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Newbie question, cutting or bulking?


Norbert Marko
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I can only guess that it has been asked a million times before me, but I do not know how to go about this.

My question is: I have a little bit of extra fat on me but if someone looks at me, they would say I'm lean, not skinny, but I could use a lot of muscle
How do I go about the whole thing? What is the ideal order?

Should i burn the fat first, then go a little bit excess on calories for muscle?
Does the fat comes back if I start eat some extra calories?
Can I bulk up while slowly shedding the fat?

What are the rules calorie wise? Can you give me some guidelines, I'm clueless..

Thanks in advance!

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Others are more well versed on the subject than I, but I do know it's possible to cut fat while putting on muscle, but it is not a quick endeavor. The best way IMO is to cut the fat first, then bulk slowly. Cutting fat makes your training easier, while at the same time you get stronger. Then you can focus on muscle building and you'll look better than you would if you tried doing both at the same time.

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Matthew Jefferys

Bulking and cutting really doesn't matter as a beginner. You'll progress so quickly, and lose so much fat, that bulking/cutting would be completely unnecessary. Just eat a wide variety of foods and sleep at least 9 hours a night, and you'll make gains.

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Murray Truelove

As a beginner it's more important to be consistent with your training. 

 

To actually answer your question it mostly comes down to what suits you. There's no point doing a cut for a week and a half, stressing out because you're hungry and going on a binge, or bulking and ending up fat and unhappy with what's supposed to be "fitness" program. Recomps can be frustrating as they can be slow and hard to notice. 

 

Your goals are also important too, if you want bigger arms a bulk would be optimal. If you want a six pack then a cut is the best way to go. 

 

+/- 500 calories of your TDEE is what's generally  recommended, though figuring out your TDEE can be difficult in itself. Weighing yourself under similar circumstance once a week and tracking your weight is the most accurate measure of how well your cut or bulk is going. A daily surplus or deficit of 500 calories should basically result in you gaining or losing about 1lbs a week. 

 

Personally I got a bit fed up with tracking calories and macros (I've not even touched on this), so instead decided on a weight I wanted to be, googled the TDEE for that maintenance weight, threw a typical days food intake into a spreadsheet and adjusted it till it matched (about 3k calories) and roughly eat the same every day. An additional component is vaguely adjusting my calories based on how active I am that day.

 

 There are thousands of websites which cover calorie intake, a bit of googling will find all the answers to your questions. 

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Gymnastic Bodies doesn't really lend itself to well to a 'bulking' style diet. You'll get stronger, but the extra weight could hold you back...

 

I recommend eating a recomposition style diet for about 6 months with consistent training then see where you're at.

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