“The Incredible Bulk” Part 2
badass_vinch
Posts: 4,471
in Articles
“The Incredible Bulk” Part 2
[align=justify] [/align]
[align=justify]The student-budget crisis is about to end, graduation is near. All I’m thinking about is landing a decent job so I can finally support my pursuit to massiveness. Coming from a productive year, It’s hard to slow down on training especially when things get exciting and you get a glimpse of a promising future. “Future income means more muscles to come”.
[/align]
[align=justify]While waiting, I spent my entire summer training hard as usual. I want to save as much mass as I can since I know working in the office will consume 70% of my day. Not really a good situation to be in for a young musclehead.
[/align]
[align=justify]I also saw it as an opportunity to be on a class of my own when I’m in the office. It’s very rare to see a decent physique in an office environment during that time. Definitely adds up to my resume!
[/align]
[align=justify]So far, I’ve gained a substantial amount of muscle during this time all coming from my old school kanto gym bulking game plan which revolves around hard labor. A new chapter is about to begin. This time I wanted to test the waters and see if nutrition can make me a monster just like the pros in bodybuilding magazines thriving on steak and eggs, oatmeal, fresh milk, brown rice, broccoli and protein powders. [/align]
[align=justify] [/align]
[align=justify]Pushing the Envelope[/align]
[align=justify]As the days pass, I slowly overhauled my nutrition by switching to “bodybuilding food” one meal at a time. No more street foods, Karinderia meals, lutong bahay and cheap “panawid gutom” merienda. All of these foods suddenly looked evil to me. I bought and prepared all my meals like a pro preparing for a show.
[/align]
[align=justify]The feeling is unexplainable! There’s a sense of pride and superiority when you are doing something different nutrition wise in a kanto gym setting. I enter the gym wanting to look at everyone from head to toe like I’m some sort of celebrity or sponsored athlete because I eat, brown rice, chicken breast, steak and I drink a protein shake right after my workout.
[/align]
[align=justify]My food adventure didn’t stop from “bodybuilding food”, I tried almost all items in the grocery with “healthy”, “FIT”, “low or fat free”, “low carb”, “high protein”, “vitamin enriched” on their labels. Learning new diet recipes were also in my to-do list to make bulking more special. Of course, the plan will not be complete without my newly acquired technical bodybuilding jargon such as “carbo loading” and “cheat day”.
[/align]
[align=justify]I followed the same “bro split” routine for the succeeding years, all out war with the weights just like the good ol’ kalawang warrior that I am. The major change revolved around food experimentation with some basic supplementation like whey protein and creatine.
[/align]
[align=justify]I would credit the growth spurt this time to food. Not only am I eating better food choices versus the previous years, I was probably eating 30-40% more food majority coming from meat products. The body responds well when introduced to new things and my starving muscles definitely loved the food upgrade. Though no tracking and counting of calories and macronutrients were done, I did gained muscle without getting out of shape. It really wasn’t that hard to gain size at this point since it was a matter of cleaning up the junk, or more like replacing old tires with new ones. It’s also easier to monitor progress because a solid training foundation is there already. Adjustments will likely come from diet experimentation and not from so many variables.[/align]
[align=justify] [/align]
[align=justify]Victim of My Own Success[/align]
[align=justify]My physique slowly transformed into a more refined collection of muscle groups. Thanks to the high consumption of meat, my muscles look harder and defined compared to when I was eating crappy foods. Once again, it’s like a breath of fresh air to my body giving it another means to grow and improve.
[/align]
[align=justify]I never since then looked back. This diet definitely works for muscleheads. It got me thinking how much I missed all those years of poor nutrition. Well, a lot of “what ifs and if only” but I have to move on.
