What Causes Bubble Gut?
You may have seen a large bodybuilder with huge muscles and low body fat, yet a huge bubble gut. It just doesn’t look proportionate, so you may wonder – what causes bubble gut? I mean, how can you have massive arms, six packs, huge lean muscle mass, a very low body fat percentage, and a bubble gut looking like a very big belly? It just makes no sense. Well, that’s a thing and it even has a name: Palumboism.
Palumboism is also popular by other names, notably – bubble gut, HGH gut, and others. Regardless of what you call it, this is a health condition known only to bodybuilders. It got this name after Dave “Jumbo” Palumbo – a bodybuilder who competed in the 90s and was the first one to find himself with a bubble gut – a stomach that seems unnaturally bloated and out of proportion to the rest of his body.
Since then, there were other bodybuilders that were seen with this condition. Having this said, it is obvious that lots of people wonder: what causes bubble gut? Before answering it, let’s check
What Is a Bubble Gut?
A Bubble Gut (Palumboism) is the excessive stomach distention around the midsection, causing bodybuilders to look as if they have excess fat and heavy bloating around the gut, despite having a very low body fat percentage. There are some very famous bodybuilding names that were showing signs of bubble guts. Among them, we can name previous champions such as Ronnie Coleman, Phil Heath, Kai Greene, and others.
What Causes Bubble Gut?
Bubble gut is believed to be caused by various factors such as an abuse of insulin and HGH injections. According to research, it seems like there is no one factor that has been proven to cause the bodybuilder belly (bubble gut). Therefore, it seems that the most realistic explanation for Palumboism to appear is the combination of different factors. These factors are:
Human Growth Hormone abuse
It seems that some extremely high doses of HGH use (which is about 15 IU a day or even higher), may lead to some side effects associated with excessive growth of some tissues such as the intestines. Having larger intestines, the abdomen may bulge up to twice its natural size, especially after consuming a lot of foods. Yet, it seems that not even these huge doses will cause bubble gut if not in combination with:
Insulin abuse
Those bodybuilders who use excessive HGH doses tend to combine it with excessive insulin doses. They stack these two together for various reasons such as more muscle growth, blood sugar regulation, and so on. However, insulin abuse causes fat storage behind the stomach (visceral fat), leading to a larger abdomen.
Increased abdominal muscle mass
Excessive increase in abdominal muscle mass may make this condition look worse. Again, it mainly occurs when abusing insulin and Human Growth Hormones, but when the muscle that lies underneath the “six pack”, known as the Transverse Abdominis, and the Internal Obliques grow too huge, they make the entire midsection grow and protrude. Especially considering that HGH and insulin will make these muscles grow bigger (bodybuilders use them to grow muscle in the first place). This gives the ‘blocky’ appearance, contributing to the stomach distention, nicknamed “Palumboism”.
High calorie diets
Those muscles that make the bubble gut protrude are not easy to grow. That’s why they are usually growing only when there are a lot of calories involved. Usually, bodybuilders follow some extremely high-calorie diets, with some eating over 10,000 calories every day! This extreme calorie food intake means that there’s a high volume of food that stays in the stomach for prolonged periods. As a result, this may lead to a larger stomach, intestines, and so on, causing a bubble gut.
High carbohydrate diets
Out of those 10,000 calories a day, a lot of it comes from carbohydrates. High-carb foods will cause an increase in glycogen to be stored in the muscles. That’s a good thing in normal amounts. But when too much glycogen is stored in the muscle, it can cause an increase in water retention, because glycogen attracts water. Large amounts of water retention and a large volume of carbohydrate-rich foods will contribute to the “bloated” look known as Bubble Gut.
Carbs and water manipulation technique
A lot of bodybuilders (and fitness models) are using a technique known as “carb” or “glyco” loading. This is when a bodybuilder dehydrates and lowers carbohydrate intake to flush water out of the body. Then they consume large amounts of carbs and water to compensate for the water content in the muscle, which leads to greater definition and muscle volume. Yet, they often have less water and this leads to slower digestion and stomach emptying, especially because they tend to have a huge carbohydrate intake. This means that there’s a huge amount of food staying in the gut for longer, which leads to a bubble gut.
