2 week cycle bulk/cut

Ignore the 'bodybuilder' title, it's an article about building muscle while maintaining or decreasing bf%. 2 week bulk, 2 week cut. What do you think? I found it quite interesting. No idea if the science is sound.

Here's the link:

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articl ... lders.html

I've stuck to doing bulk/cut cycles for a while but I may try this out. It could be more effective than what I've been doing. It could also be better for yo-yo dieters seeing as the average 'diet' lasts what, 2 weeks?

I think this is something of a mis-representation of what is going on, because as long as your activity level remains high you aren't going to see globs of fat appear while eating above maintenance unless you really just eat like total crap with giant portions of said crap.

Having said that, yes it should work just fine.

The advantage here is that A) it is probably more psychologically feasible for most people than longer cutting cycles and B) you are able to keep a handle on your body fat by basically going into maintenance mode every 2 weeks and slowly dropping fat while maintaining your muscle. A natural bodybuilder should be able to maintain good body fat levels with this, just as they can with any other sensible bulk/cut cycle as long as they don't try to mimic the ridiculous body fat percentages that the IFBB pros hit during off season because that can only be dropped quickly with drugs, and even then those guys often lose some of the muscle they gained.

The major difference, in my opinion, between going from 8% to 9% to 8% every 2-3 weeks and going from 8% to 10% to 8% every 6-8 weeks is that the individual cycles are shorter and therefore easier on the mind and your visual appearance just doesn't change all that much from 8% to 9% compared to 8% to 10%. All by itself that's going to keep people motivated.

The key to your gains is to feed your body like crazy for at least 6 hours after the workout, starting with the second you drop the weights or hop off the bar/rings/whatever else you were doing. That is the case for both bulking and cutting, but during cutting you wouldn't be getting quite enough energy whereas during bulking you'd be getting slightly more than enough during both PWO and other times.

This is, of course, relative to immediate demand and not an averaged out 24 hour diet. If your diet is clean you can eat slightly above maintenance nearly all the time and not get very fat, but that requires some specialized knowledge.

Finally, a word: Anyone who gains 3 lbs of muscle in 14 days and didn't just load up on creatine (which is just water weight in the beginning anyways) is on drugs. I'm just saying that flat out.

They might gain 3 lbs in 14 days, but not of muscle. Even 2 lbs of muscle per 14 days is pushing the limits of a drug free athlete.

Josh,

What kind of food choices for post workout feasting do you suggest? I assume whey, white and sweet potatoes, vegetables, buckwheat (waffles in my case), and meat would be pretty high on the list.

Smaller frequent feedings of higher glycemic foods, and pulses of 20-30g of protein per hour for at least the two hours after workout. You have to keep in mind that your body is literally running at a minimum of twice the normal protein synthesis rate, and I honestly have no idea (as there is no research in this area that I am aware of) whether that will contribute to anything additional but it will not hurt. If you're getting enough calories AND getting the protein PWO you can see some pretty magical things happen.

For example, I have been gaining 1-1.5 lbs every 2 weeks and my skinfolds have been staying the same or decreasing very very slightly. I am staying right at 10%. I have no desire to do any cutting so I don't

Research indicates that, for some reason not fully understood, lower GI foods contribute less to glycogen synthesis than high GI foods administered in a way that mimics the digestion of low GI foods.

Personally, I think it's as simple as more fiber = less absorption. Hur-durr, but who knows?

You want to know my PWO? You're going to cry hypocrisy!

1 pack of pop tarts immediately PWO. 72-ish g of carbs, 36-ish is sugar, 13-14 at the most is fructose. I also have 30g of protein at this time, and sip it as I eat the pop tarts. Sometimes, depending on how I feel, I eat both together. Other times I eat one, wait 20-30 minutes, and eat the other. I also drink at least 1 Liter of water, but usually 1.5L over the 30 minutes PWO because this creates a 6% solution IN MY STOMACH and that allows for much more rapid absorption! I also add salt when I have it to further speed up gastric emptying. Remember, PWO is when you need as much energy as possible. We have literal limits on how much energy we can absorb per hour based on enzyme count, pH level, and intestinal surface area. It is nearly impossible to get too much during this one time.

Why Pop Tarts specifically?

