I am currently trying to decide whether or not I want to start a bulking phase or shed some excess fat. I got done with football about two weeks ago, and that combined with a foot injury in the last game has led to me being a bit softer with a higher body fat percentage than I am comfortable with. I am wondering what your suggestions are on ordering how I go about getting ready for this summer/football next year. I would like to bulk and finish with a cutting cycle, but because I am uncomfortable right now and have some excess body fat, should I Cut, bulk, cut, or just bulk then cut? I am essentially asking if getting rid of some of the fat now would be better, or if I should wait to get rid of it all later. Thanks.
Any suggestions?
I believe you should be more specific of were you are currently. what is you body fat now? Just saying you are uncomfortable isn’t giving us any ideas to give suggestions on.
This is an article that I am submitting to my local newspapers as soon as football season is completely over. You need to think about the whole athlete and not in terms of cutting or bulking. If you are strong, agile, flexible and work HARD on conditioning by using many forms of GPP (not cardio) you WILL look like an athlete but will perform like one as well.
End of another season
Well, here we are. It?s the end of another football season. If you?re one of the thousands of high school or college football players around the state, you are either basking in the glow of a great season or wondering what went wrong. In either case, you have two options in front of you. Option one being that you can take a break, relax and wait for summer, putting this past season out of your mind until next fall. Or, you can take mental and physical inventory of yourself and embark on a program designed to make you a better player than you were last time you stepped on the field.
Hopefully, you?ll choose the second option and get yourself back in the weightroom (and back on the field as soon as the weather breaks). The off-season is when champions are built. The months leading up to your next season are full of potential. The gains you can achieve if you dedicate yourself to the task are incredible. If you work hard enough and smart enough, you can literally transform yourself from a good athlete to a great one. From mediocrity to champion . From sidelines to goal lines.
Your plan must be a comprehensive one. I use a wheel and it?s spokes as an analogy for a solid off-season training program. You are at the center or hub of the wheel. Each spoke represents a skill or quality that needs to be perfected. And each spoke needs the others to be fully developed. Each athlete will have slightly different needs and/or weaknesses that need to be addressed. However the basics apply to all. I use five spokes for my wheel. One spoke represents strength, without a certain level of strength, the athlete will not be a fast one. A stronger athlete is a faster athlete. Flexibility is another spoke. A strong but inflexible athlete cannot properly transfer that strength to the field and is much more prone to injury. The third spoke is agility. Agility goes hand in hand with flexibility but they are not the same. Agility is the ability to change directions on the field in reaction to the play. Without strength and flexibility, you cannot be agile. The fourth spoke is conditioning. Conditioning allows the previous traits to be repeated for the duration of the game. If you are strong, flexible and agile but need an oxygen mask between plays, you wont see much time on the field. The fifth and final spoke is spirituality. Spirituality is not about religion. Spirituality to me is treating the game with respect. It?s understanding why you are on the field. Knowing you have an aggressive job to do and that aggression ends when the play is over. Spirituality is how you represent yourself and your team both on and off the field.
So get yourself back in the weight room. Seek out advice from as many competent sources as possible.
And don?t neglect any of the spokes in your wheel. I promise you that if you put these suggestions to use, you will come back next season and blow away your competition (if you have any left!).
Please allow me to assist you by answering any questions you may have in the pursuit of athletic stardom
I was at 11.5 and am now at about 12.5-13. Keep in mind that I am not a body builder so getting down to 8 percent body fat or lower for competitions and the like is not important to me, I would simply like to know if it’s beneficial to get rid of some excess fat before a bulking cycle, or if all of it should be gotten rid of at the end.