I finally managed to cut down low enough to have a sixpack and I really love my new look.Now, as the beach season is ending, I am wondering if I should start bulking. On the one side, the idea of growing a lot of muscles is really enticing. On the other side, I really don't want to get fat again. What should I do, /fit/
probably
I’m already up a couple kilos and have put weight on the bar since the end of my cut in June, you should be too anon.
>>76579407Yes, bulking as in "gaining weight" will never not be the best strategy to gain muscle and achieve a better physique.Just don't fall for the bulking meme (4000 calorie diets, stuffing your face, gaining 50lbs in a year). Eat in a 400-500 calorie surplus, make sure to progress your lifts in that 4-12 rep range and you'll gain a shit ton of muscle.
>>76579407If you are not looking to gain muscle as fast as reasonably possible, then no, a bulk is not necessary. It's also easier and healthier in the long term to get lean and stay lean, and after a few years, your body will want to stay lean. If you bulk so soon after just cutting down, you will bloat back up to your previous composition much faster than you'd think (similarly to how bouncing back from gains loss can happen very rapidly if you aren't inactive TOO long).You could always just slow bulk and not be a giga bulking autistic retard.
I don't think it does tbqh. I think everyone wants bulking to make sense because it would be amazing to just eat a bunch of deliscious food and make all these gains at the gym. But in reality you basically need to be eating the same kind of diet as what you would eat when cutting just with some slight extra carbs. Its not fun or indulgent. You should be gaining almost all muscle. Basically I would advocate for cutting and recomping. Never truly bulking in the traditional sense.
>>76579407If you know how to program diet and lift differently while at a high surplus, youll make an extra 2-4mo of progress not cutting. At least dont cut the second youre done lifting you wanna bulk for a few days even on a cut.
>>76579407Instead of rest days id do forearms/arms/abs/legs depending on cns fatigue. And 2 days of chest/shoulders+chest then 1-2 rest/press days with variable aux until a 2-4 day rest. And ofc to lower fat gain do some fat burning days and start bulking again by carbing up a little the night before starting the lifting week heavy.
>>76579407Worrying about getting fat bulking is like worrying about getting too big from training. You're not just going to wake up one day and be fat. Just look in the mirror and adjust your plan accordingly, it's a slow process.
never bulk. and never goon
>>76579796stfu kekke. i bulk your mom
>>76579677Nah actually most people gain water weight since they were carb depleted cutting, then quit bulking in 1-2mo then cut for the sam amount of time. If you want big boy strength asap you really should keep the bulk going for a few months and only burn fat for less than a week at a time when fatigued since being in a cut fucks your hormones and muscle building until bmr is high.
>>76579827you should bulk for 1 year at a minimum, so you get a nice long run of progression on all your lifts. 10-15lbs of weight gain during that period is a good target. you never want to balloon up 20lbs++ with a lot of fat, time spent cutting in the future is time lost staying in a surplus/maintenance where you can actually make progress in the gym
>>76579453Whatever you say, bigger pump bulking and you keep more of it and recover faster across the board. You can just do a bunch of aux work if you eat too much throughout the day but theres a huge difference between +400 and +800 and youll need to recover with rehab weight for a week at least every 2mo depending on how strong you are and how much heavy volume you do consecutively without resting or doing hypertrophy/aux.
>>76579837I have gained like 50lbs over almost a year when getting back into lifting but im also tall as shit so more of the weight is waterweight in muscle/fat etc. Now i know how to diet at a way higher level so this is what id do on the next hard bulk. Im kind of arguing for cutting hard when fatigued/injured but also refeeding/raising bmr hourly while lifting it off and adding heavy sets.
>>76579837I agree with you though, i just hate that its difficult not to gain fat when peaking strength since it takes a few days to be glycogen/water saturated to focus on strength over hypertrophy. Im not getting the same gains as 3500-5000 calories a day and home gym+machines/cables almost every day, its like my lifts were perpetually going down until i ate even more but when i saw the yearly progress it was way better than the next 2 years at least in terms of strength/time and deep fibers/frame gains.
