Paleo Bulking & Cutting « Bulking and cutting the Primal / Paleo way.

So, how are you doing in your endeavours to bulk/cut the Paleo way? Are you getting stronger; are you getting bigger; are you getting rid of your excess body fat? If you are making good, or even great, progress, well done – keep it up and stick to what works for you. But what if some measure of success eludes you? Well maybe it’s time to investigate your approach. Now if you are totally honest with yourself, you may be able to easily identify such things as ‘not sticking to the nutrition plan’, and/or ‘missing workouts on a regular basis’. So, in this example, all you need to do is start eating right, and/or start completing all your training sessions – right? Well yes, but the reality is very different. Do you know thatmostpeople fail to see positive results when following any and all of the thousands of different fat loss approaches that are available to us today? It would be very easy, and remiss of us, to assume that the programmes must be a load of bull then. Pretty close to 100% of the timeweare to blame for our lack of success because most failures are down tousnot being able to stick with an approach long enough to see positive progress. A lack of consistency, so to speak.

On a personal note, I have often been told, by those who mistook a “poor programme” for their own lack of consistency, ‘It’s alright for you, you’ve got will power!’ Will power? Will power? There is no such thing as “will power” and there never will be. I haven’t got it and neither have you. So many people talk about this mysterious asset called “will power” thatsomepeople possess, butmostpeople don’t, as if it is something a few lucky folk are born with. What they really mean is “want power”. Whether youwantto get strong, lose fat, learn a new language, change your job, leave an unhappy relationship; if you don’t actually wantitbadlyenough, you won’t succeed – full stop. In relation to the subject of sticking to a nutrition or exercise programme long enough to see positive results, you mustwantit badly enough. When you harness want power, you will never miss a workout and never cheat on your nutrition programme.

All well and good, but how can youwantsomething so badly that you totally “stick with the programme”?Now here is a bold statement, and the first time I heard it I spent a fair amount of time questioning it before I was sold:“Everything we do, we do for a reason. If our reason isn’t strong enough, we won’t succeed”.So when you, or I, or anyone you know, is missing workouts or cheating on their nutrition programme, they simply don’t have a strong enough reason to succeed in their goals. No matter how you dress it up, that is how it is. In 1997, ninety eight percent of Americans disliked their jobs. Isn’t that crazy? Well yes and no. You see, they simply didn’t have a strong enough reason to change jobs. But they did have a strong enough reason, or reasons, to stay with something they disliked – thepleasureof having a nice house, one, two or three nice cars, two holidays a year and all the latest TVs, computers and gadgets. These possessions far outweighed the potentialpainof changing jobs and the possibility of a lower salary. You see, “everything we do, we do for a reason”.

Back to Paleo Bulking and Cutting, and to your success. In order to “keep at it”, remain consistent and see the great results possible with this lifestyle, we need to accept some short term pain (hard workouts and saying no to the, oh so tempting, bread rolls with dinner) in order to enjoy the pleasure of longterm success – a fit, strong, lean body, tons of energy and a lifelong, healthy glow.

Now you need to dig deep to findyourreason – remember the bold statement above? “I just want to be slim” is maybe not a strong enough reason. Personally, I love sport, but I never excelled at any sport until I was 35 years old. After years of lifting weights, I was in great shape, but not as muscular as I thought I had an absolute right to be (see my other articles: 28 Years of Lifting Weights – Parts 1 and 2), when I stumbled across the sport of Powerlifting. I realised that I was already competitive for my body weight – if I entered a competition, of course. I won seven trophies at my first attempt because I had a strong enough reason and “want power”. My reason was that I wanted to excel at a sport. I had been a personal trainer for some years, but couldn’t show any real credentials, so I also wanted so badly to show any future clients that I was a champion. I wanted to stand on a podium. I wanted to say, “hey I know what I’m talking about – I’ve been successful.” Even writing this now, I want to get in my gym and start hitting the deadlift like a man possessed. I would picture my closest competitor giving up at 5 reps during his scheduled deadlift workout, so I would go on and pull 2 more. If I’d had a busy day at work and felt like missing that night’s workout, again I would see my opponent, in his gym some 100 miles away, grinding out a heavy set of squats. Suddenly my energy was through the roof and I was under the bar, not to be beaten.

