Bulking and Cutting

[elle11]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board. I have a ? about bulking and cutting. I am 5'6", 125#, 18% bodyfat, an ectomorph and have recently gained 5# of mostly muscle. I am doing a periodized routine 2 weeks each of 10 reps, 8 reps and then 6 reps -- of course raising my weight each time I change rep range. I plan on repeating this 6 week cycle to gain some more mass. I eat clean -- around 50% carbs, 20% protein, 30% fat, very few simple carbs and around 2000 to 2200 calories.

My question is -- when I get to the point I want to shed some fat, what recommendations so you have? Just increasing cardio to 5 days a week? How can I do this without losing my hard earned muscle? Are bulking and cutting phases just a myth? I had to work way too hard for those first 5#! LOL

Any replies would be appreciated.

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It's all in the diet. Proper nutrition and supplementation will do that, maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss. Right off the bat I would say for you, when you decide to cut, we will first make sure you really are eating very strictly "clean" and then we will increase your protein intake while decreasing your carbohydrate intake. Bulking & cutting is certainly real, and the difference is mostly in the diet. Let us know when you're ready to start cutting and we'll get ya going in the right direction. Also, it may help you to read thru the nutrition section (blue tabs at top) of the site. There are several articles which describe and give examples of cutting & bulking type diets. Hope this helps. /forum/images/icons/wink.gif