Alternating bulk/cut each month

[d!ckmojo]

Yo dogs,

I'm thinking about instituting an alternating bulk/cut rhythm into my diet/workout routine. I don't know why, it just seems like a good idea... Variety and mixing it up are important principles in training.

Anyway, I've been sort of cutting for this whole month, I kinda bulked last month, but moving forwards I'd like to be more extreme about the whole thing.

So, the plan is to cut July, bulk August, cut September, bulk October, cut November, bulk December, cut January... you get the picture.

I follow the paleo style diet and do crossfit training. The way I will work it is to train 3 days on, 1 day off during my cut month, and on the days that I don't train, I will intermittently fast for 24 hours (i.e. I'll have breakfast on that fast day, but I won't eat again until the next morning).

Then, during the bulk month, I'll train 5 days on and have 2 days off (the entire weekend), and I'll set aside those two days as cheat days to just eat the fcuk up on whatever I want.

So, in a nutshell, my plan is~

cut months: (Jan/Mar/May/Jul/Sept/Nov) train crossfit 3 days on, 1 day off, I.F. on rest days

bulk months: (Feb/Apr/Jun/Aug/Oct/Dec) train crossfit 5 days on, 2 days off, cheat on rest days

What do you guys think about this potential schedule?

 

[DanZy]

I reckon it's a waste of time.

 

[d!ckmojo]

Yah? Well, you don't know $hit.

I've been noticing you posting around these parts lately, dude, and honestly, you make me groan with your boring, trite, conventional, orthodox, cookie-cutter, circa 1985 muscle mag wanky cr@p.

Your knowledge lacks nuance and subtlety, dude!

Now, lets make one thing perfectly clear: paleo + crossfit is THE single best way to acquire that lean, athletic, muscular, six-pack physique. All we really do there is mainly Powerlifting (deadlifts, squats [back, front, overhead], presses [strict press, push press, thrusters]) and Olympic lifting (clean and jerk, snatch) and their derivatives (power clean, hanging clean, push jerk, split jerk, power snatch), with gymnastics style calisthenics to boot (pushups, handstand pushups, pull ups, chin ups, ring dips, muscle ups, L-sits) with a butt-fcuk load of cardio mixed in (skipping rope double-unders, 400m runs, rowing machine, box jumps, medicine wall ball throws, etc) and a bunch of other skills too. And the workouts are structured competitively as well, so its always intense, and it feels more like the excitement of playing a sport than the boring drudgery of doing a gym routine, just going through the motions solo style.

And paleo is the the prime low carb, no starch no sugar style diet. So the combination really is perfect.

But like I said, if you just monotonously follow the same pattern day in day out forever, your body will become adapted and your progress will slow down and stop.

So to keep my body in a state of dynamic growth, I have speculated that this style of short, alternating bulk/cut cycles might be helpful. WE all should be aware by now of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting, just go and read up on leangains.com if you want the low down, and we should also all be aware of the benefits of cheat days in re-setting the leptin level hormonally in your body.

With that in mind, my program as outlined above seems perfectly reasonable, and in fact, quite possible an excellent way to move forward and continue progressing towards my physique goals.

So why, oh puerile n00b, do you reckon its a waste of time?

 

[DanZy]

Oh good lord, my knowledge is perfectly correct. If you actually read what I'm writing you'll notice that it's taken from sites like Leangains etc.

I wasn't damning crossfit, I'm not going to get into that. I was simply stating that a month isn't a long enough time to put on a decent amount of muscle. You should rather do a lengthier clean bulk that gives you greater muscle gains.

boring, trite, conventional, orthodox, cookie-cutter, circa 1985 muscle mag wanky cr@p? Funny, everything I've stated has gone against conventional beliefs (things like intermittent fasting which I praise immensely). Cookie-cutter? Please do do explain this. Orthodox? Yes because the Leangains diet I follow and recommend truly is orthodox; yes my lifting routine is composed of essentially compound lifts but that doesn't deem it orthodox, I don't recommend crossfit for various reasons that I'm not going to get into. 1985 muscle mag crap? I thought you've read what I'd written? I've been arguing against the muscle mags...But hey you're doing crossfit so you must be right.

Oh and one cannot make the generalisation that crossfit + paleo is the single most effective combo ever. Paleo is effective but it doesn't have any real significant benefits (other than for those who used to eat a ton of processed junk), crossfit is quite the joke. The movements are often downright dangerous, the costs involved are ridiculous, Reebok own and run it, the dude who invented it is this fat little bastard (it really must be working for him) etc.

Nuance and subtlety? We're writing about lifting and nutrition, why be subtle? Hahahaha dude really? You straight up called me a n00b and stated that I don't know ****; very subtle.

No one has ever proven that the body becomes used to training and therefore stops growing as effectively. In essence, that's downright wrong. If I've been training for 6 months and I squat 300lbs the stress on the muscle fibres is exactly the same were I to have trained for 2 years and done the 300lbs squats. Yes one should change one's routine every now and then to provide different stimuli to overcome a plateau. If your deadlifts are stuck, it's worth working on cleans to develop that explosive movement etc.
But none of that proves that the body gets used to training and therefore that training becomes obsolete. Look at power lifters, they'll use the same training methods for years, as they compete in those disciplines, yet they push the weight ever upwards.

But for what you want, paleo and crossfit should get you there just fine. Such short bulking and cutting cycles are flawed for exactly that reason: they're too short. If you maintain your body at just above your desired body fat all year round (like I do), then a month cutting will actually suffice. But a month long bulk probably isn't reasonable for any significant muscle gains. Nice idea but unfortunately I don't think it'd generate significant results. I think it would be an interesting method of maintenance though.

 

[marmel75]

My experience with cutting tells me it is not an optimal protocol for getting to where you want to be...I feel carb cycling will get you similar results over 6 months without the loss of muscle cutting creates...just my 2 cents..

 

[marmel75]

My experience with cutting tells me it is not an optimal protocol for getting to where you want to be...I feel carb cycling will get you similar results over 6 months without the loss of muscle cutting creates...just my 2 cents..


Main issue I have with cutting besides loss of muscle, is loss of strength, sometimes drastic strength loss. Took me 6 or 7 weeks to gain strength back.

Try it and see how it goes I guess, but I think nutrient cycling is going to work better longterm...size and strength stay good while fat lods is slow and steady...