>>76579407Sectoids look like THIS?
>>76579407this is a badass art style i wish i could draw like this
bulking like that is only for roiders
>>76579407No. Eat high protein on lifting days and days after you life. Do cardio on rest days. Not heavy cardio but walking for a few hours.You can keep the fat down and the muscle increasing by walking on rest days and keeping protein intake high (while lifting heavy).
Bulking is a stupid meme. Unless you're a pro with tons of time on your hands, it makes no sense to do it.
>>76583186Post physique
>>76579436I fell for the "body recomp" meme and waste a whole year of my life making barely any progress, fact is, the body does NOT want to put any muslce unless you're in a surplus, but dirty bulks are definitely not the way to go, it has to be a moderate surplus of healthy food, not 1000 kcal suurplus by eating cookies and popcorn.
>>76579407I've only ever been able to make gains on a bulk. That's all I can say.
bulk. its easier to lose fat than to build muscle
>>76579407>i'm fretting over the beach season>i'm worried about my appearance>woe is meYou sound like a fucken woman.
>>76583920no its fucking not holy shit you are a cuckold if you think this. Bulking and building muscle is literally FUN
>>76579407Clean bulking is really fucking easy with the right diet. Just keep fat under 10% (lower is better though, aim for 5%) of your calorie intake and keep protein high enough for positive nitrogen balance, which means around 0.6-0.8g/lb. That's it. It's virtually impossible to gain fat if you eat like this while lifting. I can't be fucked to blog post explaining why when no one will read or care. There's a reason virtually all serious competing body builders and endurance athletes eat like this. It's hands down the most effective macro spread for maintaining muscle and high energy with very low body fat. Other shit can work technically but nothing else is as easy or leaves you feeling as good.
>>76583571Most people fail at recomp because they drastically underestimate how strict you have to be with your diet for it to work well, and even then it's generally faster to just bulk and cut anyway. If you can keep your fat intake at about 5% for months on end it will work, but that's more strict than most can stand doing and these days everyone is convinced carbs are bad so they won't even try it anyway, then they wonder why they are still fat after getting 50% of their calories from fat for years.
>>76583571>I fell for the "body recomp" meme and waste a whole year of my life making barely any progressyou legitimately aren't working out hard enough and didn't have your sleep dialed in.
>>76586734your weight goes up and your body fat goes up. it's virtually impossible to gain pure muscle without fat build up by eating surplus and just lifting. clean bulking is easy if only it becomes a habit and one becomes accustomed to it.
If you believe the studies, the conclusion is that you already maximize muscle growth at a calorie surplus of 200-500kcal. A higher surplus typically just lead to very similar muscle gain but more fat gain. This is very much in line with the generally recommended 500kcal surplus for "bulking", although you probably don't need to be anal about hitting the 500kcal surplus. That said, a surplus of 500 and more can be beneficial for strength.
>>76579407I need to cut but I always hungry :(
>>76583571Body recomp only works if you’re a fatty or getting back into training after a long time off.
>>76579407I'm in this exact situation. Bulk is the solution, just don't bulk too agressively.If you're going to renew your kitchen, you're not going to do that cupboard by cupboard. You're going to remove the whole kitchen and then build it up again, right? It's going to be ugly for a while, but people don't get to see that. You'll show them when everything is finished. Same thing goes for your body. During the winter you're going to wear hoodies and sweatshirts, people are not going to see your abs anyway so why care. Build and cut next year and then show them what you built.
>>76579407Bulking and cutting are done by body dysmorphic bodybuilders who need to constantly alter the look of their body to feel in control. Muscle building does not require putting on fat. It doesn't require fat or carbs at all, only protein which doesn't store as fat. Bulk/cut retards are dumb as fuck and waste all that time and effort, usually just ending up with loose skin and looking worse than they would if they'd just eat normally.
