# Gavin Kane's way to bulk.



## Guest

Hardcore Bulking

by Gavin Kane

Off-season; a bodybuilder's favorite time of year and the favorite words whispered after a recent contest. So the time is here, what are you going to do about it? First step is to determine what you want to do and set some goals. You cannot achieve anything without a plan. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. So let's set some clear cut goals. You are going to need all the tools at your disposal before you begin. You are going to work on written goals, nutrition, training, and finally the hardcore cycle.

Write down your goals. Have everything written down and in plain sight as a reminder of what you are trying to achieve. So write down your target weight, your training days, your daily calorie goals, your cycle, etc. Keep a master log book of everything you are trying to do. Like I stated, you must plan for success.

First thing is to determine your target weight and body fat goals. Don't be overly concerned with fat. This is, after all, the off-season, but there is no need to go above 13-14%. At that point you can still see some abs if you flex them hard enough and you will have acquired the mass point necessary for massive gains. Picking a target weight is very dependent on your level of experience. Since this series of articles is targeted primarily at advanced lifters, I recommend trying to achieve 20lbs of pure mass; some fat, mostly muscle.

So now that you know you are trying to get another 20lbs of size, how do you go about doing this? First and foremost is diet. You cannot make gains if you are not feeding yourself at the goal you want to achieve. So since you know you are trying to get 20lbs, you are going to eat as if you you're already at that weight. The best way to achieve this is to take in a total daily calorie intake of 30 kcals per pound of bodyweight for ectomorphs, 25 kcals for mesomorphs, and 20 for endomorphs. So for the 230lb average size ecto/meso bodybuilder, he is going to need to eat almost 7500 cals per day. Sounds incredible, I know, but it can be done quite easily. During the off-season you will eat calorie dense foods, some fast food, and some bulking shakes.

I am not going to outline an exact diet for you, but I will give some general guidelines that I highly recommend. Variety is very important in bulking, eating the same foods over and over is boring and there is no reason to. Save the tuna and rice for show time; you can get very creative when bulking and actually enjoy eating. So let's look at some calorie dense foods that fall in the category of bulking and are acceptable bodybuilding foods.

I love cheese when bulking it is high in protein, goes on everything and it is a very easy way to add calories to every meal. I don't mean Velveeta or cheese in a can here; I am talking about quality cheese, like Tillamook extra sharp. My other favorite is milk. I love milk with every meal and protein shake when bulking. Oh, and don't forget my extra special, super bulking treat&#8230;&#8230;natural peanut butter. Tons of calories, high in complete chain protein and essential fatty acids.

So now you have my favorites, let's go shopping. Grab a pen and paper and write down a shopping list. Don't just go in the store and wing it. Remember earlier I stated you are going to write everything down. This includes shopping. You write down your weekly shopping list, your training schedule, your cycles and your goals. So back to shopping, you are going to need a lot of food to get to 7500 cals per day. Here are my shopping list recommendations:

Breakfast ideas:

7-10% lean ground beef

Honey Nut Cheerios cereal

Oatmeal

Bagels

Whole eggs

Cheese

Bananas

Lunch ideas:

Tortillas

Ground beef

Salsa

Cheese

Bread

White rice

Dinner ideas:

Fish

Broccoli

White rice

Ground beef

Bell peppers

Potatoes

Steak

Snack ideas:

Roast beef

Beef jerkey

Natural peanut butter

Graham crackers

String cheese

Now remember, I am not going to set up a diet for you, just give you some ideas of my favorite calorie dense foods. It is up to you to plan some meals and make sure to eat 5-6 meals per day. I don't see a need to eat more than that because you are not trying to speed up your metabolism; you are trying to slow it down by eating more food at each meal and eating less often. I am a huge proponent of high calorie shakes during the off-season. I personally belong to Muscle Milk anonymous! All kidding aside, they have the most incredible flavors and are highly addictive. Instead of the usual 2 scoops, I use 4 scoops in 16oz 2% milk for a 900+ calorie shake. I have two of those per day, plus my 3 solid meals and then my night time snack.

