The Lean Bulk Strategy

The Movie Star Body Lean Bulk Protocol

The goal of the movie star body lean bulk protocol is to

maximize muscle growth without fat gain. Done correctly,
you should experience very impressive strength and
muscle gains while staying lean.

In fact, on a lean bulk protocol, your training will be

amplified. You will make faster strength and muscle gains
than you ever experienced before.

You see, this program is designed to get you stronger

and more muscular in a small calorie deficit. Now just
imagine how effective this program is for strength and
muscle gain when you’re eating in a calorie surplus.

You’re going to experience incredible strength and

muscle gains! It’s pretty damn crazy. In fact, last year, I
followed this lean bulk system and got to my biggest and
strongest physique of my life. It was absolutely insane.

At my best, I was doing 140 lbs Incline Dumbbell Bench

Presses for 6 reps. Then, after crushing my chest on
incline press, I could still do 315 lbs flat bench for 5 clean
reps. Oh and my shoulder presses got up to 120 lbs
dumbbells. Safe to say, I felt like an absolute superhero.

Now, the lean bulk protocol is actually - very, very simple.

There’s a very finite number of surplus calories your body
can utilize for muscle growth. Going higher than this
number and fat gain will be inevitable.

The number tends to be around 200 additional calories

per day… This is about a 1400 calorie surplus and can
help to support half a pound of muscle gain. Or 2 lbs over
the course of an entire month.

The Maximum Rate of Muscle Gain for Natural Lifters

The maximum rate of muscle growth for natural lifters

tends to be around 2 pounds per month. Eating to gain 4-
5 lbs per month will result in a lot of fat gain.. This will
diminish your physique and your strength to weight ratio.
To build muscle while staying lean and to be able to fully
enjoy your fuck me now physique, you want to keep the
surplus calories dialled in. Now, the exception to the 2 lbs
of muscle per month are people that are drastically
underweight. As well, people that are regaining muscle
that was lost. Teenagers can break the 2 lbs rule. And
finally drug enhanced lifters. But for the most part,
gaining 2 lbs of muscle naturally per month is simply out
of the cards.

And this is for very good reason. Imagine gaining 2 lbs of

muscle per month for 3 years straight. That’s 72 lbs of
muscle… That’s impossible to do even naturally. So
remember, gaining 2 lbs of muscle per month for 6-8
months is freaking fantastic!!! If you strive for more,
expect to gain a bunch of fat and lose your aesthetics.

Calculating the Lean Bulk

Take your bodyweight in pounds and multiply it by 15.

Then add 200 calories. This is your lean bulk protocol.
So, lets say you are 180 lbs.. x 15 = 2700. +200 = 2900.

Therefore you will be eating 2900 calories per day to

maximize lean muscle growth! You are going to feel
incredibly strong at this level. It’s also important to get
sufficient protein. I recommend 0.8-0.9g of protein per
pound of bodyweight. So if you’re 180 lbs, that’s about
144g to 162g of protein per day.

Since you’re eating a lot more calories, you can go a little

higher in protein. That said, most of the extra calories
should come in the form of carbs. As carbs help fuel
intense lifting, replenish muscle glycogen and has the
greatest impact on anabolism due to it’s insulin-genic
effects. This of course is true when protein and fat intake
is sufficient. Typically, you’d be looking at about 25%
calories from protein, 30% calories from fat and 45%
calories from carbs…

Lean bulking with a 200 calorie surplus is a much more

effective strategy than doing a very high calorie bulk and
putting on fat. You see, you can only gain strength and
muscle so quickly. By overeating, you are simply
increasing fat gain with no benefit to strength and
muscle.
This becomes a problem because after your bulk you
look worse. What’s more, you’ll have to spend months
cutting to get back your lean physique. Those are months
that you aren’t going to be maximizing muscle growth. So
the person that did the lean bulk will be several steps
ahead of you.

