Bulking, cutting and recomping

[impatient_undertaker]

What do you think is the best strategy to gain muscles long term without getting (too much...) fat in the process? The most common opinion seems to be that bulking and cutting is the answer since, as they say, you can't go towards polar opposite goals at the same time - gaining muscles seemingly requires calorie surplus and loosing fat requires calorie deficit. However these two processes are actually handled by different systems in the organism and they are independent to some extent, hence recomping, or gaining muscles while at the calorie maintenance/deficit, may be feasible.

Is the recomping a fine strategy or a misinformation? If bulking is necessary, then how intensive should it be?

[Plato]

is Recomp still bulking ? sounds like small bulk to me.The first rule of recomp is to eat a caloric surplus on workout days and a caloric deficit on non-workout days. The second rule of recomp is eat a caloric surplus on workout days and a caloric deficit on non-workout days. I think long as you are not anorexic you should not cut .

[Mass_Bixo]

My philosophy would be:
-stay somewhat lean, "normie lean", not "instagram lean", 
-eat enough to feel good and have energy to train well, while not depriving yourself from stuff you enjoy
-do not try to see the scale moving through eating more
-when/if you feel that you let yourself go and got a little fat, cut back the food a little for a while and then return to the above

So I think I more in the recomp camp, but I train natty for 18 years so mucle gain isn't happening for me anymore, just sustainable maintenance.

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https://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/my-guide-to-bulking/

This article has a good view on this topic on real world perspective (rather than fitness industry BS)

[impatient_undertaker]

is Recomp still bulking ? sounds like small bulk to me.The first rule of recomp is to eat a caloric surplus on workout days and a caloric deficit on non-workout days. The second rule of recomp is eat a caloric surplus on workout days and a caloric deficit on non-workout days. I think long as you are not anorexic you should not cut .

Recomp is maintaining weight while gaining muscles and losing fat. Bulk means calorie surplus which means weight gain.

Do you think that the body is so sensitive to a daily calorie cycling? I am yet to see a study that shows it is the case. My guess is that as long you eat enough protein (which isn't that much, certainly not over 2 g/kg/d or similar nonsense) you are golden.

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@Mass_Bixo

I can relate to that as I follow similar strategy. I found bulking and cutting disappointing, bulking generated relatively too much fat and cutting later was a pain in the ass, all of that to end up in almost the same place.

[Plato]

Recomp is maintaining weight while gaining muscles and losing fat. Bulk means calorie surplus which means weight gain.

Do you think that the body is so sensitive to a daily calorie cycling? I am yet to see a study that shows it is the case. My guess is that as long you eat enough protein (which isn't that much, certainly not over 2 g/kg/d or similar nonsense) you are golden.

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@Mass_Bixo

I can relate to that as I follow similar strategy. I found bulking and cutting disappointing, bulking generated relatively too much fat and cutting later was a pain in the ass, all of that to end up in almost the same place.

You can not do both,I  have tried .

[impatient_undertaker]

You can not do both,I  have tried .

Maybe you can't or it's too slow of a process to see a difference in a given timeframe. But it is doable. In the extreme cases of fat beginners, they can shed fat like crazy while gaining muscles easily. It's tougher for leaner and more advanced individuals.

[Mass_Bixo]

Bulking for gaining muscle naturally is like getting married for having sex.

[Brett]

Bulking for gaining muscle naturally is like getting married for having sex.

Haha.