A combination of factors
Keep in mind that Bubble Gut (Palumboism) is actually a very rare condition that you are extremely unlikely to experience. You are very unlikely to get it even if you start using HGH and start bulking and eating in a calorie surplus. As said, bubble gut is usually the result of a combination of the above factors, and in a lot of cases – all of these factors combined. This means that you’d need to abuse HGH and insulin, while you’re eating a huge amount of calories a day, a lot of it coming from carbs, and/or manipulated carbohydrates. If you simply eat in surplus and use HGH in normal amounts, you won’t experience the bubble gut.
Can You Treat Bubble Gut?
In case you’re one of the few unfortunate ones who experience this issue, you can treat Palumboism by basically stopping doing what I’ve earlier mentioned. You have higher chances to treat it if you stop doing all of these at the onset of symptoms, rather than when it becomes a huge problem. So, you need to stop your huge calorie diet and stop (or at least reduce to normal dosage) insulin and HGH. Moreover, as you do, you may take some rest to treat it. Going hard in the gym causes muscle hypertrophy (that’s why you go to the gym), but this may cause those muscles that make the production hypertrophy as well.
So, how do you treat bubble gut? Relax, stop using insulin, reduce HGH dosage, and reduce the calories you eat. You are very likely to see the Palumboism go away. Examining bodybuilders who were known to use HGH throughout their careers and had stomach distention over the years, we can see that this condition is not permanent and reversible. Insulin is believed to be the primary bulking substance that causes an increase in fat storage around the midsection. The one that is causing the bubble gut. So, avoid the use of insulin and use only proper amounts of HGH. This will significantly reduce the chances of it appearing in the first place.
How to Prevent Bubble Gut?
Yes, considering you can treat it, you can prevent it from occurring in the first place. You just follow the same methods that are necessary to treat it. Watch out for your calorie and carbs intake but most importantly – avoid excessive HGH dosage and especially insulin abuse.
These are all the reasons why most gymgoers and bodybuilders (even those who use steroids and HGH) will not face this problem. This is a very rare condition only seen in those who abuse insulin and use very large doses of HGH.
Human Growth Hormone is known to cause insulin resistance. When used in extremely high doses, it can cause you to develop diabetes and insulin resistance. Therefore, those who use excessive HGH doses tend to use insulin to help deal with this issue. Especially because insulin will further help grow muscle. But this leads to a bubble gut. Want to prevent it? Prevent abusive HGH doses and abuse of insulin.
Bubble Gut Conclusion
In the end, there is very little lab evidence when it comes to this condition. Still, the evidence we have so far (including anecdotal evidence from bodybuilders), Palumboism (bubble gut) is a very rare condition. Bubble gut (medically – Palumboism) AKA HGH gut, bodybuilder gut, bodybuilder’s belly is a condition affecting bodybuilders only, as it makes the stomach of bodybuilders with large amounts of lean muscle and low body fats look unnaturally big and bloated. They have a low body fat percentage and visible abs, yet the stomach seems super bloated.
- This is an extremely rare condition. Because it seems that it appears as a result of various factors in combination that are maintained for long periods. These factors include extreme bodybuilding training, extremely high calorie diets (usually with high carbs and/or carbs manipulating), and most importantly – abusive doses of HGH and insulin. Therefore, by using normal doses of HGH without insulin for normal amounts and training for bodybuilding properly – you won’t experience bubble gut.
So, if you really want to achieve your bodybuilding goals without a bubble gut, you can still use HGH but do it carefully. Moreover, you need to ensure you have a correct diet and workout plan. Also, you need to get the best quality HGH, which you can do from Cycle-Gear.to. Besides, you may find other physique and performance enhancement gear. Such as the best quality steroids for the best prices on the market. Use all the compounds correctly with a proper diet, and you’re sure to achieve your goals. Cycle Gear is here to support all your bodybuilding goals!