Great video. You’re exactly right yeah you don’t need to bulk or card you can Build muscle and just eat and slowly lower your bodyfat will building muscle at the same time. If you’re not overweight you don’t need to cut and if you’re not under wait you don’t need to book people are allowed to just leave their normalize and train and not worry about every little detail
In the past, I tried strength training with cutting, and I always quit because it is too hard. Now I am doing maintenance+ strength training for 7 months. I only lost 2 kg so far, but my body changed a lot. I can see muscle definition and my lifting improves. It is a slow process but like you said it is a lifestyle, no need to rush things.
@@caleb1505 you're being obtuse, if it was just water weight then they didn't actually lose any weight and their comment is pointless. I'm just informing him that if your weight fluctuates then you aren't eating at maintenance calories because surprisingly many people don't understand calories vs calories out is all that matters.
Appreciate that you mentioned at the end that this advice is primarily for beginners and quite possibly suboptimal for anyone that has already gone through their newbie gains phase (intermediate/advanced lifters). -Someone who only added 10lbs to his bench in an ENTIRE YEAR of consistency while "maingaining"
@@demoncore5342 newbie gains don't have anything to do with how long you've been training, but with how far you are from your genetic potential. So you can't really waste newbie gains
My advice to a newby at the gym is don't bite off more than you can chew. I'm coming up to having been training for a year so I've recently moved past the newby phase. Prior to the last year, I'd tried getting into training loads of times. It tended to involve me investing loads of money into supplements, planning a 5 days a week routine, overdoing it the first few days and ending up with crippling DOMS, getting demoralised because I've already flopped my attempt at 5 days in the first week, then going back to the comfort of spending my evenings getting drunk instead of at the gym. This last time, I just told myself that going from 0 days training a week, even to 1, was an improvement. I started off aiming for 3 days a week, but not punishing myself if I did 2 or 1. for the first 3 months or so I did this, and even though my gains weren't as noticeable as they would have been with more consistency, they were there and it helped me get into the habit of going to the gym. After those 3 months i was consistently going 3 times a week, and aiming for 4 which i occasionally did. At this point people started commenting on my gains, and there is nothing better when you're first starting out than hearing 'have you been going to the gym?'. This gave me further motivation, and as i started hitting weights that I used to enviously watch other people lift, it just made me want to go more and more. Now I'm consistently going 5 or 6 days a week and have been for a few months (the only week I didn't was over Christmas). In terms of diet, my gains were most noticeable when i started maintaining my protein intake on my days off. Your body needs that consistent intake of protein, and it will do wonders for your gains.
I have been going to the gym for about 3 or 4 months, I had some experience as I went to the gym with my dad back when I was like 13 but stopped after a while, I began just winging it last year, watching a lot of videos and making my own routines, only went like 3 days a week on and off, I wasn't too motivated but I knew I liked it, about 2 weeks ago I decided to get serious and stick to a 6 day PPL split, the gains and strength is noticeable, even hit a PR on bench this monday, I'm not counting calories or trying to bulk, I'm just eating more than I used to, I have a fast metabolism so it's basically impossible for me to put on weight, thankfully I can eat a lot if I decide I want to, also taking protein shakes almost everyday, ever since I began eating more the strength gains are very noticeable!
@@Alpha-soixante Stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. Basically the muscular pain you get from going to the gym, which is particularly bad when you first start.
Warning to anyone cutting. It sucks. I am fairly lean to start and had to drop about 10 lbs for a powerlifting competition. I found I was irritable, couldn't sleep and lost my drive. I was also very emotional and all around not myself.
@@Anonymous77-s1s - I was. I also cut 3 pounds too much being worried I might miss weight. I have kept some of the weight off and am going to try again late March. Hopefully w better results.
@@Anonymous77-s1s I hear you bro. It was my first weight cut and I am new to powerlifting. I walk around fairly lean at just over 170 lbs. I needed go be 162.8. I thought it would be easy.. it wasn't!
Problem with maintenance for a beginner is it's so hard to gauge progress. I've just started back at the gym after a long long break. I started at 220lb 30% body fat, my plan was a body "recomp" with a slight deficit (250kcal). I know I've been making good progress because I've done this before, but on paper I've dropped about 4lb in two months... Seems like a body recomp should include things like measuring your waist; an idiots guide to body fat % etc
Yea I think it's important to understand that usual metrics like BW and BF% will progress slower/differently. I think strength gains will be a great metric to track.
Yes you're supposed to track your body shape as well as weight, i.e. measure your waist circumference, and arms etc. Because if you gain muscle and lose fat at the same rate, it wouldn't show on the weighing scales. Measuring body fat % is ok too but it's not accurate unless the loss is significant
@@alanz90 I'm not sure this knowledge comes naturally to a beginner. Cutting and (at the beginning) Bulking are clearly beneficial and the benefits don't take much tracking... I can easily cut 20lb of fat in two months and see the progress (on a scale) and in the mirror. A noob can put on like 5lb of muscle in the first bulk (probably/maybe) and see the results everywhere. A body recomp takes the the laser eyes of coach Greg lol... I think this maintenance stuff has its place, if you start off looking ok to begin with but cutting and bulking is king!
May I ask for your advice on this topic? I do consider myself as a beginner (I've been properly training for 2/3 months) but I feel like I have a little too much body fat. I don't want to waste my newbie gains, stop progressing in the gym and limit muscle growth by cutting, but I really do want to lose body fat. Should I continue to focus on body recomp (and for how long) or switch to cutting if losing body fat is more of a focus for me? (Also wondering for how long)
@@sophieruddy9799 First of all, "losing" your noobie gains is not really a thing, it's not a fixed amount that if you don't get them in the first 6-12 month they are lost forever. If you cut first you might not gain as much muscle early on, but the moment you get on a calorie surplus you will "recover" those "lost" gains super fast. About your question, as mentioned in the video, maintaining has advantages, but if you don't feel good with yourself and think that losing that body fat as "fast" as possible would make you happier, then go for it. It's all about balance in the end, you weight the pros and cons and decide what will help you more in the long run. Maintaining might be better in general terms, but if it personally makes you lose interest in the gym because it's not the best for your current goals, then it's not optimal for you. Hope this helps. And about how long you should cut, as general guidelines you don't want to lose more that 10% of you current body weight in any cutting phase. From there, a good rate of loss is between 0.5-1.2% of BW per week. Keep in mind that the upper range of that percentage will require a big calorie deficit that won't be sustainable for long, so a slower and steadier rate is probably better if you have a lot of weight to lose.
I think most people underestimate how much protein they need. When I was younger I used to work out super hard, and saw pretty minor gains (at least in size). 20 years later, I'm eating 2-3 times at much protein (>120g), doing a quarter of the work, and have actually seen significant muscle size increase.
This is too true. When I started I ate “high protein” meals, but didn’t actually count how much protein my meals had, and of course I saw very little progress, only recently I started eating protein relative to my bodyweight and my strength was increasing week to week.
