You can see the bull run on the weight graph. Seriously. I pulled up my tracking app and looked at the last twelve weeks — the line looks exactly like a stock chart in an uptrend. Steady climb, small dips, then higher highs. A textbook bull run, except the asset is my bodyweight and the market is my kitchen.
Entering week 10 of this training cycle. Slow and steady progress. The scale is up, the lifts are up, the skills are holding. But Instagram won't show you the part where my abs disappeared, my face got puffier, and three people asked if I'd "stopped working out."
That's bulking. The part nobody posts about. Let me tell you what it actually looks like.
The Caloric Surplus Math: Not What the Influencers Sell
Every fitness influencer with a meal plan to sell will tell you to eat 500-800 calories above maintenance for a "lean bulk." Then they show you their shredded physique (which they maintained using methods they don't disclose) and promise you'll look the same if you follow their plan.
Here's the truth. A 500-800 calorie surplus is too aggressive for most natural athletes. You'll gain muscle, yes — but you'll also gain a disproportionate amount of fat. And then you'll spend four months cutting, losing some of that hard-earned muscle, and ending up roughly where you started.
My sweet spot: 200-300 calories above maintenance. That's it. A small, controlled surplus that feeds muscle growth without turning you into a water balloon. For me, that's roughly 2,800-2,900 calories per day on training days, and about 2,600 on rest days.
Is it slower? Absolutely. Am I going to gain 10kg in three months? No. But the weight I gain is mostly muscle, and when I eventually cut, I keep almost all of it. The tortoise beats the hare. In bulking, in investing, in everything.
Averaging fundamentally sound stocks during corrections is like being in calorie surplus — you're accumulating assets when conditions are right. The parallel between market cycles and training cycles is not a metaphor. It's the same underlying principle: strategic patience.
The Social Pressure Nobody Warns You About
Here's the thing about bulking that no YouTube video prepares you for: people will think you've let yourself go.
During a bulk, you carry more water, more subcutaneous fat, and more glycogen. Your face gets rounder. Your abs blur. Your shirt fits tighter in the wrong places. And people who saw your lean phase start asking questions. "Bhai, you stopped training?" "Looking a bit soft, no?" "What happened to your six-pack?"
Fix that shit — in your head, not your diet. Because if you cut your bulk short every time someone makes a comment, you'll never build any real size. You'll be the guy who's perpetually lean, perpetually small, and perpetually wondering why he doesn't grow.
Parwah nahi what they think. You're building. They're commenting. There's a difference.
The social pressure is even worse on social media. Every post in your feed is someone at their leanest, most dehydrated, most perfectly lit version. And you're sitting there in week eight of a bulk, looking like a well-fed bear. The comparison game will destroy your bulk faster than bad nutrition ever could.
So stop comparing. Your bulk is YOUR investment cycle. The returns come later.
Best Indian Foods for the Bulk
I'm not going to give you a meal plan full of chicken breast and broccoli. I'm Indian. I eat Indian food. And you can build serious muscle on desi food if you know what you're doing.
High-protein staples:
- Paneer — 18g protein per 100g. Versatile. Bhurji, tikka, in parathas, raw cubes as snacks.
- Rajma (kidney beans) — 24g protein per 100g (dry weight). Rajma chawal is practically a bodybuilding meal.
- Chole — chickpeas with similar protein density. Chole bhature once a week during a bulk? Go for it.
- Eggs — the original superfood. 6 whole eggs daily during a bulk. Don't throw away the yolks. The cholesterol fear is outdated science.
- Dahi (curd) — protein plus probiotics. 200g with every meal.
- Dal — any dal, every dal. Moong, masoor, toor, chana. Rotate daily. 2 bowls minimum.
- Chicken and fish — if you eat non-veg, 200g of chicken thigh or fish daily is the easiest protein source.
Calorie-dense additions:
- Ghee — a tablespoon on rice, on roti, in dal. Pure energy. Don't fear fat during a bulk.
- Peanut butter — 4 tablespoons a day. On toast, in shakes, straight from the jar.
- Bananas — 3-4 daily. Pre and post workout. Cheap, available everywhere.
- Rice — white rice is not the enemy. It's easy to digest and it fuels your training.
You don't need imported whey protein and exotic superfoods. Rajma chawal, egg bhurji, dahi, dal rice, a banana shake with peanut butter — that's a 3,000-calorie day with 150g+ protein from pure desi food. Done.
Skill Retention During a Bulk: The Fear Is Overblown
One of the biggest fears calisthenics athletes have about bulking: "Won't I lose my skills? Won't handstands become harder if I gain weight?"
Short answer: slightly harder, yes. But you won't lose them.
I've gone through multiple bulk-cut cycles, and here's what I've observed. During a bulk of 4-5kg, my handstand hold time drops by maybe 3-5 seconds. My front lever gets marginally harder. My muscle-ups feel a tiny bit heavier.
But — and this is the important part — when I cut back down, the skills come back STRONGER. Because during the bulk, I was practicing those skills at a heavier bodyweight. My muscles adapted to moving a heavier body. When the weight comes off, the skills feel effortless.
It's like running with a weighted vest. Take the vest off, and you fly.
So don't let the fear of losing skills keep you permanently lean and permanently small. Bulk strategically, maintain your skills at reduced volume, and trust the process.
Sleep Matters More Than Protein Timing
I wasted years obsessing over meal timing. Eating protein every three hours. Taking BCAAs between meals. Having a post-workout shake within the "anabolic window." All of it was mostly noise.
You know what actually matters? Sleep.
Seven hours minimum. Eight is better. Nine during a heavy training phase is ideal. Growth hormone peaks during deep sleep. Testosterone is produced during sleep. Muscle protein synthesis is highest during sleep. Your body literally builds muscle while you're unconscious.
I tracked my progress during a phase where I was eating perfectly but sleeping 5-6 hours (Navy life, irregular duties). Then I tracked a phase with the same diet but 7-8 hours of sleep. The difference was dramatic. More strength, better recovery, faster weight gain with less fat accumulation.
If you're bulking and not growing, don't add more food. Add more sleep. I guarantee it's the missing variable.
When to Cut: The 3 Signals
Every bulk must end. The question is when. I use three signals:
Signal 1: Body fat reaches 18-20%. I don't use a DEXA scan — I use the mirror and photos. When I can no longer see any abdominal definition and my face is noticeably rounder, I'm approaching 20%. Time to cut.
Signal 2: Skills degrade significantly. A 3-5 second drop in handstand hold is normal. A 15-second drop means I've gained too much weight too fast. Time to cut.
Signal 3: The bulk has run 12-16 weeks. Beyond 16 weeks of surplus, your body becomes increasingly efficient at storing fat rather than building muscle. The law of diminishing returns kicks in. Better to cut, reset insulin sensitivity, and bulk again later.
When two of these three signals align, I start my cut. Not aggressively — just reverse the surplus. Drop 200-300 calories, increase cardio slightly, and let the body lean out over 8-10 weeks.
The weight graph mimics the stock market because the same principles govern both. Strategic accumulation during favorable conditions. Patience through drawdowns. Taking profits when signals align. Your body and your portfolio both reward disciplined cycles, not emotional reactions.
This is what Instagram won't show you. The messy middle. The puffy face. The "did you stop training?" comments. The weeks where the scale goes up and the mirror makes you doubt everything.
But the results? The results show up six months later when you've cut back down and kept 3-4kg of new muscle that wasn't there before. That's real progress. That's compounding. That's the bull run.
Keep hustling. To the Gainz. 🦾