Gym Lycan

Again, Dr Mike….
All you need to know.

0:00hey folks Dr Mike here for Renaissance

0:01periodization mini bulking is it a thing

0:03or is it total BS well let’s find out

0:06what is mini bulking

0:08it’s like mini cutting but different

What is it?

0:12mini bulking is if you take roughly two

0:14to six weeks in a dedicated caloric

0:16Surplus while training very hard

0:18with the anticipation of gaining some

0:20combination of muscle hopefully much of

0:22it and fat hopefully not a ton but

0:25always and everywhere when you’re

0:26bulking you should expect some fat gain

0:28to come along for the ride two to six

0:30weeks of bulking and usually bulking

0:32slash muscle gaining slash massing

0:34whatever you want to call it uh usually

0:37that is best done for like

0:408 to 16 weeks for some reasons we’ll

0:42describe shortly but mini bulking isn’t

0:46total BS because it does have its uses

0:49for example

0:50two uses that are are quite effective

0:53one is you don’t have the time in your

0:56schedule to do a long protracted bulk so

1:00do you you do a mini bulk instead and

1:01then maybe you’ll do one later after

1:03it’s not like that’s all the muscle

1:04again you’re gonna have that year

1:06because it won’t be that much

1:08but

1:10just for scheduling reasons you can’t do

1:12any more

1:13a good example of that is like you have

1:15six weeks right now to train hard and

1:16eat well and you have to go on like a

1:18three week business trip vacation combo

1:20and you’re like I’m not going to muscle

1:21gain through that that’s just like a

1:23huge clusterfuck and so I’m gonna bulk

1:26for six weeks now I’m gonna maintain

1:27through that vacation come back do a

1:29little mini cut and then start bulking

1:30eat after 12 weeks so totally fine

1:32totally fine use case a very related one

1:34is typically after a very intense uh

1:37competition prep fat loss diet after

1:39show prep

1:40people say okay you show prep diets over

1:42you should maintain after to let your

1:44body recover hold on a second you’re

1:46like five percent body fat the hell

1:47you’re maintaining your body’s slowly

1:49like dying it’s like dude this ain’t

1:51cool feed me and what you want to do

Mini Bulking after a show

1:54after a show then is do a bulking phase

1:57in order to put on actually quite a bit

1:58of fat intentionally because putting on

2:00fat from five to six to seven to eight

2:02to nine percent body fat as a male and

2:04anywhere between 10 and 15 as a female

2:07actually makes you healthier and more

2:10anabolic like it makes you more likely

2:12to gain muscle if you’re fatter because

2:14when your body’s lean enough it’s like

2:16dude everything you feed me I’m just

2:17gonna store us fat anyway because we’re

2:18dying out here I’m out of body fat

2:20forget muscle are you nuts it’s like

2:24parts of your bathroom and kitchen at

2:26your house or falling apart and you’re

2:27like hey we got extra money what do you

2:29think revamp the deck your wife’s gonna

2:30be like what are you fucking crazy we

2:32gotta fix the house first then maybe

2:34we’ll build a deck same idea remember

2:36your body you get lean enough it values

2:39body fat like crazy because it’s like

2:40this is a problem is not supposed to be

2:42this low so it’s actually good to bulk

2:44rapidly after a bodybuilding show not

2:46crazy rapidly but like yeah I gained

2:48like two pounds a week of tissue so that

2:51at least most of those two pounds are

2:53some large fraction can be fat so yeah

2:56you’re getting plenty of muscle on the

2:57rebound but you also gain lots of fat so

2:59that afterwards that six week period is

3:01over you can take a little break and

3:03then start bulking and actually have it

3:04be very very effective so why not just

3:08bulk that fast and then after six weeks

3:10slow it down to normal here’s the

3:11problem you just trained Ultra hard for

3:13months and months and months during your

3:14fat loss phase your training fatigue is

3:16very high it’s not ultra high because

3:19you deloaded for the show little Act of

3:21rest after the show but you’re still

3:22pretty beat up I mean show prep beats

3:24you up so afterwards we if you can do

3:27about four to six weeks of rebound

3:29bulking rebound Mass gaining

3:31you gain you know gee whiz like a