In my experience it’s the opposite, most gym rats OVERestimate the amount of protein they need. I know a lot of 70-80kg guys who eat like 200g protein a day, when 150 grams would be plenty for optimal hypertrophy. I’m not saying it’s dangerous or bad for you to eat ”too much” protein, it’s just unnecessary and can be expensive.
i'm 12 days into my 6 week cut and thank you for this! I have been going to the gym for almost 3 months now (regularly, 3x a week) and I havent lost weight yet. But I see progress on my body. I cut because I wanted to shed pounds but I guess I'll just continue until 6th week and maintain my calories from then
@@Ahmed-jv7oc could be schedule or because it’s intimidating to go a lot when you are beginning, it’s better to go three times a week then everyday for a week and stop after that because of stress
I love this channel. Your channel was one of the main sources of information I used when I started lifting. I wouldn't be where I am today without you. Thanks for everything!
I’m currently one year n 5 months into lifting and I never liked the idea of bulking and cutting phases. I’m actually doing this approach and I feel much better. I think this is 100% the way to start off, and then doing a small lean bulk in the future
This video is so wholesome. I'm so happy you are talking about maintenance. I've applied for this 6 months ago and lost 30 pounds just by doing maintenance! 🥰
A lot of people seem to be caught up on what constitutes a beginner in order to decide whether they should maintain or not. I think what is more important is your current body fat percentage. In my personal experience as a naturally lean guy with a small appetite, sometimes you do need to intentionally bulk. Ive stalled out plenty of times on my lifts, only to realize that If I had just ate more, I could have kept improving. The body has a really hard time giving up stored fat to build muscle if you are already skinny, and it can be really hard to gauge how much you need to eat to stay at maintenence without that crutch. There's also just the obvious note that you can't be 180lbs jacked if you never gain weight from 130.
I’ve been on maintenance since I first started working out 6 months ago. I didn’t want to cut to hinder muscle growth and didn’t want to bulk since I’d be even more overweight. Recomp is slow but I have seen way more definition and slimming down even at the same weight now. I think a lot of newbies would benefit from this since they don’t have to dedicate themselves to multiple things at once. Yes it’s probably slower and if you’re overweight like me, you’ll probably be discouraged but I swear you’ll look better the longer you stick with it
when i started off, i was 150lbs/71in. i had a technically healthy bmi but my actual body fat % was around 25%. a very undesirable amount. and for the first three months of my training, when i didn’t understand calorie deficit, i was eating about 600 cals a day. so while i was happy to go from 150-135/136 in a couple months, i regret doing it that way because it severely impacted my newbie gains. moral of the story: even if you’re cutting, please eat enough.
Totally agree with your point of view! Cutting and bulking are only really necessary in specific cases like if a person is morbidly obese or if you wanna reach an extreme high level of muscle mass and conditioning, thats why bodybuilders often use those two strategies. But for normal people that just wanna look and feel good, i'd totally recommend maintaining/gaintaining. Great video! :)
sorry but that's bullshit. If you want to gain any serious amount of muscle you have to bulk eventually. There is no way around that, because at some point your body won't have any fat left to burn for calories.
It's funny that i stopped training around the time of your last video and started training around when you started uploading again. It's nice to see you back!
Fully agree, all the points you made are totally valid including caveats for beginners vs non beginners. All that may be missing is when can people consider themselves a beginner? I would say one is no longer a beginner if one where to train seriously for about 3 years and made significant progress would be a decent ball park estimate. For people who have been going to the gym and abandoning training or not making much or any progress in 3 years or having lots of plateaus without progress, these people would still be considered beginners and having a good sleep/eat/training program would again help them progress and get those sweet newbie gains.
@@demoncore5342 Most people don't do EVERYTHING perfect in the first year and therefore are not making optimal progression. So there are still lots of newbie gains to be had in year 2. Maybe you are the 1% that had their nutrition, programming and recovery spot on for your entire first year and became intermediate right away. Highly doubtful.
Of course it all depends on what you're definition of a rookie is. I would say a rookie is making linear progress without having any plateaus (no progress for 2 months) while still working out consistently.
@@coldshivery It's not about being perfect in every regard, but running on newbie gains 3 years in, man, one could (and should) delve into advanced stuff at that point. And well, to me rookie is the one who didn't built the basic, what honestly, should be done in first couple of months.
What a great topic. Just like from your other old videos I have not heard very much about these other variations of cut, maintenance, and bulk. I greatly appreciate more in depth info for all things fitness.❤️
Personally, i believe a lean bulk is the best, because you are gaining slightly more muscle than a maintenance phase and also having higher strength gains due to the extra nutrients giving you more energy. The stronger you get, the more you can progressively overload, so it seems like a better option
You know what is really fun to watch and notice even though this is the first day I've actually watched your content because I'm doing workout stuff. Just how deep your voice was when you were doing the other video, compared to today. I don't mean that like as an insult or anything like that, but you can really tell you've been youtubing for a while and your increasing the pitch of your voice to become more appealing to a wider audience, and maybe there is some physiological changes in your own life that I'm unaware of or what-have-you, but I just like seeing that difference from a content creator perspective even if I haven't been with you for a long
Yea, it's a nice way for me to work on new content instead of trying to always come up with new topics that become less and less relevant to the majority of people. Thanks Mats!
Since you asked for input, I'll oblige 😊 I think your point about adherence is probably the most important for any routine as you mentioned. As for whats best, I'd definitely lean towards lean-bulking and/or a recomp and here's why; - No major changes needed to current nutrition assuming they already were eating somewhere close to maintenance, just add some extra protein. The extra protein also has the added satiety benefit so they could be just ahove or below their maintenance, sort of like cycling but in a smaller window (hence L-B/mx) - Without having to focus on nutrition, they can focus on building the most important habit of showing up to exercise. For noobies especially I've always tried to convince them that even on days where they're struggling with motivation, they just need to show up. They don't have to crush a workout, they can do some light easy work just to maintain the habit of showing up, and if they're showing up but not putting in enough effort it's easier to give them some encouragement and nudge them to push on some days if they already have the foundation of being there and last, - The extra activity, combined with rhe extra new muscle even if it's not apparently visible, will ratchet up their TDEE. Any activity is better than none for starters and the caloric demands to maintain the new muscle might raise their BMR but a few tens or even a few hundred per day the longer they stick with it and the more they gain. Now, if they decide to bulk, they have a solid foundation of technique and strength to make their workouts more effective, and if they want to cut they'll be burning more calories by default just by nature of having a greater amount of muscle to keep the engine running so to speak Love your videos! I hope you see this 😊
i've been doing maintenance since 5 months. and ngl i lost only around 2kgs but lot's of muscle gain and improvement on abs chest and biceps. i currently have 14% bodyfat with good amount of muscle. i'm an indian and i eat home food always. my daily intake calories will be around 2000 cal, 130g of protein, 250g of carbs and 40g of fat and 32g of fiber. i eat lots of fruits and even ragi malt. and doing good amount of training and trust me i never felt this better. and my abs are popping out too. maintenance is the key guys! it surely works for lifetime body! let ur body get used to good foods and boom!
consistent cardio really helps for a cut. not just for the deficit, but it also allows you to eat more food while still allowing you to create a deficit. i wasn't doing cardio and was on a cut with 1800 calories, felt like trash all the time. i added some low intensity cardio each day and was able to eat 2200 calories while keeping the same deficit and I felt a lot better, was failing lifts a lot less and felt a lot less hungry.