As well, the strength you developed at a higher body fat,

isn’t real strength. Since when you have more fat, it gives
you improved leverage. For example, when doing the
inline press, the more fat you have, the less the range of
motion becomes. As well, the lighter the weight is relative
to your bodyweight. So putting on additional fat is not
only not necessary, it’s at a detriment.

Fine Tuning the Lean Bulk System

Now nothing is 100% set in stone. The 200 calorie

surplus is a great starting point. The goal is to gain 2 lbs
of lean mass per month. Now you should only calculate
your weight gain after 7 days of your new diet plan. This
is because you can gain 2-3 lbs from shifting into higher
calories.

So after 7 days of the lean bulk calories, that’s your

starting point. The goal is to gain about 2 lbs per month.
If you’re gaining weight faster than this and there’s
noticeable fat gain. You will want to cut calories by about
200…. If you are gaining 3-4 lbs but by some stroke of
god, you are just as lean as you usually are, well you
genetic monster, keep going!!

Now if after a month your weight is stuck, then you can

bump calories up by 200. Some people have very
adaptive metabolisms and when they overeat, they tend
to burn it off. So in this case, you can increase your
calories by 200. If your weight stalls again and doesn’t go
up by 2 lbs, you can increase by another 200. The idea is
to take it slow and calibrated. This will produce the best
results. Leaner, stronger and a better physique!!!

Important Points

Now it’s important not be to TOO obsessive about fat

gain. If you’re doing a 6 month lean bulk, and you gain 12
lbs. It’s okay if your body fat goes up a little bit 1-2%.
That can simply be cut out in just 4 weeks. If you’re too
neurotic about gaining a ‘tiny’ bit of fat, you will go crazy
and stop yourself from doing the necessary work to gain
muscle adequtately.

This is a common phenomena I see with people that used

to struggle with their weight. They are scared to eat at
maintenance, let alone a small surplus. The main goal is
that 80% of the weight you gain is lean mass. So if you
gain 10 lbs - worse case scenario, you’ll have to cut 2 lbs.
This can be done in 2 weeks.

But again, this is after about 5 months of lean bulking. So

not a bad trade off. Now some people will gain entirely
muscle during a lean bulk. Others may gain a little bit of
fat.

I find that when you get down to a very, very low body fat
(6-7%), the body fat tends to settle 1-2% higher on a lean
bulk. So if you finish your cut at 6%, don’t stress if your
body fat settles at around 7-8% on your lean bulk. That’s
totally okay. This is especially the case for people that are
very lean. The same isn’t necessarily true for someone
that starts a lean bulk at 9-10%. It’s easier to stay at that
level while lean bulking.

The reason is the body fat set point. The body wants to
stay around a moderate body fat of 9-12% or so. Athletes
tend to be around this level even though they don’t track
their calories. When you’re physically active and eat
healthy, your body will gravitate to a pretty lean state.

So if you’re 6-7%, you are certainly under your bodies

natural set point. So realize, you might come up a little bit
on the lean bulk, but it will come with a lot more muscle
and size. So if you go up 1-2% body fat, you’re looking at
packing on some serious size with that. 8-12 pounds!

The Movie Star Lean Bulk: 5:2 Method

Now if you want to take things to the next level. I

recommend optimizing the lean bulk with five days of
overfeeding and two days of underfeeding. Remember,
overfeeding sets the stage for awesome fat loss once
calories are reduced. Similarly, underfeeding sets the
stage for an anabolic rebound, once calories are
increased.

Interestingly enough, fasting in and of itself, works

similarly. During the fast, there is a period of
underfeeding (fasting) and a period of overfeeding
(eating phase). This helps your body optimize body
composition and allow your body the ability to burn fat
and gain muscle tissue. With proper training and
nutrition, your body is going to gain muscle and lose fat.

Now, for the give two method, we will be doing a 1400

calorie surplus per week. But we will partition the calories
differently.

