could eat anything like that
single ingredient foods are your best
bet this is because I mean it's just
normal food much easier for your body to
digest the more food you can digest and
the nutrients you can actually absorb
from it the less you actually need to
eat to get the same benefit out of it
the less you have to digest better your
stomach feels the more you can eat it's
all just like a feedback loop to making
more gains essentially and even eating
bad food causes inflammation in the gut
which slows everything down slows your
bulk down your muscle gain down cause
inflammation in your joints can start
hurting you when you're in the gym
training there's a cascade of effects
that can come from that not to mention
that it's just not as healthy for you so
yes we're trying to put on muscle but
the healthiest way to do it is often
also the best way to do it so make sure
you're actually focusing on eating clean
whole foods and not just going after
like a nasty dirty goal people always
ask about cheat meals why can I have
cheat meal i want a cheat meal what's
the point of cheat meals all these
things and over the last like four or
five years of my preps I didn't get any
cheat meals and that was because of what
I was talking about before i didn't want
that like gut digestion mess up i didn't
want the inflammation from it i didn't
want to ruin my sleep that night cuz I
was full of all this [ __ ] and have my
joints hurt the next day everything I
was doing was so calculated to be the
best that I was like m I could have a
cheat meal calorically and not get too
fat but it's going to have this other
you know effects on my recovery my
digestion that's just not worth it right
now so I didn't have those ever when I
was in prep in my off season I like to
live live a little bit i still eat
really healthy though like if I go to
get a burger sometimes I get a lettuce
wrap no cheese cuz I know it's going to
mess with my stomach and I make sure I
stick with that but again it kind of
depends on what your goals are the only
point of having a cheat meal is pretty
much for your mental sake if you need
like a little bit of like stress relief
or a break from it and if that's going
to help you then absolutely it's worth
it even if you're a professional
bodybuilder and it's going to benefit
your mind and calm you down and give you
a nice like cortisol brief to eat a
cheat meal then go for it it's not the
end of the world but as me trying to be
as the best in the world I wasn't going
to do that [ __ ] i was like "Fuck it i'm
going to fill up on good food food I
know I can digest just eat more of that
still sleep good digest good and be
better for it." But that like 01% change
it's going to make doesn't matter to
most people and even now as a retired
bodybuilder I'd be less tricked on doing
something like that myself so why would
you clean bulk versus dirty bulk i would
say people with dirty bulk are just
people who don't understand the indepth
like minutia of how important every
little thing is to your body so I just
think it's just kind of the easy way out
i need to get some calories in i'm going
to throw some shitty food down it's also
a very like a band-aid the short-term
solution for a long-term goal that you
have you just do that for a year 2 years
even 5 years from 20 to 25 maybe you'll
get away with if you're lucky but it
will start to catch up on you so I just
don't even recommend dirty bulking throw
in your cheat meals if you really want
them and need them but clean bulking is
the way to go we're not just trying to
get jacked you want to take care of your
body and when you build that healthy
relationship with food that you're
nourishing your body you're fueling your
body you're putting good food in your
body because you care about your body it
also makes it easier to diet because
then you're not craving shitty foods
when you're dieting because food isn't
just like a obsessive I can have now or
can't have it now it's actually
something that you appreciate and you're
putting good things in your body and
when I switched that mindset of eating
for health rather than just like
restricting now or eating as much as I
can now and I was like no I'm putting
good food to take care of my body when I
started prepping I didn't even crave
shitty food anymore i was like I want a
little more rice and chicken but like it
is what it is i'm dieting and it made it
much easier for me just a little mindset
switch as I said it's so case dependent
and bulking like when I was a 21year-old
trying to put on as much muscle as
possible i remember putting on like 20
or 30 lbs one offseason probably more
than that and I was like 270 plus lbs
midday i was like 275ish and I dieted
down to 220 and I was like eating shitty
food messing up my digestion didn't care
cuz I was 21 years old and I was just
pushing things and that variance made it
really hard for me so I stopped doing
that so this is kind of again back to
when you should stop bulking if you're a
bodybuilder you really only need to go
like 10% over your weight so I started
being 20 lbs over my competing weight
which made it much easier for me to come
back and down and make that weight and
not stress my body out too much it made
my bulking way more efficient but I had
also been doing that for a decade so
when you're at the beginning of your
career things are different and this is
why I always say don't just listen to
what I say kind of just take knowledge
in and try things out for yourself and
see what works best for you at this
