Bulking Question.

adiboy2349

Hi,

I'm planning to go on a 6 Week bulk wherein during the first 2 weeks i'll be eating maintenance calories & during the next 4 weeks eating between 300 & 500 cals above maintenance & then cut for about 2-3 weeks. My question though is, say suppose during the first few weeks on the bulk I put on weight, should I reevaluate my calories as my maintenance calories would have gone up & then eat more?
Thanks..

xcalygrl

You're unlikely to see much in the way of results doing a 6 week bulk. It takes time to add muscle mass and 6 weeks likely isn't enough time.

adiboy2349

Well, I agree with you. I was Skinny fat initially, I've been cutting since the past 1 year & I'm nearly where I wanted to be in terms of body fat levels. I've been having some health issues of late due to constant dieting, hence I wanted to opt for Bulk-Cut cycles.

I'm afraid to Bulk for a long time fearing the body fat levels might start creeping in again. Hence, I wanted to Bulk for a while.

xcalygrl

adiboy2349 wrote: »

Well, I agree with you. I was Skinny fat initially, I've been cutting since the past 1 year & I'm nearly where I wanted to be in terms of body fat levels. I've been having some health issues of late due to constant dieting, hence I wanted to opt for Bulk-Cut cycles.

I'm afraid to Bulk for a long time fearing the body fat levels might start creeping in again. Hence, I wanted to Bulk for a while.

I would opt for a recomp then (this is just my opinion). If you put the work in, you can get great results from recomping instead of bulking/cutting. It's slower going, but you don't have to eat a bunch of food just to turn around and cut your calories. Doing short bulk/cut cycles will probably leave you feeling like you're spinning your wheels since you aren't giving your body enough time to start making gains.

adiboy2349

Recomp as far as I know is effective in rank beginners right? I have over a year of strength training with good numbers under my belt.... Do you think I'd be able to gain the benefits of Recomp under these circumstances? Plus I already look skinny now :-D
Thanks for taking time to help me out... Cheers

xcalygrl

To the best of my knowledge, a recomp is more effective for beginners but it can be used past the newbie stage. In my understanding, you can make progress/see changes, but it'll be slow (even slower than recomping as a beginner).

I would still say that if you want to bulk/cut, do it for longer than 6 weeks. A good starting number is 3-6 months (in my experience/based on my knowledge). I understand your hesitation to gain fat, but you really won't gain a ton of fat unless you go all willy-nilly on your eating. Yes, you'll gain some fat, but you aren't going to get fat again unless you stop watching what you eat and stop working out.

These are two pretty good articles about the hesitation to bulk after you've been cutting for so long.
http://www.jcdfitness.com/2009/10/the-former-fat-boy-syndrome/
http://www.jcdfitness.com/2012/03/former-fat-boy-syndrome-hangups/

sijomial

adiboy2349 wrote: »

Recomp as far as I know is effective in rank beginners right? I have over a year of strength training with good numbers under my belt.... Do you think I'd be able to gain the benefits of Recomp under these circumstances? Plus I already look skinny now :-D
Thanks for taking time to help me out... Cheers

No that's a myth.
Recomp is working for me and I'm close to lifetime bests - first started strength training in 1974 so not exactly a beginner!
There is a load of derp on the general forums that thinks everybody under the sun needs to cut/bulk irrespective of goals and they chuck around silly comments based on hearsay.

Would say that if you do actually want to add weight slowly don't go for a specific number of calories over a theoretical maintenance - do it based on results.

Some outliers even manage to add muscle without adding fat but keep it quiet or you will be burned as a witch for going against one of those "absolute truths".

stronglifts.com/how-to-build-muscle-while-losing-fat/

Adding 3lbs in 3 months in example above is really in the recomp spectrum as it's such a tiny surplus.