Bulking/Cutting vs Staying lean all year

[RobKarpathios]

I have a question regarding weather or not to cut, bulk, or to stay lean all year, my reason for this question is I was thinking today, that when you bulk up, you eat 500 cals or how ever much you choose over maintenence, you up your protein, fats, and mostly carbs, my question is, if we use protein for muscle recovery and repair, how come we cant be in a calorie defecet with low carbs to lose fat and still get big as if we were bulking, becasue aslong as were getting the amount a protein we need, our muscles would be sufficiently repairing themselves right? Just a thought!
Rob.

[SwiftyX]

That's not how your body works. If you are in a calorie deficit you will be burning all calories you digest plus some. There is nothing left to be building muscle with. Low carbs does not just = lose fat and high protien does not just = gain muscle. You can not look at them in isolation because the whole picture is what really matters.

[stratoo]

I have a question regarding weather or not to cut, bulk, or to stay lean all year, my reason for this question is I was thinking today, that when you bulk up, you eat 500 cals or how ever much you choose over maintenence, you up your protein, fats, and mostly carbs, my question is, if we use protein for muscle recovery and repair, how come we cant be in a calorie defecet with low carbs to lose fat and still get big as if we were bulking, becasue aslong as were getting the amount a protein we need, our muscles would be sufficiently repairing themselves right? Just a thought!
Rob.

I found this helpful. Comes from a natural professional bodybuilder with more than 20 years of experience.

Bulking and Cutting Myth

In the muscle magazines you always hear about 'bulking' up then 'cutting' down before a contest, should you do this too? NO! NO! NO! Do you have to get fat to gain muscle? NO! Wild weight swings are not good for your body . There is no reason at all that you cant gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time with good nutrition, weightlifting and cardio. It is much easier (and healthier) to keep your body fat low year-round than it is to pig out for a few months and then have to diet for 4 months to get all the fat back off. Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway!

OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process (see expectations), its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat. Added weight can be fat or muscle, if you just want to weigh more then eat twinkies and skip the bodybuilding - its much easier. If you want to gain muscle, there is no shortcut. Hit the weights and use good nutrition.

Bear with me a minute while I tell a relevant story. There once was a Martian who landed on earth back in the '30s and got a job working on a railroad as a stoker, the guy whose job it is to shovel the fuel into the boiler of a steam locomotive. This was back in the depression when coal was expensive so the railroad used garbage to run their locomotives. Well Marty the Martian was really intelligent but back on mars they don't have oxygen or combustion so he didn't know anything about fire. First day on the job, he shoveled in the garbage - ALL of it. Banana peels, paper, tin cans, wet coffee grinds, glass, plastic, cardboard and all. He found that the more garbage he shoveled in, the faster the train went - but boy did it sizzle, pop and stink! After an hour, the wind changed and the horrified engineer got a whiff of the smoke and knew immediately his new employee needed better training. Marty drew a seemingly logical conclusion that shoveling more garbage in is what made the train go faster but he was incorrect. All the wet crud he was shoveling in was stifling the fire, clogging the smokestack with creosote, and polluting the air. He could have gone much faster with less garbage had he just shoveled in the combustibles like paper and left the wet crud and incombustibles out.

In a similar fashion these "bulkers and cutters" work out really hard and are constantly eating massive amounts of garbage - pizzas, hamburgers, french fries, and fast food five or six times a day. Granted, they do gain muscle because the crud they are eating does have protein in it and just like Marty the Martian, they draw an incorrect conclusion. The "bulker" thinks that its the massive quantity of junk food that is making their muscles grow (and making them fat) but in reality its just a tiny fraction of what they are eating (the protein) that is making their muscles grow. If they only realized that they didn't have to get fat to gain muscle they would be healthier AND look better!

So, how to gain muscle? Workout with incredible intensity (but don't overtrain), sleep lots, and have proper nutrition. Proper nutrition? In a nutshell, here's what you need. Protein every 2-3 hours from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to bed. Total protein approx 1g per pound of bodyweight per day so a 180lb man would have 180g protein per day (30g protein per meal, 6 meals). OK, that's only 720 calories but a 180 lb man needs 2700 calories a day to maintain weight (2200cals to lose a pound fat per week), what should you eat for those other 2000 calories? Well, technically you could eat twinkies and a vitamin pill and you would be fine. Several problems with that approach, first twinkies are not very filling (no fiber) and you would find you had to eat much more than 2000 calories of twinkies to feel satisfied which would make you FAT. The best thing to eat for those 2000 calories are things that are high in vitamins and fiber, things like vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains. If you use these things for those 2000 calories you will find yourself so full that it would be easy to reduce by 500cal/day and thereby lose a pound of fat a week without affecting your muscle growth. Note however that this only works with slight caloric reductions (like the 500cal/day reduction suggested above). If you do a drastic caloric reduction, your ability to add muscle will be hindered - malnourished people cant add muscle.

