Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve  Personally, the shorter of a time ratio you use, I think the less muscle mass you grow on a time weighted basis. |
this isnt just a personal belief of steve, this is something that has some scientific merit to it. and something i have experienced time and again myself.
while i would never tell anyone to do the exact same thing every workout, studies have shown that a person really needs to keep focus on one particular benefit for an "extended" amount of time. meaning, if you were looking to bulk, you would want to focus on hypertrophy and the
nutrition that goes with it. i believe the recommendation was a minimum of 4-6 weeks towards your
goal to give your
body a chance to make changes in the direction you wanted. its kind of like the opposite of diminishing returns in economics, lol.
in other words, if you are switching back and forth between bulking and cutting every other week, youre probably going to get more of a maintenance effect. if you want to build muscle, be prepared to accept a little bit of
fat gain and the work to come to reduce it. if that doesnt sound appealing to you, just stay at maintenance. you can always build strength without a calorie surplus, since strength and muscle mass are not in a 1:1 direct relation.
if youre looking to be a competitve
bodybuilder, then obviously your competition dictates when you bulk and when you cut. but if competition isnt your thing, ive seen some very successful people do it based on seasons. start bulking as the weather gets colder, say mid fall or so, bulk through till mid to late winter, then cut to be ready for warm weather. once optimal bodyfat was reached, they would maintain (or the really smart ones would go into a strength phase for preparation of the next bulk) until mid fall rolled around again. this method is built on the premise that you want to look best when it is warm enough to show it, lol.
i would also certainly suggest that you avoid always being in either a cut or bulk, and try to have periods of "rest" at just maintenance
calories. even though you might be in good shape overall, that constant yo-yoing can still take its toll. this is, however, an anecdotal suggestion, so take it as you may.