point in your journey cuz what works for
me won't necessarily work for you when I
was young I could dirty bulk do all the
things same with you guys when you're
young and get away with these things
when I had to eat six almost 7,000
calories sometimes I threw in some dirty
food cuz at the end of the day I just
couldn't eat another bowl of chicken
rice i was just over it i'd have a
protein shake peanut butter and jelly go
to bed and just it is what it is now
that I'm 30 years old and I'm a little
older my turn is good digestion is good
everything is clean food and you got to
be a little bit more strict but luckily
because I had more muscle mass on me I
didn't have to eat as much food so I was
actually eating way more food when I was
younger than I am now because I've
already built such a good base so
there's always something different going
on in your journey just grab the basics
top of the knowledge that I'm giving you
right now start with this track it pay
attention to how your body responds and
then adapt accordingly because it's
that's the only thing that's going to
make you successful understanding your
body and being able to
[Music]
adapt all right so next question and
we're in my personal supplement shop
here best supplements for bulking number
one got to be creatine if you're trying
to put on muscle creatine is the best
muscle ever it's good for your brain
it's good for energy it's good for
repair it's good for putting on muscle
it's the most studied sports nutrition
supplement ever if you're not taking it
you're falling behind there's so many of
the supplements that help build muscle
but specific to bulky and trying to work
hard number one thing I would say is
digestion i have a pretty good array of
digestive supplements that you use at
different times one specifically is a
glucose supplement a GDA glucose
disposal agent typically chromium
Burberry and a few other things in there
that help and this just helps your body
actually utilize all the carbs that
you're taking i never took insulin as a
bodybuilder some people dabble in that
and it's such a anabolic hormone because
it allows your body to use more food and
shuttle it into your muscle so there's
more natural supplements to take like I
said Hani makes one called Evalog that
has digestive enzymes and a bunch of
GDAS in it revive has one called glucose
that's a stronger version of just the
GDAS super helpful you just take them
with every single meal super easy to
take other than that like I said the
digestive enzymes as well as betain HCL
this bad boy right here a lot of people
don't have the proper stomach acidity
for them to digest food especially a lot
of protein when you're bulking like a
bodybuilder you're eating a lot of
protein so taking a supplement that
helps like aid your gut essentially so
it doesn't have to work so hard itself
is super beneficial cuz the average
person should not and does not need to
be eating 5,000 plus calories a day so
you want to give your body as much
assistance as possible to make sure like
I said you're absorbing those nutrients
you're actually using them and you're
able to pass that food through you so
you don't get bloated you can't eat your
next meal and then you just start
falling behind so digestion is
absolutely key creatine and anything
that helps you uptake carbs other than
that of course post-workout shake
protein powder it's like the most basic
supplement in the world but it's so
helpful do you need it absolutely not
can you get away without it you're damn
good if you can cuz I always need it
both through prep or an off season and I
still really believe that a post
post-workout shake is extremely
important i like to get my EAS midwork
still and then right after my workout or
at least soon getting in like 50 75 g of
carbs with 50 g of protein and I take
that all in powder form it's just super
easy to get down i can eat again an hour
later i know people are like "The
anabolic window doesn't matter or
whatnot." Maybe it doesn't it probably
doesn't if you're getting all your food
in but if it makes me 5% better or.1%
better I'm going to do it i'm a
professional bodybuilder i want to take
everything I can and it's not that hard
to drink a protein shake after your
workout and to be able to get that
protein in starts your your anabolism
immediately your body's not breaking
down tissue anymore you're rebuilding it
your recovery gets in immediately your
cortisol drops because your body's
starting to get into rest and digest
phase which actually also helps your
recovery and the quicker you get in the
quicker you can eat a meal after that
and then go to bed earlier to get good
sleep so all super important things to
help your gains and some benefits of
supplements all right so gym questions
people are always asking how to train in
a cut versus a bulk and all these things
and at the end of the day it doesn't
really matter that much if you're
training really hard and progressively
overloading on proper periodization
you're following my app and you're doing
all the stuff you already know but at
the end of the day it doesn't matter
that much but if you take a look at
what's going on when you're on a bulk if
you have a little bit more fluid in your
body therefore in your joints you have
more energy you're recovering a little
bit faster a little bit easier there's
more nutrients to uptake and a lot of
people think lift really heavy in this
phase and yes you should lift really
heavy but the thing you can actually get
away with more so is doing more volume