3:34percent of your body weight every week

3:37that’s probably pretty good and after

3:38six weeks you went from four percent fat

3:40to ten percent fat or something you’d

3:42meet maybe even less there’s a lot of

3:44that’s gonna be body water or something

3:44it’s gonna be muscle so maybe got back

3:46to eight percent fat from four percent

3:47fat in six weeks and that’s like yeah

3:49that’s a lot of facting but that’s good

3:51that’s what you want and it’s also

3:52plenty of muscle gain the end of that

3:53process though after that six weeks of

3:55bulking you that’s six weeks plus the

3:58previous 14 before that most of which

4:00were spent in high volume really hard

4:01training and all that training during

4:03the Diet phase was spent in a deficit

4:05where to training beats you up even more

4:06than normal so you’re training fatigue

4:08you’re just like dilapidated right dude

4:10nothing hurts my joints don’t work

4:11nothing hurts gonna everything hurts my

4:12joints don’t work this is terrible

4:14you’re completely gassed out at that

4:16point you can’t keep bulking because

4:17bulking number one underlying 100

4:20must-have for a good massing diet good

4:23bulking diet is to be able to be healthy

4:25and motivated and strong enough to

4:27continue trained for weeks and weeks and

4:28weeks and you’re no longer in that

4:30position so you have to stop your bulk

4:31take a maintenance period of several

4:34weeks or an active rest period you’re

4:35basically hardly train at all for two

4:37weeks really heal up and then you can

4:39either do a little mini cut clean up a

4:40little bit and then go bulk or just go

4:42right bulk from there so that’s totally

4:43fine

4:45but that means you have to have like a

4:47four to six week bulking phase that is a

4:48mini book and in that situation it’s

4:50totally fine another situation in which

4:52mini bulking can do really well is if

Mini Bulking diet

4:55you have a client that you’re coaching

4:56who has built up a ton of diet fatigue I

4:58mean they’re just like they’re wrapping

5:00us and they’re ready to eat everything

5:01and they’re just like totally devoid of

5:02energy and everything like that

5:04and let’s say they have another fat loss

5:06diet that for some events and wedding or

5:08whatever they have to they have six

5:10weeks of break and you could just do

5:12maintenance right and maintenance

5:13absolutely heals diet fatigue in most

5:14circumstances but it heals so at a

5:16moderate Pace on a normal Pace because

5:17it’s maintenance

5:18But like after six weeks they have to

5:20diet for another 10 weeks to get their

5:21leanest effort to go on some Cruise

5:22vacation that they want and take some

5:24pictures and who knows

5:27so you have six weeks

5:29because you need to heal as much diet

5:30fatigue as possible

5:32the best way to do it is actually to do

5:34a very mild Surplus an extra 250

5:37calories per day on top of maintenance

5:39is technically a surplus

5:41very well

5:42but in addition to that

5:44because it’s a surplus there’s something

5:47absolutely magical it’s not really

5:49magical it’s just science but isn’t

5:52science and Magic the same thing I

5:53should just go be a elementary school

5:54science teacher if only I was legally

5:56allowed within 500 feet of an elementary

5:58school be the first place I would go no

6:00wait not that sounds totally wrong my

6:02parole officer if you’re watching this I

6:04just take back everything I said

6:06if you run six weeks of Maintenance

6:08you’ll heal a good deal of diet fatigue

6:10let’s say you’ll heal 70 of the diet

6:12fatigue you had but fucking Christ that

6:14last 30 starting 30 diet fatigue means

6:17you won’t make it that 12 week diet

6:18afterwards by week eight you’ll be like

6:20I’m done I can’t do this anymore I’m not

6:22sleeping I’m gonna gnaw my arm off

6:24hungry I have total lethargy I’m

6:26starting to lose muscle this is terrible

6:27lose your hair fuck all that

6:29but if for those six weeks you don’t go

6:32maintenance you just go to slight

6:33Surplus there’s again a surplus heals

6:36you in a big way and it recovers diet

6:38fatigue in a way that maintenance takes

6:40much longer to do so after six weeks of

6:42a mild Surplus you maybe only gained

6:44like two pounds of body fat maybe maybe

6:48probably less

6:50but you have 100 reduced your diet

