Should natural lifters bulk / cut?

We're in the middle of winter and chances are you're bulking. Around April you will start a cut to look good for summer. If you're natural, you might be spinning your wheels and putting your body through stress to get gains that could have been acquired in a different fashion (refer to the video about bulking mistakes for more information.)

[JerryDangle]

Just discovered your channel.

Appreciate your perspective and opinion based on experience as a natty.

Once you realize that even the best newbie gains are at max 5kg/year lean mass for maybe 1-2 years depending on how underweight, optimized diet & program, genetics; even that is basically 100gms per week averaged out (obviously growth is not linear).

If we halve that, which would be unrealistic for experienced lifters, that is only 50gms/week.

At 15-20% body fat, you're really not going to see those changes of recomposition for at least several months worth of training.

If you're not having trouble maintaining relatively constant bodyweight, focus on improving the quality of diet (health) and training intensity, trust the process. Learn to be patient and love the lifestyle. The results will come.

Bulking and cutting is hard on your hormones, get too fat and your test levels suffer, prolonged calorie deficit and your test levels suffer.

You'll only be as big as the hormones you can produce, i.e. health is everything.

[Paroex]

I've come to the same conclusion myself. After years of bulking/cutting and more or less gaining/losing the same 30 lbs, I empirically figured out my maintenance calories (checking my average weekly weight). Then I'd stay there for months on end sometimes, just because there was a feeling of security and stability in not always going somewhere else, not always eating too little or too much. And then if I want to, because I've nailed down my maintenance calories to the point where my weight only fluctuates by a decimal or two, it's easy to add small calorie surplus of 100-200 kcal. Then I'll stay there for many months (adding another 100 if I stall AND aren't getting chunky), getting modest but "lean" gains over a long time period. Your mileage may vary.

[aaronf]

This is a video a lot natural lifters need to hear. I made the mistake of bulking up far too much and have a decent road ahead of me of cutting. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. Once i find a weight i am comfortable at, i will do exactly the strategy you laid out. Increase calories a bit and ride it out. Rushing and going too far on a bulk for size and strength is a first class ticket to depression and loss of motivation. Great vid

[weshallneversurrender]

Awesome topic! When I used to do bodybuilding I was a massive fan of it, totally indoctrinated on the whole bulk/cut thing, but then when I transitioned to calisthenics I really got over it and focused more on strength. Now, with weights and calisthenics I'm back to trying to maintain a small surplus, but no real bulk/cut nonsense anymore 😉

[airhead]

This video is so short it’s like the NH version of a tik tok

[francescopioobermajer]

I definitely agree with you. I believe that what you advise is probably the best way to go for most lifters. Keep them videos coming 👍

[peliac]

Great video, its unbelievable how much harm pro bodybuulding (enhanced) has done for natural weight lifters. Whats the point of doing constant bulk/cut cycles for marginal ROI? I hated bulking because i felt chubby and looked bloated during them, even though i wasnt that fat. Eating at maintenance for naturals is the way to go.

[uwatmusic]

Best advice for naturals ive seen in a while

[Summerbrah]

Let your training dictate your diet. Your body will tell you when you need more calories to support your training.

[MonkeyBarsEveryday]

My weight over 8mo:

start - skinny fat - 141lb
few months of lifting + dirty bulk - fat - 176lb
cut back down to current weight of 144lb - lean/muscular (strongest I've ever been)

if I had just maintained my calories from the start and then maybe adjusted to a slight surplus, I'd be in the same place but without having had to bulk and cut. would not recommend for skinny fat noobs. just train hard and eat and watch your body transform over a year like you wouldn't believe

[EverAscendingSyndrome]

I prefer recomposition. Or slow bulk. My goal is to make the ultimate 230 lb physique.

[sonicwave]

I was never really into the "gaining muscle is 70% diet" thing but I definitely obsessed over it a lot more at one point, even believing that training would be useless if I couldn't count my calories and bulk. But over two separate bulking cycles in 2 years I gained around 10-15 lbs of weight without a significant amount of strength to show for it. The second "bulk" was particularly dismal, I finally started tracking everything, gained around 7 lbs and my strength pretty much didn't go up at all. In the past year I changed up my training and definitely got stronger, even if only by a little bit, despite _losing_ a few pounds.

[robbiewatson]

What you're saying makes so much sense. It has NEVER seemed logical to me that you would need to manually increase your calorie intake to drive strength. I have always thought, surely the training stimulus should automatically drive the appetite. I really dislike the whole "your body doesn't want to grow, you must force it" doctrine - it doesn't have it's own opinion on the matter, it simply reacts and adapts to stimulus! I assume as your body accrues more muscle mass, it must simply modify it's own appetite to meet the demand...I don't know if this is true for sure, but I can't see any good reason why it wouldn't be true!

[jakemaxwell]

Instinctively I know bulking and cutting is not working because I have been losing and gaining the same weight for a number of frustrating years with a lot of effort, only to end up looking exactly the same but was always lead to believe eating at maintenance would be spinning my wheels.

I'm 5ft 10, 170 lbs, around 15% bodyfat, most of which is distributed in my midsection. I think my natural weight should be around 170 because I always seem to end up around that weight when I don't count calories.

I'm more interested in being lean rather than a lot of mass so I'll just start recouping for a year and see where it takes me, I have exhausted the other possibility and know for sure it will not result in my desired look

[barbells.dumbbells.thatsit]

I have possibly an unpopular stance on this. I love dirty bulking, and I love dieting down every 3 years for the challenge. Size and strength should always be the priority. The diet should be temporary to change up the training, and give you an actual goal and athletic endeavor to look your best. Natural bodybuilding is the answer, and the number 1 priority is eating everything in sight and getting strong. Just my philosophy at the moment. It’s worked great for me over the years. 3 years is plenty of time to hit pr’s and push it in the gym before you go ahead and cut might I add. It’s a good sweet spot.

[mounty]

Good video! My opinion... if you cannot do maintenance you should never bulk or cut, cause of rebound. If you can do maintenance... GREAT... look in the mirror... if you lift every day/put a lot effort in it... do you look good naked? No? Cut... till you look good... then MAINTENANCE... as long as you can use progressive overload on your sessions stay at maintenance... if you stall up the calories a bit... so your training can catch momentum again... Basicly it's like your advice but the emphasis is on the danger of cutting... rebound and binge... and the danger of bulking... too much and you will waste time cutting... if you look good naked and the lifts improve or the work capacity, or less rest times etc no need to go off maintenance.

[williamthomas]

It helps with cardio as well. High clean calories with heavy cardio as well as heavy weight training produces a strong muscle base with low fat. Especially depending on genetics. I’m natural and my genetics allow my to put on size with a bulk and add muscle then cut fat easily and maintain quite a bit of muscle. I don’t ever do a dirty bulk though.

[theFriendlyGhst]

I like this a lot. I struggle to eat enough to be in a massive surplus and I've found when I do it successfully I gain too much fat and yet I've noticed when I eat around maintenance I can gain muscle without excessive fat. Makes sense that the cut/bulk cycle isn't for natty's.

[madhusudan]

Good advice. I suppose I did this intuitively. I was quite overweight, not obese, and first lost about 14kg (30lbs). Since then I've put significant effort into my lifting, eat around maintenance, and have seen my weight remain steady at 98kg while gaining muscle, as judged my the mirror and my lifts improving. I wanted to do a cut for a few months to get down to 15%bf, but now I'm reconsidering based on the information in this video. Should I just keep doing what I've been doing?

[intothewild.]

Im gaining muscle but cant get rid of belly fat for years... will try this from today.