For ages, bodybuilders and regular guys alike have taken a two-prong approach to getting big and ripped. “Bulking,” or eating as much as possible while training for muscle growth, followed by a calorie-restricted, fat-burning “cutting” phase has become the default method to carve out a bigger, leaner physique. But it’s time consuming, and treating your body like a thermostat that you turn up and down can have negative effects on a cellular level.

Fortunately, as we learn more about how the body processes macronutrients, it’s becoming clearer that we aren’t being nearly as efficient in our physique-enhancing efforts as we could be, and consuming specific quantities of nutrients at certain times of day can condense the bulking and cutting phases into one simple phase that will get you jacked—the healthy way—in a fraction of the time.

5 Essential Rules For an Effective Bulking Season

10 Common Bulking Mistakes to Avoid

Eat big, get big, but don't overdo it.

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