the case against bulking cycles....

[trancedelt]

For anyone who hasnt seen it already:

Body fat content influences the body composition response
to nutrition and exercise. Forbes GB. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2000
May;904:359-65

This paper reviewed several studies in which subjects
were overfed to varying degrees in order to produce weight
gain.

1) In subjects overfed, initial body fat level is also
important. In fact, in a few studies, subjects with low
initial levels of body fat (10kg) gained about 70% of their
weight gain as lean body mass (and only 30% was fat mass).
These data also show that in subjects starting with 20kg and
40kg of body fat, only 30% and 20% of the weight gained was
lean body mass (while 70% and 80% of the weight gained comes
from increased fat mass).

Comments:

From overfeeding studies, it is clear that lean
individuals gain less fat and more lbm when overfeeding when
compared to their fatter counterparts. In fact, this study
generated a predictive equation indicating that the ratio of
lean mass gained to total weight gained is related to
initial fat mass by the following equation:

Lean Mass Gain / Weight Gain = 10.4 / {10.4 + initial fat
weight (kg)}

Therefore for someone who is 92kg (200lbs) and 5% body
(4.6kg fat), about 70% of the weight gained during an
overfeeding phase can be expected to be lean body mass. In
someone who is 92kg and 10% body fat (9.2kg of fat), 53% of
weight gained will be lean body mass. So perhaps a good
idea is to only overfeed when relatively lean. If you are
200lbs and around 10-15% body fat, about half the weight you
gain will be fat and half will be muscle. If you try to
gain when fatter than 15%, much of the weight you gain will
be fat mass.

[smalls]

The results of that study would be highly dependent on the persons BF "setpoint" and how far from their genetic muscular limit they are. In most cases a skinny little schmuck will put on more muscle (because their body actually wants it) than some overweight bastard. I'm sure the study has merit, it just has large limitations as well.

[DiamondBling]

For me personally, I would be wasting Gear and my time if I ate clean all year. I need calories to grow. Period.

[DOUBLE J]

My thought is that genetics and body type plays an important role here. Hard-gainers vs naturally heavy types.

I put weight and size on fairly easily. A full on bulker though sends my BF through the roof. However, friends that are naturally lean have to severely overeat to match my gains. While they never gain BF like I would.

Pre-determined set points?

[anabolic_mK]

very interesting post

i generally believe that there is no logic of adding say 5lbs of mass, if only 1lb is going to be muscle, because your going to need to remove the 4lb of shit eventually, which means ur more susceptible to lose muscle through diet/cutting cycle

the only reason for unclean bulking is overcompensation
say at an equilibrium of 3000 u dont gain or lose weight, theoretically there is a limit, say you gain 2lbs maximum a week anymore than +2000calories at the end of the week is going to be fat.

[jsjs24]

Good read governor. I think people should eat healthy when cycling no matter what kind of cycle...I don't care if it's 150mg anadrol a day and 1g test a week. Eating healthy is key when trying to build mass quality muscle.