I used to struggle with the concept of “cutting” and “bulking”. When delving into the fitness world for answers, it seems hard to avoid this bodybuilding-driven system of extremes as a means of improving your body composition. Most people don’t want to spend half the year getting fat and stacking on size, and the other half living off chicken breasts and broccoli. Most people can’t even think in terms of a year in the first place when it comes to improving their bodies. So what’s the solution?
It took me a long time to reconcile the clear results that the bodybuilding world achieves with the goals of normal people. That is, to look good as soon as possible and keep things that way long-term, while continuing to steadily improve overall strength and performance. I think there is an approach that does this, and this is how I believe almost everyone (other than competitive physique athletes or bodybuilding enthusiasts) should approach their training and nutrition to fuel an attractive, athletic body that stays that way year-round.
The Model
“Bulking” is just normal living
As a natural, muscle building takes time. A long time. The most guaranteed path to progress is through long-term steady growth; you want to avoid constant periods of calorie deficits. So, the only sensible thing to do in order to allow yourself maximum opportunity for strength and muscle progress is to eat at maintenance or in a slight calorie surplus for as many months at a time as possible.
What this means is that at least 9 months of the year, you should be “lean gaining”, which is a technical way of saying living normally. If you are unsure of where you should be with your diet, it’s here. You eat to appetite, aiming to be essentially maintaining your weight but not restricting yourself at all. Include protein (shoot for 1.8g per kg of bodyweight per day) and some vegetables, and you’ll be set. You don’t need to think too much during this time, just listen to your body and feed it what it needs. All the focus should go into your training, and progressively gaining strength on your key movements. Do this, and you set up the perfect environment for major growth and development.
Remember, as long as you are getting stronger, you know are making progress and building muscle. And there’s nothing else to worry about.
Cut for no more than 12 weeks per year
During 9+ months of gaining strength and muscle and living life, it’s natural to gain a few kilograms of fat on the side. This is where, in the remaining 12 weeks of the year, you can choose to spend a discrete period of time in a calorie deficit in order to actively lose that fat. You choose a specific weight loss goal (e.g. 3kg over 6 weeks, 5kg over 10 weeks) and the cut down to that level. Continue training as normal, but don’t expect to gain as much strength or muscle during this time—it’s an opposing physiological process, so consider any gains you do make as a bonus. The idea is that this is time out of the year allocated specifically for reducing body fat and nothing else. This allows you to get back to a level of leanness you are really happy with, and creates a buffer for slight fat gain to occur over the next year of strength progress. Time it when you like, but the lead-up to summer makes sense for many people (although your body fat should always stay within a lean, attractive range year-round, post-cut will be when you look your sharpest, so you might as well make the most of that if it suits you).
Now, I know this still sounds a lot like the traditional cutting and bulking method, and in a way it is a similar cycle. But here’s the key difference: your body composition never dramatically changes. Instead of experiencing huge swings in your physique, this is about steady, consistent strength improvement, and simply using a calorie deficit as a tool intermittently (once/twice per year) to drop body fat. You never have to get to a level of body fat that you are uncomfortable with, because a) body fat accumulation will be very slow, and b) when you are uncomfortable, that’s when it’s time to cut! I keep my six-pack all year round, and my body is always improving: either I’m gaining more size (most of the time), or more definition (when doing a short cut). The second difference is that outside of your 4-12 week calorie deficit each year, you’re just eating a regular diet. You’re not “bodybuilding”, you’re just training and eating. This is how life should be, in my opinion.
Using this protocol, you can stay lean and keep your abs year round, while still leaving at least 3/4 of your life to ignore calories and maximise progress on your strength.
To learn more about how to nail strength gain, click here.
To learn more abut how to nail fat loss, click here.