In summary then, if you can identify that a lack of positive results is down to your lack of consistency (and it usually is), find a deep-rooted reason to continue with your programme. Something very personal that you cannot give up on. Want it so badly that nothing will get in your way, and accept a little short term pain in order to enjoy long term pleasure.

Lift weights, get big muscles…….right?

In Part 1 I talked about the quite controversial issue of the value of the appropriate genetics in building muscles. In a nutshell, I believe that it is easier for someone with full and long muscle bellies to build muscle, by lifting weights, than it is for someone with short muscle bellies. The full muscle will have its tendon attached much further down the bone it is connected to, therefore improving leverage meaning more weight can be lifted to produce the stimulus to build muscle. Even if one believes my theory is untrue, how can we explain the massively different muscle growth rates between two training partners with these opposing physique types? I have seen so many of these two kinds of buddies training like men possessed together so many times in gyms around the world, and I’m sure many of you have, and they can never understand why they grow at different rates. If we all had the same propensity to build muscle, how come there are people around who were big and strong when we were at school, even before any of us had ever touched an iron plate? All food for thought, eh!

Which leads me to another important factor in muscle building…..nutrition, especially dietary protein. We need protein to build muscle of course. Muscle is mainly protein after all, so let’s put that to bed. How much protein is needed to build muscle, however, is a subject that is still controversial, and has not been uncovered conclusively. Whether it is 100g of protein per lb of lean bodyweight, 300g per kg of total bodyweight, or any other figure, is unknown. Again, if it was known, there would be less people struggling with their muscle building nutrition plans. Once more, and based on personal experimentation, genetics, and specifically one individual’s ability to effectively process protein for building muscle over another, is a major factor. I have been there, and so have our two “buddies” mentioned above. They both eat the same, train the same, but one builds muscle relatively easily, and the other struggles for year upon year. I want to reiterate here that if it was just a case of “lift weights and eat a lot of protein”, there would be one hell of a lot more muscle walking our streets, especially if you look at how much money is spent on gym membership and protein supplements these days. So how much protein one person needs for muscle building against another is truly a case of just experimenting, but always bearing in mind that it is the body’s ability to effectively process that protein that is the major factor.

I appreciate that I am generalizing here and I am not a nutritionist, but I don’t believe I need to be as I think these issues are obvious. Whenever I have any doubts about training and nutrition myths, I challenge them by giving them a shot myself. This way, I am not just someone who reads “it” in a magazine or book and expresses it “down the gym” to anyone who will listen, but someone who has practical evidence. And I urge everyone in the weight training and muscle building game to do the same. As I mentioned in Part 1, for anyone who lifts weights and builds muscle, just like that, it is laughable to read what I am saying, and that is fine. My challenge to them is to take a look at their own physique type, find a training partner with the short muscle bellies that I have been talking about, train together for 12 months and eat the same amount of food and see what happens. Please take charge of the experiment by dictating to your charge the workouts, level of intensity, frequency of workouts, exercise selection and nutrition and see what happens. I am happy to be proven wrong.

Above all, enjoy the journey during your muscle building efforts.

I’ve been bulking for about 3 months now, and while definitely bigger, I felt that I could dial in my gains to be leaner than they were being. Therefore, I changed my paleo bulking macro accordingly.

So now, my Workout days look like this:

Protein	35%	250
Carb	21%	150
Fat	44%	140

And my Rest days look like this:

Protein	47%	220
Carb	15%	70
Fat	38%	80

To be clear what I’ve done is increased the protein percentage and decreased the fat. While still near 50% fat, I now have much more protein coming in.

I did this as I felt my body wasn’t responding as I wanted it to. My body was responding – I was definitely lifting good weight and wasn’t feeling at all drained, however, my level of body fat was higher than I wanted.

I wanted lean gains, not just gains!

As I practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu it was important for me to go up a weight division with increased force and power. I didn’t want to be weaker than everyone else in my division and tubbier to boot! Using this new, lower fat, high protein macro I hope to be able to document whether or not my desired result comes about.

Either way, I’ll be the guinae pig so you don’t have to be!

