Continue Cutting or Start Bulking?

Training Bodybuilding
41

[quote]shoobey wrote:
D Public wrote:
forget about bulking and cutting…

I think the best mentality to have is…How much food do I need to eat so I can get stronger on my exercises…

Your entire goal should be to get stronger in that 6-12 rep region…Personally, if I’m not eating a lot, I can’t gain strength at all…some people need to eat less…some people need to eat more…it’s a very personal thing…

Don’t get trapped in the endless cycle of bulking then cutting then bulking then cutting…It doesn’t work…I’ve tried it several times now…I always lose strength and then end up bulking right back to where i started…not making any progress strength wise…after enough times, I realized that my only concern should be to eat enough to continually gain strength…

No offense intended whatsoever, but how do you know you just didn’t bulk/cut incorrectly? This is the third time I’ve tried cutting, first two times I lost a ton of strength and muscle and didnt even look that cut near the end of it, but this time I kept most of the muscle I had, and a lot of my lifts actually increased from what they were at before.

In the past when I tried bulking too, the first time I put on a ton of fat and then lost muscle when I cut, but the second time I got lazy near the end of the bulk and just stopped lifting and working out for a year after, but then I started cutting and I did retain most of the muscle from that bulk.

I was in the same mindset as you with giving up on bulking/cutting, but I don’t think it’s a simple it works or doesn’t work thing. I think just eating and lifting and trying to progress will obviously work, but I believe that if you truly cut/bulk correctly, it is much more effecient then just lifting and eating correctly, and you will get gains much quicker than you would otherwise.
[/quote]

If I showed you my diet right now, it would look like a bulk to you…but it isn’t…I don’t bulk/cut anymore…I just eat enough food to make strength gains every week, and If I don’t make gains then I add more food…

You can do whatever you want though…I’m just offering you my perspective on the issue…

42

[quote]trmn8r99 wrote:
it think it just depends on what your goals are man.[/quote]

If the goal is to cut while weighing 140 lbs, this is the wrong site.

43

[quote]Professor X wrote:
WannaBeRealBig wrote:
Don’t listen to these haters. But I’d say maintain your current level for a few months and then start bulking.

This guy is a beginner. Your advice is a great way for him to completely avoid taking advantage of both the rebound effect and any “newbie gains”.

Your advice would fit if he was an advanced lifter who had bulked up for several years and was dieting down for a contest for the first time, not someone this fucking tiny.[/quote]

I’m not a beginner, just years of incorrect/uncessary cutting and bulking, topped off with a year and a half of not lifting or dieting and getting very out of shape.

Prior to this cut now, I bulked and was maintaining for a few months, but then I stopped lifting/dieting all together, and just piled on fat for over a year. But as soon as I got back into it I just immediately starting cutting, and here I am

44

[quote]D Public wrote:
shoobey wrote:
D Public wrote:
forget about bulking and cutting…

I think the best mentality to have is…How much food do I need to eat so I can get stronger on my exercises…

Your entire goal should be to get stronger in that 6-12 rep region…Personally, if I’m not eating a lot, I can’t gain strength at all…some people need to eat less…some people need to eat more…it’s a very personal thing…

Don’t get trapped in the endless cycle of bulking then cutting then bulking then cutting…It doesn’t work…I’ve tried it several times now…I always lose strength and then end up bulking right back to where i started…not making any progress strength wise…after enough times, I realized that my only concern should be to eat enough to continually gain strength…

No offense intended whatsoever, but how do you know you just didn’t bulk/cut incorrectly? This is the third time I’ve tried cutting, first two times I lost a ton of strength and muscle and didnt even look that cut near the end of it, but this time I kept most of the muscle I had, and a lot of my lifts actually increased from what they were at before.

In the past when I tried bulking too, the first time I put on a ton of fat and then lost muscle when I cut, but the second time I got lazy near the end of the bulk and just stopped lifting and working out for a year after, but then I started cutting and I did retain most of the muscle from that bulk.

I was in the same mindset as you with giving up on bulking/cutting, but I don’t think it’s a simple it works or doesn’t work thing. I think just eating and lifting and trying to progress will obviously work, but I believe that if you truly cut/bulk correctly, it is much more effecient then just lifting and eating correctly, and you will get gains much quicker than you would otherwise.

If I showed you my diet right now, it would look like a bulk to you…but it isn’t…I don’t bulk/cut anymore…I just eat enough food to make strength gains every week, and If I don’t make gains then I add more food…

You can do whatever you want though…I’m just offering you my perspective on the issue…

[/quote]

Isn’t eating enough to make strength gains basically bulking? If you can only do that and never have to worry about cutting fat though, it must be because your lean. What about people like me that put on fat when they try to add muscle? What are you supposed to do if you want to drop bodyfat but you don’t cut?

45

Sry my B. He looked pretty good from his pics I figured he’d been training a while.

46

You have a good starting point to really add some serious size - you’re lean enough to really see where you’re at, and there’s absolutely no reason to cut - definitely start bulking.

You seem like you have a good idea of what you need to do, and have learned from past mistakes.

So while not going completely overboard, and obviously staying totally dedicated to your lifting (no year off from training while you keep eating as if you are training consistently) you should start employing a diet with a caloric surplus and train balls-to-the-wall heavy on the basic lifts, and I’m sure you’ll do very well…

47

ok shooby everyone on here has given you plenty of advice based on the fact that most of the people on here are trying to get as big as they can. you have to decide for yourself if its more important to stay lean and keep your six pack or spend some time getting bigger. you yourself said its more important to you to stay lean than get big when you gave some bullshit ratio or something.

now it is possible to do a clean bulk and not walk around with a fucking hibernating bears worth of fat but you probably will put on some fat. weve said it plenty of times on here that you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time so it is possible to not get too fat when doing a bulk. its going to require a lot of discipline and clean eating but you can give it a shot if thats the route you want to go.

now decide for yourself and stop asking other people for advice that you already know but dont want to swallow.

as a side note, for me, i like to bulk until my muscle or strength gains plateu then maintain for a little while then hit it hard again.

