A young man walks into a gym, and immediately envisions his future self resembling Arnold Schwarzenegger, with bulging biceps no t-shirt can hold, and quads so big he can’t wear regular jeans. He begins to lift weights and finds online advice suggesting he needs to eat big to be big, and that he needs massive amounts of protein every day, preferably consumed every 3 hours to prevent going catabolic, and not to worry if he gets a little “soft” or “fluffy” as he will just diet that off during a cut.
In no time, this young man does indeed look like a bigger version of himself. His t-shirts are tight and he needs to buy new pants. He’s excited about the massive amount of new muscle he is building, even though when he takes his clothes off he is definitely chubby, perhaps even…. fat. Nonetheless, he continues his bulk, lifting weights and telling everyone who inquires about his rather puffy face that he’s bulking. All part of the plan.
After gaining around 25 lbs, our young muscle enthusiast is feeling sluggish, has grown tired of eating so much food and honestly can’t stand the sight of himself in the mirror. It’s time to cut and reveal the chiseled and muscular physique he’s created. He cuts calories and begins his diet. At first it’s a joy to not feel stuffed full of food every minute of the day. He’s enjoying his salads, he is happy to forgo the mass gaining shakes and is excitedly awaiting the first visible abdominal muscle.
Unfortunately, he soon becomes hungry and sticking to his diet becomes increasingly difficult. Seeking online support, he finds that he should increase his step count and perhaps consider a diet break. He also finds that perhaps a ketogenic diet will help, since it is well known to have a satiating effect.
After many miserable months, he has lost 20 lbs and looks remarkably similar to when he first started his bulk in what his calendar shockingly tells him was a year ago. He’d like to get leaner to fully expose his 6-pack, but he already looks small in his old clothes again. Seeking online support, it is suggested it’s time for another bulk, and before you know it, he’s chubby again.
I have done this so many times in the almost 40 years I’ve been lifting weights that it’s honestly impossible to count. I will now explain why you shouldn’t do this, and what you should do instead.
Building muscle without the use of drugs that are designed to do exactly that, is an excruciatingly slow process. The most important factor is to train properly, and if you’re truly a beginner, it’ll probably take you some time to figure out how to do that. The training is the stimulus that tells your body to increase muscle protein synthesis and increase the size of the stressed muscle fibers. To imagine the length of time it takes to see visible muscular gains, imagine if you were to add 1 full pound of muscle right now. Across your entire body. From the calves, to your neck. 1 full pound. You would not notice it, yet you’d have to train hard, properly, to stimulate the chemical reactions to add that pound of new muscle and it would take time. Let’s add another pound, again spread across your entire body. You might notice something, but probably not. Do you think you had to stuff your face full of food every three hours to make this happen? I promise you, you do not. The first reason that bulking and cutting cycles are an awful idea is that they just aren’t necessary. In fact, a beautiful study supports that no additional caloric intake beyond those required to maintain your body weight is required. Eating more calories just adds more fat.
The second reason that bulking and cutting cycles are an awful idea, is that you will spend the majority of the time hating the way you look and feel. Once you’re a few weeks into your bulk, you will no longer like how you look with your shirt removed. The love handles aren’t very lovely, and you’re not going to convince yourself that you’re “pleasantly” plump. As the bulk continues, it only gets worse. Allow me to illustrate how crappy this situation is with a true story from my past.
Visiting family and friends in Miami during one of my many bulks, we took a boat out onto Biscayne Bay until we arrived at a sand bar where we promptly parked (or whatever the proper parlance is in boat speak), set up plastic chairs and disrobed to drink beer, eat chips and listen to music in the middle of the Bay. For some reason. Now when you’re a gym rat, you love telling people about it. You love telling stories about your training, you love talking about protein and everyone around you knows that you lift. It’s just what we do. When I removed my shirt, my brother-in-law tactfully says, “Man, for someone who works out as much as you do and worries about your diet so much, you sure are fat.” Sure, I could have explained I was eating big to get big, and that I’d be an Adonis once I did my next diet, but the reality was he was right. I was fat.
Being fat during your bulk and hating the way you look will soon end right? You’re going to cut. Wrong. It takes time to lose all that extra adipose tissue and even after weeks of eating in a calorie deficit, where you feel hungry, cranky and deprived, you will still look fat. So now you still hate the way you look, and you’re hungry too. You’ll likely spend a year between the bulk and the cut, only to arrive back where you started, with perhaps a little thicker chest and slightly larger arms. And you hated the way you looked the entire time.
Here’s what I suggest you do instead:
Step 1: Learn how to train properly and do that, regardless of the following dietary adjustments.
Step 2: Adjust your diet to get to a body composition you’re happy with. If you’re skinny, you’ll have to increase calories. If you’re chubby, you’ll have to decrease them. There’s no magical body fat % this equates to, and it will vary by individual. It’s completely up to you. What I use is a three pronged test:
- Do I feel confident taking my shirt off in public, say at the beach or a pool party with family and/or friends?
- Do I feel confident taking my shirt off and posting a picture of myself on the gram?
- Do I feel confident taking my shirt off in an intimate setting?
If I answer YES to the above, I’m at the right body composition. Now set your calories for maintenance and train your ass off. That’s it. That’s the solution. I promise you’ll be happy with the results. You will always look good (at least to you, and that’s what matters) and you will gain muscle because you’re training properly, and as I stated at the outset, that is the most important variable for muscle growth.
Here’s the unfortunate news that someone has to tell you. You will never, and I mean never, be as big as you want to be. It just isn’t going to happen, assuming you steer clear of injecting yourself in the ass with steroids. But you can look really damn good, enjoy the hell out of training and getting stronger and yes, bigger, and spare yourself agonizing over when to start your next bulk or if you’re too fat now and should start your cut. Shit, if you do this well, you may never have to cut calories below maintenance again. That alone is motivating enough.
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