How necessary is a hold/ "maintain tissue" phase after a blast?

[initialize]

When coming off of a blast, do you guys do a "hold" phase in order to maintain as much as you've gained from the blast as possible, I.e at least eating at maintenance for a set number of weeks/months?

Or are there any of you who go straight from a blast into cutting, for example?

 

[shredded.lyfe]

If you go straight into cutting and drop your milligrams and calories at the same time you are going to spend many years wasting your time

 

[urmumsurdad30]

No, if I get too fat after a bulk, I go straight into a cut and have NEVER lost muscle. Likewise, after a blast, I'll go down to a cruise and reduce calories but again, have NEVER lost muscle.

This whole "let it cook/marinade phase" bs is fucking stupid. What you've built, will stay. Muscle breakdown doesn't happen unless all other energy sources are severely depleted.

 

[Jaybird85uk]

There’s no real evidence that muscle requires time at a heavier weight to be retained. What actually matters is whether your training remains productive.

People only lose muscle during diets because their performance drops and they can’t tolerate the same training, not because they started cutting too early.

A mini cut can work perfectly well if it reduces fatigue and you’re still able to train hard enough to maintain training performance. The problems arise when someone is already overreached or barely progressing before they cut. In that case, the calorie deficit just exposes other issues.