Cutting vs Bulking Training: 7 Proven Differences

Cutting vs bulking training in brief

Three findings decide how to train in each phase. Strength survives a deficit while size does not, volume is what protects muscle on a cut, and cardio only gets in the way when it is the wrong kind.

Every figure on this page about cutting vs bulking training comes from a PubMed abstract listed at the end. The two programs are coaching templates built on those findings. Where a number is a rule of thumb rather than a trial result, the page says so.

What this cutting vs bulking training guide covers

Seven things that change between cutting and bulking training

Here is the whole page in one table. Meet Jordan again, the example lifter from the nutrition guide: 80 kg, two years of lifting, trains four days a week on an upper lower split. Jordan is about to cut for 8 weeks, then bulk for 16. The exercises will not change. These seven things will.

What should not change

The exercises. The squat, the bench, the row and the deadlift are the lifts that hold the most muscle, and they do that job in both phases. The rep ranges. A cut does not need 20 rep sets, and a bulk does not need 3 rep sets. Trained lifters grow across a wide range of loads as long as the sets are hard (PMID 36334240), so keep the ranges you already use. The rest periods. Three minutes on the big lifts, one to two on the small ones, in both phases. Shortening rest to burn more calories is the most common way to turn a cutting workout plan into a worse one.

A cutting workout plan that keeps your muscle

The job of a cutting workout plan is to give the body a reason to keep every gram of muscle while the diet takes the fat. The reason is heavy lifting. In the meta analysis of deficit trials, strength went up in the dieting groups almost as much as in the fed groups (PMID 34623696). So the first lift of every session stays heavy and the weight on it does not come down on purpose. If Jordan benched 80 kg for 4 sets of 6 on the bulk, Jordan benches 80 kg on the cut. Five reps on the last set is accepted if that is what is there.

Sets come down a little, not a lot. The review of 15 studies on trained athletes cutting weight found that programs which kept or raised their weekly sets lost little or no lean mass. Programs that reduced sets lost more (PMID 35146569). The authors could not say exactly how many sets is enough, because most studies did not report it. The practical reading is to trim the isolation work by a set here and there, keep the compounds, and never drop below about two thirds of what you did before the cut. Jordan goes from about 18 sets a session to about 14.

Why not high reps and light weights?

Because nothing in the trials supports it. Muscle does not know it is being toned. It knows tension and effort. In the 15 study review of training to failure, the way the set ended mattered very little for growth as long as it was hard (PMID 36334240). Light weights for high reps on a cut do two bad things. They remove the heavy signal that protects muscle in a deficit, and they add a lot of fatigue for the same number of sets. The deficit is already supplying the fatigue. The lifting should supply the signal.

How long to run it

As long as the cut, which should be 6 to 12 weeks. The nutrition guide covers the pace. In the gym, watch two things. If two main lifts drop for two sessions in a row, take a deload week: same exercises, half the sets, 10 percent off the bar. If a lift drops for three weeks, the deficit is probably too deep, and the fix is on the plate, not in the program.

A bulking workout plan that turns the surplus into muscle

A bulk gives you spare energy and faster recovery. The job of a bulking workout plan is to spend both on sets. Each added weekly set bought about 0.37 percent more growth across 15 studies, and the higher volume groups grew about 3.9 percent more than the lower ones (PMID 27433992). A surplus on its own helps a little, but it mostly works by letting you do and recover from more work (PMID 31482093). So the program grows with the phase. Jordan starts at the same 18 sets a session as before the cut. Over the first four weeks a set is added to the main lift and to the small lifts, ending around 21 to 22.

Load goes up whenever the reps allow. On a cut the goal was to hold every number. On a bulk the goal is to beat one every week: a rep on the last set, or 2.5 kg on the bar once every set hits the top of the range. The method and a next session calculator are on progressive overload explained.

Do not add exercises, add sets

The surplus tempts people into a fifth day and three new chest movements. Keep the exercises and add sets to the ones already there. Each set is tracked against a number you already know, so you can see whether the extra work is paying. New exercises reset that. If you want more detail on where the volume ceiling is, read training volume explained.

Cardio while bulking and cutting: how much and what kind

Should you do cardio while bulking? A little, and the right kind. Should you do cardio while cutting? More, and still the right kind. The fear is that cardio eats muscle. Two meta analyses say it does not, with two conditions. The first, across 21 studies, found that lifters who added running lost some growth and strength compared with lifting alone, while lifters who added cycling did not. The more often and the longer the cardio, the bigger the loss (PMID 22002517). The second, across 43 studies, found no effect of added cardio on muscle growth or maximal strength at all. The one cost was explosive strength, and mostly when cardio and lifting were in the same session rather than three or more hours apart (PMID 34757594).