My favorite night time bulking snack is 4 graham crackers spread with tons of natural peanut butter and then made into two sandwiches, 2 string cheese and a huge glass of milk. It is totally yummy, and I highly recommend it. You probably won't wake up hungry in the middle of the night. The peanut butter will hold you over until you get up for breakfast.

People are always highly concerned about percentages of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. I am not so concerned, so long as I am getting 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight that I want to be, the rest will just naturally be carbs and fat. So for our hypothetical diet of 7500 calories per day to get to 250lbs, I need 500 grams of protein, which is 2000 calories of protein. That still leaves me 5500 calories of fat and carbs to enjoy. You must eat protein first in every meal, if you are going to get full while eating, it better be on protein and not anything else. It is always easy to squeeze in extra carbs, and needless to say, fat is too easy.

So for our 6 meals, of which 2 are already Muscle Milk and have 170 grams of protein, you don't have far to go. The next 4 meals just have to have about 80 grams per meal. One glass of milk at each meal is 10 grams, so now you have just 70 grams. See how easy this is? Carbs add up real fast, especially with dense foods like cereal, bread, bagels, and rice / pasta.

Now you are beginning to see how easy bulking while eating clean is. A couple of days per week, I recommend you head over to McDonalds and get 2 or 3 Big Macs or double cheese burgers. Go to In and Out, Burger King, or whatever your favorite is, and do a major feast. You can easily get in 3000 cals in one sitting with 3 Big Macs, a large fry, and a shake. So if you do that 2 times per week, you are going to have two days of about 10,000 cals per day, something that is really going to help with the metabolism and bulking.

We also need to address the very important issue of post-workout (pwo) nutrition. I cannot stress enough how important it is to consume the majority of your daily calories in the first 3 meals pwo on training days. The primary source of energy when training is the conversion of glycogenesis in the formation of glycogen from glucose. Glycogen is synthesized depending on the demand for glucose and ATP (energy). If both are present in relatively high amounts, then the excess of insulin promotes the glucose conversion into glycogen for storage in liver and muscle cells.

When you have completed a workout, your muscle cells are depleted of glycogen and it must be replenished as quickly as possible to promote recovery, and cell repair. Protein cannot be utilized for cell repair if we don't first address the depletion of glycogen. The best way to replenish depleted glycogen stores is to use a very high glycemic carbohydrate in conjunction with a rapid and easily digested protein to shuttle into the cell for repair.

I personally use a custom made shake that costs me literally pennies to consume. I shop at the local beer brewer's store and purchase bags of pure glucose or dextrose which they use for home beer brewing. I mix 40 grams of glucose with 16oz (84g) of grape juice and 3 scoops (66g) Nectar whey protein. Nectar is an ultra high quality, flavored whey isolate. This is one of the fastest digested proteins on the market, so in conjunction with my high glycemic pure glucose and grape juice, I have just made a super high quality, muscle repairing shake that costs literally nothing to make. I also recommend you throw in 10 grams of creatine and 10 grams of glutamine at this time.

Your muscles are sponge's pwo and this is the optimal time to feed them and prepare the tissue to utilize the nutrition for primary protein absorbtion instead of feeding the intestinal tract, a primary scavenger of ingested proteins, especially glutamine.

Your next two meals of extremely important because you are still within the so called "window of opportunity" for muscle repair with nutrition. Your pwo shake should not leave you feeling full for long; it is easily digested and is intended to be so. You are going to want to eat again one hour after you drink your shake. At this time, you still want an easily digested, low fat protein but you should move into moderate glycemic carbs as we are still "filling the tank" so to speak but no longer need fast carbs as most of our glycogen was replenished with the glucose.

This meal should be preferably a light, white fish, or chicken breast. I consume mahi-mahi, tuna, or chicken with broccoli and rice or a baked potato. Eat a large portion of protein, the carbs are just a means to an end to shuttle the protein, so fill up with protein first, then eat your carbs to shuttle the amino acid chain into muscle cells.

