In the world of muscle building, dieting is split up into “bulking” and “cutting” phases. In the bulking phase, you pile on as much weight as you can, usually disregarding any fat gain, and then the cutting phase is for losing that weight.
I think that’s a pile of crap. In fact, my own personal experiences have led me to know that’s a big pile of crap.
Here are what I find to be the most effective techniques for changing your body composition.
1. Bring your bodyfat down before anything else!
Before anything else, if you’ve got some fat on you, lose it. Get as low as you can in bodyfat with effective cardio (uphill walks are unbelievably effective on a low-carb diet) and a good weight loss diet.
If your only goal is fat loss, then you’re set when this is done. If your goal is muscle gain, this is, in my mind, probably the most important step to take since the body will be more likely to convert
excess energy (meaning, lots of food) to fat when bodyfat is higher. Conversely, when bodyfat is low, excess energy is more likely to be put to use by your muscles.
Really, your results will be screwed over big-time if you don’t drop as much bodyfat as you can first. My general rule of thumb is that if I can’t see my abs clearly, I’m not ready to put on any weight.
2. Find your maintenance level of calories and stay at the same weight or gain muscle slowly
Spend a couple weeks finding a “maintenance” calorie level. This is the amount of food you can eat daily and stay the same weight and bodyfat indefinitely (combined with your normal exercise). If you work out like an absolute fiend, this is a level where you can easily build muscle as well.
3. Put on muscle very quickly
This one is for if you’re interested in putting on as much muscle as possible. Once you know your maintenance caloric intake, jack it up bit by bit over the course of 8 weeks while absolutely working yourself to the bone in the gym. I’m talking making it hard to walk after your workouts every single day. When I say “jack it up bit by bit” I mean add an extra 300 to 500 calories to your daily diet every week or two, however comfortable you feel doing it. By the end of the 8 weeks, you’ll be eating a TON of food, and it’ll even be hard to get it all down, but just remember that you’ll be slowly tapering back off to “maintenance” level as soon as it’s all over.
I don’t recommend any more than 8 weeks of adding muscle at a time (spaced out with a few months of maintenance). This is simply because your body adjusts to whatever caloric intake you give it, so if you eat piles and piles of food over a period longer than 8 weeks, your body will start to just turn it all into bodyfat. The more bodyfat you have, the more you put on, as mentioned above. Anyone who has done a “bulking” diet probably already knows this — the first few weeks you have PHENOMENAL results, and then as time goes on, the results sort of just go away as you put on more and more fat.
Also, if you really eat like a king and work yourself to the bone in the gym, then only 8 weeks will bring you absolutely amazing results. Trust me.
The main idea, though, is that as long as you vary the amount of food you’re eating, then your body will be kept guessing and won’t reach a plateau.
4. Go back to maintenance calories
After the heavy muscle building phase, you’ve probably seen a small rise in bodyfat. (If you ever see yourself gaining lots of bodyfat, immediately pull back on your food intake. This is your body’s way of saying that you are eating too much, and your muscles aren’t getting any kind of special benefit from it.) Losing that fat and getting absolutely ripped again shouldn’t take any more than a month. In fact, at this point, going back to your maintenance diet will likely get you shredded pretty fast. This is because your body had to increase its metabolism in order to match the amount of food you were eating previously, so jumping down over 1,000 calories daily will give you big fat-burning benefits.
How does the yearly cycle work?
I have reached a point where I’m gaining a little bit of muscle on my “maintenance” level of calories and staying at the same low bodyfat. For most of the year, I’m eating this amount of food, with little variations here and there. One or two times a year, I’m trying to hit the hard core, 8 week muscle building phase. I won’t be doing this much into the future since, eventually, I’ll hit the size I want. The last time I did the 8 week phase, I put on about 10 pounds of muscle, but also wanted to kill myself when it was all over based on how tired my muscles and mind were from the work-outs and excessive food.
Oh, and a quick note: I never judge my accomplishments by my weight. I almost never weigh myself. I go by the mirror, weekly progress pictures, and measurements. Weight is a horrible way to measure your progress since it can vary day-by-day, depending on water intake, carb intake, and so on.
Coming soon: sample weight loss, maintenance, and quick-muscle-building diets.