So the rules are simple. Walk or cycle rather than run. Keep it easy. Keep it away from the lifting, on a separate day or a different part of the day. On a cut, use it to create part of the deficit so the plate does not have to do all the work. On a bulk, keep one or two short sessions so you do not lose the ability to recover between sets. Jordan does two 30 to 40 minute incline walks on the cut and one 20 minute bike session on the bulk.

What to expect from your lifts in each phase

On a cut, expect to hold. In the deficit meta analysis, strength gains were effect size 0.84 in dieting lifters against 0.81 in fed lifters, no meaningful difference (PMID 34623696). In the slow versus fast weight loss trial, athletes losing 0.7 percent of body weight a week improved their one rep maxes and gained 2.1 percent lean mass while dieting (PMID 21558571). So a well run cut can even add a little strength, especially in the first weeks. What you will notice is that the last rep feels harder and the warm ups feel heavier. The top set usually stays.

On a bulk, expect to gain, and expect the gain to come from the extra sets more than the extra food. In the trial of elite athletes on a planned surplus against eating freely, both groups improved their one rep maxes by 6 to 12 percent. The planned surplus did not add strength over free eating. It added fat (PMID 23679146). The food lets you do the work. The work builds the strength.

The minimum that keeps strength

There is a floor, and it is low. A review of trained men looked at the smallest dose that still built strength. A single hard set of 6 to 12 reps at 70 to 85 percent of max, two or three times a week, raised one rep max strength by about 12 kg on average (PMID 31797219). And in a 32 week maintenance study, a third of the training dose kept the muscle that had been built in young adults (PMID 21131862). So if life interrupts a cut, one heavy set per lift, two or three times a week, holds almost everything. It is not the program. It is the floor the program should never fall through.

Recovery and deloads: why a cut needs them sooner

A calorie deficit lowers the energy available for everything that is not survival, and recovery from lifting is one of those things. Hormones, movement and resting energy all drop a little further than the weight loss alone explains (PMID 24571926). In practice that means the same session costs more on a cut than on a bulk. Sleep gets lighter, joints complain sooner, and the third set of the day feels like the fifth.

The fix is not to train less. The 15 study review found that lifters who kept their sets up lost less muscle (PMID 35146569). The fix is to recover on purpose. On a cut, deload every 4 to 6 weeks, or as soon as two main lifts drop for two sessions in a row. On a bulk, every 6 to 8 weeks is enough. A deload week is the same exercises at half the sets and about 10 percent less load. It is a coaching rule of thumb, not a trial result, and it works because it gives the deficit a week to stop compounding. Sleep, stress and the other half of recovery are on recovery and fatigue.

Seven cutting vs bulking training mistakes that cost muscle

1. Switching to light weights and high reps on the cut

This removes the heavy signal that protects muscle in a deficit. Strength holds in a deficit when you train for it (PMID 34623696). Keep the loads.

2. Halving the sets because you are tired

The programs that cut sets lost more muscle than the programs that kept them (PMID 35146569). Trim a quarter from the isolation work. Keep the compounds.

3. Running five times a week to speed up the cut

Running interfered with size and strength in the trials; cycling and walking did not (PMID 22002517). Walk instead, and keep it off leg day.

4. Cardio straight after lifting

Same session cardio cost explosive strength where separated sessions did not (PMID 34757594). Put three hours or a day between them.

5. Training to failure on every set of the cut

Failure adds a trivial 0.19 effect on growth at best (PMID 36334240) and a large recovery cost you cannot afford in a deficit. Leave one to three reps in the tank.

6. Adding exercises instead of sets on the bulk

Each extra set buys about 0.37 percent more growth (PMID 27433992). A new exercise buys a number you cannot compare to last week. Add sets to what you already do.

7. Expecting the bulk to do the lifting

The planned surplus group in the elite athlete trial got no more strength than the group eating freely, only more fat (PMID 23679146). The food funds the work. It does not replace it.

Verdict: same program, different dial

A cutting workout plan and a bulking workout plan are the same program with a few settings changed. On a cut: trim about a quarter of the sets from the small lifts and keep every main lift heavy. Add two or three easy cardio sessions on separate days, deload every 4 to 6 weeks, and aim to hold every number in the log. On a bulk: add the sets back and a few more, push the loads, keep cardio short, deload every 6 to 8 weeks, and aim to beat a number every week. The exercises, the rep ranges and the rest periods do not change.

Calories, protein and which phase to run are on the bulking vs cutting nutrition guide. The split both programs sit on is explained on the 4 day workout split page.