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They would do this by eating the same number of calories they are burning and weight training.Īlso read: Tips To Have Balanced Nutrition for Kids and AdultsĪlternatively, they may choose to go straight from bulking to cutting by reducing their calories to 10-20% below their maintenance level. Once they are satisfied that they have bulked up sufficiently, they may choose to maintain in order to stop gaining more weight whilst burning fat and building muscle. After this period, they will have gained weight in both muscle mass and fat.
#What is bulking and cutting windows
If a bodybuilder is finding that their progress is slowing or they really want to hit some new goals and grow their muscle mass, then they will begin to bulk by eating roughly 10-20% higher than their maintenance calorie level.Īlthough there are no fixed time windows for how long to bulk or cut for, people generally tend to aim for 2-3 months bulking or until they have reached their specific goal. Here is an example of how these phases would be used in practical terms.
#What is bulking and cutting how to
Using these as a guide, we recommend simply trying out slightly varying figures to see which is the most effective for you.Īlso read: Nutrients for Sports Injuries: How to Heal FasterĬutting, Bulking, Maintaining: In Practice There are many rough estimates and techniques for figuring out a general idea of what your maintenance level may be. In order to maintain, you should be eating the same (or as close to as possible) number of calories as you are burning each day.įinding this balance can be difficult at first but it’s all about patience and tracking your calorie intake, calorie expenditure and seeing how your body reacts to this. It is also used when a bodybuilder is content with their current state and wants to maintain their current physique. This is known as maintenance in the fitness and bodybuilding world and is used between bulking and cutting phases when your goal is to convert the fat you have stored during your bulk into muscle mass. If you are neither in a calorie surplus nor a calorie deficit, then you will not be consistently gaining or losing weight. Eating maintenance calories is more or less what it says on the tin. It is generally recommended to eat in roughly a 10-20% calorie surplus to gain weight efficiently whilst maintaining a fit and healthy state.įinally, we come to the maintaining phase. This results in your body storing the excess energy which can then be used to help repair and grow your muscles. In order to bulk, you must eat in a calorie surplus which means you consume more calories than you expend day-to-day.
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It may come as a surprise to some people but in order to make efficient progress, bodybuilders generally choose to go through a phase of intentionally gaining weight to allow their bodies to build muscle mass and strength more quickly. ‘Bulking’ is another phase in dieting and is very important. This will generally result in low energy levels though as your body is expending more energy than you are feeding it so it can be tough to keep up your training to the same level. To cut, you must be in a calorie deficit which means consuming fewer calories than you are burning daily over a consistent period of time. However, cutting can be more complex than it first seems as you must ensure that you lose fat without losing too much muscle mass or strength in order to continue your progress. To many people, this may seem like an obvious thing for bodybuilders to do as you always see bodybuilders in their leanest, most ripped state when modelling or posing. Cutting or being on a cut means you are trying to shed excess fat in order to become more lean. So let’s get down to it and chat about what each one means. One constant which almost every single bodybuilder agrees on is that cutting, bulking and maintaining are key to efficient progress. When it comes to nutrition there is so much information out there and so many contradictions as to what is the best approach. If you are passionate about fitness or are looking to embark on your natural bodybuilding journey, then you will probably come across the terms ‘cutting’, ‘bulking’ and ‘maintaining’ quite a lot.