#4: Do I Have To Bulk Then Cut To Get Muscle?

Bulking involves eating more calories than you need, putting on weight while building muscle via resistance training.

Cutting involves eating fewer calories than you burn (and probably doing more cardio) to lose the fat.

Bulking means caloric overload. And many construe that as a free lease to eat like an asshole. Extended periods of binge-eating interspersed with ‘cutting’: the serious phase where one eats chicken breast, brown rice and broccoli at every meal.

When you bulk, you gain body fat as well as muscle. Feel free to take that road. However, you can also get the job done with a high protein, lowish carb, high-fiber diet. But be careful, because even eating too much protein can work against you. The body always finds a way to convert the excess.

Adopting this strategy could be a neat way to stay lean (or leanish, at least) whilst building muscle at the same time.

Storing Fat Whilst Eating Loads

Taking the ‘bulk and cut’ route will leave you with a lot of fat to deal with. And that is why protein intake, to some degree at least, needs to be controlled. Eating in a caloric surplus will mean many nutrients will be stored as fat. And some of that fat, notoriously, will find a home in the abdomen, right around your organs (this is called visceral fat).

Why there? Well, experts think this is mechanism helped humans survive in times of scarcity. Because visceral fat can be quite a bitch to get rid of.

After visceral fat, fat can also be stored between muscle strands and under the skin (interstitial and subcutaneous). Interstitial fat is like the marbling you see on a good ribeye steak. This marbling is not very visible from the outside. But it does make the muscle look bigger. It tricks a young bodybuilder into thinking he’s gained muscle simply because he ‘looks bigger’. However, said ‘muscle’ will be soft as a baby’s bum.

Repeated Bulking And Cutting

The word repeated is key. Studies show that around 93% of those who diet and lose fat gain it all back within a year. So to all those who want to bulk and cut, all the cutting may be just a temporary solution. That dreaded fat will likely come back to haunt you. You will get bigger, but you will also get fatter.

To prove my point, just look around the gym. You will see lots of big guys with big muscles. But they are smooth, soft-looking muscles. They also have the big belly that comes from that abdominal fat I mentioned earlier. You rarely see the muscular but lean and defined, hard-muscle guy they all want to be.

A good rule of thumb is to simply look at the person. If they look the way you want to look, try their advice. If they are not lean and hard and ripped, politely ignore them.

I know that lots of competitive bodybuilders have done bulk and cut for years. However, these are the same guys who take steroids, human growth hormones, and testosterone injections. They take steroids until their testicles shrink and stop producing testosterone. Too many of them die young. They do stupid stuff. These folks are not exactly who you want to take your health advice from.

So what do I do?

If you have a healthy weight (BMI is a good rule of thumb), you can directly focus on building lean muscle mass by keeping in a 300 – 500 calorie surplus (so that you don’t gain excess fat). Unfortunately, tracking your foods here helps (as much as I hate it). Though a good strategy, if you’re eating good foods regularly, is just slightly increasing your portion sizes.

Of fundamental importance, however, is meeting your protein needs. Get in 1 - 1.5 g per kg of your bodyweight, every single day.

And as for training, heavy compound lifts coupled with moderate cardio.

If you are overweight, you can directly focus on building lean muscle mass through a 300–500 calorie deficit (so that you don’t lose too much weight). Measuring your foods here can help, but is less important than if you’re starting off in a healthy weight range. Still, the training plan remains the same. Heavy compound lifts with moderate cardio.

And in both situations, try cap a minimum water intake of three liters daily.