I am 36, Male. I was 245 lbs at most. I did my own maintenance and adherence; I am 184 lbs now, after 1 year of just eating high quality protein and fats, very few carbs, NO SUGAR and NO GYM. I look and feel great. Better than my 20's. I will now go to the gym to show some definition, but more importantly, to build more strength. I am living proof that you are 100% correct! Thank you!
im 190 cm tall and weigh 70 Kg and have 50% of muscle mass and 12 BF%, Im doing a slight calorie excess diet and training 5-6 days per week. I increased in the past month from 66 kg to 70 kg where i gained 2 kg of muscle and fat each. Eating alot is so much harder than training but im trying to get used to it. This is my first time ever bulking, and im excited for it. My goal is to reach 75 kg in 1.5/2 months. Gudluck for everyone who's bulking as well.
I'm 85kg at 165cm. I keep on maintaining my weight even when I willingly eat less for a caloric deficit. I actually like how broad my look is right now, and how wide my shoulders are at 85kg. I just want the weight, double chin, love handles, and man tits gone; followed by good lean tone and hopefully at least 2 packs of abs showing. I want to change my life but obviously I want to look good with a decent bulk doing it. I guess I'll just continue my fasting since it maintains my heavy weight while always trying my best to reach daily protein requirements, as recomp, for like 5-6 months. And then I'll start going even lower on the caloric intake for the cutting phase until I reach an ok look and size at the mirror without relying much on the weighing scale (since good looking lean muscle mass will always give a heavy scale)
maintenance does make sense. I’d say it depends on the plans of the beginner. Are you starting at a higher weight? Then cut first. If you’re at a much lower weight and don’t wanna get too fluffy then maintenance. So basically it depends on the beginner.
I think another great thing to point out is that a better way to gauge once progress is body fat % rather than weight. Just because you gain weight doesn't mean you've lost progress. The weight could be mostly muscle. And losing weight could mostly be fat loss and not muscle. You could stay at the same weight when "Main gaining" but it could just mean that you lost some weight in fat and gained the roughly the same in muscle.
Love the video.. I am 47 .. 5ft 7 and 275 and maintenance is were I am and need to be .. and I still getting stronger it's jest I am thinking about the long game. Please continue putting out very logical and informative content.
I think this does overlook the varied starting points of beginners. I was pretty athletic in highschool but never lifted, now in my early 30's I was sitting around 30% body fat and about 65lbs heavier than when I graduated high school. maintenance really wasn't on the table if I wanted to get healthy and be happy about how I looked. Even in a pretty steep calorie deficit, I'm feeling strength gains and muscle growth while losing about 1-2lbs a week. This obviously isn't sustainable, but for me personally I know that I'm WAY more motivated to stick to my fitness goals when I see and feel a rapid change in body composition early. even if I'm not maximizing my muscle and strength gains, I know I'll be able to do more cardio activities like rock climbing and mountain biking consistently if I just shed a bunch of weight first. in the long run, I'll have more access to things that were restricted by my size and composition. I'd imagine that someone starting from a super lean but weak body comp would probably have more success with the exact opposite. ramping up the calories and gaining size and mass to feel and look better, even at the cost of a slightly higher body fat % early on.
I’ve been weight training consistently since I was 13 and I’m 21 now, other then when I’ve been injured. I’ve learnt a lot from nutrition content on TH-cam like picture fit😆 so fairly experienced. I’ve done cuts and bulks and they have so many pros and cons….cutting you loose strength(become susceptible to injury) and have to watch what you eat all the time tracking them by weighing food…so boring and a means to an end. So it’s not to be made a sustainable healthy training lifestyle but you always look a lot leaner is the only reward🤔 where as bulking you become fairy fat and saturated, not as lean nor muscular. But your body is constantly nourished, so keeping up with training sessions demands for growth and strength. But I’ve now got to the point after about 3 consistent cuts and found the methods of the two not being long lasting as a consistent life style, incorporate regular training (consistent weekly), protein focused for food, be mindful of processed food consumption as they’re more dense in calories and make it easy to be in a surplus before you know it and become fatter. Replace with fruit for people with a sweet tooth and look for low calorie alternatives(be mindful). This has kept me lean but strong and I don’t look back, as soon as you’ve had a few cheat days be mindful and factor in few calories less a few days after and always go about it that way, don’t make it a chore, enjoy living a balanced life style to stay consistent with and progress in, I’m lean and strong just by estimated daily maintenance calories, it’s the best way I believe and don’t look back✌🏽
Beginners I recommend maintenance with a slight surplus assuming the beginner is low on bodyfat cus it really wouldn’t make sense to tell somebody who is low on bodyfat to cutt
I saw the original video when I was in 8th grade. I then worked out for 3 years after no progress never knowing what was wrong. Now I realize I need to eat to actually build muscle and get stronger instead of trying to get ripped by cutting. Then when I get more muscle, I can cut the weight off and finally see results.
Where my IFBB Pros at? lol Awesome video, PictureFit. Just wanted to share. I've been doing a clean (strict keto) bulk for the last 7 months. Just went to a clean bulk with carbs and the weight increase is insane, but the energy is too. That being said, bulk has certainly helped me to gain muscle and look better in the right places. The cut phases is going to be tough, but will really help those muscles pop. Love the content.
Every time I hear a content creator mention newbie gains I lose part of my soul cuz like many others I've learned all this new stuff way too late into my training years.
I am two weeks at cominh back to working out. I always lose motivation because it was too hard and I push myself to lose weight but now. I am starting to enjoy by going to the gym and keeping my food normal. it is more fun and less stress and pressure that I put on myself. before I can't even last 30mins because I keep having "I need to burn fats" and get exhausted. Maintenance is so much help for me. it may be slower but it feels better. when I get my strength. I will take that good cut and feel the results of my hardwork
Maintenance is for "casuals". If you want to go really serious right away you want to begin at a maintenance level of where you expect yourself to be in the future. Wanna gain a lot of muscle and don't need to lose too much fat? Then you most certainly go for a caloric intake where your expected maintenance is in the future. That means a temporary slight bulk that will even out to a maintenance later on without changing up the diet. Once you're beyond the point of nooby gains you may need to adjust based on personal calculations and similar.