[/align]
[align=justify] I got a problem though. The pursuit for a big and massive physique is not smooth and steady as many new lifters dream about. I feel fat everytime I reach a certain target bodyweight. During the early years, I was so pre occupied with size gain, getting my chest and arms bigger, having a bigger frame overall and fitting myself on tight shirts. My muscles matured after years of training, it came with it higher expectations too. Size matters, but only if it’s quality mass. [/align]
[align=justify] [/align]
[align=justify]The student-budget crisis is about to end, graduation is near. All I’m thinking about is landing a decent job so I can finally support my pursuit to massiveness. Coming from a productive year, It’s hard to slow down on training especially when things get exciting and you get a glimpse of a promising future. “Future income means more muscles to come”.
[/align]
[align=justify]While waiting, I spent my entire summer training hard as usual. I want to save as much mass as I can since I know working in the office will consume 70% of my day. Not really a good situation to be in for a young musclehead.
[/align]
[align=justify]I also saw it as an opportunity to be on a class of my own when I’m in the office. It’s very rare to see a decent physique in an office environment during that time. Definitely adds up to my resume!
[/align]
[align=justify]So far, I’ve gained a substantial amount of muscle during this time all coming from my old school kanto gym bulking game plan which revolves around hard labor. A new chapter is about to begin. This time I wanted to test the waters and see if nutrition can make me a monster just like the pros in bodybuilding magazines thriving on steak and eggs, oatmeal, fresh milk, brown rice, broccoli and protein powders. [/align]
[align=justify] [/align]
[align=justify]Pushing the Envelope[/align]
[align=justify]As the days pass, I slowly overhauled my nutrition by switching to “bodybuilding food” one meal at a time. No more street foods, Karinderia meals, lutong bahay and cheap “panawid gutom” merienda. All of these foods suddenly looked evil to me. I bought and prepared all my meals like a pro preparing for a show.
[/align]
[align=justify]The feeling is unexplainable! There’s a sense of pride and superiority when you are doing something different nutrition wise in a kanto gym setting. I enter the gym wanting to look at everyone from head to toe like I’m some sort of celebrity or sponsored athlete because I eat, brown rice, chicken breast, steak and I drink a protein shake right after my workout.
[/align]
[align=justify]My food adventure didn’t stop from “bodybuilding food”, I tried almost all items in the grocery with “healthy”, “FIT”, “low or fat free”, “low carb”, “high protein”, “vitamin enriched” on their labels. Learning new diet recipes were also in my to-do list to make bulking more special. Of course, the plan will not be complete without my newly acquired technical bodybuilding jargon such as “carbo loading” and “cheat day”.
[/align]
[align=justify]I followed the same “bro split” routine for the succeeding years, all out war with the weights just like the good ol’ kalawang warrior that I am. The major change revolved around food experimentation with some basic supplementation like whey protein and creatine.
[/align]
[align=justify]I would credit the growth spurt this time to food. Not only am I eating better food choices versus the previous years, I was probably eating 30-40% more food majority coming from meat products. The body responds well when introduced to new things and my starving muscles definitely loved the food upgrade. Though no tracking and counting of calories and macronutrients were done, I did gained muscle without getting out of shape. It really wasn’t that hard to gain size at this point since it was a matter of cleaning up the junk, or more like replacing old tires with new ones. It’s also easier to monitor progress because a solid training foundation is there already. Adjustments will likely come from diet experimentation and not from so many variables.[/align]
[align=justify] [/align]
[align=justify]Victim of My Own Success[/align]
[align=justify]My physique slowly transformed into a more refined collection of muscle groups. Thanks to the high consumption of meat, my muscles look harder and defined compared to when I was eating crappy foods. Once again, it’s like a breath of fresh air to my body giving it another means to grow and improve.
[/align]
[align=justify]I never since then looked back. This diet definitely works for muscleheads. It got me thinking how much I missed all those years of poor nutrition. Well, a lot of “what ifs and if only” but I have to move on.
[/align]
[align=justify] I got a problem though. The pursuit for a big and massive physique is not smooth and steady as many new lifters dream about. I feel fat everytime I reach a certain target bodyweight. During the early years, I was so pre occupied with size gain, getting my chest and arms bigger, having a bigger frame overall and fitting myself on tight shirts. My muscles matured after years of training, it came with it higher expectations too. Size matters, but only if it’s quality mass. [/align]