Bulk/Cut Cycling

[NJL52]

Simple question. What periods of time do people find most effective for cycling your cuts and bulks? That or what's the most common.

For a background just incase if its on a case by case basic.

Started 226. Cut down to 185. Been on a bulk for the past 6 weeks and I'm now up to 198. I had lost a bunch of muscle during the cut, but I gained it all back. I'm currently a little bit stronger at 198 then I was at 226. However, I didn't get to as low of a point for body fat as I wanted, I just got frustrated watching my lifts go down markedly every week so I decided it was bulk time. I've put on a little more fat then I wanted to during this bulk. (Didn't realize just how many calories were in a ceasar dressing until like the 4th week)

And I'm training for strength/explosiveness. I couldn't care less about how big I get.

So basically, how many more weeks for bulk then how many off do you experts think?

And thanks in advance.

 

[Hybridtheory2o]

Umm..If you are bulking then it does mean you care how big you get. Where I live what I do is bulk during the winter because im not runnin around in a foot of snow in a tank top or anything so I tend to let myself get a little bit bigger. Yeh if you just do the see food diet like a lot of ppl talk about you will gain weight but mostly fat weight and thats not really what bulking is about. To me more cheat meals are acceptable this time because you def wanna take in more calories than you are burning but at the same time you wanna do it without gaining a shit ton of bf.

As for cutting I havent really tried anything hardcore yet but give yourself some time to get into it. I go to the beach more obviously during this time so I dont really wanna look all bloated and shit.

Thats how I go by because I dont compete yet.

When you are bulking yeh ur def gunna be considerably stronger than when you are cutting. For one you are not taking in more calores your burning it and losing weight and losing water and all that shit so yeh ur strength is gunna go down somewhat. It shouldnt be going down to the point where ur a fuckin weakling and shit but yeh ur gunna be more tired because ur not carbin up like you would to bulk up.

Expect to be a little weaker and a little less energetic. Comes with it. I have never really tried any hardcore cutting because I was always afraid I was gunna lose too much however if you diet right and train right you should be able to preserve a decent amount of muscle mass.

That was all my oppinion by the way maybe some of the other more bros can chime in and elaborate or explain a little better or more in depth of what I was trying to explain?

 

[NJL52]

lol thanks for the answer but I knew that much. I understand the basics of bulking/cutting etc. I've spent time doing both and I expected the results and they came.

I'm just looking for opinions about lengths of time regarding cutting/bulking. What is the most effective ratios?

IE: 8 week bulk, 8 week cut or whatever

 

[Sculelos]

I'd say go on a very clean bulk so you can bulk for about 10-11 months out of the year and maby cut 1-2.

I'm a pretty new lifter and immediately decided to go on a bulk and went from 182-205lbs and I still haven't gained much bodyfat so I'm going to continue to clean bulk for a long time, as long as possible.

 

[StuWard]

Probably a better plan if you are not competing and have no actual deadlines to hit, is just keep your fat in a narrow range. A bf% of 10-12% is supposed to be the most anabolic. Just keep it in that range. If it starts to creep up go on a short cutting cycle to get it back down and then resume bulking. You will probably wind up doing a similar ratio of bulking to cutting as previously suggested but it will be results based, not something arbitrary. I honestly think that the ratios will vary considerably from person to person depending on the person's body type and how clean their diet is.

Stu

 

[NJL52]

Thanks guys.

Still, the more opinions the merrier.