Our third and final pwo meal of importance while bulking will finally include some essential fatty acids which are also necessary for tissue repair, primarily tendon and ligament tissues. So now we get to really consume the calories and have fun with this meal. I like to eat 8-10 whole eggs, avocado, 6 pancakes, bacon and a glass of orange juice. Another favorite is 1lb lean ground beef in tortilla shells with avocado, salsa, cheese, a baked potato or rice and some milk.

So there you have the three most important meals of your day on training days. It is critical to watch your nutrition at this time, especially since you are trying to repair damaged muscle tissue, replenish glycogen stores, repair connective tissue, and cells. I cannot stress enough how important it is to eat, your body is willing and able to consume massive amounts of calories pwo without spilling into excess body fat storage.

Another critical issue we need to address is the use of insulin and nutrition pwo. The three meals I have outlined fall well within the acceptable specs for humalog use, not humulin-r so that cover pwo nutrition. I will cover the use of R in later articles, as well as proper eating if you choose to use it. For now just use 10-12iu humalog pwo only following the former meal guidelines and you will be utilizing proper protocol and nutrition to maximize your growth.

As stated, look for a future article on insulin use and proper nutrition with it for maximum off season bulking. Insulin is going to be one the greatest products we can use when bulking, especially since you really can't go hypo if you are going to be eating that many calories each day. We will address multiple use per day on training days to maximize your gains, especially how to super-charge your diet.

I have said it before and I will say it a million more times until you get it through your thick heads. Without nutrition, no gains are possible. Bulking or dieting, it doesn't matter what your goals are, nutrition is about 80% of our battle. Training and drugs are a means to an end. I can entirely change my physique from fat to lean, from thin to bulk all with diet manipulation. Try doing that with just training and a cycle but only eating 2 or 3 meals per day. Nutrition is your greatest anabolic agent; everything else is just the icing on the cake.


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## wogihao

Good article!


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## Wee G1436114539

Agreed! well, for juiced BBers anyway - mucho food, mostly clean, plenty protein, particular attention to pre and post workout and an occasional junk binge. Lovely!


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## Chris4Pez1436114538

Good Article Con, very informative and also some good advice in their also!

Also i have to just say you look like your getting good results with what your doin in your pic m8, keep it up!!!!!!!

Reps to ya!


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## alabbadi

I think this is where i have been going wrong. in my quest not to put on body fat the foods i eat are low in fat. i.e vegatables , chicken , fish , tuna, eggs, and whey protein shakes.

I also try not to eat after 10pm although i go to bed at around 2am, i know its not ideal but i have been doing this for over 10 years and my body is used to it.

i probably consume 3k-4k a day max, which now seems very low . i am 5ft 11.75inch and my weight is 87kg .

I think i need to re-think my diet but i am afraid of putting on extra pounds around my waist. my goal is to have a chiselled figure with good definition and i just can't see how to acheive that if i consume around 6k-7k a day.

any advice would be appreciated

regards

Alabbadi


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## control

great post mate, this will deffinatly help people!

good read.


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## cellaratt

Bump for later read...How the feck did I miss this..? Thanks Con...


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## Guest

Interesting read...


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## Guest

alabbadi said:


> I think this is where i have been going wrong. in my quest not to put on body fat the foods i eat are low in fat. i.e vegatables , chicken , fish , tuna, eggs, and whey protein shakes.
> 
> I also try not to eat after 10pm although i go to bed at around 2am, i know its not ideal but i have been doing this for over 10 years and my body is used to it.
> 
> i probably consume 3k-4k a day max, which now seems very low . i am 5ft 11.75inch and my weight is 87kg .
> 
> I think i need to re-think my diet but i am afraid of putting on extra pounds around my waist. my goal is to have a chiselled figure with good definition and i just can't see how to acheive that if i consume around 6k-7k a day.
> 
> any advice would be appreciated
> 
> regards
> 
> Alabbadi


 It depends on your goal mate this is NOT aimed at guys who want a chiselled figure its aimed at the guys who want to be huge and then hopefully do well in shows disregarding health for the most part for results.

Yes the diet works great, however, it banged my blood pressure up into the dangerous zone and at 22 and relatively physically fit this is no good.

