Bulk And Cut Periods, What They Are And How They Work.

Introduction

Bulking and cutting are two phase that are indispensable for bodybuilders, as well as for other athletes. Cutting and bulking is mainly achieved through diet, and additional exercise.

In this article, we’ll see what these two are, how to use them and how they work.

We’ll begin at first with bulking periods.

Bulking periods

Bulking periods are periods of time where a weight-lifter eats more calories than he needs whilst combining this with intense weight-lifting, as to build more muscle-mass.

This caloric increase refers to a 500 to 300 calorie upgrade on top of your maintenance calories, the calories necessary to maintain your current weight.

However, some bulkers like to go above this 500 to 300 calorie line, by eating in massive calorie surplus, such as a 1000 calories above maintenance. This likely results in a gain of fat mass more than in a gain of muscle-mass. Studies have shown that above 500 calorie above maintenance, the favor of the scale goes much more for fat gain than muscle gain.

Sure, there is a huge increase in muscle-mass (2 times the muscle-mass) but there’s almost 4 times more fat. On the long-run, this is unsustainable. If you only gain 2 times the muscle-mass compared to 4 times the fat, fat gains are going to be rapidly gaining you over, and you’ll end up having to cut for months, which will possibly lead to some muscle-loss anyway.

However, if you followed the sustainable approach of 1 pound gained per week, so 0,5kg gained per week, your muscle-mass gain would stay solid, whilst gaining less fat. This means, it would take you twice the time to reach your muscular goals, but you wouldn’t have to cut for so long, and so it’s the most sustainable, healthy, and bodybuilding-efficient approach. In the long-term, you would probably have around 4 times less fat. Great, no?

Sure, if you’re a rugby man and you want to gain as much muscle-mass and fat as possible in a short period of time, 2 pounds per week (1kg per week) is probably what is good for you. It all depends on your goals.

However, if you’re a bodybuilder trying to actually make your physique more attractive and esthetic, well, in this case, gaining a lot of muscle but also gaining a lot of fat isn’t the solution, as soon enough, your fat gains are going to take over your muscle-gains (it goes very rapidly), and in only a few months you would have gained around 8kg of fat. 8kg of fat!

Cutting

Cutting refers to a period of strength-training or bodybuilding that usually happens after a bulking phase or after a maintenance phase where one eats his or her maintenance calories, where a weight-lifter reduces the amount of calorie he/she consumes, as to reach a 300 to 500 calorie deficit.

Once more, 500 is the maximum recommended. Above that line, a calorie deficit can become quite dangerous and risky, both for our health and esthetic appeal. Our goal in a deficit is to shed fat whilst either 1) still building muscle (least probable) or 2) keeping our muscle-mass at a maximum (most probable).

Because yes, by cutting calories, you inevitably have the risk of losing some muscle-mass. HOWEVER, most times, if you do things well (not going above a 500 calorie deficit, eating a lot of protein and good fats), you’ll probably not lose that much muscle-mass, or at least no noticeable amount.

Going in a 1000 calorie deficit below maintenance calories is an easy way to assure muscle-loss. In this way, you can be sure that your efforts during the bulking phase will vanish. Faster isn’t always better, because if you go faster, you put your body in an even bigger starvation mode, and it starts burning fat, as expected, but it also starts burning muscle, as not expected.

So, be very careful to not trespass 500 calories below maintenance calories if you want to keep the maximum of muscle-mass as possible. Even in this small deficit it’s always possible that you’ll lose muscle-mass, but most times you’ll simply lose fat and your muscle-mass loss will not even be noticeable.

Which one should you do?

It depends on your body type, the sport you practice, if you have any competition soon, and your goals.

But let’s assume you’re just someone who is skinny-fat and who want to gain muscle and get shredded. In this case, bulking first is the best idea. Since you don’t have any significant amount of muscle-mass right now, becoming skinnier just to see your small abs isn’t a good idea.

In your case, the best would be to bulk-up to gain a reasonable amount of muscle-mass, and then to cut down back to a reasonable weight and body fat.

You can also go with a body-recomp, or body-recomposition, which is another stage of bodybuilding such as cutting or bulking, where you maintain your weight, and through exercise and a good diet, you gain muscle and lose-fat. It’s a mix of bulking and cutting results, but the problem is, of course, since it’s not all in on one or the other, it’s not as efficient as bulking and then cutting, even tho it can be truly efficient and a great solution to fat-loss and muscle-gain for skinny fat people.

If you were someone who is already overweight (fat), your best shot is to actually go on a cutting period. By losing body fat, you can reach your ideal weight.

However, I also recommend weight-lifting in the same time, so you lose fat, and use this fat to gain muscle.

Ultimately, it all comes back to your goals. If your goal is to build muscle, go with a bulk, if your goal is to lose fat, go with a cut. It’s not periods that should be strictly set in time and place, it’s only techniques to achieve your best physique.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this article, I appreciate it, and I hope it was of help to you.

I’ll see you another day for a new article, bye.

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