Recomp style bulk - experiment

[Joe12]

I decided to bulk up, but after 2-weeks over 400cal maint., I decided to try something new. I've always been a big fan of recomp... 300ish over maint. and 200 under on off days. Well, I started thinking of trying a "recomp bulk." Basicly, about 400ish on WO days, and maint. on off days. Figure this should keep the fat down, has anyone else tried this?

 

[john.patterson]

I decided to bulk up, but after 2-weeks over 400cal maint., I decided to try something new. I've always been a big fan of recomp... 300ish over maint. and 200 under on off days. Well, I started thinking of trying a "recomp bulk." Basicly, about 400ish on WO days, and maint. on off days. Figure this should keep the fat down, has anyone else tried this?

I've done some similar approaches in the past with great success. It's always a challenge to find the perfect combination between calorie surplus, carb intake, cardio, and rest day nutrition, but I think your idea is a great starting point. I would give this a go for 3-4 weeks and see how you like it. Just monitor your body weight closely and note changes in the mirror to be sure you aren't gaining to quickly. I think it's wise to be mindful of eating less on rest days, and I've always found this strategy to be helpful to help stay lean. Everyone is different, but I think your setup is a great starting point

 

[Abe Lincoln]

Could always do something like 500-1000 surplus for 5 days and take two days with lower calories, that is how I do it.

 

[Joe12]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I figured other people tried this. Right now I train 3 days on, 2 days off and repeat. So 3 days of bulk followed by 2 days a maint should work great.

I want to bulk, but the last thing I want to do is put on a bunch of unwanted fat.... and I'm not very good at the whole "lean bulk" thing, kind of all or nothing guy

 

[Pinggolfee96]

doing 2200 one day and 2400 another will just average out to 2300. in the long run, just sticking to a consistent caloric intake is easier and more manageable. caloric cycling has no benefit

 

[Joe12]

doing 2200 one day and 2400 another will just average out to 2300. in the long run, just sticking to a consistent caloric intake is easier and more manageable. caloric cycling has no benefit

Curious, have you tried a recomp diet? I've done recomp diets a boatload of times and can tell you it has great benifts. I've done lots of food exsperiments, and eaten at the same cal intake as you mentioned... but didn't drop fat. Once I did a serious recomp cycle, I remained the same weight and lost more belly fat. This is the first time I've tried a "bilking/recomp" style diet myself.

 

[APC80]

You should log it mate be interesting to see how successful it is seeing there's so much debate about both cal cycling and body recomp.

 

[Joe12]

You should log it mate be interesting to see how successful it is seeing there's so much debate about both cal cycling and body recomp.

Not a bad idea, but don't have the time to keep up with a log at this point.... unless it's for free products, then I'll make time lol

 

[Pinggolfee96]

this is stupid, calorie cycling is going to have no benefit long term. just average out your calories and keep it consistent.

 

[john.patterson]

this is stupid, calorie cycling is going to have no benefit long term. just average out your calories and keep it consistent.

While I do agree to an extent, cycling carbs/calories can be an effective strategy at times. I think only changing your intake 100-200 calories per day is small and not enough to stress over, I do find that cycling carbs has been helpful for me. Having a cycled approach will allow you to eat more food and enjoy more carbs on your heavier training days, and back off and eat lighter on rest days. You are correct that it will technically all balance out at the end of the week, it's nice to have some variety and variation to your diet. Having 1 or 2 high carb days per week to break the normal diet monotony makes it more fun IMO

 

[Joe12]

this is stupid, calorie cycling is going to have no benefit long term. just average out your calories and keep it consistent.

Have you ever tried it?

 

[Pinggolfee96]

Have you ever tried it?

Yes

 

[Joe12]

Yes

That's awesome, glad to see you contributing such substantive material to the forem. With your well articulated scientific rationale, and your practical reasoning, I must conclud you got an A and physiology.

On a real note... I have found cycling benifital for fat lose, and sustained energy when I burn more calories. Everyone is slightly different, but for me, I need more calorie to sustain on WO days, and enjoy the variety.