Mini cut cycles during a bulk a good idea?

[bennym]

Does anyone do/think frequent mini cuts during a bulk would be beneficial to maintain leanness, or even get leaner while packing on muscle? Maybe considered a strategy to recomp? By mini cuts in this context i’m taking about as aggresive as you can get without the use of DNP, being PSMF.

Say bulking with a slight surplus like 500 cals a day for 3 weeks and then doing PSMF for 1 week and repeating that cycle? You would be able to shed off any fat gain from that 3 week surplus or more in that week of PSMF.

Considering this not due to high body fat but because I do want to maintain leanness and ideally get a bit leaner but also want to gain some mass without spending (too much) time at the higher bf %. I prefer the method of slower gains with less to no body fat gain, and ideally body fat loss.

 

[Sectør]

I mean ideally you start the bulk around 8% and never go over 12%

Bulking for 3 weeks to then do an aggressive cut for 1 week when body fat or blood glucose or insulin sensitivity isn’t an issue seems counter productive and inefficient. You’d just be puffing yourself up with glycogen and water weight to then deplete it, to then puff up again. Probably wouldn’t accrue much mass doing it this way

You’d be better off just doing a mild surplus and limiting body fat and riding that out for a longer period while focusing heavily on optimizing and maintaining insulin sensivity. You’d make way more progress this way

 

[luki7788]

For me, this kind of approach is complete nonsense and leads nowhere.

Like someone already said above – if someone needs to do a mini cut after just three weeks, it simply means they went way too aggressive from the start. They messed up.

Let me tell you how I manage this with my athletes.
Off-season is off-season. It usually lasts between 6 and 9 months.
Of course, sometimes we do 1–2 short periods (7–21 days) with lower calories, more cardio, and slightly reduced androgens but that’s only to reduce oxidative stress and manage inflammation from high food intake, heavy training, and strong compounds.

Then we continue with the off-season.
I don’t allow my athletes to get too fat - 12% body fat is too much in my opinion.
If you’re a real bodybuilder, you should never go above 10% in off-season. That’s the max.
The rest is usually water retention more or less depending on the individual and the compounds being used.

If you’re gaining too much fat, the problem is simple:
your calorie surplus is too high.

That’s what most people do wrong. And it’s counterproductive - you’re not growing, you’re just messing things up. You’re going in the wrong direction and doing it badly.

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

I tell people that ask me about this to pick a goal, and make that the priority. It is very difficult to stay shredded while you are growing if your names are not Keone or Stéphane llol. The two biggest mistakes I see, which have been alluded to here already are:

1. Assuming they need more of a surplus than is actually needed to gain, again, resulting in just added body fat and, no additional benefit.

2. Trying to stay to lean during a growth phase almost certainly leading to spinning wheels and not really making any tissue gain of significance.

Are you a competitor, and trying to improve, or do you just love training and want to look good year round?

I like mini cuts, but not at the rate you are suggesting. I prefer to start lean, and be in a mild surplus for a few months at a time 3-4, then maybe do a an aggressive, get in, get out mini cut. Gets a bit of body fat off, helps improve insulin sensitivity. Typically you'll find you can squeeze in a bit more out of a growth phase, while keeping cals a bit higher, and body fat a bit lower, also usually results in a better position to start a prep (if you compete) you have more food to work with, and less body fat to need to get off. (As opposed to a strait through gain phase).

TL,DR

Don't eat more than you need to grow
Don't try to stay to lean, you wont grow.

 

[Flocci]

You'd just be spinning your wheels like that, spend 3 months or more in a surplus, do a cut, minicut or prep so that you have enough leeway for another 3 month or longer phase in a surplus.

for example 6 months at a 150-200kcal average surplus, 3-8 weeks in a 600-1500 calorie deficit depending on needs/tolerability etc and then another phase of gaining, or a "health phase" if you are in need or do that sort of thing.

I'd do something like that.

 

[qbkilla]

I agree with basically what others said. If you ever feel you need a true cut...rather than a few weeks to just tighten up, your too fat. Never let bf get over 10 imo. Carb cycle. 10k steps Ed is priority 1.

 

[buck]

On that schedule it seems a waste of time. I can see during longer bulks reducing calories to a more maintenance level to give the digestive system a break may be useful. But how a person feels will point out if they need a break.

 

[FuzzyFella]

On a bulk sometimes I will give my body 24-36 hours at less calories to give digestion a chance to catch up if i am feeling too bloated and like I'm not digesting quickly, but not a whole week.

 

[qbkilla]

On a bulk sometimes I will give my body 24-36 hours at less calories to give digestion a chance to catch up if i am feeling too bloated and like I'm not digesting quickly, but not a whole week.

Imo this is a good strategy and ive seen others do the same...keep distention at bay

 

[massephase]

Does anyone do/think frequent mini cuts during a bulk would be beneficial to maintain leanness, or even get leaner while packing on muscle? Maybe considered a strategy to recomp? By mini cuts in this context i’m taking about as aggresive as you can get without the use of DNP, being PSMF.

Say bulking with a slight surplus like 500 cals a day for 3 weeks and then doing PSMF for 1 week and repeating that cycle? You would be able to shed off any fat gain from that 3 week surplus or more in that week of PSMF.

Considering this not due to high body fat but because I do want to maintain leanness and ideally get a bit leaner but also want to gain some mass without spending (too much) time at the higher bf %. I prefer the method of slower gains with less to no body fat gain, and ideally body fat loss.

I thought about this recently... If I do a one week deficit at peak off-season food, I could lose up to 10 lbs of water in a week. And then after the week is over, I would then gain that weight right back and be back to square one. I would prefer not to fluctuate my weight like that and rather have my body stay In a homeostatic condition as much as possible ... It's easier to judge what is going on (Training performance, visuals, etc) without any crazy fluctuations in bodyweight and calories. And really, let's say your appetite is shit or you are too fat ... How much will 7 days really improve that? After a week of normal eating, it will be shit again and you will still be too fat.
That's my thoughts on it, with the caveat that I have never tried doing it.

 

[BIGGMIKE295]

Why not just cut your carbs/ calories greatly on your off/rest days. Keep protein the same, nice and high and lower your fats and carbs. I always did this and always did cardio 4-5 days a week year round, esp when bulking.