Provided you are eating enough good foods and getting in the protein I would say eating at a maintenance and prioritising a high protein diet is better then bulking or cutting on most cases
I've been in and out of gym for long periods for a long time, always tried maintenance when starting again. In the beginning it helped but after 2-3 months I would alway hit a plateau. No muscle gains, no fat lose and no strength gains. Starting again after the long break because of the pandemic I've been bulking for 5 months and I see huge improvement. So, based on my opinion, bulking and cutting is the only option if you wanna see quick results. However, there's a higher risk of dirty bulking for beginners and losing all your gains during the cutting periods. So, choose wisely.
great video, feels like it clears more thing for me as someone who lost a good amount of weight but muscles as well as the same time (i shared my progress thru a short vid), i only started lifting when i finished my weight loss goal hence i was debating on either bulking up (im current 58kg at 163cm which is around my ideal weight already), but i would see my bones more visible than my muscles, on the other hand i also wanted to maintain and simply build muscles through lifting more and progressive overload while getting my protein and rest properly. tbh bulking kinda scares me considering that im no longer comfortable eating alot of food (i only eat 2 meals per day since im pretty much in front of my laptop most of the day and not hungry really), and another part is i feel guilty plugging in those calories in my fitness pal and seeing a little surplus in my intake
For me I would say if you are skinny fat (about 20-25% body fat) you should do a cut till you are about on 13-15% even lower if you want to, but it is not gonna look that good (and bulk then). If you are a really skinny guy then I would bulk and if you are a normal decent guy, also bulk. That's just my opinion :)
That's exactly what I'm doing! So far cutting works for me probably cuz I wrestled all through high school and middle school. I've dropped 25lbs and maintained most my muscle and gained tons of speed. At about %16 body fat right now. Excited to bulk
what really worked for me was focusing on eating in a "small surplus" and focused on strength training with only zone 2 walking as a supplement for my cardio. this got my metabolism working hella fast in preparation for the cut. doing it this way... it got me stronger resulting in building muscle faster (its a little hard to do even on maintenance thats why i did it on a surplus). then when i started cutting, the fat just melted off so fast cuz of all the muscle i put on. if you wanna try doing it this way, put your scale in the closet. it'll be your worst enemy since you'll be doing this in a little surplus so expect a little weight gain. its totally worth it though cuz it will make the cut process 10000000000000000% more easier.
Started off the first year of lifting stuck in limbo between cutting and bulking. I just made the switch to eating a lot more healthy, fresh foods, which kind of made the decision for me lol. Wasn't till I had some experience with the lifts that I decided I wanted to chase the numbers, so I started bumping up my bodyweight
One thing that is incredibly important for all peoples to understand, whether you train or are just a curious mind is; If you are attending the gym consistenly whether it be twice a week, or six days a week, is that with every muscle activation, (in a training scenario) you will be building it stronger -> with the right nutrition. Now the most simple but important fact to remember in all of this. MUSCLE is more DENSE than FAT, so with this mentioned if you ever notice that you are somewhat thinner and or the scales aren't showing weight loss, remember that you aren't just losing weight, you're gaining muscle too. Typically people think it isn't working, but in reality it is working better than you know. Just continue with your training, and if you fancy it take measurements in areas of concern. Density meaning fat is larger than muscle, although they still weigh the same. If you have ever picked up Lead you may understand. (You also can't pick and choose where you want to lose fat!! Though in male and females it does store to certain areas more than others!) You will slowly lose it everywhere.
Your entire argument is essentially that maintencance is easier, not that it's better. Sure, you can build some muscle with this strategy, but I want to build the most muscle I can, not just some, which is why I'm currently bulking as a beginner. I don't see the point of limiting myself with this maintenance stuff, when it will almost certainly lead to stagnation in the long run.
October 1st 2021 I started at 115kg and 30% bf, today (07.02.2022) I'm 107kg and 21%, recomposition with 300kcal deficit, eating much protein, trying to stay low on carbs, works for now
Calories is a very small part of what actually causes weight loss and weight gain. The main emphasis needs to be on hormones, particularly Insulin(fat storage hormone). Insulin is the name of the game if you’re trying to gain or lose.
Depends on what you want. I for one enjoy being moderately strong while looking decent. So I've been somewhere between a bulk and maintenance since Thanksgiving. My goal is a 405 bench. @168 I maxed at 340. So I gained weight. @183 I maxed at 385. I'm at 200 as of today and still decently vascular
This is literally what i do as a beginner without knowing about it i switch between cutting and maintenance i cut when i plan on doing light exercises and i do maintenance if i wanna reach pr's and do heavy lifting.
Real answer: Decide between cutting, maintenance or bulking based on how you want your bodyfat that's all. If you feel super skinny, you should gain weight, if you are overweight which most people are, then go cut. If you like your bodyfat then maintenance. But if you cut or bulk, do it slow and reasonable, 200-400 calories from TDEE. If you are unhappy with your fat percentage, you should change it, and there's no reason not to do that when starting out training too.
I’m 18 and 130lbs and i got back into gym after a while(I wasn’t serious when i first started). So this time I started using whey protein because I don’t have a good diet plan and i actually wanna build some muscles now.
I love how you get more and more comfy with your videos!! More power to you! 💯
Thanks Robert! I think after so many years, I'm starting to find my groove.
@@PictureFit yeah man! I can see! More content please! 🔥
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agreed dude. unequivocally true!!
@@DannySullivanMusic especially the quick puns. Had a lot of giggles 🤣
Great video. You’re exactly right yeah you don’t need to bulk or card you can Build muscle and just eat and slowly lower your bodyfat will building muscle at the same time. If you’re not overweight you don’t need to cut and if you’re not under wait you don’t need to book people are allowed to just leave their normalize and train and not worry about every little detail
Thanks Greg! 💪
Less grammar than last time.
Bulkmaining ftw
Auto correct harder next time! Jk Greg, love your videos!
@@randomdude6228 recomposition
In the past, I tried strength training with cutting, and I always quit because it is too hard. Now I am doing maintenance+ strength training for 7 months. I only lost 2 kg so far, but my body changed a lot. I can see muscle definition and my lifting improves. It is a slow process but like you said it is a lifestyle, no need to rush things.
Awesome!
YES!
If you lost weight then you aren't at maintenance...
Law of thermodynamics.
@@baz1184 weight can fluctuate a lot and losing only 2kg in 7 months is miniscule especially because you can fluctuate 5 to 6 pounds in a single day
@@caleb1505 you're being obtuse, if it was just water weight then they didn't actually lose any weight and their comment is pointless. I'm just informing him that if your weight fluctuates then you aren't eating at maintenance calories because surprisingly many people don't understand calories vs calories out is all that matters.
Appreciate that you mentioned at the end that this advice is primarily for beginners and quite possibly suboptimal for anyone that has already gone through their newbie gains phase (intermediate/advanced lifters).
-Someone who only added 10lbs to his bench in an ENTIRE YEAR of consistency while "maingaining"
So let's chuck a wrench in the cogs and not get the most out of newb gains, right?
@@demoncore5342 newbie gains don't have anything to do with how long you've been training, but with how far you are from your genetic potential. So you can't really waste newbie gains
@@simonhersberger682 Time is the most valuable thing you have. So yes, it's a waste.
@@simonhersberger682 Gotta max out your gains while the newbie buff is active
@@joexer1How can we do that?
My advice to a newby at the gym is don't bite off more than you can chew. I'm coming up to having been training for a year so I've recently moved past the newby phase. Prior to the last year, I'd tried getting into training loads of times. It tended to involve me investing loads of money into supplements, planning a 5 days a week routine, overdoing it the first few days and ending up with crippling DOMS, getting demoralised because I've already flopped my attempt at 5 days in the first week, then going back to the comfort of spending my evenings getting drunk instead of at the gym. This last time, I just told myself that going from 0 days training a week, even to 1, was an improvement. I started off aiming for 3 days a week, but not punishing myself if I did 2 or 1. for the first 3 months or so I did this, and even though my gains weren't as noticeable as they would have been with more consistency, they were there and it helped me get into the habit of going to the gym. After those 3 months i was consistently going 3 times a week, and aiming for 4 which i occasionally did. At this point people started commenting on my gains, and there is nothing better when you're first starting out than hearing 'have you been going to the gym?'. This gave me further motivation, and as i started hitting weights that I used to enviously watch other people lift, it just made me want to go more and more. Now I'm consistently going 5 or 6 days a week and have been for a few months (the only week I didn't was over Christmas). In terms of diet, my gains were most noticeable when i started maintaining my protein intake on my days off. Your body needs that consistent intake of protein, and it will do wonders for your gains.
