Keep bulking or start a cut?

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Jordan,

I’ve been on a relatively slow bulk for the past 10 months (I started the bulk at mid december 2021) and I would be happy to get some advice as to whether I should keep bulking or start a cut.

When I started the bulk I weighed ~69.7 kg @ ~13% bf, and I now weigh ~76.0 kg @ ~15.9% bf, which comes to an average rate of weekly weight gain of 0.14 kg, of which the average rate of weekly fat gain has been 0.07 (I weigh myself every day as soon as I wake up with this scale: Robot or human?, and base the numbers I mentioned based on my weekly average weigh in). Also, for context, i’m 21, my height is ~180cm and my waist is ~82cm (though i’m writing this in the evening so in the morning my waist is probably smaller).

In terms of nutrition, I’ve been eating relatively clean, meaning I pretty much don’t eat any junk food at all, aside from eating out once every week or two (though I’ll adjust my macros for the rest of the day accordingly). My current calories and macros per day for the past few weeks have been ~2800 calories, ~180g protein, ~320g carbs, ~90g fat (I weigh all of my food so I assume my macros are quite accurate).

The main reason i’m debating whether to keep bulking long term (up to around 85kg?) or start a cut is that this is the third time since I started lifting around 6 years ago that I have gone on a long bulk (Although I have been on and off the gym for the past 3 years and have only been back to training consistently since I started this bulk, though I was training consistently for over 2 years during my other 2 bulks). During each of those bulks I got to ~78kg @ ~17% bf, and because of that it feels like I keep hitting the same ceiling every time I bulk and that I haven’t made much progress in terms of building muscle (Also visually, not just in terms of the numbers on the scale). On the other hand though, i’m often told that I shouldn’t be going past 16-17% bf when I bulk, and by the time i’m done with a cut i’m back to around the same starting point I was at before I started bulking in terms of numbers on the scale.

Just to add - visually I still feel that I look relatively lean, I can still see some vascularity and definition in the muscle seperations, so I wouldn’t mind it from that perspective if I were to keep bulking for a while longer.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

2

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the post and the detailed post. Two questions I have for you: 1. How’s your performance and training going?
2. What do you want to get out of your training in the next 3 months? 12 months? -Jordan

3

Hey Jordan,

As for your questions:

  1. My perfomance in the gym has been pretty good, i’ve been running the beginner template, powerbuilding I, and now powerbuilding II during this bulk. When I started this bulk it was after a few months that I haven’t been training due to an injury, and therefore my strength wasn’t at it’s best when I started, though I still put on around 40 kg on my deadlift e1rm (which is now at 164 kg), 25 kg on my bench press e1rm (which is now at 109 kg, and that’s even with me doing comp style bench as opposed to regular touch and go bench press when I started the bulk), and 13 kg on my OHP e1rm (which is now at 58 kg). As for squatting - I’ve been dealing with a long term injury and haven’t been able to train properly for a couple of years, though i’m now on track to getting back to squatting with a full ROM in the next month or two (I’m currently doing pin squats due to pain when going through the whole ROM).

  2. In the short term (the next 3-4 months) I would like to improve my strength to a point that i’m satisfied with it (I’d like to get to a 4 plate / 180 kg deadlift, 120 kg comp style bench press, 60 kg OHP for reps, and being able to squat without pain and through a full ROM). These numbers don’t have anything to do with a competition as i’m only lifting as a hobby, though they are just general numbers i’ve always wanted to get to in terms of strength. In the long term (the next 12 months), i’d like to focus a bit more on putting on more muscle mass / bodybuilding (My original goal was to get to about 85 kg at a decent bofy fat %), while also maintaining / (ideally) improving my strength in the big lifts.

  • Ben
4

Hey Ben,

I think maintaining your weight for ~2 months or so and re-evaluating your progress seems like a good move. You’re likely to get stronger and gain some muscle mass in the interim. Based on how you’re feeling then, I’d re-evaluate if you’d like to gain weight again or continue maintaining. I wouldn’t cut at this point unless you really wanted to be leaner.

-Jordan

5

Thanks for the advice Jordan!

Just for general knowledge - how would I decide in a couple of months after maintaining my weight wether I should gain weight again or keep maintaining it? Does it have to do with numbers on the scale, or just with how I feel in terms of whether I want to start bulking again or keep maintaining my weight?

6

It’s personal preference.