I’ve been running a cut for about 12 weeks now. I ran 10 weeks initially then ran maintenance for 4 weeks and started again. I’m down from 220 to 199lbs. I’m currently losing 1-2 lbs per week. I’d like to drop about 8 more lbs.
My question is do I need to run maintenance before bulking and if so, how long?
Also once I’m done bulking, how long do I need to run maintenance before cutting any excess fat I may have gained during the bulk.
Thanks much for your help!
It seems that I learn something new here every day. 700mg/wk is a mild cycle?
Allow me to give you a different perspective. I never allowed my body fat to get above what I would guess is 15%. IMO, there is no need to be any higher percent body fat in order to put on muscle. I always wanted to see major muscle separation 365 days per year. I only cut below 15% body fat for a contest (which I did often.)
No. If anything, you’d run maintenance after bulking so the gains stick around longer.
This is utter bro science, but repeated by almost every big dude i know so 
4 weeks is the go-to response i seem to hear.
Any chance I can get some input from Coach Thibaudeau on this one?
I’ve read conflicting info from 4 weeks is a sufficient maintenance period to others who say it needs to last as long as the cut so in my case 10 weeks or more. Some even say maintenance isn’t needed when moving from a cut to a bulk. Also curious if the same logic applies when running maintenance after the next bulk, what period of time should that be?
It’s not a one size fits all approach. When you done dieting you need to build cals back in slowly. So add 200 cals in every 3 weeks or so until you reach your new Maintinance.
Once you’ve reached Maintinance continue to progress your lifts. When lifts stall add in some cals. You are now growing. Continue this process until you reach your goal for that growth period and then slowly drop cals again.
Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts.
With all due respect, the point of running maintenance after a deficit is to establish a new ‘set point’. Set point is the body weight/composition that your body strives to maintain. When you deviate from it in the short term, your body tries to get back to that set point. Increasing calories before a new set point has been established can lead to regaining fat you just worked hard to loose.
Lifting plateaus can be caused by a number of variables and overcome by many different approaches. That doesn’t factor into the set point I’m concerned about but again thank you for your thoughts.
You have no way to determine that setpoint without bringing up cals to find it. It’s not a math equation or a time period. It’s a process of slowly bringing up your cals and letting your body settle. If you are still losing weight you need to bring them up a bit more and let things settle. Repeat as needed until you are neither gaining or losing.
Once you find this new setpoint you have a few choices to make. Do you want to just exist and train? Do you want to grow? Once you have decided on your gameplan you start to adjust cals/macros to meet your goals.
The key here is to make changes slowly. I would suggest small caloric changes at min 3 weeks or when you bodyweight stops moving. The slower you make this process the less likely you are yo gain any fat.
I think you are overthinking a bit.
We’re talking about two different things here. You are talking about finding calorie maintenance and your approach to that is sound. The issue is that once you find that maintenance, you do have to stay there a while to allow your body to adapt to recent changes. This is definitely true coming off a bulk. If you go from a bulk back into a deficit too soon, your body will shed your newly built muscle instead of burning fat because it’s trying to return to its previous set point. There’s plenty of science behind it and multiple articles written. My question is how long does a person need to remain at maintenance to establish a new set point, so they don’t just revert to their previous physique after switching between bulking and cutting. There is mixed info on the how long aspect. I’m curious what CT’s position is because he’s one of the most knowledgeable and proven authorities in this area.
You are assuming there is a one size fits all approach and there is just not. This process happens by trial and error. Four to five weeks may be fine for me. It may not be for you.
If you were in a super deep deficit you may need longer.
The key takeaway is make slow changes and experiment.
BTW I don’t think CT is on this board currently if I’m remembering correctly.
You can gain muscle at maintenance. The training stimulus is more important than the calories.
Never said you couldn’t.
The choice is either remain at Maintinance or increase cals.
Thib Army has an article on this subject that my help answer at least half of your question.## Fast Or Slow - How Should You Approach Fat Loss?
What studies?
Both a new body fat set point and having to hold on to muscle after a bulk are bro myths.
Competitors, especially naturals now prefer to gain faster after a prep.
*maintenance… The old accepted “science” is now showing to be inaccurate is all I’m getting at.
I prefer staying as lean as possible when trying to grow. The old bulking routine just adds too much fat, fluid retention… hard to tell how much is actually muscle.
I agree. That is the approach i am taking right now.
How’s it going?
Follow along
Google it, there’s plenty of info. It’s a theory but there’s plenty of supporting evidence.
Turns out when hundreds of accomplished professional profess similar tactics have worked for them for years their ‘bro science’ frequently get’s ‘discovered’ and proven scientifically.