I have been going to the gym for about 3 or 4 months, I had some experience as I went to the gym with my dad back when I was like 13 but stopped after a while, I began just winging it last year, watching a lot of videos and making my own routines, only went like 3 days a week on and off, I wasn't too motivated but I knew I liked it, about 2 weeks ago I decided to get serious and stick to a 6 day PPL split, the gains and strength is noticeable, even hit a PR on bench this monday, I'm not counting calories or trying to bulk, I'm just eating more than I used to, I have a fast metabolism so it's basically impossible for me to put on weight, thankfully I can eat a lot if I decide I want to, also taking protein shakes almost everyday, ever since I began eating more the strength gains are very noticeable!
@@Alpha-soixante Stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. Basically the muscular pain you get from going to the gym, which is particularly bad when you first start.
Warning to anyone cutting. It sucks. I am fairly lean to start and had to drop about 10 lbs for a powerlifting competition. I found I was irritable, couldn't sleep and lost my drive. I was also very emotional and all around not myself.
Were you -500 cals under maintenance? Because if that was that case that's why
It does indeed at every posible level
@@Anonymous77-s1s - I was. I also cut 3 pounds too much being worried I might miss weight. I have kept some of the weight off and am going to try again late March. Hopefully w better results.
@@ChrisBarthfitness that's probably why you felt tired was because you lost too much weight too soon is what I'm picking up
@@Anonymous77-s1s I hear you bro. It was my first weight cut and I am new to powerlifting. I walk around fairly lean at just over 170 lbs. I needed go be 162.8. I thought it would be easy.. it wasn't!
Yes! I had this discussion the other day maintenance is the most crucial part of fitness and make bulking and cutting easier
Problem with maintenance for a beginner is it's so hard to gauge progress. I've just started back at the gym after a long long break. I started at 220lb 30% body fat, my plan was a body "recomp" with a slight deficit (250kcal). I know I've been making good progress because I've done this before, but on paper I've dropped about 4lb in two months... Seems like a body recomp should include things like measuring your waist; an idiots guide to body fat % etc
Yea I think it's important to understand that usual metrics like BW and BF% will progress slower/differently. I think strength gains will be a great metric to track.
Yes you're supposed to track your body shape as well as weight, i.e. measure your waist circumference, and arms etc. Because if you gain muscle and lose fat at the same rate, it wouldn't show on the weighing scales. Measuring body fat % is ok too but it's not accurate unless the loss is significant
@@alanz90 I'm not sure this knowledge comes naturally to a beginner. Cutting and (at the beginning) Bulking are clearly beneficial and the benefits don't take much tracking... I can easily cut 20lb of fat in two months and see the progress (on a scale) and in the mirror. A noob can put on like 5lb of muscle in the first bulk (probably/maybe) and see the results everywhere. A body recomp takes the the laser eyes of coach Greg lol... I think this maintenance stuff has its place, if you start off looking ok to begin with but cutting and bulking is king!
May I ask for your advice on this topic? I do consider myself as a beginner (I've been properly training for 2/3 months) but I feel like I have a little too much body fat. I don't want to waste my newbie gains, stop progressing in the gym and limit muscle growth by cutting, but I really do want to lose body fat. Should I continue to focus on body recomp (and for how long) or switch to cutting if losing body fat is more of a focus for me? (Also wondering for how long)
@@sophieruddy9799 First of all, "losing" your noobie gains is not really a thing, it's not a fixed amount that if you don't get them in the first 6-12 month they are lost forever. If you cut first you might not gain as much muscle early on, but the moment you get on a calorie surplus you will "recover" those "lost" gains super fast.
About your question, as mentioned in the video, maintaining has advantages, but if you don't feel good with yourself and think that losing that body fat as "fast" as possible would make you happier, then go for it. It's all about balance in the end, you weight the pros and cons and decide what will help you more in the long run. Maintaining might be better in general terms, but if it personally makes you lose interest in the gym because it's not the best for your current goals, then it's not optimal for you. Hope this helps.
And about how long you should cut, as general guidelines you don't want to lose more that 10% of you current body weight in any cutting phase. From there, a good rate of loss is between 0.5-1.2% of BW per week. Keep in mind that the upper range of that percentage will require a big calorie deficit that won't be sustainable for long, so a slower and steadier rate is probably better if you have a lot of weight to lose.
I think most people underestimate how much protein they need. When I was younger I used to work out super hard, and saw pretty minor gains (at least in size). 20 years later, I'm eating 2-3 times at much protein (>120g), doing a quarter of the work, and have actually seen significant muscle size increase.
i think creatine supplementation can also help
This is too true. When I started I ate “high protein” meals, but didn’t actually count how much protein my meals had, and of course I saw very little progress, only recently I started eating protein relative to my bodyweight and my strength was increasing week to week.
@@Nimrod2024 Aim for 1 gram per pound of bodyweight
In my experience it’s the opposite, most gym rats OVERestimate the amount of protein they need. I know a lot of 70-80kg guys who eat like 200g protein a day, when 150 grams would be plenty for optimal hypertrophy. I’m not saying it’s dangerous or bad for you to eat ”too much” protein, it’s just unnecessary and can be expensive.
@@Eversti_Sandels If your 70 kg, 100 grams is enough.
I just started noticing my newbie gains and it is SOOOO motivating to see results I know they will slow down but it feels amazing
i'm 12 days into my 6 week cut and thank you for this! I have been going to the gym for almost 3 months now (regularly, 3x a week) and I havent lost weight yet. But I see progress on my body. I cut because I wanted to shed pounds but I guess I'll just continue until 6th week and maintain my calories from then
Best of luck!
Well I guess you are on a platue but you will start losing next month
Currently 11 months in 83 pounds down and man this shit feels weird (liking what i see in the mirror )
Why only 3 times?
@@Ahmed-jv7oc could be schedule or because it’s intimidating to go a lot when you are beginning, it’s better to go three times a week then everyday for a week and stop after that because of stress
I love this channel. Your channel was one of the main sources of information I used when I started lifting. I wouldn't be where I am today without you. Thanks for everything!
Thank you for the kind words. I'm happy to hear you're seeing progress!
agreed dude. utterly correct man
I’m currently one year n 5 months into lifting and I never liked the idea of bulking and cutting phases. I’m actually doing this approach and I feel much better. I think this is 100% the way to start off, and then doing a small lean bulk in the future
Respect for admitting your wrongs, and providing your new knowledge. I highly recommend this for new peoole
This video is so wholesome. I'm so happy you are talking about maintenance. I've applied for this 6 months ago and lost 30 pounds just by doing maintenance! 🥰
Then you are on a deficit mate
your channel has helped me with understanding the science behind fitness so much, thanks
Glad to hear!
