Rabbits

There is a fable about a hungry wolf. He saw two rabbits just hanging out, doing what rabbits do, and off he went, trying to catch his lunch. Instead of chasing after just one, he tried to get both. The poor guy was hungry, and he ended up losing them.

Now, I’m sure the details vary: it could have been a hunter and not a wolf, it could have been dinner, not lunch. Whatever the case, the point stays the same: chase after two rabbits, you’ll catch neither.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying people can’t multitask – I’m  a master when it comes to gchat and facebooking simultaneously – but when it comes to things that require a dedicated focus, it’s all too easy to spread ourselves thin.  Great, now I want peanut butter. Damn you, beach season!

This is why I have a dedicated time of year for each of my physical goals:

Jan – Feb: Maintain
March – May: Cut down
Jun – Oct: Maintain (or continue to cut if need be)
Nov – Dec: Bulk

My main challenge is cutting down. Your body wants to stay in homeostatis – the stable state that it’s accustomed to. Having spent the majority of my life overweight, that’s the stable state that my body wants to stay in (ug). I need to be more strict than most when it comes to achieving lower body fat percentage, whereas, to some, this comes naturally and they have to try harder to put on mass…bitches.

Now, I’m by no means a hardgainer. I put on mass fairly easily, hence only having two months being dedicated to gaining. Only real challenge for me for my bulk phase is eating clean enough that the mass I put on is muscle. This past year, I put on 20lbs in a two month span – from 180 to 200, a solid 15lbs of that was muscle (which is a pretty good gain ratio).

When it comes to transformations, I have learned it is easier to chase one rabbit than two. Cut, bulk, or maintain.  It’s incredibly difficult to cut fat and gain mass as the same time. Again, not saying it can’t be done, but from my own experience, it’s easier to have one set goal and pursue that. In order to cut, you have to eat below maintenance (see The Basics), and to gain, you need to eat above – and the optimal training for each is extremely different from one another. It is possible, during maintenance periods, to have a general “recompositioning” and shift your bf% and maintain the same weight (like I said in Numbers). For me, though, I like having one set goal and pursuing that to completion.

One focus, one drive, one rabbit.