One of the most common questions that I see while scrolling on Reddit sub-categories dedicated to fitness and nutrition relates to ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’ and people asking if they should do it. Whether someone should bulk or cut, or not, is an entirely personal and subjective decision to make.
I always cringe when I see people posting pictures of themselves on Reddit and urging random internet users to decide the bulking/cutting question for them. I urge people to, 1) strive to be comfortable in their bodies, and 2) decide for themselves what they want to look like and not compare themselves to other people.
What Is ‘Bulking And Cutting’?
For those who are not aware of the concepts, ‘bulking’ involves consuming more calories than someone burns in a day and lifting weights to increase muscle size, and ‘cutting’ is the opposite with someone trying to reduce the amount of fat they have on their bodies to reveal their muscle definition. Cutting requires going on a calorie-deficit diet or pursuing a strategy called ‘body recomposition.
“Body recomposition means to not necessarily go into a calorie deficit or calorie surplus with your nutrition, but aim for close to maintenance and train in a progressive way to gain muscle.” describes Men’s Health. In laypeople’s terms, you eat the number of calories a day that it takes to maintain your current weight while boosting your muscle mass via lifting weights and burning more calories by boosting your cardio. Over time, the strategy changes how your body looks.
Bulking is far more straightforward than cutting. For bulking, you basically eat as much protein as your body can absorb, while also running a calorie surplus to help ensure that the protein goes toward growing your muscles instead of being burned up during your daily exercises and other activities.
Cutting is much more tricky and requires a significant amount of consistency and discipline over a duration of time. How much time depends on several factors, not the least of which are how much fat someone is starting out with and what their metabolism rate is.
What Bodybuilders Do And Say
I want to drop some relevant references in this article for people over 40 from one of my favorite resources, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.
“The purpose of diet in bodybuilding is to help you gain muscle and lose fat.” Arnold states (page 731). “A lot of popular diets are concerned with losing overall body weight, but many of them result in losing a substantial amount of muscle tissue as well as stored body fat. Even some bodybuilders fall prey to the temptation to half-starve themselves in an attempt to achieve maximum muscularity.”
“Studies have shown that the adult metabolism tends to slow down by about 10 calories per day per year after the age of thirty.” Arnold writes (page 734). “This may not seem like much, but it does account for why many individuals of forty and older find themselves gaining weight even though they have made no change in their exercise and diet habits.”
Arnold writes in his book that he didn’t really practice the strategy of bulking and cutting, and preferred to stick to a diet consisting of 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fat and trying to stay trim and lean year-round. It is also worth noting that Arnold is a freak of nature from a physique standpoint, so he was able to get away with things that the average bodybuilder can not get away with, let alone what ‘regular’ people can get away with.
Elite bodybuilding demigods like 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, 6-time Mr. Olympia Chris Bumstead, 8-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, and rising bodybuilding star Sam Sulek all practiced/practice the strategy of bulking and cutting, and I personally feel, in my humble opinion, that if it works for them then it will likely work for us mere common mortals as long as we are disciplined about it. Sam Sulek recently shared on social media, as part of his ‘winter shredathon’ effort, his cutting diet – a 2,000 calorie/day cap consisting of 250 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbohydrates, and 40-50 grams of fat.
To re-iterate what I started out with at the beginning of this article, to bulk and cut or to not bulk and cut is a very personal decision that should be made based on individual situations, needs, and preferences and hopefully this article provided some things to consider. Best of luck in your decision making process!
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