HELP Should I BULK or CUT

Neither, if i were you I would be on a moderate deficit in alongside a balanced cardio and weight training regime. I see no reason why you would need to bulk or cut at your current bf %.

JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »

Neither, if i were you I would be on a moderate deficit in alongside a balanced cardio and weight training regime. I see no reason why you would need to bulk or cut at your current bf %.

Out of interest why would you say that he doesnt need to cut and yet recommend a slight deficit. Not need to cut implies bulk but he cant bulk in a deficit. Just curious.

OP - My opinion differs. I personally think your BF% is too high to bulk. Cut down to between 10-12% first. Then lean bulk. this way you can bulk for a prolonged period before reaching a BF% where you need to begin a cut.

Your BF% shouldn't take too long to reduce. Calculate your TDEE and then work out your daily calories based on a 25% deficit. Eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of body weight and 0.2g of Fat per lb. Get the rest of your calories from carbs.

Do you currently lift? What program if any are you doing?

joncooper1980 wrote: »

JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »

Neither, if i were you I would be on a moderate deficit in alongside a balanced cardio and weight training regime. I see no reason why you would need to bulk or cut at your current bf %.

Out of interest why would you say that he doesnt need to cut and yet recommend a slight deficit. Not need to cut implies bulk but he cant bulk in a deficit. Just curious.

OP - My opinion differs. I personally think your BF% is too high to bulk. Cut down to between 10-12% first. Then lean bulk. this way you can bulk for a prolonged period before reaching a BF% where you need to begin a cut.

Your BF% shouldn't take too long to reduce. Calculate your TDEE and then work out your daily calories based on a 25% deficit. Eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of body weight and 0.2g of Fat per lb. Get the rest of your calories from carbs.

Do you currently lift? What program if any are you doing?

Beginners have the ability to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if they work hard enough. Noob gains are real and begginers should take advantage of it. Eating a high protein consumption and doing a clean bulk will enable you to build muscle and slowly lost body fat overtime. Within your first year of training hard and eating well you can gain up to 25 pounds or 11kg of lean body mass. Take advantage!

StealthHealth wrote: »

OP, you are 18 years old. The next couple of years are your golden years for muscle growth: Do not squander them . Bulk

StealthHealth wrote: »

OP, you are 18 years old. The next couple of years are your golden years for muscle growth: Do not squander them . Bulk

So true! Im 19 and have been trying to bulk for the past 2.5 years. Manage to gain 17kg with minimal fat gain (maybe 1 or 2 %) would definitely recommend bulking til at least 21 or 22

OP shouldn't be thinking about bulking or cutting for the first 12 weeks IMO

Just lift, keep a food diary, count your calories.

When you've settled into a routine and your calories are consistent, decide whether a small cut is needed.

liams987 wrote: »

joncooper1980 wrote: »

JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »

Neither, if i were you I would be on a moderate deficit in alongside a balanced cardio and weight training regime. I see no reason why you would need to bulk or cut at your current bf %.

Out of interest why would you say that he doesnt need to cut and yet recommend a slight deficit. Not need to cut implies bulk but he cant bulk in a deficit. Just curious.

OP - My opinion differs. I personally think your BF% is too high to bulk. Cut down to between 10-12% first. Then lean bulk. this way you can bulk for a prolonged period before reaching a BF% where you need to begin a cut.

Your BF% shouldn't take too long to reduce. Calculate your TDEE and then work out your daily calories based on a 25% deficit. Eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of body weight and 0.2g of Fat per lb. Get the rest of your calories from carbs.

Do you currently lift? What program if any are you doing?

Beginners have the ability to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if they work hard enough. Noob gains are real and begginers should take advantage of it. Eating a high protein consumption and doing a clean bulk will enable you to build muscle and slowly lost body fat overtime. Within your first year of training hard and eating well you can gain up to 25 pounds or 11kg of lean body mass. Take advantage!

While they do have the ability to do both simultaneously, it's not at the same rate. The muscle growth is much slower and this isn't really done in a surplus state. Being young, I would agree that his is more primed to gain muscle, but his body fat looks a bit high. I would almost suggest cutting for a few months and then going to a bulk.


BTW, out of curiousity, how did you measure muscle gains??

psulemon wrote: »

liams987 wrote: »

joncooper1980 wrote: »

JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »

Neither, if i were you I would be on a moderate deficit in alongside a balanced cardio and weight training regime. I see no reason why you would need to bulk or cut at your current bf %.

Out of interest why would you say that he doesnt need to cut and yet recommend a slight deficit. Not need to cut implies bulk but he cant bulk in a deficit. Just curious.

OP - My opinion differs. I personally think your BF% is too high to bulk. Cut down to between 10-12% first. Then lean bulk. this way you can bulk for a prolonged period before reaching a BF% where you need to begin a cut.

Your BF% shouldn't take too long to reduce. Calculate your TDEE and then work out your daily calories based on a 25% deficit. Eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of body weight and 0.2g of Fat per lb. Get the rest of your calories from carbs.

Do you currently lift? What program if any are you doing?

Beginners have the ability to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if they work hard enough. Noob gains are real and begginers should take advantage of it. Eating a high protein consumption and doing a clean bulk will enable you to build muscle and slowly lost body fat overtime. Within your first year of training hard and eating well you can gain up to 25 pounds or 11kg of lean body mass. Take advantage!

While they do have the ability to do both simultaneously, it's not at the same rate. The muscle growth is much slower and this isn't really done in a surplus state. Being young, I would agree that his is more primed to gain muscle, but his body fat looks a bit high. I would almost suggest cutting for a few months and then going to a bulk.


BTW, out of curiousity, how did you measure muscle gains??

I used a starting weight and overtime i took pictures so i could measure in the future. Later on i got a fat cailper test and it never really changed i stayed at around 10 - 11% for over a year whilst gaining weight. Therefor lean muscle mass.

Eat at or around maintenance and lift heavy. That's my recommendation. At your age you should see plenty of profit.

Start a good program, work on form and lifting heavy while recomping.

You shouldn't bulk or gain. You can do both. You can gain muscle while burning fat with the right diet and workout plans. Eat clean foods, drop the crap. Stick to meals consisted of good protein like grilled chicken, veges, and carbs like rice sweet potatoes etc. Create a good workout plan that involves great strength training workouts to build muscle mass and also cardiovascular workouts to burn fat. Since you're a beginner you can start small, stick to the basic workouts benching dead lifts squats etc. This will really help with gaining. For cardio one great tip is to use a jump rope it's a great tool used to burn fat and condition your body. One last tip. Try to keep your workouts to about an hour. Any longer you're probably gonna end up doing more hard than good. Burning the gains you may already have worked for.

Agreed don't squander them newbie gains, but also agreed the bf% is high. I'd suggest eating at maintenance, up the intensity of your workout, shorten them rest times. That will increase your muscle building cardio, promote hypertrophy, and help shed some of that fat. Look into a recomp. Being young you can gain good muscle without being in a surplus, but must be in a deficit to burn fat. So eating maintenance you must up your intensity so your burning more calories than normally. You dont want to inetially eat in a deficit and miss out on any available gains