How much to run!?

[Sean1234567]

Hey guys! I've been bulking for a while, and I'm at a decent weight at this point. I wouldn't say I am fat at all, but then I look in the mirror at my abs, and I noticed there were none!

I think I look pretty good, my chest is good, my tries are good as well as my arms, back and legs.

In this process of bulking I lost my abs which I had maybe a year ago (and I mean I had a 6 pack of clean abs). Is this normal?

So now I'm concentrating on cutting and wanted to know if this will help? Basically above the "belt" line, I have a pretty thick layer of fat covering my abs, not thick to be noticable but thick enough to cover them and I mean I can grab it!

I wanted to know how much running I should do in order to cut but not lose my musel mass because I still want to grow and plan on doing so. I'm only 18 so I'm not ready to completely stop bulking, but at the same time I want to have 0 fat on my stomak because I'm afraid if I don't take care of it now someday I may regret it! So any advice would be great!

 

[TriZZle305]

it depends on how many calories you take in everyday...

 

[musclepump]

eating more will help you put on size faster, but you lose visibility of some things like your abs. that's why you go through bulking/cutting phases.

 

[Ulyses]

eating more will help you put on size faster, but you lose visibility of some things like your abs. that's why you go through bulking/cutting phases.

by cutting phase do you mean lighter weights and higher repititions and cardio aswell?

 

[Sh8kin]

Maintenience == Consuming enough calories to support your current weight

Bulking == Consuming more calories than maintenience
Cutting == Consuming less calories than maintenience

 

[Sean1234567]

!

So to get my abs to show at this point, I actaully need to start decreasing my weights? I can't grow in size and at the same time cut down my fat?

Basically I just need to get my abs to show which is hard with this "layer" of fat! But at the same time I want to grow more!!

 

[reg56]

You're confusing yourself. It IS possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time when you're first starting out. When you've been training for a while, it gets harder and harder. That is why people go through a bulking phase, and a cutting phase.

Like Sh8kin said,

Bulking = eating more calories than you burn (gain weight/muscle)
Maintenance = eating the right amount of calories to maintain your weight
Cutting = eating less calories than you burn (lose weight/fat)

You don't have to decrease your weights. You train the same way on a cutting phase as you would on a bulking phase.

Read this http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/showthread.php?t=21113