6:53fatigue so now that 12 week diet you

6:56have coming up which you had to do

6:57schedule-wise anyway you’re gonna rock

6:58right through that those two pounds of

7:00fat Jesus that’s like a week and a half

7:02fat loss who cares you rocked it out

7:04because you bought yourself an extra

7:05four weeks of fat loss from eight to

7:07twelve but only one and a half of those

7:09is required for burning the fat off that

7:11you accumulated so it’s worth so in

7:13those cases mini bulking no actually

7:15there’s something to it however

Downsides of mini bulking

7:18downsides of mini bulking because what I

7:21don’t want you to do is stop watching

7:22right now because we see the way

7:23monetization works if you keep watching

7:24we make more money here and not only do

7:27I collect Lamborghinis as maybe you know

7:29if you watch this channel before I’m

7:30technically speaking my Butlers go by

7:32the Lamborghinis I don’t want to be

7:33associated with Commerce it’s kind of

7:34icky I don’t like money exchange I’m too

7:36rich I don’t like to touch money or see

7:37it I like make sure somebody else is

7:38doing it but Scott the video guys coming

7:40in some money Lately from all these

7:41YouTube videos he’s uh Scott what’s your

7:44car of choice here are you you’re a

7:45Jaguar addict aren’t you 911 he’s got

7:48like it’s not like a fleet of 911s uh

7:50but he’s got like five like five you

7:52know what one of them is like the the

7:54yellow Racing Stripes one you know you

7:56don’t take that out on a night out with

7:58your girl so he has to have another one

8:00that’s just like midnight blue but then

8:01like on a sunny day you want the red one

8:03this is how we’re living so please

8:05continue to watch because we’re gonna

8:06make us a lot of money which is awesome

8:08but you get even a slight side benefit

8:10and the side benefit is don’t just be

8:13like hey okay fine this is Great Click

8:15mini bulking whatever

8:17it works clearly you’re just talking

8:19about it for 15 minutes how it works it

8:21has downsides just because something

8:23works in some contexts doesn’t mean it

8:24works in a universal context and doesn’t

8:26mean it’s not on average worse than

8:27another thing that’s even better

8:29like yes if you earn a battle against

8:31zombies a pistol works it’s better than

8:33not a pistol but what about uh some kind

8:36of uh carbine setup with a fucking scope

8:38grenade launcher yeah now we’re talking

Regular bulk VS mini bulk

8:41so what is that equivalent that is

8:43bulking for 8 to 16 weeks

8:46what do we get from that that we don’t

8:47get from mini bulking a couple things

8:49first an appreciable amount of muscle

8:51that you can see on your frame takes

8:53months to gain

8:55and if you’ve got months take months

8:57because you want an appreciable amount

8:59of muscle imagine someone’s like how’s

9:01your diet going you’re like yeah man

9:02just look finish this bulk like go fuck

9:04man you feel big no

9:06you don’t nope six six weeks this ain’t

9:10shit I think I gained like a half a

9:12pound of muscle oh holy shit slow clap

9:14nah

9:15balking you want a lot of muscle so you

9:18do it for longer

9:20that being said there are other very

9:22compelling even more compelling reasons

9:23to do it for longer in one stretch

9:25because you could say Okay mini bulk

9:26mini cup mini bulk fine however

9:29the calibration required in Mass gaining

9:32can take a few weeks

9:34such that you don’t really get into the

9:36groove until like you’re halfway done

9:38with your mini bulk

9:40getting into a Dependable Auto regulated

9:42Surplus

9:44how do you know when you start bulking

9:46that you’re eating at a surplus you

9:48actually don’t it’s an educated guess

9:49and they can be wrong you can think okay

9:51my maintenance calorie is three thousand

9:53so many 3250 to gain that’s actually a

9:56really good buffer for how much to gain

9:57like 250 calories it’s like half a pound

10:00a week protected gain that’s a really

10:02really good rate for many people to gain

10:03a lot of muscle and not so much fat

10:05right and much farther above in Surplus

10:08maybe just leads to a lot more fact in

10:10and just a little bit more muscle gain

10:12but what if you’re wrong what if your

10:15actual maintenance calories are 3 200.