[RobKarpathios]

I found this helpful. Comes from a natural professional bodybuilder with more than 20 years of experience.

Bulking and Cutting Myth

In the muscle magazines you always hear about 'bulking' up then 'cutting' down before a contest, should you do this too? NO! NO! NO! Do you have to get fat to gain muscle? NO! Wild weight swings are not good for your body . There is no reason at all that you cant gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time with good nutrition, weightlifting and cardio. It is much easier (and healthier) to keep your body fat low year-round than it is to pig out for a few months and then have to diet for 4 months to get all the fat back off. Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway!

OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process (see expectations), its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat. Added weight can be fat or muscle, if you just want to weigh more then eat twinkies and skip the bodybuilding - its much easier. If you want to gain muscle, there is no shortcut. Hit the weights and use good nutrition.

Bear with me a minute while I tell a relevant story. There once was a Martian who landed on earth back in the '30s and got a job working on a railroad as a stoker, the guy whose job it is to shovel the fuel into the boiler of a steam locomotive. This was back in the depression when coal was expensive so the railroad used garbage to run their locomotives. Well Marty the Martian was really intelligent but back on mars they don't have oxygen or combustion so he didn't know anything about fire. First day on the job, he shoveled in the garbage - ALL of it. Banana peels, paper, tin cans, wet coffee grinds, glass, plastic, cardboard and all. He found that the more garbage he shoveled in, the faster the train went - but boy did it sizzle, pop and stink! After an hour, the wind changed and the horrified engineer got a whiff of the smoke and knew immediately his new employee needed better training. Marty drew a seemingly logical conclusion that shoveling more garbage in is what made the train go faster but he was incorrect. All the wet crud he was shoveling in was stifling the fire, clogging the smokestack with creosote, and polluting the air. He could have gone much faster with less garbage had he just shoveled in the combustibles like paper and left the wet crud and incombustibles out.

In a similar fashion these "bulkers and cutters" work out really hard and are constantly eating massive amounts of garbage - pizzas, hamburgers, french fries, and fast food five or six times a day. Granted, they do gain muscle because the crud they are eating does have protein in it and just like Marty the Martian, they draw an incorrect conclusion. The "bulker" thinks that its the massive quantity of junk food that is making their muscles grow (and making them fat) but in reality its just a tiny fraction of what they are eating (the protein) that is making their muscles grow. If they only realized that they didn't have to get fat to gain muscle they would be healthier AND look better!

So, how to gain muscle? Workout with incredible intensity (but don't overtrain), sleep lots, and have proper nutrition. Proper nutrition? In a nutshell, here's what you need. Protein every 2-3 hours from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to bed. Total protein approx 1g per pound of bodyweight per day so a 180lb man would have 180g protein per day (30g protein per meal, 6 meals). OK, that's only 720 calories but a 180 lb man needs 2700 calories a day to maintain weight (2200cals to lose a pound fat per week), what should you eat for those other 2000 calories? Well, technically you could eat twinkies and a vitamin pill and you would be fine. Several problems with that approach, first twinkies are not very filling (no fiber) and you would find you had to eat much more than 2000 calories of twinkies to feel satisfied which would make you FAT. The best thing to eat for those 2000 calories are things that are high in vitamins and fiber, things like vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains. If you use these things for those 2000 calories you will find yourself so full that it would be easy to reduce by 500cal/day and thereby lose a pound of fat a week without affecting your muscle growth. Note however that this only works with slight caloric reductions (like the 500cal/day reduction suggested above). If you do a drastic caloric reduction, your ability to add muscle will be hindered - malnourished people cant add muscle.

Thanks, helpful post.

[cuz_z_z]

once you're lean, i'd run 3 weeks of eating 120% of maintenance followed by two weeks of 70% of maintence. mini bulk/cut cycles that'll help you gain muscle but keep you lean. credits to asian viper dude.

[4ca_mma]

I found this helpful. Comes from a natural professional bodybuilder with more than 20 years of experience.