From now on any mass gaining will be done on a large calorie surplus because at least for a young guy like me yes i look soft and watery eating tons but when i diet i lose 20lb of rubbish in the first 3 weeks so it doesnt worry me. However, from now on the bulking shall be done on a 1:1:1 calorie ratio of protein carb fat and avoiding moderate to high sodium foods.

It is absalute bull**** when people say you can not eat tons of calories cleanly example: 5 whole omega eggs, 1 cup egg whites, 2 cups of baby food shaken up in orange juice and drunk like a shake a banana an apple and finally 30 grams of fat via fish oil and udo oil= around 1300cals that takes less than 5 minutes to eat and is very cheap.


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## SD

Love it Con! When I first started lifting I joined an American Bbing site, those guys were awesome, full of knowledge and talked just like the guy in your article.

I remember they adviced me on my first cycle, which went very well, they encouraged me to eat 8000 calories per day!!! with 8 litres of water!! I felt v sick all the time and I dont think I could even train I was so full all the time lol.

My next cycle I will aim for 4500 cals at 1/1/1 ratio (or thereabouts), my the calculation in your article I should be aiming for more like 5500 so I will try to stay between the two as I have gained muscle even on less than 3500 while dieting!

SD


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## Guest

SportDr said:


> Love it Con! When I first started lifting I joined an American Bbing site, those guys were awesome, full of knowledge and talked just like the guy in your article.
> 
> I remember they adviced me on my first cycle, which went very well, they encouraged me to eat 8000 calories per day!!! with 8 litres of water!! I felt v sick all the time and I dont think I could even train I was so full all the time lol.
> 
> My next cycle I will aim for 4500 cals at 1/1/1 ratio (or thereabouts), my the calculation in your article I should be aiming for more like 5500 so I will try to stay between the two as I have gained muscle even on less than 3500 while dieting!
> 
> SD


 Its not great if your prone to high blood pressure like i can be, however, i honestly dont think i would have made the progress i have if i hadnt used massive eating techniques like this.

Overall i have never managed to get fatter than i am now and thats eating A LOT of rubbish ie 1 large pizza with a protein shake for my bed time meal.

You cant build a thick physique with out a lot of clay to work with


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## Scottswald

Con said:


> Its , however, i honestly dont think i would have made the progress i have if i hadnt used massive eating techniques like this.


could you post some pictures of your progress specifically over the time that you followed this diet? 

how long did you stay on the diet and what was your weight and bodyfat gain? (if you can remember)


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## brickhoused

Bump for pics.


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## Guest

Scottswald said:


> could you post some pictures of your progress specifically over the time that you followed this diet?
> 
> how long did you stay on the diet and what was your weight and bodyfat gain? (if you can remember)


 Thats just my normal bulk diet if i am not paying attention mate.

Last year i was 220lb in the same condition as i was this year at 245lb starting my diet so it obviously works especially as part of a rebound from a diet. I hope to hit 260lb some time in the future after my contest with the same shape i had at 245lb.


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## MasterBlaster

Great find there Con, your a good man...


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## Guest

MaxMuscle said:


> Great find there Con, your a good man...


 I do try and add some usefull info to all the rubbish i post

Much appreciated my friend:thumbup1:


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## GHS

I know this is an oldish article but I certainly don't mind bumping it........

Just read through it and think its a great way to go about bulking........

I'm currently bulking at the moment and have realised I'm not getting anywhere near enough calories in.....

I'd be interested to see any more work by this bloke if you have any Con mate?

Reps for posting this.....

GHS


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## LittleChris

He has an article on the way to train and the AAS use as well.

Search function should give these.

How many calories would you have to eat at 250lbs on this diet- constant visits to the toilet! :lol:


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## LittleChris

http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/nutrition-diet-articles/32199-gavin-kanes-way-train-goes-eating-article.html

http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/steroids-associated-drugs-articles/32201-gavin-kanes-way-cycle-goes-bulk-train-thread.html


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## GHS

LittleChris said:


> He has an article on the way to train and the AAS use as well.
> 
> Search function should give these.
> 
> How many calories would you have to eat at 250lbs on this diet- constant visits to the toilet! :lol:


 Well I'm aiming for 270lbs so I'd have to eat in the region of 810g of protein a day according to this and about 9000 calories.........

