Should I Finish Bulking?

I want to start the V-Diet, already purchased the supps. But I am not finished bulking. I’ve been told that you are alot better off if you lean down before you bulk. I am 5’9" 200 lbs with 12% bf so you can see I am not done bulking by a long shot. I would just like to get some opinons from some of you guys that have more experience than myself. I obviously would like to be leaner too. I just would like to know what works best. Should I do the V-Diet and get lean then keep bulking or just wait. the thing is I’m sure it’s gonna take me a really long time to reach my ideal body weight. Any suggestions would be greatly appeicated.

Post a picture, it’s impossible (almost) for people to tell without one. Weight distribution is different on everybody.

Im gonna go with yes. But we need some pics.

Can you explain why you think the V-Diet is a good idea for someone with your stats who also plans to get bigger?

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Im gonna go with yes. But we need some pics. [/quote]

Yes to what?

This guy isn’t fat…and he is about to lose any recent gains he has made by dieting down like that.

Since when is 12% body fat worthy of some extreme all out diet?

This guy has roughly only 176lbs of lean body mass…about 10 of which is simply water weight.

That would mean closer to 166lbs after that loss…and if the goal is just 9% body fat, that means dropping back to about 180-182lbs…yet his goal is to get bigger.

Mind you, there is NOTHING…NADA…showing that you somehow gain more lean body mass by being 3% body fat leaner…which means he is wasting his time unless he has a photo shoot coming up.

So, tell me…yes to what>?

While not being cut to the bone, you’re already fairly lean. Many successful bodybuilders walk around at 12% in the offseason. This is not a high bodyfat percentage!

Judging from your posts, it seems that you don’t have an overall grasp of this whole process in the first place.

This is also a confusing post, and it should be confusing to you too. I’m assuming you’re bulking because you want to. Yet you also want to be lean. You’re already fairly lean and can get bigger without getting much fatter. And when you do reach a point where you are carrying too much fat because of your bulking efforts, you can cut back. It DOESN’T mean you have to go on some insanely restrictive diet, unless at that point you do want to be shredded to the bone, not just “lean”.

Don’t do the V-Diet. At 12% (I’m sure you’re guessing) the V-Diet is prolly not the best choice for you. I know it sounds cool and makes sense on paper, but you may be the first person ever to go on a bulk then turn around and do a V-Diet. Whatever muscle you do gain will be lost unless you really know what you’re doing.

Just do your bulk then clean up the diet and throw in some energy systems work and complexes.

[quote]dnlcdstn wrote:
Whatever muscle you do gain will be lost unless you really know what you’re doing.

[/quote]

The whole point is for someone to know what they’re doing with anything.

If someone continues to train on a very low calorie diet for a LIMITED, SHORT amount of time, they most likely will not lose muscle.

If you really want to cut, hold your weight and strength levels for a few months first imo… If you just go from, for example, 120 to 200 and then immediately cut you’re probably going to lose quite a bit of what you’ve gained…

And why cut down from 12 percent? Are you entering a competition or something?

[quote]dnlcdstn wrote:
I know it sounds cool and makes sense on paper, but you may be the first person ever to go on a bulk then turn around and do a V-Diet. Whatever muscle you do gain will be lost unless you really know what you’re doing.
[/quote]

Neither of these sentences are true. I’ve done the V-Diet after a long (9 month) strength phase and had excellent results. I lost about 18 pounds I think. I took bodyfat percentages using a BodPod both before and after and the loss distributions were only one pound of LBM was lost, which was just muscle glycogen and water. So basically, no muscle loss on the V-Diet if you do it right and are lifting heavy (per the instructions).

My strength took a hit while I was on the diet, obviously, but I was back to setting new PRs on 5-3-1 the very next cycle. So I sacrificed 6 weeks of better strength gains in exchange for moderate strength gains and the ability to perform at about 15 less pounds of bodyfat.

That being said, 12% is pretty fucking lean already…why in the hell would you stop gaining at that BF? Then again, some of the guys I see on here that think they’re 12% are much higher, so I’m just gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re not full of shit.

Do you look like shit yet? If yes, then go ahead and cut, but I highly doubt you look like shit at that BF.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
So, tell me…yes to what>?[/quote]

I believe the “yes” was the answer to the OP’s thread title: Should I finish bulking?

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Im gonna go with yes. But we need some pics. [/quote]

Yes to what?

This guy isn’t fat…and he is about to lose any recent gains he has made by dieting down like that.

Since when is 12% body fat worthy of some extreme all out diet?

This guy has roughly only 176lbs of lean body mass…about 10 of which is simply water weight.

That would mean closer to 166lbs after that loss…and if the goal is just 9% body fat, that means dropping back to about 180-182lbs…yet his goal is to get bigger.

Mind you, there is NOTHING…NADA…showing that you somehow gain more lean body mass by being 3% body fat leaner…which means he is wasting his time unless he has a photo shoot coming up.

So, tell me…yes to what>?[/quote]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, the yes is to continue bulking, not stop.

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Im gonna go with yes. But we need some pics. [/quote]

Yes to what?

This guy isn’t fat…and he is about to lose any recent gains he has made by dieting down like that.

Since when is 12% body fat worthy of some extreme all out diet?

This guy has roughly only 176lbs of lean body mass…about 10 of which is simply water weight.

