Top 10 Considerations

So what made these foods “the best” for building clean muscle and bulking up?

In truth, these foods are no better than any others, and a whole host could have made the list. In fact, I struggled deciding what to cut out.

What most of the final list have in common though (vegetables aside) is that they’re high in calories.

“Calories” tends to be a bit of an evil word in the health, fitness and nutrition industry, and we’re constantly being told to cut them, given advice on low-calorie foods, or seeing warnings about how eating too many can be detrimental.

This is true to an extent, but when it comes to bulking up and gaining muscle and strength, you need calories.

Think of Calories as Fuel

And think of your body and muscle cells as an engine. In order for them to run optimally, they need fuel.

Every time you hit the weights, you create tiny microtears in your muscle tissue. For these to repair and build back up bigger and stronger, your body requires an adequate calorie intake. Without enough calories, you simply won’t recover from workouts and will make no gains whatsoever.

The Calorie Conundrum

This is where you can look at the bigger picture. These foods may be high in calories, along with muscle building protein, energy providing carbs, healthy fats and disease fighting antioxidants, but as individual foods they are redundant.

It doesn’t matter if you start eating steak every day if you’re still only consuming 1,000 calories, or you add veggies to every meal, yet don’t get enough protein to sustain a hamster. You simply won’t bulk up.

To build muscle, you need a surplus of calories. To work out roughly how many you need, multiply your body weight in pounds by 20. So if you weight 160 pounds, you need around 3,200 calories each day to bulk.

Aim to hit this number (or even slightly over) every day without fail. The top 10 foods will help you do this, and they should form the foundation of your diet plan, but don’t be afraid to include your own too.

As a guide, try this plan, tweaking the portions to suit your daily calorie target –

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil with two different veggies, a bowl of oats and a piece of fruit.

Lunch – Large mixed salad with salmon, a sweet potato and a handful of almonds.

Post-Workout – Chicken breast with a baked potato, and rice cakes with jam.

Dinner – Steak, mixed veggies, brown or white rice and peanut butter on oatcakes for dessert.