Here’s Why Gym Fanatics Don’t Know That “Bulking Up” and Then “Cutting” Is Awful For Their Metabolic Health & Ruins Their Hearts

They bulk up, train hard to gain maximum muscle mass, eat tons of food — mostly carb and sugar-laden- then cut their food intake and starve themselves for a few weeks to “look lean.”

Ahah! That ain’t the way you build muscles, lose fat, and above all, be healthy, my dear bodybuilder, gym-rats. You got it wrong. But it’s not your fault — you’ve been misled by the gym and fitness industry to operate this way.

I met a personal trainer who works at a gym, training her female clients. She looks good — yet she carries tons of visceral fat under her skin, despite working out hard with weights 4 times a week.

Now… Why is that? I asked her that question too.

She replied by saying:

“I’m “bulking up” to build muscle mass for a couple of months, and then I will “cut.”

I am not sure what she meant with “cut,” but really, I do.

So, I asked her:

“Why is there so much visceral fat under your skin if you work out so hard?”

Her reply:

“Because I’m always hungry and need to eat lots of carbs to give me the energy to train.”

Heyho — here we go down the rollercoaster of “misinformation and heart disease!”

She wrongfully thinks that once she’s added enough “weight,” she will cut her eating way back, keep up the training, and starve herself.

That way, the visceral (under the skin above the muscle) fat will eventually disappear, and she will look lean, with bigger muscles to be seen!

And She Won The Game! Nope! You did NOT!

All you did is harm your heart by overtraining with excessive cortisol flowing into your heart, overworking your pancreas that may lead to insulin resistance, and becoming type 2 diabetic because you fed your body with sugar, pushed too hard, and are now close to burnout!

I spent 2 hours explaining all of this to her. She listened but didn’t take it in. It went in one ear and out the other.

I visited her gym today and watched her perform her “leg day.”

Oh my goodness — overtraining legs and bum at its finest, while she isn’t even lean, but somewhat overweight, which need not be!

Final Thoughts

There are far better ways to “bulk up,” come lean, muscular, and look sharp than the old-school “bulk up, eat a ton of carbs, then starve yourself for a week or two.”

We call it becoming fat-adapted, controlling your blood sugar levels and insulin response, maintaining a healthy hormonal balance, and not, above all, NOT stressing your heart!

Enough said — I will keep trying my best to educate and inform how to work out, eat right, lose fat, and build lean muscle by eating real food — not carbs and sugar without the flawed approach of “bulking and cutting!”

Rob

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