How do you go from bulking to shredding? How often do you do it and how?

serapel

So, once a person has gained their desired muscle; they go into shred mode? Or do you shred every 6 months while maintaining?

How do you shred without losing muscle? Same weight, same reps while shredding? Lower weight, higher reps while shredding?

Thanks

wilsoncl6

The technique I use is to slowly lower my caloric intake every two weeks by about 250 calories until I'm below maintenance and continue to increase my deficit as I see the weight loss taper off. I don't use any particular time frame to determine when I do a cut, just when I really start to feel fat during my bulk. You will likely loose some amount of muscle in a cut but the best way to hold onto as much as possible is to ease into a caloric deficit and ensure you're eating a good amount of protein. I don't change my weight lifting routine but your max lifts will suffer during a cut when you're eating at a deficit. You just won't have the energy reserves to sustain your typical program. Here's a good article with links to cutting programs to help:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/plan-your-perfect-shred-5-steps-to-better-cut.html

Michael190lbs

Lift heavy, eat at a 250-500 deficit, No alcohol, high protein (minimum of .6) as high as your calories allow, lower sodium. Your going to lose muscle unless you take steroids.

LazSommer

shr3d it up br0

Lofteren

This is an old school technique but it works well. Once you have achieved a respectable amount of muscle mass and a low (ish) bodyfat percentage, you can continually bulk and cut in 2 week cycles. Just eat around 300-500cals over maintenance for 2 weeks and then eat around 300-500cals under maintenance for the next two weeks. During your bulks you can do a little less cardio and during your cuts you can do a little more cardio. This method is called Anabolic Burst Cycling or the ABC diet.

arditarose

There is too much shredding going on in here.

serapel

Thanks everyone. Am I eating enough to gain muscle?

I'm eating about 80 grams protein a day, 2200 cals a day in total. When I do the calculators, it tells me I need to eat 1950 cals to maintain.

I'm 5'8", 129 lbs, about 19-20% body fat. 45 years old...gained about 3 lbs muscle so far.

I am hip thrusting 135 lbs as of yesterday....very proud. Squatting 100 lbs. Cable pull throughs 90 lbs or American deadlift 70 lbs. Those are my biggies and then I do reverse extensions, quadrupled extensions, bands, etc. I keep increasing the weight every week. Also doing a ton of upper body....New to this program for about 2 months now...started with a personal trainer in April until July to get me going.

Been exercising for 25 years, but never lifted more than 50 lbs. Now I'm serious about it so I can enjoy my grandkids one day when I'm 70+ years old.