48

ok shooby everyone on here has given you plenty of advice based on the fact that most of the people on here are trying to get as big as they can. you have to decide for yourself if its more important to stay lean and keep your six pack or spend some time getting bigger. you yourself said its more important to you to stay lean than get big when you gave some bullshit ratio or something.

now it is possible to do a clean bulk and not walk around with a fucking hibernating bears worth of fat but you probably will put on some fat. weve said it plenty of times on here that you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time so it is possible to not get too fat when doing a bulk. its going to require a lot of discipline and clean eating but you can give it a shot if thats the route you want to go.

now decide for yourself and stop asking other people for advice that you already know but dont want to swallow.

as a side note, for me, i like to bulk until my muscle or strength gains plateu then maintain for a little while then hit it hard again.

49

You are between 8-11% body fat and your debating if you should cut?! I understand this whole "should I cut or should I bulk thing if your in a grey area; for example, if you were 19.5% bodyfat and had a skinny-fat type physique. Then the question becomes a bit more complicated; but, when you see your 6 pack of abs pretty well, the question shouldn’t even be asked. Quite frankly, it is the PERFECT opportunity to bulk. Up your calories (make sure you get a lot of protein as well), up your training intensity (referring to overall exertion), and start gaining some muscle. At this point, you can probably pack on quite a bit without getting noticeably fat.

50

[quote]shoobey wrote:

I’m not a beginner
[/quote]

HA!!

51

[quote]shoobey wrote:
Isn’t eating enough to make strength gains basically bulking?
[/quote]
I don’t like the term bulking…it has a bad connotation…I’m not eating crap food in order to gain weight…I don’t have weight goals every week…I eat to make strength gains…Ii’m eating a lot of beef, potatos, eggs, ocassional cheeseburgers, protein drinks…things like that…I’m not eating cookies and ice cream simply to make the scale go up…

[quote]shoobey wrote:
If you can only do that and never have to worry about cutting fat though, it must be because your lean. What about people like me that put on fat when they try to add muscle? What are you supposed to do if you want to drop bodyfat but you don’t cut?
[/quote]

Well, I wouldn’t drop body fat until I’ve made significant improvements…

My personal size goals may differ from yours…But the concept remains the same…if after a year of gaining, you think you will be content with your size goals dieted down then that is when you would cut down and maintain…some people won’t diet down until they feel they are ready to win a bodybuilding show…

essentially, you need to put in a solid amount of time gaining strength/size before you cut…

52

[quote]Professor X wrote:
shoobey wrote:

I’m not a beginner

HA!![/quote]

Yes.

If you start eating more than my 4 year old son and getting serious in the gym, I think you’ll find that you won’t wake up one day and be like SHIT IM FAT NOW WTF.

53

[quote]Josh Rider wrote:
You are between 8-11% body fat and your debating if you should cut?! I understand this whole "should I cut or should I bulk thing if your in a grey area; for example, if you were 19.5% bodyfat and had a skinny-fat type physique. Then the question becomes a bit more complicated; but, when you see your 6 pack of abs pretty well, the question shouldn’t even be asked. Quite frankly, it is the PERFECT opportunity to bulk. Up your calories (make sure you get a lot of protein as well), up your training intensity (referring to overall exertion), and start gaining some muscle. At this point, you can probably pack on quite a bit without getting noticeably fat.[/quote]

x2, except for all the exertion and skinny-fat mumbo jumbo.

What you need to do is eat and lift, because right now, you look like you do neither.

There are many, many articles on this site that will teach you how to do both successfully.

Good luck.

54

If it helps your psychomumbojumbo, then just try to make strength gains, and eat enough to ensure that you can keep making them.

This will probably be a caloric surplus.

55

Definitely start bulking man, and for future reference, you should bulk before you cut next time…

56

[quote]Professor X wrote:
shoobey wrote:

I’m not a beginner

HA!![/quote]

x2

57

No offense dude. but weight is weight. 140 lbs is 140 lbs. If you were a 3 foot tall ninja you maybe would be filled out at 140 lbs.

like crown just said, eat and lift, but for gods sake EAT CLEAN.

find out how many cals you need to gain a pound a week and then eat those cals CLEANLY.

58

Even the men’s health forum would tell you to bulk. If that wouldn’t convince you nothing will.

59

[quote]ajweins wrote:
Even the men’s health forum would tell you to bulk. If that wouldn’t convince you nothing will.[/quote]

lol, I’ve “dirty” bulked in the past before but never clean bulked. I apologize if I should just ask in the nutrition forums, but do you have to eat as cleanly on a clean bulk as you do when you are cutting?

60

[quote]shoobey wrote:
ajweins wrote:
Even the men’s health forum would tell you to bulk. If that wouldn’t convince you nothing will.

lol, I’ve “dirty” bulked in the past before but never clean bulked. I apologize if I should just ask in the nutrition forums, but do you have to eat as cleanly on a clean bulk as you do when you are cutting?[/quote]

No. You just need to eat enough to make signifant strength gains. No one is advocating getting fat here. Your dirty bulk was not the way to go if you got fat. No one is advocating for you to get fat. However, you don’t have to purely eat clean food. If you have a cheat meal, don’t worry about it. Just don’t eat like that everyday. If you start to gain too much fat then don’t eat so many calories the next couple weeks and see how your body responds. If you stop gaining weight then you need to eat more. No one is telling you to try and gain 50 lbs in 3 months.