Bulking and Cutting Gone Wrong!

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Bulking and cutting is one of the most classic methods of adding muscle as fast as possible. The theory is that by eating in caloric excess you are providing your body with an abundance of nutrients from which you can add lots of muscle along with some obligatory fat. Once you reach the size you want, begin cutting and dieting to lose the excess fat and end up with nothing but lean muscle gains. What happens when all doesn’t go to plan?
In this video, I’m going to show you one of the biggest mistakes and misconceptions when it comes to bulking that people overlook. The limiting factor in how big you get and how fast is never going to be about the number of calories that you consume but rather the host of other things that matter much more than a simple food threshold.
For instance, if you want to build muscle you have to start with the right genetics. You can cram tons of calories down your throat all you want but if you have the muscle building genetics of Pee Wee Herman you are not going to be happy with the end result. Likely you will just wind up being skinny fat and without any appreciable amounts of muscle.
The same can be said for the distribution of muscle fibers in your body. Someone that is predominantly type I or slow twitch muscle fibers is going to have a much harder time adding muscle to their frame despite the fact that they are cramming down the calories. Now there isn’t anything you can do about either of these two things since they are determined by your genes. That said, there are other factors that are very much in your control.
What you are doing in your training is key to these. If you are not bringing enough intensity to your workouts or if your workouts are either too long or too frequent and not providing enough opportunity for recovery then again the amount of calories you eat will not overcome your mistakes. Recovering from your hard workouts is always going to be a much more important factor in muscle growth.
You may say that food intake is part of this process and you would be right, however sleep and training frequency are also parts of the equation and can dictate to a much larger degree the success you see in your muscle building pursuit. Again, if you are meeting the requirements of getting in enough calories, adding excess with the thought that you will speed up the process and add more muscle more quickly simply isn’t true.
So instead of focusing on the amount of food you eat, worry about the quality. Aim to meet your daily requirements based on your activity level and then focus the rest of your efforts on the things that are more directly impactful on your muscle growth. Limit your body’s cortisol by resting more, keeping stress to a minimum and training hard but not long. Supplement with good high quality protein and muscle building supplements.
If you are looking for a program that gives you an eating plan day by day along with step by step workouts and supplement suggestions, head to and choose the right ATHLEAN-X Training System for you. If you are looking to add size then you will definitely want to look into the Max Size program for building muscle fast.
For more videos on why you should never bulk and cut and how to get ripped muscle and keep it year round, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at