Dirty Bulking Vs. Clean Bulking
As a gym and health enthusiast, you must know what bulking is, or it must be entirely new for you. But the real question is, what is dirty bulking vs. clean bulking? Which one would be the best pick for you?
In this article, we will discuss these two different methods of bulking as they battle it out and settle their facts straight. We shall look into how one is better than the other with regards to their ease and nutritional benefits. So, let’s dive right into it and learn the pros and cons of each bulking method while you choose the appropriate muscle-growth diet.
What is Clean Bulking?
Let’s start by talking about bulking and what it is. It’s a sustained process of calorie counting wherein you have more calorie intake than what you burn. When it comes to bulking using the cleaner method, or lean bulking, you must regulate the surplus calorie consumption very tightly so that any extra fat gain is prevented.
Clean bulking prioritizes high-intensity training in order to improve muscles and gain more strength while not increasing body fat. The diet to follow in this method is very minimal, and junk food that contains a lot of calories is not recommended. A lot of athletes, such as gymnasts, MMA fighters, boxers, etc., use this approach to train themselves in their respective sports.
What is Dirty Bulking?
Dirty Bulking, on the other hand, takes it up a notch by making training and dieting into a set period. So, there is an unrelenting gain of weight via any means in order to improve muscle strength and gains necessarily. As with clean bulking, this method is usually complemented by high-intensity exercise for resistance training.
It’s usually utilized by people that work in the industries of bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting, and even the regular gym routine with the goal of the packing size. When training with this approach, there are no such foods that are not allowed. You must consume as much as your body can tolerate raising the body mass.
Dirty Bulking vs. Clean Bulking: What are the Pros & Cons?
Clean Bulking is a weight management approach that allows you to set a slight calorie deficit and increase muscles at a slow rate in a controlled manner. This way, you’re less likely to gain fats and excess body weight.
With Dirty Bulking, however, you pay less attention to how many calories you take in. It focuses on building body mass, so you are expected to consume as much as your body can.
Now that we are confident in what the difference between the two is, let’s dive into the pros and cons of the two bodybuilding methods with regard to the following categories:
Difficulty
With regards to ease of use or difficulty, dirty bulking takes the win. Clean Bulking comes with a lot of difficulty and complexity, and this is essentially the reason why Dirty Bulking came to exist.
Clean Bulking dietary guidelines have a lot of restrictions that prioritize healthy, nutrient-based food. Dirty Bulking, on the other hand, contains a diet that emphasizes calorie-dense food intake and foods that are readily available.
Dirty Bulking is really simple and highly fascinating for those who require a daily intake of food that has high-calorie content but lack the appetite or energy to organize grocery shopping and food preparation daily.
Muscle Building
If done right, Clean Bulking and Dirty Bulking work similarly regarding muscle development and growth. To build your muscles, all you require is weight training, calorie surplus, and a good source of protein.
As we have noted previously, Clean Bulking is more complicated than Dirty Bulking. Individuals who try out dieting with the Clean Bulk approach get impatient with the process and soon become Dirty Bulking enthusiasts because of its ease of use and fast muscle growth ability.
Learning about what food to eat is an excellent way to start. Undereating is what people usually resort to when they’re worried about weight gain. This leads to zero results and a loss of protein in the muscles.
In conclusion, both Clean and Dirty Bulking are pretty effective when you want to build your muscles. If you achieve the right calorie surplus and consume enough protein, you can build muscle, regardless of what approach you use.
Health & Nutrition
Is Dirty Bulking healthy? Honestly, unless you include several healthy and nutrient-dense foods, your diet will be pretty unhealthy. Considering how the primary goal of this method is to gain mass, a lot of people use processed food as well as fast food to increase their body mass. However, it also increases health problems.
So, comparatively, Clean Bulking holds fewer issues concerning health. Diets that are low in micronutrients usually consist of processed foods. They also contain a lot of added sugar which raises risks of cancer, diseases that are autoimmune and inflammatory, and so on.
So if you prioritize your health, Clean Bulking is the one for you, so stick to it. You can also limit your Dirty Bulking timing by spending less time using this method. It’s also a must to learn to unlearn the bad habits you develop while following the Dirty Bulking method.
Costs
Dirty Bulking, surprisingly, is relatively cheaper than Clean Bulking, and sometimes they are more affordable than Clean Bulking, depending on how you perceive it. You cannot keep a price tag on health, and a future wrapped with medical issues comes from diets that include lots of unhealthy food.
Subsequently, we can see that Dirty Bulking may not cost a lot at first, but if continued, it may cause many medical issues that lead to much more money being invested. Clean Bulking is also not expensive; you need to focus on low-cost but high-quality food that’s nutritious.
Bottom Line
With that said, we can conclude that Clean Bulking is easier to manage and, therefore, a better solution for many people. You will regulate less calorie consumption and have a better hold on the type of body mass gains you achieve.
The most we can offer is to advise you to try and maintain a “clean” lifestyle, as much as your preferences and daily routine will allow. Keep in mind that whatever fat you gain will require to be dealt with and may hamper your fitness goals.