1) They are mega cheap

2) They taste good and are small, and don't require extra packaging

3) Because pop tarts move through your system at light speed. I burn an enormous amount of calories in even a moderate workout. Even if it's just 6 METs for 1 hour that's 6 * 133 =798 kcal! And I still have to eat for the two hours PWO, so that's 1000 kcal I have to consume, preferably split between pre and post workout, preferably closing that gap within 2 hours. ~70% of that energy came from carbs, and my liver is depleted as well as my muscles. This is the ONE SINGLE TIME that this kind of food is actually useful!

4) For being so cheap and having so many carbs, they have a surprisingly low fructose load and a fair bit of it is actually locked up in sucrose! This isn't actually any different from eating a large banana, except there are more starches (cooked) from the flour in the pop tart giving more calories and more carbs

5) 2 pop tarts is 400kcal. That's half of what I burned in the workout!!! It only takes 2 packs to totally make up the energy difference, and MY GOD can you feel the difference!

6) They have a little fat, but not much. This is a good thing PWO.

Depending on how hard I work I sometimes have a single pop tart before the workout, which cuts down somewhat on how much I need to eat afterwards. I don't like eating two pre-workout as they really do hit you pretty quickly, but if it's a dynamic WOD day and you have gotten used to eating 10-20 minutes pre-workout then a whole pack can sometimes be a great idea. Personally, I like to eat the second during the workout when I can get away with it.

After those two packs of pop tarts, I eat regular food. Buckwheat/rice mix, just rice, sweet potato, whatever I have. I typically eat 150-200% over maintenance for the 6 hours PWO when I can, but sometimes that's not practical since I'm often downtown all day and don't always have THAT much food! Still, I'm above maintenance the whole time. I make sure to have some veggies with me when possible, and if I don't I'll bit off about a quarter of a Centrum Performance and have that with my protein to get my vitamins for the day. I don't want giant doses of vitamins, I want to mimic real food if I can't get real food.

That's it, the rest of the time I eat at maintenance and have reasonably healthy stuff. Chicken meat, red meat when I can afford it, organic grassfed milk that is low-temp pasteurized, healthy carbs that are gluten free (except for pop tarts, of course... sigh).

Macro breakdown reflects energy system activity at the time.

That's how I've gone from 205 to 224 in a fairly short period of time (about 4 months) and stayed at 10%.

Quite a bit of this size has been in my legs, as they have been working a lot more than my upper body. That will probably start changing now that I have injured my back and can't do much with my legs lol!

Pop-tarts, huh? Sounds doable. I'll look them up.

It makes sense that you're fine with staying at 10%. That's quite lean and with enough mass, 10% is low enough to be very impressive.

I had no idea that protein synthesis increased that much after a workout. That's amazing. Apparently I've been taking one third of what I need... and still been making okay gains just by roughly following the guidelines you've mentioned in the past, but this info will help a ton. I'm just starting a more gymnastics oriented exercise selection focus in my workouts this Monday, and I'll get right on it with this new stuff. Thanks Josh! Awesome.

Patrick Smith said:

Pop-tarts, huh? Sounds doable. I'll look them up.

It makes sense that you're fine with staying at 10%. That's quite lean and with enough mass, 10% is low enough to be very impressive.

I had no idea that protein synthesis increased that much after a workout. That's amazing. Apparently I've been taking one third of what I need... and still been making okay gains just by roughly following the guidelines you've mentioned in the past, but this info will help a ton. I'm just starting a more gymnastics oriented exercise selection focus in my workouts this Monday, and I'll get right on it with this new stuff. Thanks Josh! Awesome.

No problem! With the right food, Gymnastic Strength Training™ is probably the best mass-gaining strategy for the upper body. You will build a shoulder girdle that bodybuilders will try forever to compete with.

Remember, it's all about enough calories at the right time. Support your metabolism and it will build a better you

I really like the idea of pop-tarts. Sounds like they could cut some the time I spend eating!

Do you buy them at your local store or online? I'm checking out some on amazon, but they look so "candy-ee"...

I was wondering when you were going to post about the pop-tarts. I also recommend them. However I make sure not to get too good of a flavor because I end up eating them all about an hour after buying.

Read between the lines: Beware of "Chocolate Chip" flavor. :shock:

Never in my life would I have thought of using pop-tarts. I may have to give that a go and see how it works.

optik169 said:

Never in my life would I have thought of using pop-tarts. I may have to give that a go and see how it works.

A word to the wise: Make sure you know how many calories, more or less, you're burning in your workout. Eating too many pop tarts afterwards will still contribute some pudge, so if you aren't sure what you are doing just have one or two individual pastries after your workout, perhaps spaced out by 30 minutes or so, and have the first one with your protein shake.