A lot of people seem to be caught up on what constitutes a beginner in order to decide whether they should maintain or not. I think what is more important is your current body fat percentage.
In my personal experience as a naturally lean guy with a small appetite, sometimes you do need to intentionally bulk. Ive stalled out plenty of times on my lifts, only to realize that If I had just ate more, I could have kept improving.
The body has a really hard time giving up stored fat to build muscle if you are already skinny, and it can be really hard to gauge how much you need to eat to stay at maintenence without that crutch. There's also just the obvious note that you can't be 180lbs jacked if you never gain weight from 130.
I’ve been on maintenance since I first started working out 6 months ago. I didn’t want to cut to hinder muscle growth and didn’t want to bulk since I’d be even more overweight. Recomp is slow but I have seen way more definition and slimming down even at the same weight now. I think a lot of newbies would benefit from this since they don’t have to dedicate themselves to multiple things at once. Yes it’s probably slower and if you’re overweight like me, you’ll probably be discouraged but I swear you’ll look better the longer you stick with it
No offense but if you are overweight there is no excuse not to go on a cut. Maintaining forever will just keep you fat.
when i started off, i was 150lbs/71in. i had a technically healthy bmi but my actual body fat % was around 25%. a very undesirable amount. and for the first three months of my training, when i didn’t understand calorie deficit, i was eating about 600 cals a day. so while i was happy to go from 150-135/136 in a couple months, i regret doing it that way because it severely impacted my newbie gains. moral of the story: even if you’re cutting, please eat enough.
Totally agree with your point of view! Cutting and bulking are only really necessary in specific cases like if a person is morbidly obese or if you wanna reach an extreme high level of muscle mass and conditioning, thats why bodybuilders often use those two strategies.
But for normal people that just wanna look and feel good, i'd totally recommend maintaining/gaintaining.
Great video! :)
sorry but that's bullshit. If you want to gain any serious amount of muscle you have to bulk eventually. There is no way around that, because at some point your body won't have any fat left to burn for calories.
It's funny that i stopped training around the time of your last video and started training around when you started uploading again. It's nice to see you back!
Fully agree, all the points you made are totally valid including caveats for beginners vs non beginners. All that may be missing is when can people consider themselves a beginner? I would say one is no longer a beginner if one where to train seriously for about 3 years and made significant progress would be a decent ball park estimate. For people who have been going to the gym and abandoning training or not making much or any progress in 3 years or having lots of plateaus without progress, these people would still be considered beginners and having a good sleep/eat/training program would again help them progress and get those sweet newbie gains.
Yep, inconsistent training will keep you a beginner for quite a while! Thanks for sharing your feedback.
If you are a rookie after a year of lifting, dude, go play soccer instead!
@@demoncore5342 Most people don't do EVERYTHING perfect in the first year and therefore are not making optimal progression. So there are still lots of newbie gains to be had in year 2. Maybe you are the 1% that had their nutrition, programming and recovery spot on for your entire first year and became intermediate right away. Highly doubtful.
Of course it all depends on what you're definition of a rookie is. I would say a rookie is making linear progress without having any plateaus (no progress for 2 months) while still working out consistently.
@@coldshivery It's not about being perfect in every regard, but running on newbie gains 3 years in, man, one could (and should) delve into advanced stuff at that point.
And well, to me rookie is the one who didn't built the basic, what honestly, should be done in first couple of months.
What a great topic. Just like from your other old videos I have not heard very much about these other variations of cut, maintenance, and bulk. I greatly appreciate more in depth info for all things fitness.❤️
One of the greatest fitness channels on TH-cam, love those vids, keep it up 👍
It was so cool to drop by the live streams and see how your videos are made! Thanks for making so many helpful videos!
Personally, i believe a lean bulk is the best, because you are gaining slightly more muscle than a maintenance phase and also having higher strength gains due to the extra nutrients giving you more energy. The stronger you get, the more you can progressively overload, so it seems like a better option
You know what is really fun to watch and notice even though this is the first day I've actually watched your content because I'm doing workout stuff.
Just how deep your voice was when you were doing the other video, compared to today. I don't mean that like as an insult or anything like that, but you can really tell you've been youtubing for a while and your increasing the pitch of your voice to become more appealing to a wider audience, and maybe there is some physiological changes in your own life that I'm unaware of or what-have-you, but I just like seeing that difference from a content creator perspective even if I haven't been with you for a long
This is where I am. 'Maintenance'. Works for me 💪🏾
Love that you are back! I hope you will be very successful :)!
Thank you!
Great video! I wonder how many youtuber actually critically re-evaluate old content. Think its a great idea to do so!!
Yea, it's a nice way for me to work on new content instead of trying to always come up with new topics that become less and less relevant to the majority of people. Thanks Mats!
Since you asked for input, I'll oblige 😊 I think your point about adherence is probably the most important for any routine as you mentioned. As for whats best, I'd definitely lean towards lean-bulking and/or a recomp and here's why;
- No major changes needed to current nutrition assuming they already were eating somewhere close to maintenance, just add some extra protein. The extra protein also has the added satiety benefit so they could be just ahove or below their maintenance, sort of like cycling but in a smaller window (hence L-B/mx)
- Without having to focus on nutrition, they can focus on building the most important habit of showing up to exercise. For noobies especially I've always tried to convince them that even on days where they're struggling with motivation, they just need to show up. They don't have to crush a workout, they can do some light easy work just to maintain the habit of showing up, and if they're showing up but not putting in enough effort it's easier to give them some encouragement and nudge them to push on some days if they already have the foundation of being there
and last,
- The extra activity, combined with rhe extra new muscle even if it's not apparently visible, will ratchet up their TDEE. Any activity is better than none for starters and the caloric demands to maintain the new muscle might raise their BMR but a few tens or even a few hundred per day the longer they stick with it and the more they gain. Now, if they decide to bulk, they have a solid foundation of technique and strength to make their workouts more effective, and if they want to cut they'll be burning more calories by default just by nature of having a greater amount of muscle to keep the engine running so to speak
Love your videos! I hope you see this 😊
i've been doing maintenance since 5 months. and ngl i lost only around 2kgs but lot's of muscle gain and improvement on abs chest and biceps. i currently have 14% bodyfat with good amount of muscle. i'm an indian and i eat home food always. my daily intake calories will be around 2000 cal, 130g of protein, 250g of carbs and 40g of fat and 32g of fiber. i eat lots of fruits and even ragi malt. and doing good amount of training and trust me i never felt this better. and my abs are popping out too. maintenance is the key guys! it surely works for lifetime body! let ur body get used to good foods and boom!
3:35-This explains how my benchpress weight almost DOUBLED withought significant muscle growth coming with it.
It Pisses me off that people need to explain this simple concept so thoroughly. Like bro, is it that hard to comprehend for real?
Picture fit gives us his best and you can tell , his videos feel so authentic
I’m glad you’re back to posting regularly bro !
Me too, thanks Ahmed.
When you are eating and training at a maintenance you will actually see changes on the scale. You will put on muscle and muscle weighs.
