How long should bulking and cutting periods be, and when can you even out?

[Cool The Kid]

Do people go through cycles of cutting and bulking forever, or can you bulk up to where you want to get to, cut, and stay cut? Why do you have to keep ping ponging?

[Big H]

Do people go through cycles of cutting and bulking forever, or can you bulk up to where you want to get to, cut, and stay cut? Why do you have to keep ping ponging?

Well it depends on how you want to look when its all said and done. Bulking and cutting make things easier because you can focus on each aspect, building muscle and cutting fat. Remember that fat and muscle are completely different and have no relation to each other.

When you bulk, your eating enough to support muscle growth due to the excess amount of calories. Combining this with heavy lifting and consistency will lead to muscle growth. How long you actually bulk is up to you. It may a target weight, may be a certain bodyfat percentage, or you may go by strength.

For cutting, all your doing is shedding whatever extra weight you may have packed up from bulking up. This is why many people are starting Clean bulks in which they eat ONLY healthy foods but two times the amount to get the calories in. This can minimize fat gain during bulks and makes cutting a whole lot easier.

As to why people keep going back and forth, its simple... plateaus. Everyone will eventually hit a wall whether your cutting or bulking. Many people who go on cuts realize they can't lose anymore, so they go on bulks for a certain period of time, and then resume the cutting process with a renewed metabolism and probably more muscle mass to assist in the fat burning process.