Have you stopped using glucose powder in your post workout shake now then Josh?

Kelloggs stock may get a pop now! I used to love pop tarts out of the toaster, though

took them to school cold. Have a feeling my dentist liked them too...

Point of interest perhaps. If you calculate a caloric burn for your training, say 5 cals per minute

or 300/hour for example, keep in mind that you are NOT burning say 1.5 cals/min that you normally

burn during the day by NOT exercising So that reduces the ACTUAL caloric burn to 3.5 cals/min in this example!

However, in reality there is also an AFTERBURN (oxygen debt) and muscle protein growth expenditure that

ISN'T accounted for in the original 5 cals/minute estimate, which is around 20% perhaps.

So as a matter of practicality it's about a wash for strength workouts...

It might matter more in very long slow endurance workouts where the afterburn component is lower as

a percentage and MPS is minimal. So then a few hours of 1.5/cals per minute can add up and won't be offset by much!

This is partly why people aren't losing as much weight on the commerical gym machines as they think they should be,

on top of the wildly excessive caloric burn meters!

Joshua Naterman said:

optik169 said:

Never in my life would I have thought of using pop-tarts. I may have to give that a go and see how it works.

A word to the wise: Make sure you know how many calories, more or less, you're burning in your workout. Eating too many pop tarts afterwards will still contribute some pudge, so if you aren't sure what you are doing just have one or two individual pastries after your workout, perhaps spaced out by 30 minutes or so, and have the first one with your protein shake.

Yup, thank you. My diet is pretty spot on, I'm just paying more attention to my pre and post workout nutrition. I generally workout at night because of time constrictions but I have enough time to carb up and get my liquid protein before having a small meal 30-60 minutes later. Also most of my carbs will be pre and post workout, save for some oats/fruit in the morning. Shouldn't put on too much fat

Not a good idea in my opinion. Look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTviEqWRbjg

Also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96b4Tg9PWU

Lindahl said:

Not a good idea in my opinion. Look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTviEqWRbjg

Also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96b4Tg9PWU

The key is in the parameters of the fat loss cycle. You should never be on an extreme caloric restriction. Fast cuts are not a smart move for someone who wants to keep their muscle. You can't lose more than 1 lb per week, at maximum, and expect it to be all fat. Even then there will be *some* muscle loss, that's just too fast.

This is an area of intense Bro-science, and while I might not be the most Bro-ish of Bro's this side of Superfriends or anything I'm going to go ahead and call something out: "Metabolic Trauma."

Really. Metabolic trauma? Are you rupturing your mitochondria or something?

Look, personally I'm not an enormous fan of small cycles like this 2 week stuff but it's all about whatever someone can do. When we're splitting hairs over what works, you have to realize that you can't alternate 2 week cuts and bulks and just be able to walk into a reputable show drug-free and win. It takes a good 2-4 month period to get into show shape. That's why the most successful people only compete a few times per year.

If you're talking about staying reasonably lean and putting on mass at a reasonable rate, then there's no reason not to do 2 week cycles. In the end, this stuff all comes down to two things:

1) thermodynamics

2) endocrine environment, both baseline and response to your diet + exercise.

Joshua Naterman said:

Lindahl said:

Not a good idea in my opinion. Look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTviEqWRbjg

Also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96b4Tg9PWU

The key is in the parameters of the fat loss cycle. You should never be on an extreme caloric restriction. Fast cuts are not a smart move for someone who wants to keep their muscle. You can't lose more than 1 lb per week, at maximum, and expect it to be all fat. Even then there will be *some* muscle loss, that's just too fast.

This is an area of intense Bro-science, and while I might not be the most Bro-ish of Bro's this side of Superfriends or anything I'm going to go ahead and call something out: "Metabolic Trauma."

Really. Metabolic trauma? Are you rupturing your mitochondria or something?

Look, personally I'm not an enormous fan of small cycles like this 2 week stuff but it's all about whatever someone can do. When we're splitting hairs over what works, you have to realize that you can't alternate 2 week cuts and bulks and just be able to walk into a reputable show drug-free and win. It takes a good 2-4 month period to get into show shape. That's why the most successful people only compete a few times per year.

If you're talking about staying reasonably lean and putting on mass at a reasonable rate, then there's no reason not to do 2 week cycles. In the end, this stuff all comes down to two things:

1) thermodynamics

2) endocrine environment, both baseline and response to your diet + exercise.

