If your goal is to get ripped, then you need to do 2 things: build muscle and lose fat.
But it’s really hard to do BOTH of those things at the same time.
So what many people do is they do them one at a time…
Bulking is when you lift weights and eat more calories in order to gain muscle. And cutting is the opposite: you lift weights while eating less calories in order to lose fat.
You do one, then you do the other.
But which one should you do FIRST?
Bulking Or Cutting First: The Basics
Here’s what’s important to understand. Anytime you start bulking, by eating more calories, YES you will gain muscle… But you’ll also gain some fat too.
And anytime you start cutting, YES you will lose fat… but you’ll also lose some muscle.
So, here’s why this matters:
Nutrient Partitioning 101
Your bodyfat affects what they call your nutrient partitioning.
In other words, the more bodyfat you have…the more likely you are to gain more bodyfat.
And this is true because when you have too much bodyfat, your hormones get out of whack. Right? The hormones that help you build muscle and stay lean, things like testosterone, get depressed as you become more overweight.
So that’s why you should NOT start bulking…until you are already lean.
What Happens If You Bulk Too Early
We already know that bulking will result in some muscle gain and some fat gain.
Now if you start bulking, and you’re already lean (if you already have a low bodyfat of say 10-12% or less) then you’re going to gain a higher percentage of muscle with a lower percentage of fat.
That nutrient partitioning I mentioned is going to shuttle more of those calories into your muscles…where you want them.
On the other hand, let’s say for example that right now your bodyfat is around 16-18% or more. If you start bulking with that kind of bodyfat, then your bulk is going to be less effective. You’re going to gain a higher percentage of fat and a lower percentage of muscle.
And to make matters worse, you’re going to become even more overweight, which is going to make it that much harder to LOSE that fat later on down the road.
Bulking Or Cutting First: My Final Recommendation
So that is why I can say this definitively:
Without question, it is absolutely BETTER to cut before you bulk.
If you want to build muscle and lose fat, focus on losing the fat…first.
Trust me guys, it will pay off bigtime down the road.
I know that it’s tempting to try to build muscle. It’s exciting and more fun that losing fat.
But if you try to build muscle before leaning out, you could be digging yourself into a big hole that’s tough to climb out of.
So that’s my answer to the question of whether you should start by bulking or cutting first.