Bulk or Maintain?

jmule24

So based on 7 weeks of cutting I am averaging 0.80lbs/week. After 12 weeks of cutting I should be at 158 lbs @ 12% BF.

Should I bulk .5-1.0 lbs/week until I hit 15% BF

or

Maintain for 6-8 weeks then cut again back to 10%? (After I hit 10% BF I would bulk up to 15% and start the cycle over again.)

I know they recommend between 10-12% BF to start a bulk.

Any recommendations would be great!

bahnstormer

What is your goal? Physical appearance to be cut with abs for summer?

Win a power-lifting competition?

It all depends on your goals dude...

jmule24

bahnstormer wrote: »

What is your goal? Physical appearance to be cut with abs for summer?

Win a power-lifting competition?

It all depends on your goals dude...

Hybrid - Look good but be able to lift heavy. The theory is the more muscle I have, the greater potential for strength there is. If that makes any sense.

terizius

Is 6-8 weeks of maintenance going to help you reach your goals? Sometimes we just need a break from all the tracking, but maintenance when you haven't hit your goals yet isn't going to help you get there.

As to bulking or cutting, I'd say its personal preference. Your body fat % allows you to go either way. Have you hit a plateau on your lifts? If not, I would keep ride those gains and bulk up.

Brohan_Son

Permabulk

julzstawood

Brohan_Son wrote: »

Permabulk

Permabulk

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jmule24

MrM27 wrote: »

It all depends on what look you are going for at the moment. If you are thinking long term and don't really care what you look like in the summer, at the beach then you can go either way honestly. So if it's about long term I would probably get to 12% then stay there for the summer. You can reverse diet do maintenance ride the summer out the go into a bulk in the fall.

It you're looking for pure vanity for the summer then I would just ride the cut to 10%. Bulking in the summer to cut again seems rather pointless if vanity is your thing. Going from 12 to 10% isn't going to be a large amount of body fat but the visual appearance that you get from those 2 points can seem big. Dropping that extra fat can often give you the look as if you are more muscular simply due to the optical illusion due to lower body fat.

It's obvious from this thread that you've realized several cut/bulk cycles are in your future to get where you want. The path you take their is a personal choice based on importance of priorities.

Just say your reply this morning. Thanks MrM27, I always love your feedback/advice!
When I think about I honestly don't think it's purely vanity right now. Would it be cool to be "ripped" for summer, of course! I'm more looking to maximize my results when it comes to bulking time again. The leaner I get the more conducive my body is to wanting to build muscle rather than hold onto fat. At least that's what I continue to come up with when I research the topic.
Also, I keep seeing that you don't want to cut beyond 16 weeks as it can start to have damaging effects on hormones and metabolism. Being that I'm in my thirties now I need as much advantage as I can get.

With that said, by getting to 10% BF that allows me to add more lean mass going back up to 15% BF than starting my bulk at 12% BF..... (unless I'm wrong on that...)

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jmule24

Thank you for that! That definitely helps me make up my mind! I have 5 weeks left and I reduced my calories another 100 this week. (2150/day) I was at 2400 for 1 week and 2250 for the last 6 weeks. I was averaging 0.75/lbs per week lost and my BF % has gone from 16.01% down to 13.10% over this time frame.
The reason for my calorie decrease is hoping I slip by a "stall" period that commonly happens when you get to these BF %s.
I'm definitely in it for the long haul but sometimes it's hard to get past the week to week mental games!

Thanks again for all of your advice @MrM27 !