Do you remember what the 1990s did to bodybuilding? Every single aspiring bodybuilder wanted to get as much muscle mass on their body as humanly possible, often resulting with a lot of misappropriations, which made people get bulky, burly and a little fat instead of buff with muscle.
We never saw those bodybuilders as models, just big bulky guys.
However, their goal was the same back then as it is now – every single aspiring bodybuilder wants to put on muscle and to look good, only the methods used are very different.
First, we consider the main aspects of being good looking to be an abundance of muscle on the body, the absence of fat, a ripped musculature and a great athletic shape.
When you take your shirt off, you want the light to reflect off your perfect body, but most importantly of all, you want to feel good and at peace with your looks.
Right now, there are two trends in the industry concerning bulking diets and their use.
One of the trends says that you need to get as ripped as possible, as quickly as possible, even if it means giving up some of your hard-earned muscle tissue in the process.
The other says that you shouldn’t risk losing muscle, but that you should instead put on a little fat as well, which can sometimes render your efforts less effective.
Of course, both of these groups can find a common ground in a diet, but that diet has to be perfect and specific.
This means that you could potentially make your body look like that of a Greek god without putting on a lot of useless weight as well.
In order to get a body like that, you will need to stick to your exercise schedule, diet and make sure you get enough rest and recover properly between trainings.
If you combine all three into a type of synergy, you will get your results in the way that you want them – with a fresh and lean body at the end of the tunnel.
We’ve gathered three types of diets made for bulking up, and they all have the end goal of creating more muscle tissue and not putting on useless weight.
They have a precisely calculated amount of carbs, as well as healthy fats and proteins, which will make sure that your body keeps running as efficiently as possible to get the job done.
You have to note that you won’t gain weight if you exercise, so dieting without exercise will be pointless.
You need a good, solid type of a bodybuilding training program, but it needs to not contain too much endurance exercises in order for it to be functional.
A few things you need to take into account – first, every person has their own personal calorie needs.
The listed calories here aren’t the same for you. In fact, they are written up for people weighing 180 to 200 pounds.
Also, make sure that you try these diet plans for at least four weeks before changing the macronutrient amounts in them.
When you’re not training, you’re going to need to cut back even on the calories from the diet, so you’ll probably need to remove the post-workout meal from the plan.
While we’re on the subject of changing things, I suggest you do not change more than one thing in the diet at any time, so you can tell which change was positive and which was negative.
Finally, have patience and allow yourself a cheat meal every now and then – once or twice a week is fine.
If you decide to have two cheat meals a week, have them be on the same day or on nonadjacent days in the week, so they aren’t in two consecutive days.
All of these great clean bulk meal plans have six meals a day, so without further ado, here they are.
Meal Plan 1
- Meal 1: ¾ cup of oatmeal (dry measure) with some skim milk or water, three scrambled eggs.
- Meal 2: 1 ounce of almonds, 1 scoop of whey protein powder.
- Meal 3: 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 2 slices of low-fat cheese, tomato, lettuce, 6 ounces of turkey deli meat, 1 medium banana.
- Meal 4: (pre-workout meal) 1 scoop of whey protein powder and one medium apple.
- Meal 5: (post-workout meal) 1 scoop of whey protein powder and 20 ounces of Gatorade.
- Meal 6: 6 ounces of tilapia, half a cup of wild rice (dry measure), a small side salad with olive oil and vinegar.
Meal Plan 2
- Meal 1: 2 slices of whole wheat toast and two tablespoons of natural peanut or almond butter, a cup of Greek yogurt.
- Meal 2: an ounce of walnuts, 4 to 6 ounces of beef jerky.
- Meal 3: a medium salad with 6 ounces of shredded chicken and a quarter cup of sunflower seeds, one medium-sized sweet potato.
- Meal 4: (pre-workout meal) 4 egg whites and a whole egg, half a cup of blueberries.
- Meal 5: (post-workout meal) a scoop of whey protein powder and 20 ounces of Gatorade.
- Meal 6: 6 ounces of ground beef, tomato sauce, 2 ounces of whole wheat pasta (dry measure) and a small side salad.
Meal plan 3
- Meal 1: 3 medium sized buckwheat pancakes with a scoop of whey protein powder, add honey to taste.
- Meal 2: a cup of Greek yogurt mixed with 2 ounces of granola.
- Meal 3: 6 ounces of fajira-style steak strips, onions, peppers, two wheat tortillas and some olive oil.
- Meal 4: (pre-workout meal) 1 cup of cottage cheese and a medium apple.
- Meal 5: (post-workout meal) a scoop of whey protein powder and 20 ounces of Gatorade.
- Meal 6: 6 ounces of ground beef formed to resemble a hamburger, on a whole wheat bun with some low-fat cheese. Add two cups of mixed veggies and a cup of strawberries.
Hi,
I love your article. It’s quite articulate. I notice the listed meal plan is for somebody who probably works out in the afternoon or early evening (this is reference to pre & post meals 4 – 5).
Kindly let me know how an early morning gym person should plan their meals.
Thank you.
No big deal, you can just switch the meals and put the pre/post workout meal in the morning around your workout. The important thing is to hit your macros and calories in a 24 hour period.
Hi. Thanks for the plan. I see you don’t mention anything about water or coffee intake. How often can I consume those?
If you are training and the weather is warm drink about 3-4L of liquids per day, this includes a cup or two of coffee.