Bulking and Cutting Myth

In the muscle magazines you always hear about 'bulking' up then 'cutting' down before a contest, should you do this too? NO! NO! NO! Do you have to get fat to gain muscle? NO! Wild weight swings are not good for your body . There is no reason at all that you cant gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time with good nutrition, weightlifting and cardio. It is much easier (and healthier) to keep your body fat low year-round than it is to pig out for a few months and then have to diet for 4 months to get all the fat back off. Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway!

OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process (see expectations), its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat. Added weight can be fat or muscle, if you just want to weigh more then eat twinkies and skip the bodybuilding - its much easier. If you want to gain muscle, there is no shortcut. Hit the weights and use good nutrition.

Bear with me a minute while I tell a relevant story. There once was a Martian who landed on earth back in the '30s and got a job working on a railroad as a stoker, the guy whose job it is to shovel the fuel into the boiler of a steam locomotive. This was back in the depression when coal was expensive so the railroad used garbage to run their locomotives. Well Marty the Martian was really intelligent but back on mars they don't have oxygen or combustion so he didn't know anything about fire. First day on the job, he shoveled in the garbage - ALL of it. Banana peels, paper, tin cans, wet coffee grinds, glass, plastic, cardboard and all. He found that the more garbage he shoveled in, the faster the train went - but boy did it sizzle, pop and stink! After an hour, the wind changed and the horrified engineer got a whiff of the smoke and knew immediately his new employee needed better training. Marty drew a seemingly logical conclusion that shoveling more garbage in is what made the train go faster but he was incorrect. All the wet crud he was shoveling in was stifling the fire, clogging the smokestack with creosote, and polluting the air. He could have gone much faster with less garbage had he just shoveled in the combustibles like paper and left the wet crud and incombustibles out.

In a similar fashion these "bulkers and cutters" work out really hard and are constantly eating massive amounts of garbage - pizzas, hamburgers, french fries, and fast food five or six times a day. Granted, they do gain muscle because the crud they are eating does have protein in it and just like Marty the Martian, they draw an incorrect conclusion. The "bulker" thinks that its the massive quantity of junk food that is making their muscles grow (and making them fat) but in reality its just a tiny fraction of what they are eating (the protein) that is making their muscles grow. If they only realized that they didn't have to get fat to gain muscle they would be healthier AND look better!

So, how to gain muscle? Workout with incredible intensity (but don't overtrain), sleep lots, and have proper nutrition. Proper nutrition? In a nutshell, here's what you need. Protein every 2-3 hours from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to bed. Total protein approx 1g per pound of bodyweight per day so a 180lb man would have 180g protein per day (30g protein per meal, 6 meals). OK, that's only 720 calories but a 180 lb man needs 2700 calories a day to maintain weight (2200cals to lose a pound fat per week), what should you eat for those other 2000 calories? Well, technically you could eat twinkies and a vitamin pill and you would be fine. Several problems with that approach, first twinkies are not very filling (no fiber) and you would find you had to eat much more than 2000 calories of twinkies to feel satisfied which would make you FAT. The best thing to eat for those 2000 calories are things that are high in vitamins and fiber, things like vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains. If you use these things for those 2000 calories you will find yourself so full that it would be easy to reduce by 500cal/day and thereby lose a pound of fat a week without affecting your muscle growth. Note however that this only works with slight caloric reductions (like the 500cal/day reduction suggested above). If you do a drastic caloric reduction, your ability to add muscle will be hindered - malnourished people cant add muscle.

thank you for finding/posting this...i tried to tell somebody on this forum the SAME THING and he basically said im an idiot and dont know what im talking about and i base everything off broscience an -REP'd me...glad to see somebody agrees with me!!!

[dustyrising]

agreed, i put on muscle and cut fat at the same time using the same techniques. extreme intensity, razor diet, proper HIIT cardio

[NOTORIOUS_FAP]

Just to be clear when you talk about losing fast and gaining muscle, it's not actually losing real fat but rather just lowering your bf% right?
Because if you gain muscle with min. fat gain and your bf% goes down would you say you gained muscle and lost fat?

[tommo777]

You've gotta go back to basics.

Generally speaking, the most important thing you have to remember is that if you want more body tissue (fat or muscle) then you need a caloric surplus to grow, if your not supplying your body with extra then it cant grow, either obese or muscular, how much simpler can it be?!
Well, there is one exception.., If you train really hard while on maintenance or just below then you CAN do both simultaneously, the reason for this is because you must give your body enough of a reason to protect itself (with strength and hypertrophy) against the threat it sees to its survival (through training) it will then PRIORITIZE using protein sources for/saving muscle growth and using fat stores for energy.
You could therefore theoretically gain weight with below maintenance (in the short term) only due to the fact that muscle weights more than fat.

