Reverse Cheat Days while Bulking

[Justlooking5]

This is something I thought of this week. And before you get skeptical, think about it for a minute.

While bulking the main issue is fat accumulation, and adaptation to the bulking diet to where you eventually start putting on more fat per calorie eaten.

So why not throw in a reverse cheat day once per week while bulking? Let's say you are eating 4-5,000 calories per day for your bulk.

Why not take one day that is an off day and is not before a weight training day (so you're not depleted) and do cardio while dropping your calories and adding/upping your fat burners. Say you burn 3,500 that day, but you eat only 2,000, which includes all your normal protein intake with minimal carbs/fats.

Including the thermic effect of protein, you'd probably create a caloric deficit of 1,500-2,000 calories that day. If your body is highly primed to burn bodyfat, that's up to 2+ lbs. less bodyfat per month, which is 1% BF for a 200 lbs. bodybuilder. If your bulk lasts 3 months, that's like being 12% bodyfat instead of 15% bodyfat at the end of it, thus making you look better throughout your bulk, have less bodyfat to burn after, and you are potentially reducing adaptation by re-priming your body to be anabolic after a day of calorie deficit, and also giving yourself a break from the intense eating.

Any thoughts on this? I did it today and I'm going to try it once a week for the next few weeks. I train on the weekends so I'll be doing it on Tuesdays so it's at least two days after and two days before my next training session to minimize how it will affect my results. I'll be my normal 250-300g protein and moderate carbs/fats, doing am cardio with a robust dose of green tea, ALCAR and guarana.

Another reason I would like to do this personally is I want to keep making gains but I also don't want to weigh much more than I do now. My arms are at about 17.5" pumped and I would like to increase to 17.75"pumped and 17.25" unpumped but I am already over 230 lbs. clothed in the a.m. and don't want to get passed 235 or so.

 

[Zoomie33240]

This is something I thought of this week. And before you get skeptical, think about it for a minute.

While bulking the main issue is fat accumulation, and adaptation to the bulking diet to where you eventually start putting on more fat per calorie eaten.

So why not throw in a reverse cheat day once per week while bulking? Let's say you are eating 4-5,000 calories per day for your bulk.

Why not take one day that is an off day and is not before a weight training day (so you're not depleted) and do cardio while dropping your calories and adding/upping your fat burners. Say you burn 3,500 that day, but you eat only 2,000, which includes all your normal protein intake with minimal carbs/fats.

Including the thermic effect of protein, you'd probably create a caloric deficit of 1,500-2,000 calories that day. If your body is highly primed to burn bodyfat, that's up to 2+ lbs. less bodyfat per month, which is 1% BF for a 200 lbs. bodybuilder. If your bulk lasts 3 months, that's like being 12% bodyfat instead of 15% bodyfat at the end of it, thus making you look better throughout your bulk, have less bodyfat to burn after, and you are potentially reducing adaptation by re-priming your body to be anabolic after a day of calorie deficit, and also giving yourself a break from the intense eating.

Any thoughts on this? I did it today and I'm going to try it once a week for the next few weeks. I train on the weekends so I'll be doing it on Tuesdays so it's at least two days after and two days before my next training session to minimize how it will affect my results. I'll be my normal 250-300g protein and moderate carbs/fats, doing am cardio with a robust dose of green tea, ALCAR and guarana.

Another reason I would like to do this personally is I want to keep making gains but I also don't want to weigh much more than I do now. My arms are at about 17.5" pumped and I would like to increase to 17.75"pumped and 17.25" unpumped but I am already over 230 lbs. clothed in the a.m. and don't want to get passed 235 or so.

I think that a lot of natural advanced bodybuilders already do a version of this (myself included) to keep fat gain to a minimum while bulking. I don't know about upping fat burners on the "lower calorie" day. I don't necessarily feel like that is necessary to achieve the desired effects but you could always do that if you wanted.

I do lower carbs on "off" days and also do fasted cardio and abs on my off days. I would keep fat intake to at least 50g per day and the carb intake on your off days is personal preference. I eat carbs for breakfast on my off days and sometimes will eat more throughout the day (if I feel like I really need the extra cals for recovery) or sometimes I won't. Just depends. But in my opinion, especially while bulking, I wouldn't over complicate it. You could always just lower the carbs to only post workout on off days and do your cardio and see how it goes.

 

[booneman77]

This is basically a VERY short version of what has become popular during bulks and that is doing a much more extreme deficit, mini-cut for a very short term. Something like 2 weeks at a drastic (think 1000+cal) deficit. I personally have used this as have many others and it works quite well. You just have to make sure to kp it short as once your body adapts, it will really be cannibalizing things fast with that level of deficit.

 

[AntM1564]

This is basically a VERY short version of what has become popular during bulks and that is doing a much more extreme deficit, mini-cut for a very short term. Something like 2 weeks at a drastic (think 1000+cal) deficit. I personally have used this as have many others and it works quite well. You just have to make sure to kp it short as once your body adapts, it will really be cannibalizing things fast with that level of deficit.

Since one would only be in that deficit for 2 weeks, would said person need to reverse back up? Example, if I'm eating 3,000 cals per day for my bulk for an extended period of time and then I drop to 2,000 cals for 2 weeks, would one just jump right back to 3,000 cals?

 

[booneman77]

Since one would only be in that deficit for 2 weeks, would said person need to reverse back up? Example, if I'm eating 3,000 cals per day for my bulk for an extended period of time and then I drop to 2,000 cals for 2 weeks, would one just jump right back to 3,000 cals?

Yep. The idea is that you "trick" your body into not stopping the bulk but all the while there's some periods where your metabolism is flying and cals are super low.

 

[Zoomie33240]

Since one would only be in that deficit for 2 weeks, would said person need to reverse back up? Example, if I'm eating 3,000 cals per day for my bulk for an extended period of time and then I drop to 2,000 cals for 2 weeks, would one just jump right back to 3,000 cals?

Honestly (if you lost a little weight from bodyfat on the mini-cut) I would adjust your calories to your new bodyweight (which may only be a couple of pounds less). But jumping right back on your bulking calorie intake should be fine as well. I do mini-cuts all the time and love them. They extend a bulking cycle nicely. If you are natural you have to use every trick you can find in the book once you get to a certain point :dance:. I usually bulk for 10-12 weeks and mini cut for 3 and start the cycle back again. Always get incredible results this way and stay lean.

 

[Zoomie33240]

Yep. The idea is that you "trick" your body into not stopping the bulk but all the while there's some periods where your metabolism is flying and cals are super low.

There's honestly nothing better to get your metabolism firing than a mini-cut. Getting insulin-sensitive again while on a bulk is definitely key to keeping a good bulk going. The mini-cut idea is one people hate on a lot but anecdotally it's effective for the majority of us.