Am I Just Spinning My Wheels?

mickc1965

Well-Known Member
Due to being a former fattie I decided a year or so ago to minimise weight gain and decided that I would cut down to 165 lbs (@ 1 lb per week) and then bulk up to 175 lbs (@ 0.25 - 0.5lb per week, rinse and repeat on the assumption that each time I cut I would be a little bit leaner at 165 and in turn more muscular each time I bulked to 175. Then I decided to keep the cut at 165 (still at 1 lb per week) but reduced the bulk to 172 (@ 0.2 - 0.25 lb per week) as I felt my best look was between 165 and 168 and at 175 I tend to lose all definition in my abs (outline is still there but a bit blurred).

With the above protocol am I just spinning my wheels?
 
Last edited:
What sort of time frame are you looking at for this? I'd be curious to see your real world results doing something like that over a long time frame. We know that muscle gain rates are pretty low unless you are a newbie, so 1 lb of actual muscle gain a month is probably around what we can expect realistically.
 
What sort of time frame are you looking at for this? I'd be curious to see your real world results doing something like that over a long time frame. We know that muscle gain rates are pretty low unless you are a newbie, so 1 lb of actual muscle gain a month is probably around what we can expect realistically.

Assuming weight loss / gain goes as planned and at a starting weight of 165 I would be aiming for a slow bulk of 25-30 weeks and then the weight loss phase would hopefully be 6-8 weeks.
 
That sounds like a good plan to me. I've advocated more ambitious bulking in the past, and I think that probably still works pretty well for newbies who are struggling to put on weight. But for non-noobs who aren't taking hormones, it doesn't seem like there is a big payoff. The main thing with 'slow bulking' is that you don't see results on the scale so it doesn't feel like you're making progress. And really... at a rate of 1lb a month of muscle gain, you won't really notice much in the way of results unless you're looking at them at a much longer view, like six months to a year.

What sort of calorie surplus are you aiming for each day?
 
I am for 100-150 surplus which sometimes proves difficult to prdict, like last week I lost 0.4lbs but this week I will gain approximately 0.9lbs so balances out over longer periods.
 
How did you go this week? Weight come back?

Yes I put on 0.9 lbs so over the two weeks it averaged 0.25 per week.

This week the diet went to pot, long weekend away with friends and 3 days of heavy drinking involved, put on 8 lbs and it's slowly coming off
 
8 lbs is not bad for me, put on 19 lbs over Xmas / New Year once with just 3 bad days in that whole week
 
Back
Top