Bulking For Muscle Growth Is Dead (New Study Explained)

Eric Helms from @Team3DMJ is back to talk about some new data regarding big caloric surpluses and muscle growth!

0:00 Eric talks surplus research
2:15 Surplus and Muscle Gain
7:11 Permabulk Dream Scenario
12:42 How much is too much
15:30 Body weight and Appearance
19:30 Body Fat Set Point
21:40 Mass to cut ratio
24:14 Added notes
27:50 Mass Research Review

[bombolon]

But Dr. Mike my study of drinking high calorie IPAs and eating a whole XL pizza every night while going to bed at 5AM is showing results. Am getting unquestionably BIG.

[bv_benhur]

Takeaways:
1. Big surpluses work better when you're a beginner training with high volumes. When you "age" in the sport, implementing a smaller surplus is the best idea (200-400 kcal/day)
2. If you're going for a bigger surplus, don't expect that to reliably lead to higher muscle gain. at least not in the short term.
3. Really low surpluses are incalculable (50 kcal/day)
4. Adjusting the calorie surplus according to your bodyweight is great idea.

[aaronpulido]

The cognitive dissonance I’m experiencing from finding out I was just getting fat for years instead of gaining muscle is mind shattering…. Gah damn you Chris Evans

[Chris-zsfd]

Eric is the only man in fitness that can follow Dr Mike's weird tangents and then immediately return to the relevant topic. For that alone, I shall listen to him.

[TheGreatIronWalnut]

It’s crazy. When I got into fitness, I found about Coach Greg, and he would say (years ago) that you don’t need to bulk with a 1000 calorie surplus in order to gain muscle. He specifically said that you realistically only need about 200 calories to “bulk”, and that was through his anecdotal experience. Glad that’s being backed up with studies conducted!

[josephwritessongs]

Currently losing weight and getting stronger every month, this is good validation that I'm not 'killing my gains' by saving my heart

[leonkennedy]

I am going to bulk until I am just like my hero Kyriakos Grizzly. I need to weigh FULL to glimpse a fraction of the power of a god.

[nielrishoi]

I returned to training after a 6-year layoff. I was 310 when I stopped. I discovered subsequently why I lost motivation: my reason for training was to fill out my previously super-slender body. And I felt, looked weak inside. 6 years ago I found I no longer felt skinny and weak in the inside so the muscle armor/bulk felt superfluous. I was tired of eating, eating, eating several times a day. 8 weeks ago I recommenced with training. To firm up, lose weight. BUT, no excess food. I'm gaining results with effective training, but no bulking-up eating. Unlike before, training is not a 24/7 obsession. An hour 4 times a week, and that along with a busy lifestyle, I finally found the right balance.

[matthiassventoest]

this convo just reinforces what my strength and conditioning coaches were saying in the late 90s early 2000s, as in..”we are in the dark ages right now, we are doing the best for what we know now”.., keep learning gentlemen.., and find what works best for you.

[MarcP]

It's legitimately mind-boggling to me, that we can watch this stuff for free. Thanks Mike and RP, I love you so much

[misha_bloxor]

2028- working out for muscle growth is dead

2032- you dont need muscles for muscle growth

[Wiseman]

Man I just sat down with two big ass bowls of ground beef mac and cheese with peas and shit, and you release this telling me bulking is dead? Lmao

[TheEpicwtf]

Im at one of the lowest points of my life. Ive never felt so defeated. I didnt go into this video expecting anything other than some random bs about trying harder. But man i really needed to hear this. I believe in myself a little more now because i know that im capable of great things so now i just have to push forward to make it work.

[landotucker]

This is the only bodybuilding/fitness channel that I watch regularly. Great information presented clearly, without off-putting flashy edits and Dr. Mike could absolutely do well as a standup comedian if he gets bored of this!

[mindfulstoic]

Omg, Greg Doucette is gonna have a home run with this, brace yourself for the "I told you so !" video following up lol

[CammedFox]

Here's what I learned from this video:
1 - Dr. Mike sits in a basement and touches himself
2. - I was too distracted to listen after hearing that.


....in all seriousness, another great video backed by real science. This is why this the BEST channel for REAL fitness advice

[davidobrien]

nobody knew who I was until I put on the weight

[lee]

Excellent talk. I started bodybuilding in 1988, aged 17 and at a weight of 116lbs. I've never had any bulking phase in my 36 years of training. I am now 53 years old and around 190 lbs, and 'almost' as lean as I was in 1988. That's around 70lbs of decent quality mass over 36 years, almost 2lbs per year. The early years I gained more weight, some years none at all. I never bought into the 'mega mass 5000' fads and just plodded along getting heavier slowly. My waist has gone from 28" to 32", so I can't complain. I think we over-think this endeavour much of the time.

[diogomachado]

tldr: don't get too fat. Bulk with the narrower surplus you can accurately measure (for general ppl should be around 300kcal daily) Aim to gain ~1% of bw per month. This is a very small weight increment, to track it weight yourself daily and use a 2 weeks weight average to check if the weight is moving as you want. Use the weight average and other bio feedbacks (hunger, energy levels, sleep and workout recovery) to make small adjustments to the diet. Do small cuts whenever you feel you need (based on mirror and bf%) to keep the bf under control (ex: do a 4 week cut every 16 weeks of bulk).

[JackgarPrime]

So "lean bulk" was the right move all along, at least according to this study? That's great, because I don't want to feel like I'm going to explode at the end of the day when I'm trying to gain muscle.

Also, I'm liking the sound of the selection process for test subjects. Too many of these sorts of tests are run on beginners, which is going to be less useful for the sort of folks who would be watching this channel.