Quote (MegaVovaN @ Feb 9 2011 04:51am)
Hey raynor,
Not questioning your judgement. So please take this as another question.
Could you glance over this page?
http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/bulkingAndCutting.htmScooby is pretty well known on youtube. And what he advocates mostly makes sense. But one thing he says is that bulking up is useless. And that its best to maintain a healthy nutrition and lift hard and be lucky to gain 5 pounds of muscle a year. Eating A TON of food will only add more fat while muscle gain will stay constant regardless... What do you think?
Well just a few observations.
Please look at scooby...then look at professional bodybuilders, powerlifters, strongmen, and some gym monsters in general. He is not exactly a greek god. He has decent muscle definition, but overall is not even close to the peek platform of excellence.
First off lets discuss body types:
Mesomorph - Easy to lose fat, Easy to gain muscle, ripped and hard year round regardless of diet (best genetics here, very rare)
Endomorph - Easy to gain fat, Easy to gain muscle, pudgy year round even with a good diet (mostly powerlifters here)
Ectomorph - HARD to gain fat, HARD to gain muscle, very thin all year round even with excess calories (hardgainers!!!)
anyway, each of these bodytypes, and combinations thereof, have different nutritional requirements.
To say that a 180lb ectomorph needs only 180g of protein and a total of 2700 cals a day would result in that ectomorph not gaining ANY lean mass whatsoever, if anything they will LOSE lean mass. The ectomorph at 180 lbs would need closer to 5,000 cals a day, 2g/ lb bodyweight protein, and special supplementation to maximize muscle gains.
However, an endomorph who wants to train for bodybuilding would indeed have to restrict their diet and manipulate their calories and macros to accomidate their training routine. (sugar in the morning and post workout on training days, complex carbs only for the other meals, 1.5g protein / lb bodyweight, and at least 60g fats while hitting around 2,500 calories total for the 180 lbs man will avoid fat gain, but at the same time NOT enable that person to lose fat.
Lastly, the mesomorph can do whatever they want as long as they are getting at least 1.5g protein / lb bodyweight and at least 2g carbs / lb bodyweight. They must eat every 2-3 hours like anyone else, and train hard, but they have the best results of the other bodytypes.
To make a blanketed statement and say that everyone who is 180 lbs needs 2700 calories and 180g protein a day is such an overstated crock of BS that this scooby fellow loses virtually all credibility my in my book.
He would have to be completely blind to basic nutrition and biology to say something like that.
Anyway, on bulking and cutting. This is the tride and true method used for years by bodybuilders. Do you gain fat? Yes. Do you gain muscle? Yes. Why is it good to gain fat while gaining muscle? simple - your body is at a state of anabolism when it is building and not burning. When your body is at a state of anabolism, your body is storing all excess fats and sugars as body fat when they are not used. There is no way to gauge 100% of the nutrition your body will need, so as a result on a bulk you will obvious overeat to an extent (caloric wise). This overage is necessary to guarantee you have at LEAST the amount of calories and nutrition your body needs for maximum muscle gains. if you start gaining fat RAPIDLY (like 1 lb a week) then it's time to cut down the cals, fat, and carbs from your diet somewhat. Just by the same token, do not underestimate calories to avoid fat gain. This will defeat the whole purpose of bulking which is to set yourself into an anabolic environment and give your body excess nutrition for which to provide energy and repairs to the torn muscle fibers.
There are some people at 180 lbs who can eat 1,500 cals a day and still see fat gains. Do not let fat gains discourage you. Cutting can always bring people to where they want to be after significant fat gains from bulking.
Hope this helps.