Anabolic Diet - Cut or Bulk?

Hey guys,
I am 16 years old and have been lifting for a good 3 years. I didn’t get serious about it till about a year ago. I started the Anabolic Diet 13 weeks ago and have been playing around with the calories to see how my body reacts. My question is do I continue to cut or bulk?

As of this morning I am 8.7% body fat but my abs aren’t as visible as i would like. so, i am not sure whether to do a bulk now to add to my 150 pounds…or continue to cut so i don’t put on much fat during my bulk. any help or suggestions would be helpful.

-Grambo

If you’re 8.7% then don’t worry about cutting at this time.

Some reasons: First, clearly at least in this point in your life your body is able to be fairly lean pretty easily. You will find cutting back to the same bodyfat that you are right now to be pretty easy.

Second, on having a particular, timely reason to be more cut up than you are right now, if that becomes important at some later time, after easily getting back to the same as now, which I’m confident you can if you don’t fatten up unreasonably, you’ll be in such close striking range to being genuinely lean that it will be a fast process.

You’re at an ideal time for some great growth. Why stint it by cutting, when you truly have no need at this point.

That said, don’t fatten up ridiculously either. For example, try keeping waist size gain to no more than half an inch a month. Even 1/4 inch shows you’re eating enough to grow well at this time. If you increase by say 2 inches over time, then consider a quick cut and restart the gaining on that being quickly accomplished, as I’m sure you’ll be able to do.

The waist figures are assuming that that is fat increase causing the size increase. It may be the case that you’ll have a muscular thickening of the waist, which often is a good thing. It usually is not rapid though. The above is just for illustration.

Great advice thank you,
The 8.7% is iffy tho. I can’t see my abs like you can on people who are actually 8.7% body fat. I have a warrior fat caliper. I’m not sure about its accuracy. I have never been this lean in my life and wanted to get “ripped” if you will for the first time. But your right, this is a good time in my life for growth. I put on fat rather quickly tho.

Right now i am eating 1500 calories a day and lifting 5 days a week. I’m following “the Get Shredded Diet” by Dr John Berardi. It has worked thus far bringing me down from 152 to 146 as of this morning (today is day 10). So, back to my main question, should i do an 8 week progressive calorie gaining phase (adding around 500 each week till the end of the 8 weeks) or continue on the calorie restricted diet I’m on now for 1 or 2 more weeks?

I’ll try and post some pictures

-Grambo

You’re 16…you’re light in weight…your bodyfat is most likely low…please put on size at your age and work on getting stronger. Putting up some pictures would help but I’m pretty sure my opinion would be the same. You’ll thank me in a couple years.

[quote]Davinci.v2 wrote:
You’re 16…you’re light in weight…your bodyfat is most likely low…please put on size at your age and work on getting stronger. Putting up some pictures would help but I’m pretty sure my opinion would be the same. You’ll thank me in a couple years.[/quote]

Thanks Davinci, Ive been debating whether or not to do that. I would like to stay as lean as possible though. Any suggestions?

At your age with average genetics if you’re lifting consistently and heavy, the chances of you putting on much fat is very low…I mean you’re probably still growing regardless of being active so if I were you, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you want to careful about it, you could get a bead on your caloric maintenance level and put yourself in a surplus of 250kcal/day…monitor your progress for a week or two and reassess as to whether your calories are too high or need to go higher based on weight gain or skin folds.

Personally I think that this is over kill, especially with someone at a beginning level which I assume you’re at since you’re asking these good, but basic questions.

[quote]Davinci.v2 wrote:
At your age with average genetics if you’re lifting consistently and heavy, the chances of you putting on much fat is very low…I mean you’re probably still growing regardless of being active so if I were you, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you want to careful about it, you could get a bead on your caloric maintenance level and put yourself in a surplus of 250kcal/day…monitor your progress for a week or two and reassess as to whether your calories are too high or need to go higher based on weight gain or skin folds.

Personally I think that this is over kill, especially with someone at a beginning level which I assume you’re at since you’re asking these good, but basic questions.[/quote]

A surplus of 250? Really? That low? hmm…well ive been lifting for 3 years…so im not just getting into it.

[quote]GramboUSMC88 wrote:
Davinci.v2 wrote:
At your age with average genetics if you’re lifting consistently and heavy, the chances of you putting on much fat is very low…I mean you’re probably still growing regardless of being active so if I were you, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you want to careful about it, you could get a bead on your caloric maintenance level and put yourself in a surplus of 250kcal/day…monitor your progress for a week or two and reassess as to whether your calories are too high or need to go higher based on weight gain or skin folds.

Personally I think that this is over kill, especially with someone at a beginning level which I assume you’re at since you’re asking these good, but basic questions.

A surplus of 250? Really? That low? hmm…well ive been lifting for 3 years…so im not just getting into it.[/quote]

If you want to minimize fat spill over then you need to be careful with your calories and consume enough to grow…the best way to do this is small incremental increases, holding that surplus, seeing what happens with the scale and the calipers and then assessing if changes need to be made from there. Again, I think this is over kill for someone in your position and just fyi 3 years at 16 years old means very little. I’ve met people lifting for 6 years who were still beginners and again, these questions I’m answering are beginner questions no matter how you cut them. Good luck.

[quote]Davinci.v2 wrote:
GramboUSMC88 wrote:
Davinci.v2 wrote:
At your age with average genetics if you’re lifting consistently and heavy, the chances of you putting on much fat is very low…I mean you’re probably still growing regardless of being active so if I were you, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you want to careful about it, you could get a bead on your caloric maintenance level and put yourself in a surplus of 250kcal/day…monitor your progress for a week or two and reassess as to whether your calories are too high or need to go higher based on weight gain or skin folds.

Personally I think that this is over kill, especially with someone at a beginning level which I assume you’re at since you’re asking these good, but basic questions.

A surplus of 250? Really? That low? hmm…well ive been lifting for 3 years…so im not just getting into it.

If you want to minimize fat spill over then you need to be careful with your calories and consume enough to grow…the best way to do this is small incremental increases, holding that surplus, seeing what happens with the scale and the calipers and then assessing if changes need to be made from there. Again, I think this is over kill for someone in your position and just fyi 3 years at 16 years old means very little. I’ve met people lifting for 6 years who were still beginners and again, these questions I’m answering are beginner questions no matter how you cut them. Good luck.[/quote]

Right…that makes sense…thanks alot for your advice man…i wasn’t sayin im not a beginner i was jus lettin you kno that ive been in it for a little while