I'll respond to your PM here... I was totally thinking this btw... I can't wait to bulk (gain about 3-6 lbs of muscle) then do a six to eight week cut, and then continue to cycle in that fashion until I have a lean 190-200 on me... and I like the idea that it's a continual effort. Gives me a new obsession, which I enjoy having.
Yup, that's the beauty of it. It becomes an art, really, once you are perfectly in tune with your body. I've found myself not letting to of certain notions picked up from research and readings and it's hindered my ability to listen to my body and respond accordingly.
If you don't speak the same language as your body, which many don't, then that's a different story.
But over time, especially once you go through a cycle or two of bulking and cutting, you'll be more in tune.
Eventually, and this correlates to your point below, adding muscle will be a bitch, as you get nearer to your genetic limitations. For some that might happen in a year. For others, it could be years. It all depends on a bunch of things like training age, genetics, status, etc. For me though, I have to bust my ass and do all sorts of fancy diet and training manipulations to irk out small changes. So prep yourself for that. It gets tricky at this stage simply b/c you find it easy to try and force hypertrophy (since it's so hard to come by) with more food, but that's where you run into fat gain problems.
What are some of the things I want to see move in terms of a bulk? Tape measure in body parts is an obvious one... but what about BF%?
To be honest, I never track BF% anymore. I've been thinking about starting again for no specific reason beyond curiosity. I've been successful by simply tracking my weight and my tape measurements. I usually allow for a good 1-2 inch gain in my waist. I don't really care about the specific gain, but it's at that point where I start looking and feeling too soft compared to what I'm comfortable with. At that time is usually when I work back in a cut or stay at maintenance for a bit.
I know there will be fat gains... but shouldn't the muscle gains pretty much out pace the fat gain?
This really depends.
Genetics are a bitch for the most part. Partitioning is what your body does with excess energy. That's not the true definition, but works for the sake of this discussion. Training can manipulate this to an agree but a majority is genetically determined. That's why it's real important to find that sweet spot. And you're going about doing that the right way by bumping cals up nice and slow.
Remember in Steve's thread I said you live in West Dumpford? duh?
