Ideas for bulking/cutting cycles
kapoorpk
Posts: 244 Member
I am past my 70 pounds of weight loss, down to 19% body fat and now focused on lifting heavier while pushing BF% down to 15%. Of course, as you all know, you can't cut without muscle loss and can't gain without fat gain, so I am wondering about what strategies have worked the best for people who have done this successfully building mass while keep BF down.
I am currently doing a 2 day split rotating push, pull and leg/kick muscle through those two days with 4 days of high intensity interval cardio a week. 2 day split meaning: M-push muscles, T-pull muscles + cardio, W - cardio only, Thu - legs+abs...repeat the pattern.
On just the cardio days, I cut my carb intake by 10-15%, keeping protein and fats the same. On all other days, eat at par.
Macros are: 50/30/20 for C/P/F
In total, I eat my maintenance calories + 1/2 of exercise calories. So, not quite a bulking surplus, but helps keep the fat down given that fat grows faster than fat.
Any thoughts on this approach or any others you have found to be more effective?
I am currently doing a 2 day split rotating push, pull and leg/kick muscle through those two days with 4 days of high intensity interval cardio a week. 2 day split meaning: M-push muscles, T-pull muscles + cardio, W - cardio only, Thu - legs+abs...repeat the pattern.
On just the cardio days, I cut my carb intake by 10-15%, keeping protein and fats the same. On all other days, eat at par.
Macros are: 50/30/20 for C/P/F
In total, I eat my maintenance calories + 1/2 of exercise calories. So, not quite a bulking surplus, but helps keep the fat down given that fat grows faster than fat.
Any thoughts on this approach or any others you have found to be more effective?
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Replies
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and now focused on lifting heavier while pushing BF% down to 15%
so are you cutting or bulking? pick one don't try to build mass while losing fat.
Assuming you are actually bulking then these are Just my personal opinions
19% bf is still fairly high to start a bulk but if you aren't bothered by this then go for it.
I don't like push pull legs when you only train muscles once a week, most people who run a PPL do it twice per week - frequency will be better than volume for the vast majority of people. I would do an upper/lower 2x per week or even 3x full body workouts.
I don't like the exercise calories method as you a relying on your calorie burns being accurate I would rather just work off tdee + 100/200 calories per day and moniter your progress - makes it much easier to make adjustments if things aren't going how you would like.
I wouldn't do 4 days worth of cardio if your main aim is building muscle...but I hate cardio.0 -
Just to add, it is totally individual dependent, but you do not necessarily lose muscle when cutting. It depends on your lifting life, general diet, leanness, age, gender, genetics, size of deficit, training routine etc.0
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and now focused on lifting heavier while pushing BF% down to 15%
so are you cutting or bulking? pick one don't try to build mass while losing fat.
Assuming you are actually bulking then these are Just my personal opinions
19% bf is still fairly high to start a bulk but if you aren't bothered by this then go for it.
I don't like push pull legs when you only train muscles once a week, most people who run a PPL do it twice per week - frequency will be better than volume for the vast majority of people. I would do an upper/lower 2x per week or even 3x full body workouts.
I don't like the exercise calories method as you a relying on your calorie burns being accurate I would rather just work off tdee + 100/200 calories per day and moniter your progress - makes it much easier to make adjustments if things aren't going how you would like.
I wouldn't do 4 days worth of cardio if your main aim is building muscle...but I hate cardio.
Agreed.
I agree with the rest also, but this is one of the things I would look to most.0 -
May be I am trying to do the impossible that you are suggesting agains, i.e. gain muscle while losing fat. I know they are competing priorities for your body, thus, this questions to seek ideas.
Some clarifications:
My calorie intake more specifically stated is TDEE (including exercise cals burnt) is about 2800 and I intake about 2300 a day. I know that you can't gain muscle mass, at least not all that much, on a calorie deficit, but I tend to gain fat faster than muscle, thus my reservation to eat more and this question to seek ideas.
So, my deficit is 500 a day
Cardio is 4 times a day, 2 x moderate intensity and 2 x HIIT
Regarding lifting twice a week, its twice a week if you consider the week to be 8 and not 7 days long. This is so because I am trying to not lift for two days in a row before resting (although its active rest when I do my HIIT). There was no other combo I could do that alternates weight training, alternated by rest days and cardio, so this worked for me.
I have gained some awesome arm, chest and quad definition( cuts) over the past 3 months, but also went up 1 % in BF. So, I am worried if I keep going this way, am I going to continue to see BF% increase?
With this additional information, should I just keep going, may be reduce the calorie intake a bit more until I get the BF % down to my goal and then gradually increase it to a point where I can increase it without change in body fat??0 -
Hi!
Looks like there are two there going on at one time. I am locking this one to cut down on confusion. If you want to add anything from here to the other, please feel free.0
This discussion has been closed.