So, you jumped on a bulk and gained a ton of weight. The problem: most of the weight you put on was not muscle, it was fat. One of the drawbacks of a caloric surplus is that our bodies can only make a certain amount of muscle per day. Muscle takes time to build, the longer we are in a surplus the better the chance will be that we will add fat to our frame instead of muscle. Cyclical bulking might be the answer.
Cyclical bulking is designed to build quality muscle and keep you lean over time. When we are in a caloric surplus, our fat-burning hormones such as T3 and leptin are also elevated. In order to take advantage of these hormones, by transitioning into a caloric deficit, you’re able to lose a lot of body fat rather quickly. If you bulked up traditionally you may gain up to 10 pounds in eight weeks.
A cyclical bulking strategy would help you gain up to four pounds (in a six-week phase). A proceeding two-week diet could help you net one or two pounds of pure muscle once you drop as much fat. During the two-week dieting phase, you increase your sensitivity to hormones like insulin. You’re also more primed to build lean muscle when you add calories.
Here are seven steps on how to implement cyclical bulking for you mass-gaining phase.
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Keep Track Of Your Calories
Bulking without keeping track of your calories is like driving a car across the country without a GPS—you’re going to get lost quickly.
When you keep track of your calories, you have a good idea if your meal plan is working toward your goals. If you’re currently consuming 3500 calories per day on a bulk and are not gaining weight, bumping those calories up should result in weight gain. However if you are just “winging” your food intake you will have no idea what is causing you to gain weight. If you are not tracking calories, you should. There are several websites out there dedicated to helping you track calories. If that becomes too much for you, try using paper and pen.
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Deduct 1,000 Calories from Your Diet
Once you determine how many calories you’re consuming during your bulk, you should deduct 1,000 calories from your diet. This will be the starting point for your dieting phase. For example if you are bulking on 3,500 calories per day, deducting 500 calories per day will result in maintaining your weight (when your gaining weight your around 300-500 calories over your maintenance calories). Subtracting another 500 calories from that will bring you 500 below maintenance into a caloric deficit.
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Balance Your Phases
Start with six weeks of bulking and two weeks of cutting. You can go longer or shorter, but I have found that this protocol works best. For those of you that put on fat rather easily begin with a four-week bulk and two-week cut. If you have a hard time gaining weight, use an eight-week bulk phase and two-week cut phase.
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Follow The Numbers
Let’s say that you’re a 170-pound male who is either starting a cutting phase or looking to gain mass. Your calorie intake, and where those calories come from, are both key factors.
For A Bulk
25 Percent Protein
If you are bulking on 3,500 calories per day, your macros would break down to 25 percent of your calories from protein. That adds up to 875 calories from protein per day. Divided that number by four calories per grams for 218 grams of protein per day.
25 Percent Fat
Your fat intake should equal out to 875 calories, divide that by nine to get 97 grams of fat per day.
50 Percent Carb Breakdown
Last, half of your budgeted calories should come from carbohydrates. Take 1,750 calories of carbs per day and divide that number by four (calories per gram). This gives you a 437 grams of carbs per day.
For A Cut
As stated earlier, you’re aiming for a 1000 calorie decrease for your dieting phase. Here’s how that should break down.
40 Percent Protein
250 grams of protein would equal out to 1000 calories on it’s own.
25 Percent Fat
70 grams of fat would equal out to 625 calories from fat per day.
35 Percent Carbs
218 grams of carbs would net you 875 calories each day.
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Switch Cycles, Not Protocols
Keep your training and cardio protocols the same when switching cycles. Your training program is designed to add muscle to your frame; if you switch your program in order to help burn fat, you will end up losing more muscle. Remember, whatever puts muscle on best in the offseason will help to maintain muscle during the cut cycles. I recommend doing cardio three times per week in the offseason. Doing cardio in the offseason will help keep you leaner and healthier overall.
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Monitor Your Progress
Take your body fat measurements, photos, and measurements. These markers will indicate if you are making good progress or not. Keeping track of your progress will allow you to look back at your protocols and tell you what worked and what did not work.
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Experiment
Go through several cycles and adjust—do not be afraid test different durations for each cycle. Think of your body as a complex experiment, you need to play around with certain variables to see the different outcomes you may get. If your cut is going well, stay in the cut until progress stalls. The same goes with bulking, if you’re making good strides you should keep yourself in a surplus.
The most important thing to remember when using cyclical bulking is to realize you are only going to be putting on about up to three pounds every six or eight weeks. Everyone wants to gain 10 pounds of shredded muscle overnight, but the real key is consistency over time. Remember, the more fat you put on in the offseason the longer you will have to diet to burn that fat. The longer you’re in a caloric deficit, the greater the risk you have of losing your hard earned muscle. Small lean gains will eventually add up to big gains.