Love the video for a complete beginner. Grateful for your content my boi
consistent cardio really helps for a cut. not just for the deficit, but it also allows you to eat more food while still allowing you to create a deficit. i wasn't doing cardio and was on a cut with 1800 calories, felt like trash all the time. i added some low intensity cardio each day and was able to eat 2200 calories while keeping the same deficit and I felt a lot better, was failing lifts a lot less and felt a lot less hungry.
I missed these videos, I'm glad you're back!
Thanks Michael!
Thank you for this video, just today I checked out about cutting and bulking but this video really helped me, appreciate it mate.
I am 36, Male. I was 245 lbs at most. I did my own maintenance and adherence; I am 184 lbs now, after 1 year of just eating high quality protein and fats, very few carbs, NO SUGAR and NO GYM. I look and feel great. Better than my 20's. I will now go to the gym to show some definition, but more importantly, to build more strength. I am living proof that you are 100% correct! Thank you!
Then you were at a deficit then
@@Proatcod10 I as well gained muscle as I was losing fat.
im 190 cm tall and weigh 70 Kg and have 50% of muscle mass and 12 BF%, Im doing a slight calorie excess diet and training 5-6 days per week. I increased in the past month from 66 kg to 70 kg where i gained 2 kg of muscle and fat each. Eating alot is so much harder than training but im trying to get used to it. This is my first time ever bulking, and im excited for it. My goal is to reach 75 kg in 1.5/2 months. Gudluck for everyone who's bulking as well.
I'm 85kg at 165cm. I keep on maintaining my weight even when I willingly eat less for a caloric deficit. I actually like how broad my look is right now, and how wide my shoulders are at 85kg. I just want the weight, double chin, love handles, and man tits gone; followed by good lean tone and hopefully at least 2 packs of abs showing. I want to change my life but obviously I want to look good with a decent bulk doing it.
I guess I'll just continue my fasting since it maintains my heavy weight while always trying my best to reach daily protein requirements, as recomp, for like 5-6 months. And then I'll start going even lower on the caloric intake for the cutting phase until I reach an ok look and size at the mirror without relying much on the weighing scale (since good looking lean muscle mass will always give a heavy scale)
maintenance does make sense. I’d say it depends on the plans of the beginner. Are you starting at a higher weight? Then cut first. If you’re at a much lower weight and don’t wanna get too fluffy then maintenance. So basically it depends on the beginner.
Greg Doucette is rejoicing. "I fricken told you!" 😂
He commented too
I think another great thing to point out is that a better way to gauge once progress is body fat % rather than weight. Just because you gain weight doesn't mean you've lost progress. The weight could be mostly muscle. And losing weight could mostly be fat loss and not muscle. You could stay at the same weight when "Main gaining" but it could just mean that you lost some weight in fat and gained the roughly the same in muscle.
Love the video.. I am 47 .. 5ft 7 and 275 and maintenance is were I am and need to be .. and I still getting stronger it's jest I am thinking about the long game. Please continue putting out very logical and informative content.
I think this does overlook the varied starting points of beginners. I was pretty athletic in highschool but never lifted, now in my early 30's I was sitting around 30% body fat and about 65lbs heavier than when I graduated high school. maintenance really wasn't on the table if I wanted to get healthy and be happy about how I looked. Even in a pretty steep calorie deficit, I'm feeling strength gains and muscle growth while losing about 1-2lbs a week. This obviously isn't sustainable, but for me personally I know that I'm WAY more motivated to stick to my fitness goals when I see and feel a rapid change in body composition early. even if I'm not maximizing my muscle and strength gains, I know I'll be able to do more cardio activities like rock climbing and mountain biking consistently if I just shed a bunch of weight first. in the long run, I'll have more access to things that were restricted by my size and composition.
I'd imagine that someone starting from a super lean but weak body comp would probably have more success with the exact opposite. ramping up the calories and gaining size and mass to feel and look better, even at the cost of a slightly higher body fat % early on.
I’ve been weight training consistently since I was 13 and I’m 21 now, other then when I’ve been injured.
I’ve learnt a lot from nutrition content on TH-cam like picture fit😆 so fairly experienced. I’ve done cuts and bulks and they have so many pros and cons….cutting you loose strength(become susceptible to injury) and have to watch what you eat all the time tracking them by weighing food…so boring and a means to an end. So it’s not to be made a sustainable healthy training lifestyle but you always look a lot leaner is the only reward🤔 where as bulking you become fairy fat and saturated, not as lean nor muscular. But your body is constantly nourished, so keeping up with training sessions demands for growth and strength. But I’ve now got to the point after about 3 consistent cuts and found the methods of the two not being long lasting as a consistent life style, incorporate regular training (consistent weekly), protein focused for food, be mindful of processed food consumption as they’re more dense in calories and make it easy to be in a surplus before you know it and become fatter. Replace with fruit for people with a sweet tooth and look for low calorie alternatives(be mindful). This has kept me lean but strong and I don’t look back, as soon as you’ve had a few cheat days be mindful and factor in few calories less a few days after and always go about it that way, don’t make it a chore, enjoy living a balanced life style to stay consistent with and progress in, I’m lean and strong just by estimated daily maintenance calories, it’s the best way I believe and don’t look back✌🏽
Beginners I recommend maintenance with a slight surplus assuming the beginner is low on bodyfat cus it really wouldn’t make sense to tell somebody who is low on bodyfat to cutt
I just watched both videos. I actually believe you got it right on the first video.
That's fair.
Maintenance makes much more sense to me, since I think most of our fitness goals (and the first ones to be implemented) should be health related 👍🏼
I saw the original video when I was in 8th grade. I then worked out for 3 years after no progress never knowing what was wrong. Now I realize I need to eat to actually build muscle and get stronger instead of trying to get ripped by cutting. Then when I get more muscle, I can cut the weight off and finally see results.
Body recomp = the dream
Intermitting fasting + 3-4 cups of diluted apple cider vinegar a day + full body workout helped me out.
Also cut out high insulin diet is a key
Where my IFBB Pros at? lol
Awesome video, PictureFit.
Just wanted to share. I've been doing a clean (strict keto) bulk for the last 7 months. Just went to a clean bulk with carbs and the weight increase is insane, but the energy is too. That being said, bulk has certainly helped me to gain muscle and look better in the right places. The cut phases is going to be tough, but will really help those muscles pop. Love the content.
Literally the best option unless your trying to compete
Every time I hear a content creator mention newbie gains I lose part of my soul cuz like many others I've learned all this new stuff way too late into my training years.
I am two weeks at cominh back to working out. I always lose motivation because it was too hard and I push myself to lose weight but now. I am starting to enjoy by going to the gym and keeping my food normal. it is more fun and less stress and pressure that I put on myself.
before I can't even last 30mins because I keep having "I need to burn fats" and get exhausted.
Maintenance is so much help for me. it may be slower but it feels better. when I get my strength. I will take that good cut and feel the results of my hardwork
Maintenance is for "casuals". If you want to go really serious right away you want to begin at a maintenance level of where you expect yourself to be in the future. Wanna gain a lot of muscle and don't need to lose too much fat? Then you most certainly go for a caloric intake where your expected maintenance is in the future. That means a temporary slight bulk that will even out to a maintenance later on without changing up the diet. Once you're beyond the point of nooby gains you may need to adjust based on personal calculations and similar.
