Do You Have a Cut-Off for How "Fat" You'll Allow Yourself to get While Bulking

[broncos62577]

Do You Have a Cut-Off for How "Fat" You'll Allow Yourself to get While Bulking

When bulking do you just bulk until you reach a certain goal weight or amount of time? Do you diet once hitting a certain bf%? For example, I wont be competing again until 2016 USA in July. Id start dieting down 20 weeks out. Would you in this situation bulk until diet time regardless of how heavy you got? Provided of course the gain is steady .5lbs or so per week or would you have some mini cutters in there once say abs disappear to a certain degree? Curious as to your bulking approach.

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

unless I diet hard or hardcore and use anabolics results seem really slow-like in slow motion. If I come off everything especially

ive competed since 2009 and the goal was no more than 10=12 % and ive always gone up to 15 % and to be totally honest 18 % which doesnt look fat on my frame-the way im built.

It takes incredible effort to be huge by most gym standards where everyone calls you big____ yourfirst name and be 10-12% or lower in bodyfat year round and using anabolics are a must for this

ive used on and off since 2004 -2014 ten cycles thats an average of a cycle a year and everytime i came off i still kept big, nit huge though and added bodyfat while off to be stronger.

anyone can be sloppy , generally for 99% of population genuinely lean year round takes a lot of effort

 

[little slice]

the fatter you get, the harder you have to diet.



gain slow and stay as lean as possible while doing so

 

[Jizzmo]

i feel fat as soon as i hit 12-13% BF

cant stand to lose my striations in serratus, chest, delts etc

so thats usually the cut off point for me.

even though i can still see blurry abs up to ~20% BF, just the way i carry bodyfat.
i have a wiggle room of easily 30 lbs upwards for bulking, but i usually stop after gaining 20lbs and then diet down again

i usually rotate 10-12 weeks bulking with 6-8 weeks cutting or so.

 

[broncos62577]

i feel fat as soon as i hit 12-13% BF

cant stand to lose my striations in serratus, chest, delts etc

so thats usually the cut off point for me.

even though i can still see blurry abs up to ~20% BF, just the way i carry bodyfat.
i have a wiggle room of easily 30 lbs upwards for bulking, but i usually stop after gaining 20lbs and then diet down again

i usually rotate 10-12 weeks bulking with 6-8 weeks cutting or so.

So even if ur main goal wasn't until over a year away you'd still do mini cutters? I've never planned a show out so far and usually do something like u outlined. Just wondering if that same approach should b followed in my specific situation or just bulk to get as big as possible. In my head I dont want to go over 15% but not sure if I should worry about numbersthis far out .

 

[ZOFO1973]

i feel fat as soon as i hit 12-13% BF

cant stand to lose my striations in serratus, chest, delts etc

so thats usually the cut off point for me.

even though i can still see blurry abs up to ~20% BF, just the way i carry bodyfat.
i have a wiggle room of easily 30 lbs upwards for bulking, but i usually stop after gaining 20lbs and then diet down again

i usually rotate 10-12 weeks bulking with 6-8 weeks cutting or so.

Same approach here. I try and keep bf under 15%- 12-13% optimal. When I see myself getting what I consider sloppy; I'll do mini cut -4 to 6 weeks.

 

[Growman]

the fatter you get, the harder you have to diet.



gain slow and stay as lean as possible while doing so

Yeah i agree, dont ever get too fat in the name of bulking. You wont gain that much extra muscle, and dieting is such a bitch that when you let yourself go too far with getting fat you have a lot of work just to get somewhat lean, forget about being shredded.

My motto is stay withing striking distance. I always want to be 4 weeks from shredded abs. And i have not always been like this, several years ago i let myself get pretty fat and learned my lesson.

 

[jplahm]

I used to not care!I would get that powerlifter look and be strong in the gym!But that was all it was really good for...i always had to suffer and diet my ass off to get into contest vpndition!
These days I dont blow up..i feel much better this way..

 

[machomadness22]

Everyone's different me personally I will get up to 17-18 %. Though I've only competed once I get in shape every summer. When I'm "bulking" I eat clean but I also eat what I want my reasoning behind it is I could care less about having a six pack when I don't have to show it off and also it mentally helps me with my diet when I do cut. Life's to short not to be able to enjoy sweets, pizza and beer all year. That's why I dabble when I'm trying to gain size and when I cut or prepping for a show I go 100% balls to the wall, that's just me though haha.

 

[Cortisol]

My problem is I love to eat like a pig. If I am running gear and GH, training very hard and and doing lots of cardio, I can get away with eating 5k calories a day.

400 mgs test/week and 2 ius GH. 3 months on, one month off year 'round

I am big by gym standards which I love. Actually, I have body dismorphia.

I don't think I am big enough. I saw some video of me the other day and 2 things hit: I look like a silver back gorilla, but I am also to fat, 15-16% easy.

I could do some serious damage competing in my age group (old man)...possibly get a pro card.