more intensify just a higher level of
hypertrophy so training in a bulk with a
lot of food even on refeed days or
whatever you want to up your volume and
intensifiers on those days so things
like double triple sets drop sets rest
pauses all those kind of things are what
you want to do in a bulk because your
body can actually handle that much
stimulus and recover from it and you
have enough nutrients in your body to
push that much volume for a longer
workout it's kind of a different
thinking than you might think when
you're eating more you want to do more
weight but you actually want to just
still be heavy as possible but more
volume more intensifiers and it'll get
more gains to use all that food like I
said there's no like optimal perfect way
to do it but that's the way I would do
it and to give an example of the way
that my year used to look like with
training is I would take some time off
which I would be in right now post
Olympia if I were competing again give
my body a break to kind of recover get
back into it and then I would start
rebuilding my strength for a little bit
as food still low not too high and as my
food ramped up I would try and have my
strengths already back by then and then
I would start doing a crazy amount of
volume with that base of strengths
they'll get a little bit stronger at the
beginning of your offseason then my food
gets really high use that strength
keeping the weights the same but then
you start adding rest pauses drop sets
super sets all the kind of crazy [ __ ] of
just like killing the muscle pushing
some more sets past failure training
with the training partner all those
things that would stress your nervous
system a little bit more but are easier
to recover when you have more food in
you so that's the way I would get do it
and right at the end of my offseason
when I'd be like peak volume peak
hypertrophy just like hammering my body
and then when my calorie would start to
drop I would actually start increasing
the weight a little bit because my
volume would naturally have to come down
because I don't have as much energy
glycogen stores in my muscle got to drop
the volume a little bit but I keep the
weight as high as possible because a
stronger muscle is often bigger muscle
so if you already have the size to your
muscle maintaining strength will
maintain the muscle especially with low
calories so sometimes it reverses what
you think but it's what I did in the
last like pretty much of my whole career
and it really helped me get strong make
gains and hold those gains throughout my
prep all right next question should you
do cardio on a bulk like I said
everything is person specific but if I
had to give an overarching answer it
would be yes for many reasons especially
as a bodybuilder the bigger you get you
want to take care of your heart
obviously cardio is a way to have the
best heart health so keeping up with
that is super important but also not
caring about your health if your goal is
just to eat more cardio helps you eat
more the amount of calories you're going
to burn from doing 20 to 30 minutes of
cardio it's nowhere near what you can
eat you can have a bite of a sandwich
and overcome the amount of calories you
do in 20 minutes of cardio so it's
really nothing to be afraid of a lot of
people like I'm trying to huge i don't
want to do cardio cuz I don't want to
sacrifice gains that's complete [ __ ]
unless you're running marathons or
biking two hours fasted or doing
anything you're not going to be losing
any muscle there's a few tips that you
can do like if you are doing fast cardio
because you love doing in the morning I
would 100% recommend taking an amino
before that just so you're not burning
through muscle your body at least kicks
some proteins into the fish at least get
three grams of lucine two scoops of EAS
or something and you're good to go also
one of the easiest things to do and this
is the Stan efforting thing he used to
always talk about on his diet is doing a
105 minute walk after every single meal
that you eat you're not going to burn
through the food that you ate i promise
you you're not even going to be close to
it but what it is going to do get your
digestion going lower your blood sugar
help your insulin a little bit allow
your body to actually utilize those
nutrients that you put in your body and
then eat quicker in your next meal like
sometimes you eat a lot and you just
want to lie there and you feel like crap
like after Thanksgiving you just want to
pass out but if you actually go for a
walk your body will start moving that
food through you quicker and then you
can eat again quicker it's going to help
your insulin levels which will help your
body uptake the food better so there's a
lot of benefits that come into it so
cardio good for your heart it's actually
going to help you eat more and it just
helps move the food through you so I
100% recommend cardio on a bulk i wasn't
always the best at keeping up with this
if I'm being completely honest but I did
noticed to a te in the years where I
didn't do cardio but I ate as much as I
could my appetite wasn't as good and I
put on fat quicker not muscle but fat
when I was doing a good amount of cardio
I could eat more i felt better my body
was utilizing it for muscle better than
it was at adding fat so I just noticed a
different body composition when my body
was doing when I was choosing to do
cardio in my season so in the end when I
was doing it all the time I felt way
better and I absolutely recommend it to
everyone whether you're skinny fat