HOWEVER, the intensity of training required for good results combined with insufficient nutrients wouldn't be optimal for progression under the above circumstances. So what would?..
A calorie surplus of between 200-500 calories per day of clean, nutritrious food with the correct Macro's. Utilizing exactly enough to promote growth but without fat gain.

-Remember eating is anabolic.
-Remember it is easier to lose fat when you gain more muscle.
-And, remember if everything is in check, your body fat % will go down even if you gain fat and muscle.. so long as your gaining more muscle weight.

Im 144lbs, but Im pretty ripped, however I've plateau'd because my calorie intake isnt high enough.

If your happy getting slowly ripped with a low body fat % then thats fine, keep at maintenance, but it all depends on your goals. If you want to be BIG and RIPPED I'm sorry but you will have to eat at a surplus eventually, your body doesn't just grow magically.

[definedincline]

I found this helpful. Comes from a natural professional bodybuilder with more than 20 years of experience.

Bulking and Cutting Myth

In the muscle magazines you always hear about 'bulking' up then 'cutting' down before a contest, should you do this too? NO! NO! NO! Do you have to get fat to gain muscle? NO! Wild weight swings are not good for your body . There is no reason at all that you cant gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time with good nutrition, weightlifting and cardio. It is much easier (and healthier) to keep your body fat low year-round than it is to pig out for a few months and then have to diet for 4 months to get all the fat back off. Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway!

OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process (see expectations), its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat. Added weight can be fat or muscle, if you just want to weigh more then eat twinkies and skip the bodybuilding - its much easier. If you want to gain muscle, there is no shortcut. Hit the weights and use good nutrition.

Bear with me a minute while I tell a relevant story. There once was a Martian who landed on earth back in the '30s and got a job working on a railroad as a stoker, the guy whose job it is to shovel the fuel into the boiler of a steam locomotive. This was back in the depression when coal was expensive so the railroad used garbage to run their locomotives. Well Marty the Martian was really intelligent but back on mars they don't have oxygen or combustion so he didn't know anything about fire. First day on the job, he shoveled in the garbage - ALL of it. Banana peels, paper, tin cans, wet coffee grinds, glass, plastic, cardboard and all. He found that the more garbage he shoveled in, the faster the train went - but boy did it sizzle, pop and stink! After an hour, the wind changed and the horrified engineer got a whiff of the smoke and knew immediately his new employee needed better training. Marty drew a seemingly logical conclusion that shoveling more garbage in is what made the train go faster but he was incorrect. All the wet crud he was shoveling in was stifling the fire, clogging the smokestack with creosote, and polluting the air. He could have gone much faster with less garbage had he just shoveled in the combustibles like paper and left the wet crud and incombustibles out.

In a similar fashion these "bulkers and cutters" work out really hard and are constantly eating massive amounts of garbage - pizzas, hamburgers, french fries, and fast food five or six times a day. Granted, they do gain muscle because the crud they are eating does have protein in it and just like Marty the Martian, they draw an incorrect conclusion. The "bulker" thinks that its the massive quantity of junk food that is making their muscles grow (and making them fat) but in reality its just a tiny fraction of what they are eating (the protein) that is making their muscles grow. If they only realized that they didn't have to get fat to gain muscle they would be healthier AND look better!

So, how to gain muscle? Workout with incredible intensity (but don't overtrain), sleep lots, and have proper nutrition. Proper nutrition? In a nutshell, here's what you need. Protein every 2-3 hours from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to bed. Total protein approx 1g per pound of bodyweight per day so a 180lb man would have 180g protein per day (30g protein per meal, 6 meals). OK, that's only 720 calories but a 180 lb man needs 2700 calories a day to maintain weight (2200cals to lose a pound fat per week), what should you eat for those other 2000 calories? Well, technically you could eat twinkies and a vitamin pill and you would be fine. Several problems with that approach, first twinkies are not very filling (no fiber) and you would find you had to eat much more than 2000 calories of twinkies to feel satisfied which would make you FAT. The best thing to eat for those 2000 calories are things that are high in vitamins and fiber, things like vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains. If you use these things for those 2000 calories you will find yourself so full that it would be easy to reduce by 500cal/day and thereby lose a pound of fat a week without affecting your muscle growth. Note however that this only works with slight caloric reductions (like the 500cal/day reduction suggested above). If you do a drastic caloric reduction, your ability to add muscle will be hindered - malnourished people cant add muscle.

dosent steroids help too ?

