IS BULKING ADVISABLE FOR OLDIES?…A PERSONAL VIEW
First of all you have to be clear in your own mind about what it is for.To me the idea is to give the body a chance to add the maximum amount possible of muscle in a given period of time.So you load yourself with carbs which will in turn be stored in the muscles themselves and elsewhere(mainly liver)as glycogen.Glycogen is the main fuel for strengh increase i.e you can then lift heavier and hence making your muscle cells(fibres) grow bigger.The process is called HYPERTROPHY.
The next thing to understand is that after a certain age(usually 35-40) muscle cells begin to die off and by the time one is ,say,60 the no of one’s muscle cells may be as low as 60%(this varies) of those of a 25 yr old.
What am I trying to say?I’m saying that at best a muscular 60 yr old man can only hope to have only approx 60-70% of the lean muscle mass of a muscular 25 yr old.
OK,now…The oldie bulks up,lifts heavy and gets bigger.So what’s the problem? Sadly he doesn’t realise that whatever he does nature will NOT let him have more than 60-70% of the muscle cells of the younger guy.So the bigger he is the more fat he will have piled on cos excess carbs(glycogen)is converted into fat and NOT the muscle that he had hoped for.
Then comes the cutting cycle. This will be VERY difficult for the oldie because of slower metabolism.At the end of the cutting cycle he will find he only has A LITTLE MORE (that’s all) lean muscle mass than he had before the bulking phase. Is it worth the blood sweats and tears ?That is up to you to choose !
My own personal view is therefore if you want to maximally increase your lean muscle mass it’s better to "bulk up" only a little,say,to 10% the body fat reading.In this scenario you will have sufficient glycogen to fuel your lifting heavy which then causes muscle cells to increase size (i.e hypertrophy) until they reach their oldie’s limit. Once that is reached you can then cut down without tears.
REMEMBER YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF YOUR(REDUCED)MUSCLE CELLS YOU CAN ONLY MAKE THE EXISTING ONES BIGGER.
Conclusion:- Conventional bulking / cutting creates false hopes for the oldie who finds,after just about killing himself doing it ,that he is only a little bigger in terms of lean muscle mass. IS IT WORTH IT ?
April 17, 2009 at 8:24 am
Yea, I agree. I seem to do better with extra body fat. Especially if I don’t eat right but 50% of the time. I like to hang around 200 (12- 15% BF) in the cooler months and drop during the heat of summer (10-12% BF)- all %’s are a guess. I would do back flips if I got to 10% bf., but the headaches and sides from being so low would make it painful. The only reason to have low bf is for the abs, but my abs aren’t worth the trouble. I can keep a four pack usually and its good-e-nuff for me. Kinda figuring this out the slow way. MY approach is to get the upper body big enough the waist looks good.
June 11, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Great post. It’s nice to read something rational.
June 16, 2009 at 7:01 am
Good post. Interesting? At my age (57) I’m not interested in bulking up. I’m interested in staying lean, fit and to put on a little bit of muscle here and there where I can.
I can only but keep on trying!
September 11, 2009 at 12:30 am
I agree completely. I’d rather be relatively lean and gain slowly.
September 11, 2009 at 12:47 am
I guess I need to do some more research. In general - I absolutely agree with most of this - certainly the principle of steady growth vs extremes. As far as not being able to increase muscle fiber count - I am not sure I agree. Both brain and muscle cells can be increased. Cell/tissue type, age, and genetics certainly play factors! But I would not agree the absolute restriction - rather the capability to recover and grow like we once did. Just my 2 cents. Appreciate the post - makesme want to do more research!