To be clear, I’m currently 76kgs and aiming for 82kgs without that extra weight being fat nor water based. That’s not as easy as most traditional bulkers think!

Just today after training I had a shower and overheard a very big guy telling another guy that to bulk he had to drink x litres of water per kg of bodyweight. That alone would give him results. That my friend, is water storage. It’s not increased musculature nor is it improved strength. That is an example of everything I’m trying to avoid.

Over the next few month’s I’ll check in with progress. Stay tuned.

Enjoy Minimalist Primal Workout Equipment

This is my gym. The lab. Where I fall, frustrated and sore. Where I shout and yell. Where I inch closer to the muscle up!

No smoothie bars, no spandex-clad women, no pec-deck.

People often suggest that I try out x gym, which has just opened, or y gym, which has a sauna. For some reason (especially here in Portugal) a trend has appeared whereby the quality of a gym is judged by the amount of machines it has. People look at the gym in the above photo and think that I must be slumming it. That I must be working out, growing, getting bigger and stronger despite having this gym.

It’s insane!

The above squat rack was made by a local blacksmith. It cost less than 200 euros. It’s all the primal workout equipment I’ll ever need. Every excerise I could possibly want to do, I do in there. Pullups, presses, squats, bench, front plank, muscle up, L-Sit, dips, grip, the list is endles. Take the bar out and put it on the floor and you have power cleans, deadlifts, turkish get up-s…. you see my point?

What do you need to get big and strong?

Supplements? A gym with pumping music, personal trainers, smooth bars and weight machines?

You need a squat rack, an olympic bar and a lot of weight.

That’s it.

The good news for me is that my gym is cheaper than yours. As well as my squat rack and weights, I have a skipping rope and a punch bag. I also have a 30 second commute to the gym from my house.

The total space I need for my gym is about as big as your average family bathroom.

Please, people, go back to basics! Get a lot of big pieces of metal and lift them! It’s cheap, it’s rewarding and it’s effective.

Some of AndyS's European and British Trophies — Some of AndyS’s European and British Trophies

After 28 years of lifting weights for strength, fitness and, for too many years, building muscle, it still astounds me that there is a worldwide belief that anyone wanting to get big muscles just needs to go to the gym and lift weights. Now, as literally millions of people around the world lift weights, whether it be using some light dumbbells in the living room or as a member of a gym, don’t you think that there would be millions of people walking our streets sporting big muscles if the “lift weights, get big muscles” theory was true? So why is it that this is not the case?

The answer is genetics, and more specifically whether you have the right genetic potential to build muscle. There are two main areas here and those are physical structure and the ability of the body to effectively process dietary protein.

Here I’ll explain the physical structure aspect.

If a physique has long muscle bellies and short tendons (check out the physiques of male gymnasts), you could bet your house on it that this type of physique will build muscle relatively easily. In contrast, if a physique has short muscle bellies and long tendons, as well as long limbs, the ability to build muscle is compromised. So what is the connection between building muscle and the length of the muscle bellies? Leverage! A full muscle belly is able to lift more weight and, hence, stimulate more muscle growth. In Part 2 I will explain this in more detail, but for now the subject of leverage in building muscles is everything to do with the length of the muscles and where the tendons (the levers) connect to the bone.

Here’s a real life illustration.

During the period in my life, from the age of 24 to 27, for three whole years my training partner and I ate exactly the same meals at the same times, took the same protein shakes and supplements, performed all our workouts together and even socialised together. What happened? He gained muscle by the week, I gained nothing but strength. In three years of, excuse the expression, ‘arse splitting workouts’ (more about that below), my training partner gained about 20lbs of muscle and I gained nothing more than one pound. Unsurprisingly, he has full muscle bellies on short limbs, whereas I have short muscle bellies on long limbs. Although I became much stronger, his rate of strength gains was twice as fast as mine.

If you don’t believe the genetics theory, think about another “full muscle bellied” friend of mine whose training programme features lots of running, some press-ups a couple of times a week and a few sets of crunches. He is a man mountain of pure muscle and he never works out with weights. I’m sure most of us know someone like this. So, do we still think that all we have to do to get big muscles is lift weights?