whatever if you're skinny as [ __ ] do
less cardio if you're fat do more don't
overthink it but focus on your
[Music]
heart all right so another question I
always get asked is around how fast
should you gain weight how do you know
if you're gaining too fast or too slow
and again everything is so person
dependent it's so hard for me to even
answer these but I'm trying to give you
guys something to go off of so take what
I say and apply it to yourself in real
life and adapt it but I would say in the
range of 2 to 2 lb a week is like good
it's great for gaining muscle again that
could be from a beginner to someone
who's advanced so when I was young and I
was like 18 years old training I could
probably put 2 lbs of muscle on if I
really bulked and trained hard and went
efficient and it life it was incredible
it was amazing and now over the last 4
years I've maybe put on 4 lbs of muscle
doing what I've been doing and I've been
struggling to do that and that's me
guessing cuz I'm always a little bit
leaner and not as lean so it's like my
stage weight is variable but it's really
hard so it really comes down to a lot of
different things but I think what's
super important is having a high
standard of which you hold yourself to
so your norm of how you look you should
be proud of how you look you're working
out to feel good to look good to be good
so you want to be happy with how you
look so if you start from a leaner spot
and you bulk and you don't want to
change too much from that you're not
going to be too fat obviously versus if
you start from a fatter spot you get a
little more fat you're more fat than
that so having that norm that high
standard to which you hold yourself to
that you're proud of how you look is
super important when it comes to these
things it's hard to manage tracking body
fat with clips or BMIs or all these
things so if you're taking constant
check-in pictures of yourself put your
weight beside it the amount of food
you're eating with that and you're
following along those things and you're
seeing how your body's adapting you're
much better off than just like guessing
what's going on and obviously gaining
weight there's so many variables that
could be when you first start bulking
you know your glycogen stores are
filling up you're holding on to more
water carbs make you hold on more water
creatine sometimes can but then it
typically levels out so don't stress
about that i don't want to say that but
there's so many different things that
can make you hold on to weight that
aren't just fat or muscle water fat or
muscle are the main top three that it's
going to be so you really need to be
careful of what the difference is if you
diet if you bulk for a year and you put
on 20 lbs and then you diet down and you
lose 19 for the average person that's
not a very good bulk if you're like an
elite bodybuilder then you're doing all
right for the average person you
probably didn't need to put that 20 lbs
on to gain one lb of muscle so try and
like just even that ratio up again I
hate giving numbers but if you're
putting on 10% in a year you're doing
pretty good for yourself depending on
the level at which you're at just keep
watching yourself don't let yourself get
too fat be happy with how you look
monitor your breathing your heart rate
all these different things are super
important how you feel how you look end
up going to the final result so it's all
important all right next thing is how
long should I build core minimum time to
put on muscle if you put on muscle you
put on muscle but there is a the longer
period of time you're holding it the
less likely you are to lose it when you
cut really hard that's something to take
into account if you bulk for 2 months
and then you cut really hard you're
probably going to lose a good amount of
that muscle versus if you're someone
who's been holding on to that muscle for
a year 2 years 3 years or 6 months
versus a 2-month bulk you're more likely
to hold on to it so just take that into
consideration i personally liked a
longer bulk because I didn't feel like I
had to force it as hard and have to put
a bunch of food in really fast i could
slowly taper up 250 300 400 calories at
a time as my body would plateau i would
just add a little bit more food add a
little bit more food and my body
wouldn't put on fat as quick the slower
the change you make the more likely you
are to put on good weight rather than
just fat so understand that take your
time the longer you hold it the longer
your body's going to maintain it also
again super important to be specific on
what your goals are and definitely not
goal hop around if you're like "Oh I
want to bulk." And you bulk a little bit
and your abs are a little less shredded
i want to cut and you start cutting a
bit and like I want to be bigger and you
start flip-flopping back and forth
you're going to make zero progress and
there's no point doing that so start
something and commit to it and
understand what your goals are if your
goals are to put on muscle but you hate
when you lose your abs and do a really
slow long bulk very slow increase of
calories make sure your abs are staying
there stick to training your abs stick
to doing your cardio eating good food no
inflammation you won't hold on as much
water you won't look as chubby won't
feel better all these different things
if all you want to do is put on as much
muscle as fast as possible you don't
give a [ __ ] that's the type of person
who pushes it a little bit faster or a
little bit longer so you kind of got to
