lean all year long or gain weight in the offseason?

[bossetti]

lean all year long or gain weight in the offseason?
in sports(specially cycling) is normal to eat a lot, and its normal to get a time of almost complete rest,so having that appetite and no burning the calories has weight gain as consequence,and was normal in the previous years,now offseason got shorter and the diet controlled so they are almost at race weight all year long,i have heard negative opinions on this approach,honestly i feel like its the right one, michele ferrari (lance doctor),said that a little weight gain in the offseason,paired with gym and rest was a good thing
but that weight gain it has to be lost so u need a deficit,and deficit=lower recovery and power output
idk i think that the old style approach is better for the longevity of the athlete career the second one is physiologically better but mentally much harder
ofc the old style approach has a degree, jan ulrich got really fat in the offseason by drinking nutella lol but i dont thin that lance and many others got too fat
whats ur thought?

 

[BigDadd7]

I gain a little, maybe an extra 5% bodyfat. Never more.

 

[Mfras]

I’m down to flirting with 12% and gonna keep cutting until I’m solidly mid/high 10%. Each % is like almost 3lbs at my ffm.

My situation and goals are different than yours because I’m a formerly obese lifter trying to get and stay lean, with only a short runway for future lean bulk cycles. The similarity is that I’m also not a stage bodybuilder, and interested in looking and performing my best, not in maximizing a dry shredded look which would drop performance for both of us, and specifically look like shit on me because of loose skin.

In a wierd way our goals align- neither of us want to get fat and both of us want to preserve performance in the offseason not getting too fat or too lean and staying in an optimal window for both of our goals, despite differing circumstances.

So while I was a serious commuter bicyclist for a decade I don’t know a lot about the optimal power to weight of a competitive rider, but I also am trying to optimize my physique outside of a ‘big as possible’ open class off season BB mentality- I’m already 213 fat free mass and want to lean bulk some but around 250 total and trying to stay sub 13% for good is my goal. That gives me like 7-9lbs max fat gain to play with while bulking, and only 5lbs more lean mass before I would be 250 at 13% with a max of +10lbs if I have a 250lb cap and can live comfortably at 11%. Conservative lean bulking and easy mini cuts are on the menu.

The good thing is that above 10.0% bodyfat I (we?) will still have some fat on us, and not be operating in a razor thin miserable margin where no calorie/carb surplus means no energy or performance. My plan on my next growth phase is to start with ≈100-200 cal surplus per day, with carbs emphasized pwo on training days. This will be followed by careful monitoring of daily scale weight clustering (weekly avg) once on cycle water onboarding seems stable, waistline increase (again once stabilized a few weeks into a cycle) and lifting performance and progress. PEDs will be at stable doses and training will be exploring maximum recoverable reps and sets per week. My hand will be on the food lever, and cycles will be shorter, and the goal will be to gain a reasonably large portion of muscle compared to a sloppy bulk, if not all.

Hope this is relevant and maybe even helpful- best to you and wish me luck in my next maintenance then bulking phases once I strip these last 6-7lbs of chubb!