Should I Bulk, Cut Or Recomp? [Bulking vs Cutting]

Trying to look fitter or more muscular involves losing fat and gaining muscle. The fastest way to achieve this for a lot of people is to dedicate a certain period to bulking (gaining muscle and by extension gaining some fat) or cutting (losing fat but also by extension losing muscle mass) 

“Should I Bulk or Should I Cut?”. This is all about choosing the right path to your fitness goal. So let’s have a nice long chat about the details of bulking vs cutting. 

What is Bulking Vs Cutting 

Bulking and cutting are two different phases of dieting and working out. 

During bulking, the diet and workout plan are to maximise muscle gain. This involves lifting heavier and eating more calories to stimulate muscle growth and build up as fast as possible. The downside is that you’ll generally put on fat as well. 

During cutting, the diet and workout plan are to maximise fat loss. 

This means eating fewer calories and adding more cardio to your workouts to burn calories.  

The downside to cutting is that you’ll lose some muscle mass in the process. 

As I’m sure you’ve perceived, the problem with bulking is fat gain can spiral out of control and the problem with cutting is that you might lose all the muscle you previously gained, and be back to square one. 

If you do either phase correctly, it may make the other phase more strenuous or even produce undesirable results. 

So with these problems staring us in the face, is there a way to combine both these processes so making progress wouldn’t be so long and tedious? 

Well, there is a way to combine them and that’s where body recomposition comes in. 

Can You Bulk And Cut At The Same Time? [Body Recomposition] 

Body recomposition is the combination of bulking and cutting. 

I know, this sounds like you just found the holy grail but this may not be the answer to all your problems. 

It seems like a shortcut but it may not be as simple as you think. 

Recomposition is not only more complex, but it can also be slower to see the results you want. 

The effectiveness of bulking or cutting depends on where you are in your fitness journey. 

If you’re new to working out and are carrying a lot of body fat, recomposition will work very well for you, especially within the first few months. 

When your gains slow down (you’ve moved past your beginner gains) and your body fat reduces past a certain point, recomposition becomes slow and then eventually won’t work. 

Balancing two opposing goals will always be hard, which is why you should be careful before deciding to recomp. 

Should I Cut Or Bulk First? 

I’m sure you’re tired of hearing important questions like this being answered with it depends but… it depends. 

Before deciding to cut or bulk first, consider your current body fat percentage. 

You may not necessarily know your exact body fat percentage, and no scan will be 100% accurate so a rough estimate is fine. 

If you’re overweight you should cut first. If you’re on the skinny side, you should bulk first. 

At least that much is obvious but let’s get detailed. 

Should I Cut First? [When To Cut First] 

As said earlier, when your body fat percentage is high then you should cut. 

So the two scenarios where you should cut first are: 

• Your body fat percentage is above 17% for men and 25% for women 
• If you haven’t exactly measured your body fat but you feel like you want to lose fat, then you should cut. 

Should I Bulk First? [When To Bulk First] 

When your body fat percentage is on the lower end, you should bulk first. 

Here’s when you should bulk first: 

• Body fat percentage less than 17% for men and 25% for women. 
• Of course, if you just want to gain muscle as fast as possible then you can bulk. 

Should I Recomp? 

Let’s discuss recomp at length. 

Body Recomposition is aimed at reducing body fat and building muscle at the same time. 

If you’re okay with more gradual changes to your physique then it’s okay. 

If you’re relatively new to training, with a year or less of proper weightlifting experience, recomposition could work wonders for you. 

This is because you won’t be as close to your genetic potential for muscle gains. 

The problem with recomp is that if you’ve had more than 3 years of proper training experience you basically recomp. 

At that point, you’re already close to your muscle gain potential, so muscle gain is much slower. 

Genetic potential is a huge factor in deciding how much muscle you can build in the shortest time.  

If you’re close to your genetic potential (you’d have to have years of effective training under your belt), muscle gain will be slow. 

So recomp for people with 3 years of training experience is basically impossible.  

That makes sense right? Otherwise, you’d just keep bigger till you exploded. 

So before deciding to recomp consider your training experience and body fat percentage. 

When to recomp: 

• When your body fat percentage is above 20% for men or 28% for women. 
• When you have less than a year or 18 months of proper training under your belt. 

How Do I Switch From Bulk To Cut or Cut To Bulk? 

We’ve compared bulking vs cutting to a reasonable extent. Pretty simple, but how can you transition from one to the other? 

It’s not a great idea to jump from bulking right into cutting or vice versa. Here’s why. 

Your body makes changes like breaking down muscle or storing fat as a response to a prolonged change in energy states. 

Because of that, it’s best to gradually transition from one to the other. 

That means if you’re cutting and transitioning to a bulk, you should gradually increase your calories over time rather than a steep increase within a day or two. 

Similarly, if you’re bulking but want to transition to a cut, you should gradually reduce your calories over time rather than a sudden reduction. 

You could decide to add 200 calories weekly to your daily intake to get from cutting to bulking. 

Give yourself about 6 weeks to make the transition. 

Tips For Bulking And Cutting 

Here’s a bit of advice for cutting and bulking. 

Bulking Tips 

1. To guarantee and maximise muscle gain, you must be in a calorie surplus. That means eating more calories than you burn. The surplus should not be so large that you end up putting on fat. 
2. Weight train in the hypertrophy rep range to build muscle as fast as possible. The hypertrophy rep range is 8 to 12 reps and 4 or 5 sets. 
3. Cardio may not be necessary especially if you struggle to gain muscle in the first place (a hard gainer). Limit yourself to 20 minutes of cardio. That should help to reduce fat gain. 
4. Clean Bulking is always best. Not only is it better for your health but it helps you control calories to make sure you don’t gain excess fat. 
5. Adjust your macros to ensure you’re in a calorie surplus and are eating enough protein for muscle gain. 

Cutting Tips 

1. Remember that the most important thing is a maintained calorie deficit. A calorie deficit means burning more calories than you eat. Whatever diet you decide to adopt has to put you in a calorie deficit for your cut to work. 
2. As much cardio as you can. It’s most effective if you can do 30 to 60 minutes of cardio 3 or 5 times a week. 
3. Cut calories with caution. Cutting calories too low can cause muscle loss. Try to be active as possible. 
4. Continue with weight training to preserve muscle mass 
5. Reduce your carb intake (yes that includes snacking) and increase your protein consumption. Make sure your macros are adjusted properly

Here’s a full post about bulking tips to help you get as big as possible!

How To Bulk Fast: 8 Tips For A Very Successful Bulk 

The Bottom Line 

Notice that in both cutting and bulking you need to eat enough protein. Protein is so important to muscle growth maintenance that it’s essential to find ways of putting it into your diet. Finding sources of protein you enjoy eating can make or break your dieting. 

If you want to guarantee success in either phase, diet properly and train hard, and to within 1 or 2 reps of failure within a standard hypertrophy rep range.

I hope this post has made it a little easier for you to compare bulking vs cutting.

Good luck!