Poor Boy Bulking Diet
So the next time you’re at the bookstore or supermarket, pick up the latest issue of Planet Muscle. I have two articles in there: one on quadriceps training and the other on back training. The quad article is an excerpt from Strength and Physique V1 while the back article has some new material of mine on effective back exercises. Check it out the next time you’re at a Barnes and Noble bookstore or a Safeway Supermarket.
There are some foods that are used often in bulking diets, because they’re cheap, convenient and effective. Skinny college kids on a budget who don’t know how to cook can use these poor man bodybuilding staples to add extra calories purely for bulking.
Bulking means that you gain weight at all costs in the hopes that some of what you gain will be muscle. When you bulk, high caloric intake is what you want. Bulking is only recommended for skinny bastards under the age of 25. Don’t bulk if you’re fat (duh!) or even if you’re skinny but have fat deposits in certain areas (i.e. love handles). I generally don’t recommend bulking for those over 25. Only skinny teens and skinny college kids who have the metabolisms of hummingbirds on crack.
Now if you’re a rich, skinny bastard, then:
1) I hate you.
2) Your goal is to eat a high calorie diet of high quality foods and high quality protein (meats).
But if you’re on a budget and don’t mind gaining some fat, then here are some staples of the poor man’s bulking diet:
1) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
2) eggs
3) milk (but not if you’re lactose intolerant)
4) bananas
5) bagels with cream cheese (and salmon lox if you can spend the extra cash)
Eggs are cheap high quality protein that you should eat whether or not you’re bulking or on a budget. Everything else on this list will bulk you up, because of:
1) the calories
2) the carbs
3) the fat
4) the high insulin response
The muscle that you gain on this diet will not be of the highest quality, and you will gain some fat. But if you’re a poor skinny bastard, then bulking with these foods (along with a powerlifter’s training regimen) will help you blast through any plateaus in your size gains. JUST DON’T GO OVERBOARD.
