Emily Wilcock
Writer and expert1 year ago
Joe Fazer has basically spent all his teen years, and now his adult life trying to put on as much muscle mass as possible. So when something happens that results in him having to change his routine and get in the way of his goals – it massively affects him.Over the last two weeks Joe had been suffering with a pretty nasty infection on his tongue and lips which resulted in him being mostly unable to eat or drink for the entirety of the infection. And this also meant no gym. Over those two weeks Joe lost roughly 5kg which visibly angered him.But if there’s one thing about Joe, he’s not going to sit around and sulk, he’s going to do something about it. And that’s when it hit him – a dirty bulk.
Joe is no stranger to a dirty bulk. In fact, it’s how he initially put weight on when he first got into fitness. Since then he’s learned to appreciate the finer parts of a muscle building diet – chicken and rice, we’re looking at you. And since then he’s continued to build muscle mass while remaining lean.
How the 'dirty' bulk went down...
It would likely have taken too long for Joe to go through everything he ate for the seven days of dirty bulking so I’ll summarise.On day one he started off strong with a massive bowl of chocolate cereal, eggs, and a full-fat coke. From then on he mostly ate out entirely or ordered an obscene number of takeaways.On day two he indulged in not one, but two carveries. And by the time day three rolled around, Joe was already feeling pretty rubbish.
Eating consistently unhealthy foods had begun to take a toll on his mood and his energy levels since his body wasn’t fuelled as it should have been.But if you think that a low mood and energy levels would be enough for Joe to give up on the challenge then you’d be wrong. And on the bright side – at least he was getting a great post-gym pump. And as day five arrived, Joe was hit with a new lease of motivation, partly because there were only two days left to go, but mostly because he was gaining weight very fast. So fast that in just five days new stretch marks were appearing on his body.The final days of the challenge were much the same as the others. Joe had even found a way to eat even more than he thought he could by alternating between eating sweet and salty foods.Shop Joe's lifting belt:
The Results
Joe was pretty happy to see the back of the challenge, especially after seeing the results. Seven days of eating as much as he wanted of anything he wanted had really paid off. Joe gained 7kg, so roughly 1kg a day and he looked visibly bigger than he did at the start of the week.
Take home message
While Joe experienced some pretty great results, it doesn’t mean he’d necessarily recommend a diet like this apart from in certain cases and for a relatively short period of time. Joe decided, after two weeks of not eating, that he’d see what he could do on a dirty bulk and it did work out pretty well. But the low moods, and low energy, and lack of nutrients would definitely have taken its toll should the diet have been longer than seven days.
Emily Wilcock
Writer and expert
After completing an internship with Myprotein, Emily returned to university to finish her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing.
With experience in lifestyle writing, Emily aims to entertain and educate through her work. Her focuses include recipes, real and inspiring stories, and working with writers to help provide easy-to-digest evidence-based research.
Her work on recipes has been previously featured in The Supplement magazine, with a particular focus on high-protein, nutritious meals, plus advice on how to properly fuel your body.
Outside of work, Emily’s top priority is food. She’s a self-professed star baker and a connoisseur of all things baked. In her spare time, she’s either cooking up a storm, our looking out for the opportunity to try out Manchester’s newest restaurants. But as a huge fan of carbs, if it’s not pasta or pasta-adjacent, she’s not interested.
If she’s not in the kitchen, she’s tucked up with a book for an early night, or you’ll find her in the gym working up a sweat. Afterall, all those carbs require quite the appetite.