Many (more genetically gifted) individuals have suggested that my own inability to build muscle is down to a lack of effort, i.e. ‘you must not be training hard/long/often enough!’ Oh how I laugh. As a natural weight trainer, I went on to deadlift 210kg and squat 157.5kg at a bodyweight of 73kg and 183cm (6ft ish) in height, and became the natural European Deadlift Champion in 2004. I entered the 2002 worldwide Body for Life competition where I lost 20lbs of fat in 12 weeks (I only built 1kg of muscle) and finished in the top 2% of 250,000 people. I have also been a Personal Trainer for 20 years and I’ve followed such programmes as the Matrix system, 7 days a week training, twice a day training, high intensity training, abbreviated training (the most effective), 3 hour workouts, 20 sets per body part workouts……I think you get the picture. Twice in my squat workouts I have split my backside drawing blood each time. I have followed 10 times a day eating, once a day eating, 400g of protein per day diets, high/low fat, high/low carbohydrate diets, 12 raw eggs a day approaches and I (it still makes me cry) have spent £500 per month on proteins and supplements. And considering all this, I have hardly built more than about 5lbs of muscle in 28 years.

So, before you fall into the trap that I did for so long, please understand that you may not necessarily build big muscles from lifting weights. With this knowledge, at least you will not have unrealistic expectations. Lifting weights and striving for increased strength and fitness, as I do, is a wonderful feeling. Building muscles in the process is a bonus.

A word of warning.

If you build muscle easily, you may find it very hard to understand what it is like for those who can’t. You would need to walk in their shoes.

My Week – A (kind of) Guide to Bulking on Primal

I am a practical person. I can read all the theory in the world, but what I really want to see is HOW and EXAMPLES.

Therefore, that’s what I try to give you guys. Here’s my how and my exmaple.

Bare in mind that I am currently bulking. If I was cutting I might change one of those heavy lifting days to a cardio day every other week. As you know from my ou should also be aware that I am following a Primal diet, not Paleo. The difference is that in Primal there’s more “treats” – more milk, cheese, cream, beans, etc. Living in Portugal, that’s basically 50% of the available foodstuff!

My Exercise Schedule

Monday: Heavy Lifting
Tuesday: Cardio
Wedenesday: Heavy Lifting
Thursday: Rest/Abs
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Heavy Lifting
Sunday: Rest/Abs.

My Diet

As explained in my article detailing macros for bulking and cutting, I follow a certain diet schedule too. Summarising, on days where I workout, I eat a lot. On days when I rest, I eat relatively little. Therefore, if we use the above week as an example, then my dietary week would look like this:

Monday: Eating A Lot
Tuesday: Eating A Lot
Wedenesday: Eating A Lot
Thursday: Eating A Little
Friday: Eating A Lot
Saturday: Eating A Lot
Sunday: Eating A Little

I say “Eating a Lot/Little” here, but in reality I know to the nearest calorie, gram of fat, protein and carb what I should eat each day. I use an app on my phone to make sure that I eat exactly those amounts, too. You can work out those values for yourself by checking out the macros page.

My Life

Unfortunately I am currently a very sedentary person. Don’t worry, this will soon change! I call myself sedentary because when not working out I can usually be found sitting on my arse either typing on a computer, reading, playing instruments or watching a movie. It disgusts me, but it’s true. If you are like me then be careful when working out your daily calories – you could need less than you realise.

Ok, ok, so the six pack paleo diet doesn’t actually exist! This whole thing is just a scam!

My bombastic title is really just to get your attention because I have something to show you which is really quite boring and ordinary.

Ready? Here it is…

A. Six. Pack. On. Paleo. Is. Normal.

Wait… what???? No ridiculous diet of grapefruit and budgie food? No upside down crunches at 30 minute intervals every day?? No electronic pulsating belt?

Of course not! A six pack was the one aesthetic result which first convinced me that Primal eating was right. For years I had had a belly paunch. Even when I was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion. A few months on primal and I had ripped abs.

Now, here’s what you do.

You eat right. That is, you eat clean paleo/primal and you eat the right macros.

The first step in eating the right macros is working out your TDEE.

