To my understanding... and I could be wrong as I've only seriously lifted for 8 months (I'm pretty knowledgeable in the topic as I was fortunate to learn from my freshman college roommate who worked out with Layne Norton for four years during our days at U of I. I had no interest in the subject area until finishing college but instead of spending time researching and learn form I was fortunate to learn a lot of my stuff from him, also go to one of the most hardcore gyms where the people are very friendly... B&W gym in chicago it's a powerlifter gym but it's unlike any gym I've ever been to and I know you're in the Chicago area so come on down sometime, there's an all out deadlift competition in the middle of the gym every saturday with some sorta known powerlifters who compete on a regular basis. Possibly google Nick Lepine if you're interested, he goes there. I'd be happy to share more if you wanna PM me. Fuck xsport!!! You'll find tons of chalk, some mice and roaches but its a traditional gym. Those bars at the different xsports I've been to are too shiny and slippery, the bars at the gym are alone worth the trip as they're rigid and really allow for a great grip on your deadlifts, benches etc. As advertised... there are no rules you can grunt, you can come shirtless, you can chalk and dirty up the equipment, no one gives a fuck.)

Anyways back to the topic... Culking from what I've gathered is eating a small caloric surplus every week and making very very small gains. There are no cut sessions on culking. I could be wrong but that's my understanding of it... The mini bulk and mini cut sessions are close to your typically bulk and cut but the time intervals are much shorter. You hear guys going on these long 6 month bulks and 3 month cuts... this just reduces the time intervals so you'll still do the same thing but you'll do something like 3 small bulks and 3 small cuts whereas someone else might just do 1 big bulk and 1 big cut. Layne's research shows that the early stages of a cut produce more fat loss than in the later weeks. Basically his research shows that you lose a larger ratio of fat to muscle in the first 1-4 weeks of a cut than you would on week 8-12 if that makes sense? Also for bulks his research shows that you'll gain more muscle to fat ratio in the earlier weeks than the later weeks, basically he tries to capitalize on early gains and early fat loss intervals to maximize his muscle gain. In theory it's just keeping your body in constant shock changing variables in your routine, it's not too variable to the point where you aren't making meaningful progress (think about doing maybe 2 bulks and 2 bulks versus doing 1 big bulk and 1 big cut in the same time frame) but it's a form of shock and forcing your body to grow.

In theory our bodies are put in danger whenever we lift and instinctively your body thinks it has to grow or adapt to compensate for the extra stress, once the body is used to gettin a consistent caloric surplus the muscle gains become smaller than they first were earlier on and the same rule applies to cuts. Again, I'm biased as this is the guy who I've learned from but then again he does have a PHD in muscle synthesis and he's a nasty mofo in appearance. Also need to keep in mind everyone's body is different. I went through a longer bulk and cut session and I didn't like needing two sets of clothes, for me mini bulk and cuts are worth it just for the sole fact that I'm constantly somewhat lean and that it's worked for me really well. Who knows I might get tired and go back to traditional bulk and cuts but this works for now.

This post was edited by bloodgore1 on Sep 11 2014 10:44pm

Odds are... you didn't ruin your metabolism (I don't really believe in that or atleast to the extent that some in the fitness community are preaching. There is very little data - if any - to back this claim)

You probably just either:

A - Didn't track your calories as closely as you should have especially when you started to get into a lowish caloric range
B - Were not in as steep as a deficit as you may have thought (I would attribute this just to calculation error or refer back to point A)
C - You lost overall body mass which is going to lower caloric expenditure ofc

Regardless, if you didn't want to start bulking and only started purely for the sake of raising your metabolic rate, I am going to tell you now that you're just going to end up disappointed. You will not raise your caloric expenditure by much by introducing more calories for a while.

With that said if you want to bulk, be aware of the water gain and don't get scared off. Otherwise if you actually want to cut, post your macros/calories and other relevant info and we can try to assess what your issue is here.

Hope this helps.

This post was edited by PureOwnage2 on Sep 11 2014 10:57pm