Recently, somebody asked me about how to bulk up. He wanted to put on about fifty pounds (he’s 6’5”, so it’s actually pretty realistic.) He also wanted to have a simple, no nonsense way of doing it. No hardcore science lessons, no fancy jargon. Just a simple “do this” plan. So, after a lot of thinking and writing and even more editing and cutting down, here’s the simple, effective way to add size. And if you want an even quicker edition of it, check out the video “Bulking …in 60s.”

The training. You’ll want to find yourself a solid bulking program. You can either google it or try the one I’ve written in this article. What you’ll notice is that most of the exercises use reps in the six to twenty range. This is because it makes you use a weight that’s heavy enough to cause a lot of muscle tension, but also light enough so that you can have that tension for long enough to disrupt the muscle. You also might be thinking that’s a huge range. It is, but the important thing is that you take each set to just short of technical failure. “Technical failure” means “the point where technique breaks down and you aren’t using or feeling the target muscle/muscle group anymore.” It does not mean going until you can’t even move the weight anymore. That’s absolute failure. A good example of technical failure would be if you’re squatting and your knees start caving in or your butt starts shooting up before your back. So, what exercises should you do? The ones in the beginning of the workout should be big compound lifts. Squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, and pull-ups fit nicely here. As the workout goes on, the exercises get smaller. The end is the time for things like curls, calf raises, leg curls, and crunches.

The diet. If there’s one thing people seem to overcomplicate on a bulk, it’s the diet. The most important part is that you eat more than you burn in a day. If you’re not doing that, you won’t get bigger. As my friend Ray puts it, it’s like if you wanted to make an addition to your house. If you have the best design, the most skilled workers, and all the right tools, but you don’t give them any materials to build with, your house won’t get any bigger.

Once you’ve got enough material (ie. food,) you need to make sure you’ve got enough of the right materials. Protein is the most important one. There’s a decent amount of debate about how much is the right amount, but the science says that the old bodybuilder number of one gram per pound of bodyweight does the trick just fine. Yes, you could do more, but you’ll notice that it’s hard to eat a lot of protein because you tend to get and stay full. That’s why when people are trying to lose weight, I recommend eating lots of protein.

Next, you’re probably wondering about carbs and fat. The nice thing about bulking is that if you’re eating a lot of food, and your protein is coming mostly from animals, then the fat takes care of itself. As for carbs, have fun. I find that carbs are one of the easiest things to eat lots of. They taste good and they don’t fill you up as much as fats. If you need proof, get a pack of cinnamon sugar pop tarts and eat the whole pouch. See how long it takes before you feel hungry again.

Finally, there’s the whole “dirty” vs. “clean” bulk debate. Do you stick to all whole foods or do you follow the secret diet? As usual, the answer is yes. Generally I tell people that their meals (which should be big) are to come from whole foods. This should take care of about 80% of your calories for the day. The remaining 20% can be whatever you want. A good example would be a big yogurt shake for breakfast, shepherd’s pie for lunch, and stew for dinner, then things like pop tarts or chocolate covered pretzels to fill in the rest of the calories.

Recovery. Growing muscle is quite the task for your body and most of it happens while you’re asleep. Sleep is therefore one of your most important muscle growing activities. Make sure you’re getting about eight hours a night. Six hours is not “about” eight. You know this, so don’t try and argue it. On top of that, make sure to de-stress. Chronically raised cortisol (the stress hormone) will also get in the way of getting more bigger. This means try not to be a stressed out ping pong ball of a person. Do things that relax you in your down time, spend time with people you love to be around and make your life brighter, and take time to keep your head healthy. You should be doing this anyway because it makes life better, but growing muscle is one more reason for it.

Monitoring progress. The final question you may have is how to know if you’re making progress. How much weight gain is too much? How much is not enough? Well, the answer I give people is to aim for about a one pound increase per week on average. Track your weight daily and at the end of every week, find the average. If it’s a pound higher than the previous week, don’t change a thing. You’re doing great. If it’s a half pound or less, eat more food. If it’s a pound and a half or more than the previous week, eat slightly less food. You probably understand why to add food if it’s too slow, but might be confused about eating less food if it’s too fast. After all, isn’t more better? The reason to slow it down is that your body has a cap on how much muscle it can add in a given timeframe. Beyond a certain point, more food won’t fuel more muscle growth, it’ll only fuel more fat growth. Remember the house metaphor? It’s like giving the workers too much construction material per day. Eventually, they just start stockpiling it because they can’t use it all. For most people, the point is to get bigger, not bigger.

This should give you the big ideas of what you need to do to put on size. In the end, it isn’t terribly complicated. The nice part of bulking up is that there are fewer restrictions than when you’re trying to cut down. It doesn’t get in the way of your lifestyle as much (to a point, eventually it will, though.) In my opinion, the absolute best time to bulk up is the holiday season. There’s already a huge amount of food on your plate from all the family and friend gatherings. Instead of letting it accumulate around your waistline, why not use it to fuel some new muscle?