figure out what your goals are and
tailor your work towards your goal all
right last question and another big one
crucial one i've been here what if I
can't eat enough and how to increase my
appetite can't is a very strong word
whenever I meet someone and they come up
to me often at expos they're like 170
lbs like I can't put on muscle i can't
eat enough i'm like you're lying eat
more train harder and just do it there's
it's always a possibility if you really
can't put food down and you're skinny
skinny there's probably a reason why
your cortisol is too high your recovery
isn't good enough you need to sleep
better you need to slow down you need to
eat better foods you need to check your
gut there's there's a reason why people
aren't just that word hardgain gainer
people are harder than gaining than
others but there's no hard gainer who
can't eat and gain weight it's complete
[ __ ] you just have to do it and it
takes a long period of time so the
biggest thing is I think honestly is
like I mentioned the cortisol sleep
recovery if all that stuff is on point
your body can take in food there's
people you hear about stress eating and
people who there's no term for it but
people when they get stressed who just
they forget to eat all day a week go by
and they eat one meal a day maybe just
because they're so stressed out all the
time when your body's in a fight
orflight state cortisol is running
through your body it's not ready to rest
and digest it's why people say rest and
digest you're in a fight fight or flight
cortisol your body's not ready to digest
food it's not ready to take in food so
it's super important to eat in a calm
state to like be in a relaxed state as
often as possible to get your sleep in
sleep and rest and low cortisol is like
the secret to bodybuilding me my ability
to like lower my stress at times when I
was in prep literally won me Olympias
it's so crucial and it comes in so
importantly into bulking as well so yeah
that would I would say that's the
biggest thing especially post-workout
when you're training you're at a high
level of stress which is important
you're putting your body through a
stimulus and the quicker you can switch
your body from fight and flight into
rest and digest the better you're doing
so after a workout if you can like
meditate chill get your protein in
listen some vibing music on the way home
don't just get on your phone go back to
work stress yourself out with some stuff
just like calm your nervous system
you'll be recovering better and you'll
be able to eat and absorb more nutrients
after that workout super important on
top of that just a little tip trick that
everyone knows to do smoothies you're
eating your meals throughout the day
understand your meals that you can get
nutrient timing is so important pairing
that with smoothies it's the secret if
you figure out your body's nutrient
timing of when it can absorb certain
foods certain meals in the best way
you're going to crush it me I like
having low carbs in the morning cuz then
my entire appetite for the rest of the
day is bigger a lot of times I used to
think oh I need a 1500 calorie breakfast
to get these calories in so I don't need
as much later in the day but then I
can't eat my meals later in the day and
I screw myself but if you have a high
highfat low carb breakfast your insulin
levels are actually more consistent
throughout the day rather than spiking
and dropping and peaks and valleys
throughout the day so it's a lot
healthier for your body and easier to
eat your meals later on the day so
highfat whole food high protein
breakfast start getting your carbs in
around your workout bulk of your carbs
would be pre and post-workout i could
handle them pre and didn't make me tired
so I was completely fine and some points
in the day have a massive smoothie i
liked having mine later in the day if it
didn't fill my stomach up too much
before sleeping you throw in some
intraworkout carbs some protein powder
some whole eggs for some real nutrients
some oats if you want some peanut butter
almond butter whatever you want to throw
in there whatever your body digests
great blend it all up drink it before
bed you can get in easily 1,200 calories
in a shake and you don't need to get
mass and stuff like that cuz it'll just
[ __ ] your stomach up unless you can
handle it good for you but I never could
so digest or smooth jeez blend load your
[ __ ] up drink a smoothie digest it good
go to sleep and get huge so another big
thing on that increase your appetite low
cortisol nutrient timing big smoothies
take three all right so that's the bulk
of these questions i'm sure I rambled on
a heavy amount if you guys have any more
question drop them in the comment
section below i will add them to the
next Q&A that we do but yeah these are
the biggest tips and tricks I can say
that I've done i've gone through many
different phases of my career bulking
really hard and not bulking really hard
and again I listened to so much
knowledge over my career i took in so
much stuff and I tried so many things
the only thing that stuck were what
worked for me you have to like flow with
things you have to like treat
bodybuilding like the art it is and
understand that there's so many nuances
to it that it's dependent on each
specific person and only you can figure
out that out for yourself because only
you know yourself so trial and error pay
attention track things what is it
measured isn't managed lock it all in
and get [ __ ] huge so that's it thank
you guys for watching