Hey Everyone,
Hope you all have had a great time celebrating the New Year. Todays topic goes a little more in depth with diets and exercise. For those that are ready to get shredded this blog can help you greatly. So guys the topic today is dealing with cutting and bulking. Now what that means is that if your cutting, you are trying to lose weight and get a more toned physique and aesthetic build. Bulking is the opposite. The purpose in bulking is to actually put weight on, increase muscle mass greatly, and increase strength greatly.
Bulking dieting,
This is everyones favorite thing to do, eat a ton of food. Bulking doesn’t really mean you can go eat unhealthy day in and day out, you still need to offer your body the right macro nutrients everyday. If you eat Popeyes everyday you will not be increasing lean muscle mass and your bulking process will just make you fat. A bulking diet consist of the carb and portion swap in comparison to the meal plan I mentioned in my last blog. So for example instead of slow digesting carbs and complex carbs you can actually add some simple carbs to your diet or just a greater portion of complex carbs. Ex. Swap a large portion of sweet potatoes for pasta, white rice or maybe even bread.
So when it comes to macros there are 3 things to look for and calculate to make sure your eating correctly. We covered carbs which is number 1. Number 2 is protein and protein is important because protein is food for your muscles. Like I said in my last blog, if protein isn’t consumed within 30 minutes after exercise you will do more harm than good going to the gym. Your body goes into a catabolic state which makes you feel lethargic and its also where your muscles actually start consuming itself for nutrients and gain. When packing on muscle you need to get lean protein in your system several times a day. On average for bulking diets you should be consuming 9-11 oz of protein per meal about 4-5 times a day along with a good portion of carbs like rice. Fats is number 3 but in any case you should stay away from fatty foods. I always encourage people to get in their daily healthy fats by eating foods such as olive oil, avocados, almonds (or other nuts). Also, fish is very healthy because it provides omega-3 oil which is healthy for your brain and heart. Fats are also good for skin care. Olive oil is known for actually creating smoother skin and prevents aging. Although some fats are good for you, they are still fats and need to be moderated, bulking diets allow for more leeway.
In the gym Bulking,
This is fun. Bulking at the gym is when you do not need to do too much cardio or repetitions. so I haven’t yet gone in depth on lifting days and what to lift, but bear with me here. One day a week you will have a chest/triceps day. So for example for bulking, on bench press, you should do your warmup to prevent injuries, then jump to 70% of your heaviest bench and try to get as many reps as possible which will most likely be about (6-8). Then increase weight and decrease reps per set. You should do this for every exercise you do when bulking. No need for drop sets (decreasing weight after going heavy ) or high intensity training when bulking. Simply heavy weight less reps.
Cutting Diets,
I touched on this in my last blog. Basically you want to limit your carb intake and the type of carb. Eating slow digesting carbs is very very important which means NO PASTA, NO PIZZA, strictly things like sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa. Stay away from fatty foods and heavy sauces which often contain tons of butter. Cutting diets are bland and kind of painful to get through but offer incredible results. So I actually am cutting right now and would love to share my meal plan with you.
As I mentioned in my last blog this meal plan is actually a life style change for me not a diet. But I literally alternate my protein between fish, chicken, ground beef, and occasionally steak or shrimp. Steak is higher in fat and shrimp is much higher in cholesterol in comparison to the other lean meats so I tend to be cautious with these. Now for my carb I am a little more lenient with this because I do not like losing weight fast because I often gain it back. Instead of sweet potatoes everyday, I actually eat a lot of rice and occasionally pasta. I cook the 6 minute rice in the microwave with frozen chopped veggies looking exactly like fried rice when its done. I really love cutting but like I said, too much weight too fast is a no go. Treat yourself, get pizza and drinks with your friends just not everyday. I encourage chipotle a couple times a week and eat half of it. it is incredible for you and doesn’t feel like a diet. For strong cutters and body builders, chipotle is an exception, but pizza and pasta is out. Strong cutters do not even spice their meat. Now I do strict cuts a lot to remind myself that my current meal plan and life style isn’t that bad. to go more in depth on strict cutting, you literally eat chicken a sweet potato 2-3 time a day and a protein shake. I did this for a month and hated it, when I went back to my more lenient cut it seemed like heaven.
Cutting in the gym,
Opposite of bulking. What you really want to do is still lift, but lift light weight and tons of repetitions. This doesn’t mean you should go heavy; but if you do decide to go heavy do some drop sets to add more repetitions and fully fatigue the muscle after reaching your max weight. cutting involves a lot of cardio and high intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT training is in some ways using your own body weight as your exercise machine doing many reps and little rest time in order to keep your heart pumping. Ex. Pushups, squats, jumping jacks, deadmills (running on treadmill thats turned off). This process gets your body toned. Sometimes you lose muscle while you cut but the muscle that remains is out for everyone to see and looks great.
So cutting and bulking were actually designed for each other. You Should do both! Bulk and gain a lot of lean muscle and strength. Then you should cut to tone that muscle that you don’t lose. This is called getting shredded in my own words. You build muscle then show it off. If you just cut then you are going to be skinny and frail looking, if you just bulk you will just look hefty. Do both and you will be happy. Small disclaimer, this bulking/cutting alternation is mainly designed for people that are gym rats, people that truly care about their physique and could even compete. For those of you just trying to get strong or lose weight stick to my tips on my personal lifestyle meals (w/leeway) and I’ll tell you more about my lifting schedule in blogs to come. Now I personally have gained a ridiculous amount of muscle the last 6 months while losing weight at the same time. I have done bulking and cutting for small periods at a time but definitely revert back to my standard diet when things start going too far in one direction. I know a lot of this sounds complicated and it really is complicated stuff but I am trying my best. Hope you all enjoyed this blog! Below is an example of a normal kid who bulked up, gained muscle and some fat, then cut. Wonderful results are there for everyone!
Matt's Health and Fitness 