[Kahldris]

I found this helpful. Comes from a natural professional bodybuilder with more than 20 years of experience.

Bulking and Cutting Myth

In the muscle magazines you always hear about 'bulking' up then 'cutting' down before a contest, should you do this too? NO! NO! NO! Do you have to get fat to gain muscle? NO! Wild weight swings are not good for your body . There is no reason at all that you cant gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time with good nutrition, weightlifting and cardio. It is much easier (and healthier) to keep your body fat low year-round than it is to pig out for a few months and then have to diet for 4 months to get all the fat back off. Why not be ripped all the time rather than just one month a year????? It's easier, better for your body, looks better, AND its easier - who likes dieting anyway!

OK, here's the basic problem. Most people who work out really hard can only expect to gain 5lbs muscle in a year, almost an imperceptible amount. Adding muscle is a very slow process (see expectations), its the dirty little secret of fitness that nobody is willing to talk about. Americans spend millions on all kinds of products that promise to deliver more than this but all that happens is their wallets get lighter. "How do I add weight?" is a question I hear all the time which shows how confused many people are. Many people want to see that fast weight gain so they eat like pigs and fool themselves into thinking that its all muscle when if fact its mostly fat. One day they wake up and find themselves stronger but fat. Added weight can be fat or muscle, if you just want to weigh more then eat twinkies and skip the bodybuilding - its much easier. If you want to gain muscle, there is no shortcut. Hit the weights and use good nutrition.

Bear with me a minute while I tell a relevant story. There once was a Martian who landed on earth back in the '30s and got a job working on a railroad as a stoker, the guy whose job it is to shovel the fuel into the boiler of a steam locomotive. This was back in the depression when coal was expensive so the railroad used garbage to run their locomotives. Well Marty the Martian was really intelligent but back on mars they don't have oxygen or combustion so he didn't know anything about fire. First day on the job, he shoveled in the garbage - ALL of it. Banana peels, paper, tin cans, wet coffee grinds, glass, plastic, cardboard and all. He found that the more garbage he shoveled in, the faster the train went - but boy did it sizzle, pop and stink! After an hour, the wind changed and the horrified engineer got a whiff of the smoke and knew immediately his new employee needed better training. Marty drew a seemingly logical conclusion that shoveling more garbage in is what made the train go faster but he was incorrect. All the wet crud he was shoveling in was stifling the fire, clogging the smokestack with creosote, and polluting the air. He could have gone much faster with less garbage had he just shoveled in the combustibles like paper and left the wet crud and incombustibles out.

In a similar fashion these "bulkers and cutters" work out really hard and are constantly eating massive amounts of garbage - pizzas, hamburgers, french fries, and fast food five or six times a day. Granted, they do gain muscle because the crud they are eating does have protein in it and just like Marty the Martian, they draw an incorrect conclusion. The "bulker" thinks that its the massive quantity of junk food that is making their muscles grow (and making them fat) but in reality its just a tiny fraction of what they are eating (the protein) that is making their muscles grow. If they only realized that they didn't have to get fat to gain muscle they would be healthier AND look better!

So, how to gain muscle? Workout with incredible intensity (but don't overtrain), sleep lots, and have proper nutrition. Proper nutrition? In a nutshell, here's what you need. Protein every 2-3 hours from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to bed. Total protein approx 1g per pound of bodyweight per day so a 180lb man would have 180g protein per day (30g protein per meal, 6 meals). OK, that's only 720 calories but a 180 lb man needs 2700 calories a day to maintain weight (2200cals to lose a pound fat per week), what should you eat for those other 2000 calories? Well, technically you could eat twinkies and a vitamin pill and you would be fine. Several problems with that approach, first twinkies are not very filling (no fiber) and you would find you had to eat much more than 2000 calories of twinkies to feel satisfied which would make you FAT. The best thing to eat for those 2000 calories are things that are high in vitamins and fiber, things like vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains. If you use these things for those 2000 calories you will find yourself so full that it would be easy to reduce by 500cal/day and thereby lose a pound of fat a week without affecting your muscle growth. Note however that this only works with slight caloric reductions (like the 500cal/day reduction suggested above). If you do a drastic caloric reduction, your ability to add muscle will be hindered - malnourished people cant add muscle.

Scooby?

Lol 2010 ftw.