How often do you shift between leaning out and building muscle throughout the year?

[FitCat]

Just curious about this...How often throughout the year do you switch between leaning out/fat burning as your primary goal and muscle building/"Bulking" (ugh! hate that word!)?

What are the biggest changes that you make in your workout and nutrition routine when you make that shift? (i.e. changing sets/reps, lifting heavier, eating more carbs, limiting cardio) etc?. Please be specific

Think this info might be helpful for others as well as just myself...thanks, Ladies!

Cat

[Nic902]

The changes in my program are based around my competition plans...I focus on building (I hate the word 'bulking' too!), so I eat in a cal surplus until 20wks out from the show I want to do, then I go into cutting mode (drop cals, increase cardio). My weight training stays the same year 'round...Heavy BB'ing splits.

If you dont plan on competing...when you're cutting, its always wise to bump up the cals to maintainence after a while so your body doesnt get burntout. If you are pleased with your body (dont want to lean out OR gain muscle) then eat/train to maintain what you have.

[FitCat]

Originally Posted by Nic902

The changes in my program are based around my competition plans...I focus on building (I hate the word 'bulking' too!), so I eat in a cal surplus until 20wks out from the show I want to do, then I go into cutting mode (drop cals, increase cardio). My weight training stays the same year 'round...Heavy BB'ing splits.

If you dont plan on competing...when you're cutting, its always wise to bump up the cals to maintainence after a while so your body doesnt get burntout. If you are pleased with your body (dont want to lean out OR gain muscle) then eat/train to maintain what you have.

Nic - I love it! Always the first to respond, always with a great answer - you rock!

So even when you are leaning out, you have never turned to FB workouts (as opposed to BB splits) to see how your body responds?

Right now, I do not plan on competing. So, right now, I am eating about 2000 cal per day, and my maintenance (course, this is all so tough to figure our accurately!) is about 2200. So I am only cutting my cal's by about 200 per day - not a lot at all. I feel like my leaning out progress might have stalled a bit. Think I should drop it a bit more at this point, then go back to maintenance in a few weeks?

Also, when you bump up your cal's during your building phase, how much above maintenance are you usually eating?

And when you are leaning out, how much below maintenance do you shoot for?

[Nic902]

Originally Posted by FitCat

Nic - I love it! Always the first to respond, always with a great answer - you rock!

So even when you are leaning out, you have never turned to FB workouts (as opposed to BB splits) to see how your body responds?

Right now, I do not plan on competing. So, right now, I am eating about 2000 cal per day, and my maintenance (course, this is all so tough to figure our accurately!) is about 2200. So I am only cutting my cal's by about 200 per day - not a lot at all. I feel like my leaning out progress might have stalled a bit. Think I should drop it a bit more at this point, then go back to maintenance in a few weeks?

Also, when you bump up your cal's during your building phase, how much above maintenance are you usually eating?

And when you are leaning out, how much below maintenance do you shoot for?

No..I NEVER do full body! In my opinion, you maintain your muscle with the same techniques you used to gain it...The only time my routine changes is during peak week.

How much I'm above/below maintainence varies on how my body is responding...sometimes it takes more, sometimes less. I always start with minor changes, then make tweaks along they way based on my results. Its never a set/mandatory number.

If your fat loss has stalled, you can try dropping another 100 or so a day and see what happens. A 200 calorie deficit isnt much so you shouldnt need to bump them up right now.