While it’s easy to bulk up while adding large amounts of muscle and fat, the key to getting completely shredded lies in a few careful steps that require more work than usual. You’ll hear the term ‘skinnyfat’ thrown around quite a bit, and so if you’re one of those that lies in that category, these tips will help ensure you swell up in size but don’t bloat up at the same time!
Bulk Up – Special Nutrition
As usual, to even start gaining size you’ll need sort out your dietary side of things. Ensuring you’re reaching a strong caloric surplus is a key component to gaining mass – however if the calories you’re putting into your body aren’t excreted or used for your body towards muscle mass, then you’ll like start accumulating a wealth of body fat (or belly fat) – something you’re likely not keen on doing. So it’s not always easy to bulk up without gaining fat.
There are a few key strategies you can apply which will help you in achieving this goal. One is by engaging in what’s called a ketogenic diet, or keto for short. The other would be adding a significant amount of cardio to your routine.
Ketogenic Diet
You already know what cardio is, but may be wondering what a keto diet is exactly. Ketosis was discovered and used for bodybuilders and similar athletes in order for the body to begin using fat cells as a source of energy rather than carbohydrates.
Simply put, this process in the body is known as the state of ketosis. In essence, the diet recommends a large intake of proteins, fats, dairy, etc, while completely or mostly abstaining from any sources of carbohydrates. This means avoiding pastas, breads, sugar, etc.
While this is a particularly effective strategy for many people who have difficulties getting lean, ketosis isn’t quite as effective for those with an ectomorphic body type. An ectomorph is naturally a lean, skinny and narrow person by default. It’s worth a short though, and many people have gotten incredible results with a ketogenic diet.
Cardio Training
The best way for an ectomorph to start adding plenty of pounds (bulk up) while reducing body fat concentrations is by mixing your workout routine to vary between high-intensity strength training and a strong amount of cardio. Whilst doing cardio, you burn a particularly high amount of fat cells and calories, while the strength training will massively increase muscular hypertrophy.
A significant chunk of people forego any sort of cardio training, which is hugely forgotten when it comes to building lean muscle mass. Most people associate a cardio-rich routine with lost gains, but done properly, cardio can be the key to unlocking the dream ripped body.
If you begin doing a large amount of cardio though, do keep in mind you’ll be burning a much higher amount of calories than when weightlifting. If you’re over 150 lbs, you can expect to be burning over a whopping 800+ calories in just a 1 hour, 10km run. Make sure you’re getting enough calories. That amount of burnt energy can easily be the difference between getting the perfect amount of calories per day and being at a loss, meaning you’ll lose weight. That’s not what we’re after.