I think that is a little extreme but I deffinetly need to up my nutritional intake.......

GHS


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## GHS

Thanks for the links Chris

GHS


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## Bulldozer

I like the Article...

Although i dont see many BB's eating that way...

PL's and strongmen yes, but not BB's.

I worked my daily calories out to be about 7000 once, but its not easy to eat that much clean. Hence why i have shares in most fast food chains :whistling:


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## Guest

GHS said:


> I know this is an oldish article but I certainly don't mind bumping it........
> 
> Just read through it and think its a great way to go about bulking........
> 
> I'm currently bulking at the moment and have realised I'm not getting anywhere near enough calories in.....
> 
> I'd be interested to see any more work by this bloke if you have any Con mate?
> 
> Reps for posting this.....
> 
> GHS


 He used to run a board called elitefitness and had lots of articles but that shut down but perhaps a new one opened i am not sure you could search the net there may still be one up. He had problems with the law at one stage.



GHS said:


> Well I'm aiming for 270lbs so I'd have to eat in the region of 810g of protein a day according to this and about 9000 calories.........
> 
> I think that is a little extreme but I deffinetly need to up my nutritional intake.......
> 
> GHS


 Mate being 270lb of muscle is extreem, if you want to be a freak you have to do freaky things.



Bulldozer said:


> I like the Article...
> 
> Although i dont see many BB's eating that way...
> 
> PL's and strongmen yes, but not BB's.
> 
> I worked my daily calories out to be about 7000 once, but its not easy to eat that much clean. Hence why i have shares in most fast food chains :whistling:


 There are many ways to skin a cat.

Some people want to look good all year round others such as my self couldnt give a fvck and as long as we get bigger thats all that matters.


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## leafman

Cheers for posting that up con. Loads of tips and advice in there even if you dont do the exact diet :thumbup1:


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## leonface

great read! is it okay to do CV alongside this bulking plan? as I am a rugby player looking to pack on serious mass, but still need to remain fit, any advice?

Cheers Con, great post again


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## medici999

con...im only eating about 3000cals a day and im trying to bulk..hhaa.. im 6ft 1 and 100kg so i guess i need to eat more, will eating more CLEAN calories on a bulk whilst on test make you bloat more?

you mentioned your eggs, banana..shake...cheap and high in calories...got any other suggestions?

does orange juice not have alot of sugar in it?

also..what baby food do you eat?

thanks


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## Howe

Great find. Be a very useful article, bookmarked to read again properly later. Thanks Con.


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## Guest

medici999 said:


> con...im only eating about 3000cals a day and im trying to bulk..hhaa.. im 6ft 1 and 100kg so i guess i need to eat more, will eating more CLEAN calories on a bulk whilst on test make you bloat more?
> 
> you mentioned your eggs, banana..shake...cheap and high in calories...got any other suggestions?
> 
> does orange juice not have alot of sugar in it?
> 
> also..what baby food do you eat?
> 
> thanks


 Old thread this one

Well imo if you are taking test/peds and trying to grow 3k is far too little.

Bloating is due to sodium and carbs thus if your bloating too much increase good fats and decrease carbs but remember you do need some carbs to grow.....

Baby food i just get powdered oats which is basically fine oats with out the fiber so not healthy for cholestrol levels like normal oats but they do go down easly.

Tbh since posting this article my thoughts on gaining size have changed drastically and i would never follow such a protocal again because its far too harsh on my body. Perhaps it works well for you, only one way to find out!


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## bigacb

Con said:


> Old thread this one
> 
> Well imo if you are taking test/peds and trying to grow 3k is far too little.
> 
> Bloating is due to sodium and carbs thus if your bloating too much increase good fats and decrease carbs but remember you do need some carbs to grow.....
> 
> Baby food i just get powdered oats which is basically fine oats with out the fiber so not healthy for cholestrol levels like normal oats but they do go down easly.
> 
> Tbh since posting this article my thoughts on gaining size have changed drastically and i would never follow such a protocal again because its far too harsh on my body. Perhaps it works well for you, only one way to find out!


