Building muscle and gaining weight in a few weeks requires a combination of regular strength training, a calorie surplus, and sufficient protein intake. Focus on compound exercises, eat protein-rich foods, and ensure you're consuming more calories than you burn.
Nutrition: The Foundation of Bulking
Caloric Surplus: You want to eat in a caloric surplus to bulk up in 7 days. This means consuming more calories than your body burns. Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) and add 500-1000 calories per day to it. This extra energy will fuel muscle growth.
The general rule is that consuming an excess of at least 2,500 calories per week can help increase lean tissue by one pound of gained mass. This number is derived from several published studies, but it is generalized for the 'average exerciser.
The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food. As they say, muscle isn't made in the gym, but in the kitchen: If you want to bulk up, you'd be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating enough calories/protein, than working out 6 days a week and not eating enough.
A diet that lacks adequate protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats can make it harder to gain muscle mass. In contrast, consuming excess calories without the right macronutrient balance can result in gaining excess fat, rather than muscle mass.
Can I Use the 2,500-Calorie Diet to Gain Muscle? Yes, you can. This is commonly known as bulking – a muscle gaining phase of body building where you intentionally consume more calories than your body needs and work out more through weight training.
A weightlifter or strength athlete looking to add muscle mass and who will be using their muscles more than the average person will naturally require more protein – between 1.4-2g/kg of body weight per day. The recommended daily amounts of protein for endurance athletes is 1.2-2.0g/kg of body weight.
What is the fastest way to bulk? The fastest way to have a bulk body involves a combination of consuming a calorie surplus, prioritizing protein intake, engaging in compound lifts, getting sufficient rest, and gradually increasing weights and volume in your workouts.
There are other terms for this, such as build mode, but bulking is a common term for this caloric surplus. Dirty bulking is when an individual is in a caloric surplus to build muscle (build mode). However, the individual is eating foods that are carb dense, unhealthy, and ultra-processed out of convenience.
Extreme exercise requires eating plenty of carbs. It is recommended athletes consume 60g/h of carbohydrates for prolonged exercise lasting more than two hours. White rice is considered a safe starch to consume prior to exercise, easy on the stomach, and has been shown to meet sports nutrition recommendations.
Regularly consuming 200 g of protein per day is generally too much. If a person consumes 200 g of protein in one day, it is best to adjust their protein intake for the rest of the week accordingly.
Resistance training promotes muscle growth. Examples of resistance training include the use of free weights, weight machines, your own body weight or resistance bands. Suggestions include: Train just two or three times per week to give your muscles time to recover.
The sweet spot for a lean bulk is to gain no more than 0.5-1 pound of body weight each week. For most people, this will be split 50/50 between muscle and fat gain.
Understanding Metabolism and Body Type
If you're a skinny guy, especially an ectomorph, you know the struggle of trying to gain muscle. With a naturally high metabolism, your body burns through calories super fast, making it feel like no matter how much you eat, the scale just doesn't budge.
To make gains you have to have the right nutrients in your body to construct muscle. This means that what you eat, and how much, is essential in making muscle gains. Lifting and doing strength training without adequate nutrition, especially without enough protein, can actually lead to loss of muscle tissue.