How Long Should You Bulk For?
The length of your bulking phase could last anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on your current body composition, your end goal, and how fast you want to get there.
Guide to Determine How Long You Should Bulk
To determine the length of your bulk, you should ask yourself a few questions about your current physique and fitness goals. Answering these questions will help you better plan out your overall strategy.
1. Where Are You Now?
First, you should assess your current body weight and body fat percentage. If you’re already overweight or carrying a lot of excess body fat, then a multi-month bulk probably isn’t the best choice.
However, if you’re relatively lean, you have more room to put on some body fat as you bulk up.
2. How Much Weight Do You Want to Gain?
Next, having a definitive goal weight that you want to hit at the end of your bulk is helpful. The farther you are from your goal weight, the longer you will have to bulk.
For example, if you only want to add 10 pounds, you could achieve that goal within a couple of months. But if you want to pack on 30 pounds, you’re looking at a longer duration.
3. How Aggressive Do You Want to Be?
The duration of your bulk also depends on the average rate of weight gain, which is mainly dictated by your diet. In other words, the greater your calorie surplus, the faster you’ll gain weight.
For instance, an aggressive calorie surplus can result in around 1 lb/week of weight gain. On the other hand, a more conservative lean bulk would be roughly half that.
Also, remember the more aggressive you are, the more body fat you’ll gain in the process.
4. What Do You Plan to Do After Bulking?
It’s also important to consider what you’ll do after your bulk. Will you go straight into a cut, maintain your gains, or push for even more?
The longer you bulk, the more body fat you’ll gain, and the longer you’ll have to cut to get lean again. So you should think about that when deciding how long to bulk and how aggressive to be.
5. Are You Good Shape & Healthy?
Lastly, you should consider your overall health to determine if you should continue bulking or not. Eating in excess for too long can cause unwanted health problems like insulin resistance.
High blood pressure or elevated fasting glucose are signs that it’s time to cut calories and lose some weight. Or if you feel out of shape or chronically fatigued, it’s probably time to change your diet.
A Phased Approach to Bulking
It’s important to realize that you don’t have to bulk continuously. Instead, you can break it up into shorter bulking and cutting phases to stay in shape while progressing toward your goals.
As an example, you might bulk for 8 weeks and then switch to a body recomposition or cutting phase. The length of each phase will depend on the questions you just answered as well as your long-term fitness goals.
How to Determine Your Bulking Calories
Now you should have a good idea of how long you should bulk to reach your goal weight. But to get there, you must know how many calories you should eat to be in the ideal calorie surplus for muscle gain. Click below for my detailed guide.