I’m 6 months in and I’ve been recomping and it’s been working really well so far I’ve been at 185 the whole time and it looks way better now
thanks for not forgetting about my 6kg calf raises
If it’s spring you cut, if it’s fall you bulk. Easy.
Thanks for this quality information! Just told my experience about the things that you are saying on my channel and I do agree on everything!
Awesome, thank you!
Picturefit is back at it!
Some random study suggested that the leaner you are, the more anabolic you become. So a maintenance/cut/bulk cycle makes sense
what is ?
Provided you are eating enough good foods and getting in the protein I would say eating at a maintenance and prioritising a high protein diet is better then bulking or cutting on most cases
I've been in and out of gym for long periods for a long time, always tried maintenance when starting again. In the beginning it helped but after 2-3 months I would alway hit a plateau. No muscle gains, no fat lose and no strength gains. Starting again after the long break because of the pandemic I've been bulking for 5 months and I see huge improvement. So, based on my opinion, bulking and cutting is the only option if you wanna see quick results. However, there's a higher risk of dirty bulking for beginners and losing all your gains during the cutting periods. So, choose wisely.
Amazing video!!!! And I'm. More of maintenance type of personne than a cut!/bulk person. Thanks again for this video
great video, feels like it clears more thing for me as someone who lost a good amount of weight but muscles as well as the same time (i shared my progress thru a short vid), i only started lifting when i finished my weight loss goal hence i was debating on either bulking up (im current 58kg at 163cm which is around my ideal weight already), but i would see my bones more visible than my muscles, on the other hand i also wanted to maintain and simply build muscles through lifting more and progressive overload while getting my protein and rest properly. tbh bulking kinda scares me considering that im no longer comfortable eating alot of food (i only eat 2 meals per day since im pretty much in front of my laptop most of the day and not hungry really), and another part is i feel guilty plugging in those calories in my fitness pal and seeing a little surplus in my intake
For me I would say if you are skinny fat (about 20-25% body fat) you should do a cut till you are about on 13-15% even lower if you want to, but it is not gonna look that good (and bulk then). If you are a really skinny guy then I would bulk and if you are a normal decent guy, also bulk. That's just my opinion :)
Fair!
That's exactly what I'm doing! So far cutting works for me probably cuz I wrestled all through high school and middle school. I've dropped 25lbs and maintained most my muscle and gained tons of speed. At about %16 body fat right now. Excited to bulk
@@cjclark5228 thats what im doing right now too :D
5:40 seriously great man😂!!
Thanks
what really worked for me was focusing on eating in a "small surplus" and focused on strength training with only zone 2 walking as a supplement for my cardio. this got my metabolism working hella fast in preparation for the cut. doing it this way... it got me stronger resulting in building muscle faster (its a little hard to do even on maintenance thats why i did it on a surplus). then when i started cutting, the fat just melted off so fast cuz of all the muscle i put on. if you wanna try doing it this way, put your scale in the closet. it'll be your worst enemy since you'll be doing this in a little surplus so expect a little weight gain. its totally worth it though cuz it will make the cut process 10000000000000000% more easier.
My opinion on cutting and bulking is that it just is not sustainable in the long term, if you constantly cut, then bulk, and so on.
Started off the first year of lifting stuck in limbo between cutting and bulking. I just made the switch to eating a lot more healthy, fresh foods, which kind of made the decision for me lol. Wasn't till I had some experience with the lifts that I decided I wanted to chase the numbers, so I started bumping up my bodyweight
One thing that is incredibly important for all peoples to understand, whether you train or are just a curious mind is; If you are attending the gym consistenly whether it be twice a week, or six days a week, is that with every muscle activation, (in a training scenario) you will be building it stronger -> with the right nutrition.
Now the most simple but important fact to remember in all of this. MUSCLE is more DENSE than FAT, so with this mentioned if you ever notice that you are somewhat thinner and or the scales aren't showing weight loss, remember that you aren't just losing weight, you're gaining muscle too. Typically people think it isn't working, but in reality it is working better than you know. Just continue with your training, and if you fancy it take measurements in areas of concern. Density meaning fat is larger than muscle, although they still weigh the same. If you have ever picked up Lead you may understand.
(You also can't pick and choose where you want to lose fat!! Though in male and females it does store to certain areas more than others!) You will slowly lose it everywhere.
Maintenance is certainly the hardest. So practice it first.
Your entire argument is essentially that maintencance is easier, not that it's better. Sure, you can build some muscle with this strategy, but I want to build the most muscle I can, not just some, which is why I'm currently bulking as a beginner. I don't see the point of limiting myself with this maintenance stuff, when it will almost certainly lead to stagnation in the long run.
October 1st 2021 I started at 115kg and 30% bf, today (07.02.2022) I'm 107kg and 21%, recomposition with 300kcal deficit, eating much protein, trying to stay low on carbs, works for now
Liked the video bro!!
Hey bro, do a video for the different types of workout splits
Calories is a very small part of what actually causes weight loss and weight gain. The main emphasis needs to be on hormones, particularly Insulin(fat storage hormone). Insulin is the name of the game if you’re trying to gain or lose.
I wouldn’t put recomp at maintenance but at cutting it’s like adding cardio to burn fat but in this case you add muscle
Bulking first is always the best option unless you’re obese or naturally carry a lot of muscle.
watch this video slowly or watch it twice. Good info, thank you! :)
I started going to the gym for the first time lastweek. This is good for me.
Congrats!
Picturefit is the best place to be
Depends on what you want. I for one enjoy being moderately strong while looking decent. So I've been somewhere between a bulk and maintenance since Thanksgiving. My goal is a 405 bench. @168 I maxed at 340. So I gained weight. @183 I maxed at 385. I'm at 200 as of today and still decently vascular
A very good advise for everybody, I aprecciate the video
Best is bulking into maintenance. You gain size and long term achieve the body fair percentage you want.
did this man just watch a shit ton of Greg deucette
Every person is built differently with their genetics and most of the time, what's effective for others won't work on you
We appreciate you too picture fit ❤️
Thank you
I suggest using a scale that reads body composition
Thank you for the update!!!
Anytime Maria!
coach greg is going to like this one
😁
This is literally what i do as a beginner without knowing about it i switch between cutting and maintenance i cut when i plan on doing light exercises and i do maintenance if i wanna reach pr's and do heavy lifting.
Void of nuance. The simple answer: If you're objectively quite skinny (10-20 bf%) then bulk, if you're objectively a higher body fat percentage (25%
I havent even started the video but i can see that it ends with an It Depends
Real answer: Decide between cutting, maintenance or bulking based on how you want your bodyfat that's all. If you feel super skinny, you should gain weight, if you are overweight which most people are, then go cut. If you like your bodyfat then maintenance.
But if you cut or bulk, do it slow and reasonable, 200-400 calories from TDEE.
If you are unhappy with your fat percentage, you should change it, and there's no reason not to do that when starting out training too.
I’m 18 and 130lbs and i got back into gym after a while(I wasn’t serious when i first started). So this time I started using whey protein because I don’t have a good diet plan and i actually wanna build some muscles now.