Do you still think like this con? I mean do you still want to go to that bf% level, as im sure i heard you say that you would never go to that level of bf again. Its interesting as i used to eat like that but im aiming for more clean cals this time. I love that type of bulking though  . Happy days!


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## Guest

bigacb said:


> Do you still think like this con? I mean do you still want to go to that bf% level, as im sure i heard you say that you would never go to that level of bf again. Its interesting as i used to eat like that but im aiming for more clean cals this time. I love that type of bulking though  . Happy days!


Perhaps in the distant future because i can not tell the future but for now i am doing a show and then staying as lean as possible for the rest of the year. Turns out being lighter and lean makes a nice change to huffing and puffing all day long


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## bigacb

Con said:


> Perhaps in the distant future because i can not tell the future but for now i am doing a show and then staying as lean as possible for the rest of the year. Turns out being lighter and lean makes a nice change to huffing and puffing all day long


Yeh i see where your coming from, walking up stairs becomes a chore and so does doing up your shoe laces :cursing: or it did for me, haha.


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## Bulkamania

This is a great read, I printed this and the training article off and read them both.

I'm interested in following a diet like this, although I'm not sure about having that many calories!

Gavin says you shouldn't let your bodyfat go above 13-14%, but surely if you started out at 12% you'd be up to about 15% within like 3-4 months?

Like many others I'm looking for the best way to gain mass without adding too much fat, I'm on the keto diet at the moment and hoping to bring my bodyfat down to about 13-14% but I don't really want it going above 15% if I can help it.

What do you suggest I do?

Thanks.


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## LittleChris

These diets are for people who are using steroids.


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## Bulkamania

LittleChris said:


> These diets are for people who are using steroids.


Ahh ok, thanks :thumbup1:


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## tom1234

Like a lot of gavin kane's articles, his hardcore bulking ones are good. One is on training, another on diet and another on aas.

Shame he is serving time in the US.


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## DNC

LittleChris said:


> These diets are for people who are using steroids.


So what diet would you recommend to a non steriod user then mate and how much difference are the 2 diets apart??


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## TOBE

1:1:1

as in say for an example

300g pro

300g carb

300g fat

Don't know if I've misunderstood this

Good read though Con, cheers


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## rodrigo

read the whole article con time to start packin tomorrow i think (food glorious food)lol


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## Guest

TOBE said:


> 1:1:1
> 
> as in say for an example
> 
> 300g pro
> 
> 300g carb
> 
> 300g fat
> 
> Don't know if I've misunderstood this
> 
> Good read though Con, cheers


No a 1:1:1 ratio would be refering to calories so for example...

300pro 1200cal

300cho 1200cal

135 lipid pretty close to 1200 lol


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## DNC

Con said:


> No a 1:1:1 ratio would be refering to calories so for example...
> 
> 300pro 1200cal
> 
> 300cho 1200cal
> 
> 135 lipid pretty close to 1200 lol


Is that in answer to my question mate as i'm lost


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## Guest

DNC said:


> Is that in answer to my question mate as i'm lost


Oh sorry mate no that was in response to TOBE.

For your question i honestly think a much smarter and more careful approach needs to be taken when natural because its not as easy to lose the fat when your natural plus you cant hope to gain stones of muscle when natural so such a caloric excess would be wasted imo.


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## TOBE

Cheers for the reply mate, I understand that


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## DNC

Con said:


> Oh sorry mate no that was in response to TOBE.
> 
> For your question i honestly think a much smarter and more careful approach needs to be taken when natural because its not as easy to lose the fat when your natural plus you cant hope to gain stones of muscle when natural so such a caloric excess would be wasted imo.


Thanks mate,i do think i'm on the right track with my diet,never seem to put any weight on as i've got a physical job which helps burn it all away.Quite happy with the way my body is taking shape though but got no visible abs as such but cardio is redundant right now.Will be hoping to remedy that in the next couple weeks.


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## zack amin

bump for all the noobs, bulking info


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## zack amin

bump again


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