The next step in eating right is counting calories. It really is so important. If you have an iPhone or Android phone it is also incredibly easy to do. There are lots of great apps you can get which let you quickly and conviently record what you eat. I use the DailyBurn app. I actually couldn’t imagine myself seriously training, bulking or cutting without it.

If not DailyBurn, then there are many others. They allow you to see exactly if you are hitting your macros are not.

To get your six-pack all you need to do is work out your cutting macros and then never exceed them. That’s it! How easy is that?

If you think that’s too much work, too obsessive compulsive, too tiring or impossible… if you can’t see yourself sticking to those macros each day, nor counting your calories…

…Get a different goal. A six pack isn’t for you.

To find out your macros remember to look here, there’s a handy downloadable spreadsheet. Stick to your personal cutting macros for 45-60 days, and you will have a six-pack.

I promise!

I can be a six pack primal god, too, right?

I mean, look at Mark, of Mark’s Daily Apple fame – he has a killer stomach. He’s lithe, toned and muscular. A superb body for a man of his age. We can all achieve it, surely!

Well of course we bloody can!

As I said in my Paleo Bulking & Cutting Basics post, on rest days I limit myself to just a short workout of 15mins or so to maintain those washboard abs. So, what workout do I do? I’ll tell you.

I do “P90 Ab-Ripper X”. Yes, the name is terrible and the guy presenting the videos is chirpier than a “Friends” cast member, but by god, it works. Even beneath my flabby “bulking” body (ok, not flabby.. bulky ) my abs come through very obviously and well defined after the workout.

If you want to buy the whole series, I actually really recommend it. The presenter, Tony Horton, is a skinny yoga type, but lord be praised, he is a monster in the gym. He will keep going and make you feel like a wussy silky knickers within half an hour.

For those who want to know more, or already have the DVD and want a printable version, the entire ab workout (which he does as if it were easy) is as follows:

In & Out

Sit on the floor. Keep your hands off the floor and raise your legs. Now, straighten them out in front of you, then bring them back in tucked to your chest Never touch the floor.

Seated Bicycle

Same position as the first exercise, though this time the legs will mimick a bicycle. Rotate your legs forwards and then switch to rotate backwards.

Seated Crunchy Frog

Same as the first exercise, but this time you wrap your legs around your legs to hug them to your chest every time.

Wide Leg Sit-ups

Cross your legs in front of you. Do a sit up with one straight arm. When you get to the top, rotate and touch the floor to your side.

Fifer Scissor

Keep one leg straight out in front of you, keep the other leg straight up at 90 degrees. Switch legs when he says.

Hip Rock n’ Raise

Put your feet together, knees on the floor if possible. Now raise your feet (together) so that they point at the ceiling. Lift your bum off the floor.

Pulse Up

Legs straight, never bent. Raise them at a 90 degree angle to you. Now, try and make your feet touch the ceiling by lifting your bum off the floor. Repeat!

Roll-up/V-up Combo

Lying flat, with legs out in front of you, do a sit up to touch your toes/shins. As you fall back down you will stop momentum as soon as your back touches the floor. You will then come back up by raising your feet and hands in the air to meet each other, while all the while keeping straight. That’s two reps.

Oblique V-up

Good old side crunch. Lie on your side, body straight. Do a crunch up. Rinse, lather and repeat.

Leg Climb

A bit easier than the others. Keep your leg up in front of you as straight as you can. Grab your knee with one hand, and while still holding it touch your toes with the other hand. Do it again switching hands.

Mason Twist

Lift your legs off the floor in front of you. Keep them almost straight. Join your hands together. Touch the floor next to your right hip, then left hip. Never put your feet down.

If you want to watch some another guy doing the workout, then feast your eyes on this!

Once again, you can buy the entire P90x Workout Series on DVD here. There’s also a little button to it on the sidebar on the left.

Macros for Paleo and Primal Success

Macros are hugely important. I’ve read countless pieces of advice on forums and the blogosphere proffering gems like,

“…only eat one piece of fruit per day to lose weight…”

“…just eat anything and everything; ice cream, McDonalds… it’s all good!”

Bollocks!

The above is “bro science” at it’s best! For optimal results you need to put into your body the correct mixture of nutrients. Have you ever tried making a cake by just throwing ingredients in using your gut instinct? Comes out pretty bad, right? Same rule goes for your body! Get scientific, boy!

