Bulking/Cutting question

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kopmom
kopmom Posts: 491 Member
Curious question....do you have to bulk before you cut? Or can anyone cut who wants to lower their BF% without bulking? How is cutting any different then "dieting"?

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  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    No. You don't need to bulk before you cut. If you are already carrying too much fat then you will want to cut. Cutting is simply lowering your bf. To do this you will need to eat below maintenance (dieting) and have a sensible workout routine.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Curious question....do you have to bulk before you cut? Or can anyone cut who wants to lower their BF% without bulking? How is cutting any different then "dieting"?

    cutting is dieting...usually a small cut from TDEE to lose fat and not burn up the muscle.
  • CoachColin
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    It somewhat depends on what your current body composition is. As far as I understand you can do both at a lower body fat percentage if you do it right. I personally am in the process of fine tuning my routine but esentially what I am trying to do is get about 500 excess calories on lift days and have a deficit of 500 on cardio days. That way my body fat % stays low or even drops but I build muscle at the same time. Hopefully, this helps answer your question. Feel free to message me if you have any more.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    It somewhat depends on what your current body composition is. As far as I understand you can do both at a lower body fat percentage if you do it right. I personally am in the process of fine tuning my routine but esentially what I am trying to do is get about 500 excess calories on lift days and have a deficit of 500 on cardio days. That way my body fat % stays low or even drops but I build muscle at the same time. Hopefully, this helps answer your question. Feel free to message me if you have any more.
    You can't bulk and cut at the same time as bulking means adding muscle with some fat (less the better) and cutting means losing fat; however, you can do what is called a recomp which is exactly what you are doing.