That would mean closer to 166lbs after that loss…and if the goal is just 9% body fat, that means dropping back to about 180-182lbs…yet his goal is to get bigger.

Mind you, there is NOTHING…NADA…showing that you somehow gain more lean body mass by being 3% body fat leaner…which means he is wasting his time unless he has a photo shoot coming up.

So, tell me…yes to what>?[/quote]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, the yes is to continue bulking, not stop. [/quote]

No problem. I think what I wrote needed to be said because I often see guys acting like if they drop more weight they will somehow gain muscle faster. That may be the case when comparing someone truly obese to someone much leaner (mostly due to metabolic response), but if you are spending months dropping 5% body fat because you think this will help you gain more muscle, you are just wasting time.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Im gonna go with yes. But we need some pics. [/quote]

Yes to what?

This guy isn’t fat…and he is about to lose any recent gains he has made by dieting down like that.

Since when is 12% body fat worthy of some extreme all out diet?

This guy has roughly only 176lbs of lean body mass…about 10 of which is simply water weight.

That would mean closer to 166lbs after that loss…and if the goal is just 9% body fat, that means dropping back to about 180-182lbs…yet his goal is to get bigger.

Mind you, there is NOTHING…NADA…showing that you somehow gain more lean body mass by being 3% body fat leaner…which means he is wasting his time unless he has a photo shoot coming up.

So, tell me…yes to what>?[/quote]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, the yes is to continue bulking, not stop. [/quote]

No problem. I think what I wrote needed to be said because I often see guys acting like if they drop more weight they will somehow gain muscle faster. That may be the case when comparing someone truly obese to someone much leaner (mostly due to metabolic response), but if you are spending months dropping 5% body fat because you think this will help you gain more muscle, you are just wasting time.[/quote]

Ya, I agree. If you have been bulking steadily for years and have accumulated a ton of muscle mass, but also are softer than you would like, cutting down could result in more muscle mass on the rebound (bodybuilding post contest rebound). For most, the number one goal should be getting that muscle mass.

I appreciate the reply’s guys I really do. I’ve been bulking for 2Yrs now and have heard from another bbling site that if yoou are leaner before you start stuffing your freaking cake hole the result would be much more lean muscle gained. Again I have done nothing but bulk for 2Yrs and just wanted some advice from some guys who know thier shit.

So sorry if that seemed like a dumb question, but remember I’m just thinking about doing the diet. Was kinda on the fence. In my mind I was thinking of getting down to about 8 or 9% then when I started to bulk again my gains would come faster and I would be leaner too. Yes as you can tell I am very new to this but very motivated. When I started lifting 2YS ago I weighed a whopping 150 lbs!!!
Thanks a shit ton, for the advice you guys just point me in the right direction and light the fuse baby!!

[quote]heavychevy1988 wrote:
I appreciate the reply’s guys I really do. I’ve been bulking for 2Yrs now and have heard from another bbling site that if yoou are leaner before you start stuffing your freaking cake hole the result would be much more lean muscle gained. Again I have done nothing but bulk for 2Yrs and just wanted some advice from some guys who know thier shit.

So sorry if that seemed like a dumb question, but remember I’m just thinking about doing the diet. Was kinda on the fence. In my mind I was thinking of getting down to about 8 or 9% then when I started to bulk again my gains would come faster and I would be leaner too. Yes as you can tell I am very new to this but very motivated. When I started lifting 2YS ago I weighed a whopping 150 lbs!!!
Thanks a shit ton, for the advice you guys just point me in the right direction and light the fuse baby!![/quote]

So you gained a whopping 50 lbs with your (mind me) 2 YEARS of bulking? Can you please post your diet during this bulking phase? Any before-after pictures?

So you gained a whopping 50 lbs with your (mind me) 2 YEARS of bulking? Can you please post your diet during this bulking phase? Any before-after pictures?

[quote]heavychevy1988 wrote:
I appreciate the reply’s guys I really do. I’ve been bulking for 2Yrs now and have heard from another bbling site that if yoou are leaner before you start stuffing your freaking cake hole the result would be much more lean muscle gained. Again I have done nothing but bulk for 2Yrs and just wanted some advice from some guys who know thier shit.

So sorry if that seemed like a dumb question, but remember I’m just thinking about doing the diet. Was kinda on the fence. In my mind I was thinking of getting down to about 8 or 9% then when I started to bulk again my gains would come faster and I would be leaner too. Yes as you can tell I am very new to this but very motivated. When I started lifting 2YS ago I weighed a whopping 150 lbs!!!
Thanks a shit ton, for the advice you guys just point me in the right direction and light the fuse baby!![/quote]
I’m not sure I would consider that I bulk as much as a natural and steady progressions. For instance, I have been bulking for 11 weeks and put on about 25lbs. According to your bulking regimen you have on average gained less than half a pound of mass per week…weak.

Is it true that the first time someone diet down from 12% to 8%, the person will lose more muscle than subsequent dieting? That if the person can hold the 8% body fat for awhile, the body will be used to that and be easier to diet down to that same percent from future bulking?

[quote]tomkade wrote:
Is it true that the first time someone diet down from 12% to 8%, the person will lose more muscle than subsequent dieting? That if the person can hold the 8% body fat for awhile, the body will be used to that and be easier to diet down to that same percent from future bulking?[/quote]