Mini Bulks and Cuts: The Future of Body Re-Composition
The Old Way
Traditionally, in order to change your body composition (build muscle or lose fat), people commit to one goal for a long period of time. This would mean spending a prolonged period in a caloric surplus (bulk) or caloric deficit (cut).
The typical example for a bodybuilder would be to bulk up for months straight during his/her offseason. This process may put on muscle, but also lots of fat as a byproduct. Then, when it’s time to lean-down, the bodybuilder has to endure a several month-long cut to get back to where he/she started.
Not only is this process unenjoyable, but it’s also not very efficient. Putting your body in a caloric deficit for a lengthy period will likely lead to unwanted muscle loss and “metabolic adaptation”.
Take Care of Your Metabolism
If your consistently exercising (especially resistance training), your metabolism speeds up. When you are in a caloric surplus, your metabolism boosts even more because it has extra calories available to burn.
Then when you are in a caloric deficit, your metabolism slows down because you have less energy available. If you are in a deficit for too long, your metabolism can slow down to an unsustainable rate, which is a hole that is difficult to get out of.
This conventional approach may work in the short term, but as the length of time increases, it becomes less and less effective. The reason for this is because your body naturally adapts to its environment.
If you deprive your body of calories for a prolonged period, it will try to slow down your metabolism to therefore burn less energy. This is a evolutionary survival mechanism that was likely essential for humans to have in order to survive for long periods without food.
Similarly, if you provide your body with a surplus of calories for an extended period, it will learn that food is readily available and then begin to store some of those excess calories as fat for later usage.
This is why crash diets and “dirty” bulks don’t work! They lead to metabolic “damage” and unwanted fat gain. In order to avoid this adaptation, you need to constantly mix it up and make your body “uncomfortable”. Cyclical training and nutrition is the key to sustained long-term progress.
A Better Way
When you switch from a bulk to a cut, your body is now most efficient at burning fat. On the contrary, when you switch from a cut to a bulk, your body is now most efficient at building muscle. These efficiencies happen because of this adaptation.
By “confusing” your body, it is forced to change in ways that would make it more prepared for survival (ie. build muscle or lose fat). Taking advantage of these efficiencies is the most intelligent way to manipulate your body!
For me, my primary goal over the long-term is to build muscle, and stay relatively lean. Even though my goal is muscle gain, I never remain in a caloric surplus for more than a few consecutive weeks to avoid this adaptation.
After a few weeks of lean-bulking, I cut my calories and transition to a fat-loss phase for a week or two. Not only does this approach ensure that I stay lean all year-round, but it makes my body most efficient at putting on muscle! It also removes the need to go through extended fat-loss phases because I’ve never put on enough fat to require it.
The same approach should be taken if your primary long-term goal is fat loss. After spending a few weeks in a caloric deficit, it’s advantageous to bump up your calories slightly for a week or two to ramp up your metabolism before switching back to a deficit.
This may seem counter-intuitive, especially if you’re losing fat consistently, but it is a preventative measure to ensure that you don’t hit a fat-loss plateau.
When you are cutting, you’ll need to constantly reduce your calories week by week as your body adapts to it’s new maintenance level. Once again, this happens because your body is slowing your metabolism as a survival instinct. However, by constantly mixing up your caloric intake, your body won’t be able to fully adapt, and you’ll never have to drop your calories to a level where it’s unsustainable.
Long Term Success
This approach may seem overly complex, and like it will take you significantly longer to reach your end goal. In the short term, this may be true, but if you want to have success long term, taking care of your metabolism is extremely important.
This is especially crucial if you have a lot of weight to lose. It may be tempting to drastically cut your calories to lose as much weight as possible, so that you can look good right away… You need to think big picture!
In reality, fitness is a lifelong journey, and just because you lose the weight, doesn’t mean it will stay off. Crashing your metabolism will catch up to you before you know it, and you’ll be right where you started (or even worse!).
Cyclical fitness and nutrition is the solution that is primed for long-term success. It’s worked for me, and I’m sure it will work for you. Once you give this cyclical approach a try, you’ll never look back!