> Incidentally, the terms "bulking" and "cutting" come from bodybuilders taking steroids. I know that non-chemically-enhanced people have started using these terms, but it's honestly foolish. When you're not cycling anabolic steroids against metabolic stimulants like Clenbuterol, it really doesn't apply.

What. Even natural bodybuilders go through cut and bulk cycles. And plenty of enhanced bodybuilders don't use clen or DNP, even IFBB pros.

Someone new to resistance training, significantly overweight, or both, can add pounds and pounds of lean body mass while in a deficit. But that stops when those things stop. You have to be in a surplus to add muscle mass if you're no longer a novice lifter or significantly overweight. And it is basically impossible to perfectly balance your diet so that you don't gain any body fat in this situation while still being able to efficiently add muscle mass.

For a non-enhanced person that doesn't have the benefits of strong nutrient partitioning effects from AAS and HGH it is even more difficult to do so.

Lean bulks are more popular than ever but they're still bulks and they're still followed by cuts - just cycled much less frequently.

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snozolli a day ago | parent [-]

Even natural bodybuilders go through cut and bulk cycles.

Yeah, the ones who are actually prepping for competition. They sacrifice some of their gains to get as lean as possibly solely for the purpose of showing in a competition. Anyone else engaging in "bulking" and "cutting" is just wasting their time.

You have to be in a surplus to add muscle mass if you're no longer a novice lifter or significantly overweight.

This is why you eat a slight caloric surplus while hitting your macro goals.

Internet dweebs started usurping the terminology. Honestly, it's justification for undisciplined eating. It's just "dieting" with pseudo-technical justification. The ultimate form of self-delusion are the guys who "perma-bulk", like Cartman.

	▲	cthalupa a day ago \| parent [-]
		> Anyone else engaging in "bulking" and "cutting" is just wasting their time. Why? > This is why you eat a slight caloric surplus while hitting your macro goals. As an unenhanced lifter you've not got the significant nutrient partitioning boosts that HGH/AAS/(and for some) insulin give you. If you want to maximize gains you're going to be in a big enough surplus that you're just not going to get basically exclusively muscle gains for every bit of weight you add. Eventually you're going to need to diet, even with a fairly small surplus. And what is a phased approach to eating in a surplus to gain muscle and eating in a deficit to lose fat but bulking and cutting? I would agree that perma-bulking isn't a particularly good idea, and trying to bulk and cut with the same sort of caloric surpluses and deficits someone on gear is counter-productive for a natural lifter, but I don't see why or how you come to the conclusion that unenhanced lifters using the bulk/cut terms are dweebs or wrong in using the terminology. HN is the only place I've ever seen anyone claim that the only people who should be using bulk/cut phrasing are enhanced lifters.