10:19now you’re at a 50 calorie Surplus

10:22the fuck per day what are you crazy

10:24you’re gonna gain weight in like two

10:25years you’ll be five pounds bigger or

10:27some crazy shit like that fuck that so

10:29it turns out that you have to measure

10:31your weight for two weeks straight and

10:32then you notice on your measurements

10:33like huh yeah I’m definitely not in a

10:36surplus this happens to me all the time

10:38I I used to think my maintenance was 3

10:41500 calories I ate at 4 000 calories for

10:44weeks and my weight just dropped and I

10:46was like what the fuck and then I

10:48realized my maintenance at the time was

10:49like 41.50 oh my God is that ad like 4

10:53600 calories per month which was awful

10:55by the way just get really sick of food

10:56but it worked I didn’t find out it

10:58worked until three like four weeks into

11:01the process can you imagine if I only

11:03did many Bucks I’d be like well I got

11:04two weeks left of actual bucking did I

11:06did four weeks of the equivalent of like

11:08if you’re going on a trip on a plane it

11:10was just four weeks of just taxing on

11:12the runway and then finally two weeks of

11:15actual flying like what that’s insane I

11:17thought about a ticket to do around the

11:19world flight for six weeks yeah that’s

11:20actually most of that’s in airports

11:21that’s nonsense so it takes a while to

11:24figure things out and it’s not helped by

11:25the fact that if you exit a fat loss

11:27phase and begin a bulk you get this body

11:30water transition stuff you gain like

11:32five or ten pounds in the first like

11:33three days just for extra body water and

11:35they’re like fuck yeah I’m in a surplus

11:36maybe not you might still be at

11:38maintenance it’s just fat loss to

11:39maintenance automatically piles on a

11:41bunch of body water you because that

11:43body water takes man just like a week or

11:44maybe two weeks to settle in you have an

11:47inherent giant fraction of your mini

11:49bulk that is a totally like black box

11:51opaque process

11:53you don’t even know if you’re bulky if

11:55you have 8 to 16 weeks you get through

11:57those first two or three weeks and you

11:58know you’re on track and you point the

12:01arrow of gain directly at the Target

12:04because now you know where to point it

12:06and now you know where it points and

12:08then the next 14 weeks of bulking are

12:10like beautifully executed with precision

12:13here’s another benefit those 14 weeks

12:15week you know three four five six Etc

12:17you develop a momentum to bulking you’re

12:20you dial in your daily schedule weekly

12:23schedule of nutrition your workouts

12:25start to really as they say in

12:26bodybuilding click you’re getting used

12:28to your new leverages you’re getting

12:29used to the pumps and the soreness

12:31you’re figuring out your volumes really

12:33well because all that changes when you

12:34go from a fat loss or maintenance into a

12:36bulk

12:37now you start gaining strength

12:39and because you’ve been doing the same

12:41exercises for

12:43weeks and weeks and weeks you’re getting

12:44really grooved in on them and not only

12:46are they making you stronger but they

12:47feel better that your joints feel better

12:49because you’re in the right position

12:49your muscles feel better because you’re

12:51really exposing the muscles

12:52and that kind of momentum and mass

12:55gaining is a real thing so if you’re

12:57like just get into the fucking Groove

12:59you’re like hell yeah these workouts are

13:00feeling good I’m getting stronger I’ve

13:02got my eating figured out I know what a

13:03surplus is and I have a week left of

13:06bulking what

13:07that’s so stupid that’s like a party

13:08that’s just getting fun and everyone’s

13:10like all right Tracy’s throwing up in

13:12the bathroom everyone has to leave she

13:14hates it when she’s throwing up and she

13:15doesn’t want anyone around who the fuck

13:17is Tracy I’m here for Sandy’s party like

13:19Tracy is her roommate you got to go home

13:20fuck this I’m still party call the

13:23police of course the police come beat me

13:25with batons here’s a part of you idiot

13:27throw me in jail happens every Monday

13:28but

13:30I used to leave a party when it’s really

13:31fun don’t leave the bulking party until

13:33you’ve had a good time like when is it

13:35good to leave a party when just when you

13:37first notice it’s like not as fun as it

13:39was and you’re like yeah the good times

13:40aren’t coming back it’s 2 30 in the

13:42morning everyone’s too tired then you

13:43leave that’s how you leave a bulk when

13:45like you know it starts to be like I’m

13:46getting a little too much fat and my

13:47training’s kind of stale now now you

13:49leave but that’s 8 12 16 weeks into a

13:52block that sure shit is not six let me

13:54tell you guys about the RP hypertrophy

13:56app with over 28 preset programs already

13:59in the app you can choose to make your

14:01own you can modify an existing program

14:03or you could just run the programs

14:05exactly as they were written by me

14:07personally this app programs everything

14:09for you exercises weights sets reps