Monday to Friday, you will be eating at a 400 calorie

surplus each day. This will create a 2000 calorie surplus.
Saturday and Sunday, you will be eating at a 300 calorie
deficit, this will produce a 600 calorie deficit. Altogether
you will be in the perfect 1400 calorie surplus. Monday to
Friday your body will be a muscle building machine.
Saturday and Sunday, your body will burn off any excess
fat.

Calculating the Movie Star Lean Bulk

Maintenance calories = bodyweight x 15

ex: 160 x 15 = 2400

Lean Bulk Days: 2800

Cutting Days: 2100

Lean Bulk Notes

You can use whichever variation, you prefer. Either the

daily 200 calorie daily surplus, or the five two method. If
you want to keep things simple and effortless - go with
the 200 calorie surplus option. This may be a great
protocol to do for the first 1-2 months of lean bulk. If you
want to get a little more streamlined and push things into
high gear, do the five two method. But make no mistake,
what’s most important is hitting your calories and being
consistent. This is most important.

How to Know if I’m Ready for the Lean Bulk

The best time to lean bulk is when you are at your desired
level of leanness. Or if you’re within 4-5 lbs of your
desired leanness, but you want to gain more muscle size
before getting super lean. By no means, if you have 10-
15+ lbs of fat to lose, should you consider starting a lean
bulk.

Remember, your body is more efficient at gaining muscle

when you are leaner (8-12% body fat). If you are heavier
than this, insulin sensitivity is reduced and estrogen
levels are higher. Your body will have a harder time
adding purely muscle without fat, when you’re not lean.

How Long Should You Lean Bulk For?

I recommend doing a 12 week lean bulk minimum. This

will work best for people that finished the 12 weeks of the
movie star program while cutting and want to do it again,
but in a lean bulk. In 12 weeks, you can add 5-6 lbs of
lean muscle. With the extra water weight and glycogen
storage from higher calories, this number can be closer
to 8 lbs.

How to Crush the Lean Bulk or Recomp

Now, it’s extremely important to state that even though

you will be eating a lot more calories on a recomp (to
some extent) and a lean bulk (600+), it’s still very easy to
get carried away and go over this number.

In fact, an extra 500-800 calories is really not that much

in the grand scheme of things. It could be 1-2 extra
servings of carbs lol. Two extra bowls of cereal. It’s really
not a huge amount.

Therefore, I recommend exercising the same discipline

and eating habits that you do during cutting, while lean
bulking!!! This will make things far more effective.

So, first off, I recommend containing to fast. Fasting has a

tremendous array of benefits. Fasting will help to
optimize a period each day for burning of fat. As well, it
will optimize an anabolic period for promoting muscle
growth (eating phase). Fasting also is a great lifestyle
hack and makes things much easier to follow and adhere
too.

So, I recommend fasting daily, even on a recomp or lean

bulk. As well, I recommend following a similar strategy
where you eat 1-2 structured meals per day and 1-2
lighter meals.

Ex: Light meal to break the fast, huge dinner, late night
meal / dessert

or : Big lunch, big dinner and dessert/late night meal

I follow a very similar eating strategy on a lean bulk. I’ll

keep my first meal light and it’s the same everyday and
around 500 calories. This is the same for my dessert,
around 600 calories at night.

Then I’ll have about 1600-1800 calories for a big feast.

Sometimes I’ll break this up with a big 1200 calorie meal
then I can have an extra 400-600 of bonus carbs
hehehe…. This is an incredible way to eat.

ex: HUGE FEAST OPTION

1) Rice Crispy, Collagen & Banana to break the fast

2) Huge feast - steak, potatoes or chipotle bowl

3) Bonus carbs or cheese quesadilla’s (1-2 hours after

big feast)

4) Dessert (chocolate almond bar baby)

or Two Big Meals Option

1) Big Lunch (sandwich…)

2) Big Dinner (steak potatoes)

3) Dessert or collagen, rice crispy & banana