Let’s address the question…Should I bulk or should I cut?
Let’s make this perfectly clear. Both are necessary to make progress with your physique and progress with your performance in the gym. The timing has to make sense with your goals and current physique, and there are good ways and not so good ways to go about each.
Some of you have a clear answer for this already. If you feel that you are overweight and unhappy with the amount of body fat that you have then your answer is easy. You want to lose weight, or lose fat, and you will want to cut. Some of you might need to gain weight which makes it easy to decide to bulk. Some of you though might be in the middle…you might be wondering if you should be bulking to add muscle or if you should be cutting to get rid of bodyfat.
Let’s discuss what these terms mean first.
Bulking means that you are trying to add muscle mass with minimal fat gain.
Cutting means you are trying to do the opposite with trying to burn the most bodyfat with minimal muscle loss.
Outside of extremes (like powerlifting and bodybuilding competitions) you shouldn’t take either one too far if you are trying to simply improve your physique over time…but you should have periods where you focus on each of them to build the physique that you want over time.
If you don’t compete, or don’t compete yet, then a cut is needed for when you want to take some body fat off of your physique after a bulk, or if you just want to get lean for any number of reasons. The same can be said for bulking, you want to strive to add muscle, not just weight…but you’ll be eating in a caloric surplus to do so and that means that you’ll add some body fat while adding new muscle mass.
Getting on a program to burn fat or build muscle is easy, but getting on a program to burn fat while maintaining muscle, or add muscle without adding too much body fat, is the challenge. Regardless, just know that you can’t do both at the same time unless you’re a genetic freak. You should focus on one or the other and alternate them based on the current state of your physique and as you head towards your ideal physique that you are building over time.
Let’s look at these from a competitor perspective.
Bodybuilders will often add body fat during a bulk, or “off season” because they are trying to maximize the amount of muscle on their physique. However, they are conscious of the amount of fat that they are gaining…because adding too much fat makes any future contest prep that much more difficult and you can end up losing muscle trying to get all of that extra body fat off in the process.
Bodybuilders also do everything that they can to maintain muscle when they do cut since the competition is essentially a muscularity contest. Going too extreme with a cut can result in too much muscle lost and a physique that’s actually worse, despite it possibly being leaner.
Powerlifting is a little bit different because strength is the goal.
It’s common for powerlifters to add too much bodyfat in hopes that size will increase strength. While this is true to a point, remember that fat doesn’t lift the weight (yea I know leverages…trust me, remember Larry Meals… so there is some small benefit there) …but the goal is still to add maximum muscle since that is what is used to move this heavy ass weight. The same can be said when cutting. Powerlifters will often cut down to enter lighter weight classes where they are more competitive…but if you cut too much, and start to lose muscle/strength, then what’s the point if your powerlifting goals are to be as strong as possible. It’s not the point of powerlifting that is for sure.
So, I know some of you may not compete, or have any desire to compete in either of these fields of competition…but the point remains. You’ll find yourself going from one to the other. There are times that you want to gain muscle, and times that you want to lose body fat. Just remember that they will ultimately complement each other. Build muscle with as little fat gain as needed when bulking, and lose body fat while striving to maintain muscle and as much gym performance as possible when cutting. With time, your new lean weight should increase and that is your body’s ability to be add and maintain lean muscle to build your physique over time.
CUTTING
Let’s say that you’ve decided that it’s time for a cut. The rule is simple. Shoot to lose up to 2lbs per week. Notice that I said “up to 2lbs per week”. If you lose 0.5lbs then that’s great. You might lose more than 2lbs in the first few weeks of a cut as your body adjusts, but you definitely don’t want to maintain losing weight that quickly. It tells me that you’re eating too little which means your body is likely burning muscle for energy. If you can decrease your calories by about 500 from your maintenance then this should put you in that 0.5-2lbs range of weight loss each week and this is where you want to be.
You can adjust your caloric intake to reach this or you can increase your caloric expenditure with exercise. Just make sure to track your weight and adjust your diet and training program to stay in this range. This will be the best range to get leaner while maintaining muscle. I’d also track your gym performance and if you’re able to keep your reps and weight up (safely) then that’s another good indicator that you’re maintaining muscle mass.
BULKING
Bulking operates a lot like cutting, but just in the other direction. Shoot for a gain of 0.5-2lbs per week. Any more than that and you’re likely just adding body fat which is not the goal. If you can consistently see weight gain of 0.5-2lbs per week then that’s a good sign that you’re adding muscle with minimal fat gain. Gym performance should be increasing when you’re bulking…so make sure that you are tracking your gym performance and seeing things increase.
Lastly, and most importantly, you need to be in a caloric surplus to grow.
You can’t build a bigger house without more bricks!
I would stick with the same 500 calorie increment and eat 500 calories over your maintenance to grow. If you’re not sure if you’re eating enough to grow, the scale won’t lie to you. I don’t care if you tell me that you’re eating a lot…there are only a few potential outcomes when you eat in a caloric surplus. You get more muscle, more fat, or most likely both. This means that the scale will grow. If the scale isn’t showing that you are getting heavier, it means that you’re simply not eating enough. Get your calories up and shoot to grow in that 0.5-2lbs per week range while getting stronger in the gym and you’ll be on the right track!
MONITORING
As you can see for both bulking and cutting, you really need to be monitoring your weight alongside gym performance and progress pictures. I suggest weighing yourself every morning on the same scale as soon as you wake up. Record your weight and find the weekly average. This will show you a true indication of which direction your body is trending (getting heavier or lighter). Compare that against your gym performance (is it improving or getting worse), and lastly compare progress pictures to see how your physique is looking.
Progress pics are more valuable when you compare them months apart, or even at the beginning and end of each phase…you won’t see much change from week to week but you’ll certainly see a change from day 1 and the end of week 12, etc. The point here is that you want to look for trends to see what direction your body is headed. If the scale is trending in the right direction at a good pace, gym performance is satisfactory, then you’ll see the change in progress pics with enough time.
The only other piece to this puzzle is tracking your diet, but that’s an article for another time.