14:12frequency the whole thing after every

14:14single workout on every single week the

14:16app adjusts to your unique parameters

14:18with every single input we have over 250

14:22exercises in the app with detailed video

14:25tutorial links to every single one you

14:28never have to be confused about tech

14:30people form ever again I’m guessing

14:32right now you’re pretty interested in

14:33the app download the RP hypertrophy app

14:36today

14:38you could say okay fine but we can Rush

14:41a fat loss phase by simply losing more

14:42per week than normal if I don’t want to

14:44lose half a percent per week I can lose

Rushing muscle growth

14:46one or even 1.25 per week in a mini cut

14:49and get the same tissue loss in a few

14:53weeks six weeks that I would get in

14:55maybe nine weeks with a conventional fat

14:57loss phase and I don’t have to lose

14:58muscle and you know what that’s totally

15:00true if you can survive it it totally

15:02works the problem is it doesn’t work in

15:04Reverse for muscle gaining for bulking

15:07there’s a speed at which you can gain

15:09muscle

15:10and if you take the Surplus and multiply

15:11it by two the muscle you gain per unit

15:14of time doesn’t multiply by two it

15:17multiplies by 1.25 or so

15:20and guess where the remainder comes from

15:22extra fat a ton of extra fat so if you

15:27say okay look I’m not going to box for

15:28six weeks at a slow pace I’m gonna bulk

15:31for six weeks at a fast pace and thus

15:33whatever it takes you idiots 16 weeks to

15:35gain your boy’s gonna gain it in six it

15:37is actually totally possible but the it

15:39is tissue and the fraction of that

15:40tissue that’s muscle is way lower if you

15:42try to gain it at six weeks then if you

15:44try to gain it in 16 because muscle is

15:47slow to pile on and it works but it just

15:49takes time so if you construct a bunch

15:52of tissue with a huge calorie Surplus in

15:53six weeks most of that tissue is going

15:55to be fat and then like you’re gonna be

15:57like hey I got there faster than you

15:59idiots and they’re like yes you are

16:00successfully fatter really quick you’re

16:02like yeah but weight lose weight

16:04whatever whatever you have to tell

16:07yourself is you cry yourself just sleep

16:08at night grabbing your own newly fat

16:10titties ooh fat titties my titties are

16:13lean right now that didn’t feel good I

16:15want fat tits God damn it in any case if

16:18you don’t want giant bat man titties

16:21don’t rush right 0.25 to 0.5 percent of

16:25your body weight per week is the golden

16:26zone of muscle gain so if you’re like

16:28fuck it I’ll just gain a percent every

16:29week unless it’s post show and you’re

16:32intentionally trying to get fatter don’t

16:33do it don’t rush and thus a mini bulk is

16:36a bad idea

16:37and to be completely honest folks where

16:40does mini bulking get most of its not

16:42adherence but interest from and I’ll

16:44tell you straight up this is not

16:45politically correct but it’s just true

16:46you probably have a whole Channel called

16:48This is not politically correct but it’s

16:49just true

16:50most of the people interested in mini

16:52box are just fat phobic because they’re

16:54very inordinately afraid of gaining body

16:55fat

16:56and they would be better served with the

16:59psychological calm and Lessons Learned

17:01and toughness that an 8 to 16 week

17:03muscle gain phase would have but it just

17:06gained at 0.25 per week I mean

17:09that might mean that after 16 weeks

17:12you’ve only gained like six to eight

17:15pounds

17:16and like

17:17four of those are muscle and three to

17:21four of them two to four pounds of fat

17:24let’s say it’s three pounds of fat that

17:25you gained did you do a three week mini

17:27cut and all that fat is gone so all of

17:29your worrying about I’m gonna get super

17:31fat after three weeks of mini cutting

17:33exactly after your bulk ends you’re back

17:36to the same body fat except now you have

17:38a net whatever four pounds more muscle

17:40than you did

17:41and while you’re gaining it one quarter

17:44of a percent of your body weight per

17:45week

17:46during that bulk there’s not a time in

17:48which your friends are like dude

17:50no offense bro we’ve been friends for a

17:52long time but like

17:53you’re fat it’s disgusting I don’t want

17:56to be out in public with you anymore

17:57it’s just embarrassing this is not going

17:59to happen

18:00because it’s so subtle only you can tell

18:02but for the fat phobic folks it’s always

18:04only they can tell and I feel that it

18:07sucks

18:08so

18:09if you’re fat phobic I would recommend

18:11still gain for longer but just gain only

18:13at a quarter of a percent you will find

18:15that it’s quite Pleasant everything’s

18:17harmonious and smooth and there’s no

18:19reason to freak out

18:20because freaking out and doing mini box

18:22and

18:24taking away your ability to get really

18:25jacked over time with full 8 to 16 week

18:28long mask any phases doing that is as

18:32Arnold Schwarzenegger with no doubt say

18:34bullshit like get out of here and go bug

18:37for real we used the bug for years on

18:39end nine see you guys next time