Yes, but there really is no need to micromanage it that much, and there is no real benefit to it. The only thing you really have to do on a "clean" bulk, is to stay at about 10-20% above your TDEE and lift heavy (and get enough protein). You're always going to gain some fat on a bulk no matter what you do, so why complicate things? People always want to "recomp" their bodies. That works if you're a noobie lifter or if you have freak genetics. Everyone else must bulk and cut or they end up spinning their wheels.

My advise would be to aim for one thing at a time. Either gain muscle or lose fat. In the northern hemisphere, winter is coming, so bulk and don't worry about blurring your abs for a few months. Then do a slow cut beginning in March or April and get beach lean for summer.

Lindahl said:

Yes, but there really is no need to micromanage it that much, and there is no real benefit to it. The only thing you really have to do on a "clean" bulk, is to stay at about 10-20% above your TDEE and lift heavy (and get enough protein). You're always going to gain some fat on a bulk no matter what you do, so why complicate things? People always want to "recomp" their bodies. That works if you're a noobie lifter or if you have freak genetics. Everyone else must bulk and cut or they end up spinning their wheels.

My advise would be to aim for one thing at a time. Either gain muscle or lose fat. In the northern hemisphere, winter is coming, so bulk and don't worry about blurring your abs for a few months. Then do a slow cut beginning in March or April and get beach lean for summer.

I agree, for some reason people want to make things complicated. With those basic parameters, you absolutely WILL end up gaining fatter.

I have gone from 208 to 224 in the past 6 months or so and my body fat has decreased half a percent according to calipers, which is basically staying unchanged. That means that 10-11% of that mass gained is fat, as I was at 11% and skinfolds haven't changed. And that is with very middle of the road food choices.

Sounds to me like you've already decided what you believe, so I'm going to check out now. As long as you get the results you want, I am happy.

I think that there could be a time and a place for a 2 week cycle, it would really depend on diet, goals, experience and style of training.

If we take a broad look at a basic bulk/cut cycle, it could look something like this: 6 months bulk, 3 months cut, 3 months maintenance. This is assuming several things; that the starting bf% is the desired ending bf%, a muscle/fat gain ratio of approximately 1:1, weight loss during cut would be 100% fat and that daily caloric intake would be at a 500 calorie surplus or deficit. This is all theoretical of course, and the end result would be ~13 (26 weeks x 0.5) lbs lean muscle gained with original bf%.

Let's take a look at a 12 month, 2 week cycle bulk/cut with the same numbers. Assuming starting bf% is desired ending bf%, muscle/fat gain ratio of approximately 1:1, weight loss during cut would be 100% fat and daily caloric intake would be 500 calorie surplus for bulk and 250 calorie deficit for cut. Theoretical end result would also be ~13 (26 weeks x 0.5) lbs lean muscle gained with original bf%.

Numbers seem pretty comparable, right? I'm hoping my math and variables are adequate, I haven't slept for quite some time (work/school). The numbers I used aren't intended to be a baseline, they were just 'easy' numbers. Having a 1:1 muscle/fat gain ratio is easily achievable weekly but this also depends on diet, experience and training. More than likely it would be a 0.7lb/0.3lb or even 0.8lb/0.2lb weekly gain. It's also expected that a novice would gain more than someone who has been actively building muscle for 10 years.

One of the major differences between the two would be the calorie restriction on a cut. There is a certain amount of strength loss on a cut, which varies greatly depending on individual and size of the caloric deficit. There is a huge difference between a long cut at -500 calories and a short cut at -250 calories. That being said, there's also a difference in strength gain. On an extended bulk, strength gain would be higher than it's short cycle counterpart.

Various other differences would include preferred bf%, bodyweight affecting training, psychological feasibility of each, etc.

End result? To be honest, I think it's splitting hairs. Both styles are comparable but without the training to match the diet, it really doesn't mean much. In my opinion, traditional bulk/cut would be better suited to a powerlifter while the 2 week cycle may better accomodate athletes with a different style of training.

**you could also be sneaky and combine the two. But that would be blasphemy. 4 month bulk netting around ~9lbs muscle, ~9lbs fat. 4 month two week cycle with -500cal deficit netting ~4 lbs muscle and losing ~9lbs fat. 4 month two week cycle with -250 cal deficit netting ~4 lbs muscle, no fat gain or loss. Total of ~17lbs muscle while returning to starting bf% and maintaining bodyfat with up to a 1% fluctuation for 4 months. Nutty, eh?