If you’re really skinny….
If you’re really skinny, you’re going to need to eat a crap ton of high-quality food. Eat more than you think you’d need. Whole milk, whey protein, and peanut butter will be your friend here.
And yes, you’re going to put on some chub. You may even get “skinny fat.” (Gasp!) That’s okay. Remind yourself that fat is easy to lose, while muscle is hard to gain, but pays dividends down the road. With all the new muscle mass you gained in the process of bulking, you’re going to look jacked when you get around to shedding that fat.
If you’re not skinny, but not fat…
If you’re hovering around 15-18% body fat, but dream of having just 10% body fat one day, simply focus on getting bigger and stronger. It will help you look even better when you’re ready to cut.
And yes, this will mean you’re going to get fatter. You might even push yourself up to 20% body fat, but as long as you’re getting progressively stronger, don’t worry about it. Stripping body fat is easy (it’s just a matter of diet), and thanks to your prioritizing muscle mass and strength, you’re going to have a lot of dense, sexy muscle beneath that fat. Letting yourself get fatter in the short-term will allow you to look more jacked in the long-term.
This is the camp that I fall in. I typically hover around 15% body fat. I’ve gotten down to 12% before, but it makes me feel terrible when I do, so I stick to around 15%.
When I started strength training with my coach Matt Reynolds, he set me up on a diet that involved eating a lot more calories than I was used to. I was eating so much food, I was pooping two or three times a day. In a few months, I started to get a belly, which Kate referred to as “the Rippetoe Belly” because it kind of looked like the famous paunch sported by Starting Strength’s founder, Mark Rippetoe. My face got chubby, and my body fat went from 15% to 20%.
But I was getting stronger and stronger, so I didn’t care. If I had training sessions that went crappy, it was usually due to my not consuming an adequate amount of calories. Whenever I got back to eating the way I was supposed to, the gainz started rolling again.
When I needed to lose some body fat for a photoshoot I did for Huckberry last August, Matt adjusted my diet. He gradually reduced calories and shifted my macros from more carbs to more fat. Basically, it was a paleo diet. My workout consisted of a lot more HIIT cardio.
In a few months, I leaned up significantly and got back down to 13% body fat. But because of the muscle mass I gained during my bulk, I looked bigger and more jacked than the last time I was 15% body fat.
Looks aside though, my strength suffered significantly. Weight that was once easy to lift, felt like hefting lead.
After a few weeks of enjoying being more shredded, I got back to focusing on getting big and strong. That meant gradually increasing my calories and welcoming back my fat face. With the return of the Rippetoe Belly, my PRs started climbing again.
Once I hit a few more PR goals of mine, I’ll probably do another cut.
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