Cutting

There’s a long tradition of bulking up and then cutting away the fat. It’s popular with all types of lifters, from bodybuilders to powerlifters, because it’s the most reliable way to build muscle and then get lean. Body recomposition and maingaining can also work well, for a time, but bulking and cutting are more powerful.

I’ve bulked and cut a few times, gaining 70 pounds at the same body fat percentage I started at. I’ve also helped a few thousand clients do it over the past decade. I’ll show you the before-and-after photos below.

Before we start, you probably have some questions. So, let’s blast through the most common ones:

• Maintenance periods after bulking to “lock in” your muscle mass. The idea is that it takes a few weeks or months for your new muscle to cement into place. So, by delaying your cut, you’d keep more of your hard-earned muscle. There’s no evidence for this, and it probably isn’t necessary.
• High-rep sets to focus on muscle definition. The idea is to switch from 6–12 reps per set to 15–30 reps. This was thought to give greater muscle definition. Both rep ranges are great for stimulating muscle growth, but high-rep sets can be absolutely miserable, especially when you aren’t eating as much food to fuel your workouts.
• Short rest periods. The idea is to use shorter rest periods to boost growth hormone, improving muscle growth and retention. The “hormone hypothesis” of muscle growth was mostly debunked, but short rest times can be effective if you program them properly.
• More ab training. Bodybuilders used to think you could train your abs to burn more ab fat (spot reduction). That myth died a decade ago. You could still train your abs to build bigger abs, but cutting makes it harder to build muscle, so you’d get even better results by training your abs while bulking.
• Shorter workouts to match your lower energy levels. When you’re cutting, you’re eating less food, so you have less energy. That can make it harder to survive big bulking workouts. Thus, cutting workouts are often shorter and easier. That makes sense, but it’s tricky, so we’ll talk about the pros and cons below.
• Long walks to burn fat faster. Cardio burns far more calories than lifting weights, making it easier to lose weight. Plus, most cardio adaptations are enhanced by losing weight. You can finish your cut with a higher VO2 max, a lower resting heart rate, and better performance.
• Cutting carbs (and ketogenic diets). The idea is that carbs are good for building muscle (true) but make it harder to lose fat (not true). Carbs are just as powerful while cutting. However, when you cut calories, you need to cut back on something. It’s usually best to cut back on both carbs and fat, but some people find it easier to lose weight on low-carb diets.
• Carb cycling. Some bodybuilders try to get the best of both worlds, eating low-carb diets on rest days, but eating more carbs in the meals before and after their workouts. That way, they show up to the gym with full muscles and higher energy levels. There’s some evidence to support this. Even the taste of carbs improves workout performance (study, study). It’s a good option to consider.
• Intermittent fasting. About a decade ago, bodybuilders started eating fewer meals instead of smaller meals because they thought it would improve their growth hormone production. That didn’t pan out, but intermittent fasting might help you control your appetite. It’s an option.
• Refeeds to revive your metabolism. Refeeds can give you a psychological break, and they might boost your metabolism a little bit during the refeed, but your metabolism will wither away again when you go back to cutting (meta-analysis). The best way to keep your metabolism high is to keep your activity levels high. More on that below.

We can keep the best methods, get rid of the worst ones, and build them into a balanced cutting routine.