Wife and I are both going to start diet. She constantly makes insanely fattening dishes and that is stopping. All sugar has been removed from the house.

 

[Jizzmo]

So even if ur main goal wasn't until over a year away you'd still do mini cutters? I've never planned a show out so far and usually do something like u outlined. Just wondering if that same approach should b followed in my specific situation or just bulk to get as big as possible. In my head I dont want to go over 15% but not sure if I should worry about numbersthis far out .

yes
i dont like to walk around looking like shit for 6 months just to gain maybe 1-2 lbs more in the end

however this is probably different for everyone

my buddy is constantly bulking and actually just cuts for a few weeks every couple months to slow down his metabolism because at some point he cant eat enough to keep gaining

80% of his diet is complete junk, the guy eats mcdonalds and pizza every day and lives off oat bars and protein shakes plus a gallon of soda and he never gets fat when blasting test and tren.

hes probably hovering around 13-14% bloated as fuck and only sees abs in good lighting but he never gets fat.

this works for him
id be a complete mess mentally and physically after a single week on that diet

 

[little slice]

yes
i dont like to walk around looking like shit for 6 months just to gain maybe 1-2 lbs more in the end

however this is probably different for everyone

my buddy is constantly bulking and actually just cuts for a few weeks every couple months to slow down his metabolism because at some point he cant eat enough to keep gaining

80% of his diet is complete junk, the guy eats mcdonalds and pizza every day and lives off oat bars and protein shakes plus a gallon of soda and he never gets fat when blasting test and tren.

hes probably hovering around 13-14% bloated as fuck and only sees abs in good lighting but he never gets fat.
this works for him
id be a complete mess mentally and physically after a single week on that diet

sounds pretty fat to me.



im sure he IS a mess when it comes to his health... im sure his blood panels look like hell

 

[nothuman]

i feel fat as soon as i hit 12-13% BF

cant stand to lose my striations in serratus, chest, delts etc

so thats usually the cut off point for me.

even though i can still see blurry abs up to ~20% BF, just the way i carry bodyfat.

Same with me exactly

 

[Flexpack215]

10-11% dude otherwise it's too hard and long to get back to competition status. Not worth it to binge all year, stay lean and you will thank yourself later

 

[Pbfanatic321]

Not to jack your thread, but my question is:

If you're bulking and eating a ton of carbs/fats, how do you stay lean? Cardio? Well how much cardio are you doing?

A lot of you guys say you add size slowly and like to stay fairly lean, well what does your guys' layout look like?

 

[Asylum]

I stay as lean I as I can while bulking. More fat, harder to get fide of

Si Vis Pacem

 

[little slice]

Not to jack your thread, but my question is:

If you're bulking and eating a ton of carbs/fats, how do you stay lean? Cardio? Well how much cardio are you doing?

A lot of you guys say you add size slowly and like to stay fairly lean, well what does your guys' layout look like?

that's easy, don't "bulk", and don't "eat a ton of carbs and fats"


im starting to agree with what DC said about guys saying "bulking" and "cutting", you really do sound fucking retarded.

adjust macros to meet your needs.. if your strength stalls, add a little more carbs or fats or protein.. don't just inhale calories with reckless abandon..

also, asking for someone's diet, for the purpose of making yours resemble theirs is stupid.. everyone's body is different. you are supposed to find out what works for you.

case in point, I used to eat the standard 40/40/20 p/c/f and I always got chunky as hell.

it took me a while to realize that I gain better (and leaner) by having more carbs, and less fats in my diet.

trial and error brobro, it's a huge part of bodybuilding.

 

[Jizzmo]

sounds pretty fat to me.



im sure he IS a mess when it comes to his health... im sure his blood panels look like hell

nope, no flab on him. flat stomach, just no abs
has shit ab insertions too (very vain)

and his bloodwork is perfect
he was actually on accutane for months and had bloodwork for free every 6 weeks

cholesterol all in range after 8 months on tren continously...
liver values never high despite being on accutane and dbol etc

genetics.

 

[Growman]

This is the first year that I really stayed lean basically year round, and im so much happier that im not crash dieting right now.

My brothers bachelor party was in south beach at the end of Feb so obviously i wanted to be ripped for that. I let myself go just a little bit after the summer until christmas, but never lost the outline of my abs. Got serious after new years and was ready to go by late Feb... Now summers here and i dont have to kill myself to get in shape.

Hopefully i stick to this routine in the years to come...

 

[broncos62577]

This is the first year that I really stayed lean basically year round, and im so much happier that im not crash dieting right now.

My brothers bachelor party was in south beach at the end of Feb so obviously i wanted to be ripped for that. I let myself go just a little bit after the summer until christmas, but never lost the outline of my abs. Got serious after new years and was ready to go by late Feb... Now summers here and i dont have to kill myself to get in shape.

Hopefully i stick to this routine in the years to come...

I think thats a good gauge to go off. Making sure to never lose ab outlines.