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After the Cut - how to stay lean & gain?

Puggy

Puggy

Member
Hey all,

I have often heard you can only cut & bulk you can't do them together. I'm still a novice to most of this. I've just started my first cut after gaining 7kg.
I should be at my leanest - 8% around mid december. Cutting I won't be able to gain anymore mass due to the caloric deficit and increased cardio.
However, once I hit 8% - should I lean bulk? - how do I do this most effectively to gain muscle and keep fat low?

My TDEE calories is 3000.

Thanks
Daniel
 
I can only go on personal experience where last year I got the leanest I've ever been. I was able to maintain my weight (within 2kg) without all the extra cardio by just watching what I was eating. I maintained it for 3 months until starting my bulking cycle.

The only thing I'm doing different this year is not going from 6 hours of cardio a week to 0. I will reverse diet and reduce cardio over 3-4 weeks. I will also try increasing calories slowly instead of going on a typical bulking plan. I've now twice gone on a cutting plan and it's really hard work getting lean. Over the next year I will try to maintain it and see how much muscle I can gain.
 
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Eat only minimally above what your body requires to build muscle. A life of deprivation is no fun....get your bulk on.
 
Go full paleo and eat whenever you want! Then strip down and go hunting wild roos for cardio, then deadlift it back home and feed on that too. That'll get you a stereosonic six pack in bro time.
 
steveP said:
I will also try increasing calories slowly instead of going on a typical bulking plan.
Click to expand...

Don't know why more people don't do this :confused:

Edit : [MENTION=17457]Repacked[/MENTION]; just saw your post below. Mensa kunce it should have been ;)
 
In my opinion if you don't want to go typical bulk. Eat enough to move the weights progressively. I'm not saying eat 2x TDEE but just enough so you can keep increasing somehow. Whether it be 1RM, 10RM, less rest time, extra sets. All these will build muscle as long as there is a surplus
 
I've been bulking for a couple years (mega ectomorph) and the only real advantage for me is less muscle loss and also I always have energy
Eating to stay lean and try put on a bit of muscle had me exhausted all the time... Was prob marginally undereating
 
Don't know why a "typical" bulk on the internet means eat everything in sight :p

You only need a moderate surplus depending on training experience. It's not like you can gain 1kg or muscle per week or anything crazy like that so there is no reason to gain anywhere near that much bw.
 
Was a goddam struggle and went out of whack a few times but having a "yes foods" list helped me.
 
I'm adding extra cardio to my routine. 3 sessions of HIIT per week @ 3000 calories per day. I'm going to see if I can lean out like this.
However - the important question - is it possible to gain muscle while getting lean?
 
I think it's possible to gain muscle whilst staying lean or lose fat whilst keeping muscle but not dropping fat and gaining muscle at the same time
 
If you're eating calories to surplus and training hard then why won't you be gaining any muscle? But if you're only eating for maintenance, then you can still aim for higher muscle fibre density (get that serrated look) provided you keep up with your strength training.
 
Its really upto you - you could stop cutting and maintain your weight by doing less cardio, and eating a little more - or the same cardio and eating even more - you could go on an all out bulk again (after a cut its the perfect time to bulk) - You will struggle to maintain your condition and gain muscle though - if you are truely 8% then that is fairly bloody lean. For over the years I have tried to stop wanting everything at once - don't expect to increase your bench press by 40kg, increase your arm size bu 2 inches and drop bodyfat at the same time - for a natural athlete (which I am guessing you are) this is impossible.

Focus on a goal and stick to it - maybe do a shorter style bulk - for maybe the next 6 weeks, cut for a few weeks (leading upto Christmas) - then try and maintain over Christmas - when of course you will be maybe doing other things like going down the beach, spending more time with family, fishing, swimming etc etc - when it makes it a little harder to "bulk" or "cut"....
 
Thanks all. I've bulked to around 90kg.
As mentioned I should try and keep my eyes on one goal at a time.
So I've decided to try and cut at my maintainace calories by adding extra cardio.
I'm likely to loose up to 5kg, before this however I am going to keep an eye on the mirror to see how things are progressing.
The aim is to be 8% body fat by the end of the year. Then do a lean bulk until the end of March. Then ramp up the eating a bit more from the end of March until mid October.

I think we talk about calorie surplus and deficit in terms of muscle gain and fat loss at the same time might not be possible.
 
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