Bulking or Cutting: Which Should Come First?

This is a question of great debate in the fitness industry.

On one hand, you have people claiming that cutting before you’ve developed a good foundation of size and strength is pointless, and will only lead to a less-than-stellar physique in the long run.

On the other hand, you have people who say that trying to bulk up and get stronger before you get lean will generate far too much body fat and – because your body is primed to put on muscle when you’re leaner – cutting first is the better option.

Personally, I tend to take a more middle ground approach, but I lean towards the first school of thought:

That you should build a solid foundation of strength and size before you ever start thinking about losing body fat.

And, my reasoning behind this is simple:

 

1. You Can’t Build Strength (as well) and Muscle Mass While Losing Body Fat

Getting stronger/bigger requires a caloric surplus (for you to eat more food/energy than you’re burning on a daily basis), and losing body fat requires a caloric deficit (for you to burn more food/energy than you’re taking in on a daily basis).

Genetic freaks or complete newbies aside, you can’t do both at the same time.

You can MAINTAIN strength and muscle mass (and, to a degree, you can increase strength since it’s largely neural in nature), but a fat loss phase isn’t ideal for putting on strength or size, and it’s almost impossible to lose body fat if you’re eating in a caloric surplus (regardless of the foods that make up your day-to-day diet).

 

2. So, You Have to Pick One Goal to Tackle at a Time. 

Although both have benefits, getting stronger/bigger before you get leaner holds far more benefit (in my opinion) than getting leaner before you get stronger/bigger.

First and foremost, strength is the foundation of all fitness-related qualities and technical skills.

Without strength, your ability to stimulate progress in size, endurance, athleticism, etc. is severely limited.

And, seeing how – nutrition aside – increasing physical performance over time is a HUGE contributor to overall physique development, that poses a bit of a problem.

Secondly, the more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism will be.

Muscle is extremely metabolically active (fat is not), so increasing muscle mass will lead to a greater amount of fat loss over time.

Of course, this isn’t to say there aren’t scenarios where getting leaner first would be the better option.

If you’re morbidly obese – and the amount of body fat you carry hinders your ability to train the fundamental movement patterns at a high level – it’d probably be best to follow the other approach.

However, for most people, I think it’d be more ideal to get bigger and stronger first, not only because of the benefits mentioned above, but because…

 

3. A Lot of People Aren’t Actually Fat, They Just Don’t Have Enough Muscle to Fill Out Their Physique. 

This is more common than you’d expect, and a lot of people end up becoming what’s commonly referred to as “skinny fat.”

They’re at a decently low body fat, yet their arms and legs look skinny while they still sport what *appears* to be a belly, simply because they haven’t BUILT their physique yet.

They’re trying to reveal something that simply isn’t there.

And, once they reach the end of their diet – and realize they aren’t anywhere close to the physique they’ve been shooting for – one of two things happen:

1.) They cut harder/longer, which only makes the problem worse.

or

2.) They start focusing on getting bigger and stronger, which they could have just done in the first place.

Of course, with all of that being said, this doesn’t happen to everyone, and you CAN achieve great success choosing to get leaner first.

As long as you have realistic expectations, set proper goals, and stay consistent with your training and nutrition, you’ll definitely develop a well-rounded physique.

However, for most people, I think they’d achieve a much better physique if they chose to get bigger/stronger first.

After all, why try to reveal a masterpiece that hasn’t yet been completed?