So what are macros?

Put simply, macros are percentage divisions of your daily calories that you should aim to eat. For the best gains I have found that splitting my daily calorific intake into two different amounts works best. It seems to do more to my body than a flat, constant amount of calories does.

To recap the advice in the 10 steps, I work out 5x a week and rest x2 a week. On rest days I do 15mins of abdominal exercises, but that’s all. My 5x a week workouts are split into 3x weight lifting session and 2x HIIT cardio sessions.

Macros for bulking on Paleo:

The way I bulk on Paleo or Primal is by eating:

1.2x my TDEE on workout days
0.8x my TDEE on rest days.

On days when you workout, your macros are as follows:

Your carbs should be 150g. Your fat should be approx 50% of your calorific intake. Your protein should be the rest.

Total calories should be 1.2x your TDEE.

On days when you rest, your macros are as follows:

Your carbs should be 75g. Your fat should be approx 50% of your calorific intake. Your protein should be the rest.

Total calories should be 0.8x your TDEE.

Macros for cutting are:

The way I cut fat and get lean on Paleo or Primal is by eating:

exactly my TDEE on workout days
0.6x my TDEE on days in which I rest

On days when you workout, your macros are as follows:

Your carbs should be 100g. Your fat should be approx 50% of your calorific intake. Your protein should be the rest.

Total calories should be exactly your TDEE.

On days when you rest, your macros are as follows:

Your carbs should be 55g. Your fat should be approx 50% of your calorific intake. Your protein should be the rest.

Total calories should be 0.6x your TDEE.

Having Trouble Working Out Your Macros?

Then you can download this awesome little bulking and cutting macros spreadsheet I made! You’re welcome!

A few notes on using this spreadsheet:

You should only edit the cells which are highlighted in blue. Leave the rest. Just try adding and subtracting numbers in the blue cells until you have both:

a) The correct total calories for each day

b) The correct percentage of fat for each day.

Then, stick to those macros for four months. Only after one four month cycle should you be educated enough to be able to change them confidently.

That’s it! Go do it!

Here it is, the definitive guide to bulking on paleo. It is perfectly possible, it’s delicious, it’s healthy and the gains are spectacular.
Bulking on traditional diets involves eating huge amounts of carbs. Sometimes as much as 300g of carbs per day! All of these rubbish, nutrient empty carbs go in and out of your system very quickly meaning that you spend all of your time on the loo. Worse than that, the carbs store in fats, in many cases around the belly area. What’s the point of getting huge if you’re belly is going to do the same?

Bulking with paleo or primal diets is a relatively unknown breath of fresh air. You eat far less during the day than you would on a regular bulking diet, but you get exactly the same amount of calories. At the same time you are telling your body to prioritise burning fat over storing it.

These 10 steps are literally everything you need to know to be able to gain masses of weight on a paleo or primal diet. Throughout this blog I will go into more details on each subject, but all of it is written here. There’s no more secrets. It’s easy. Here it is. Now do it and gain.

Work out your TDEE.
Calculate 20% more of your TDEE.
Calculate 20% less of your TDEE.
Note down your Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat macros for each of the two TDEE totals, above.
Eat the correct macros, totalling 20% less than your TDEE on all days in which you don’t workout.
Eat the correct macros, totalling 20% more than your TDEE on days in which you do workout.
3x a week lift heavy weights.
2x a week do HIIT cardio.
2x a week do an ab targetting workout and spend the rest of the day resting as much as possible.
Get lots and lots of rest!

And remember, always eat paleo/primal – if you stray, gains go away.

Paleo Bulking & Cutting

Bulking and cutting the Primal / Paleo way.

Being Consistent – The Power of Want

28 Years of Lifting Weights – Part 2

Paleo Bulking Macro Update

What Primal Workout Equipment do You Need?

28 Years of Lifting Weights – Part 1

An Example Week Bulking on Primal

The Six Pack Paleo Diet (aka the benefits of Paleo!)

Six Pack Primal Ab Workout

Macros for Paleo Bulking and Cutting

10 Step Guide to Bulking on Paleo