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Introduction

I’m just an anonymous nobody who felt the need to get something off his chest, so I decided to write this short article, hoping that I can at least somewhat minimize the impact of terrible fitness advice being spread on the internet. A long story short, even though I think Jeff Cavaliere of Athlean-X is a smart guy with a great physique, I’m sick and tired of him spreading complete misinformation when it comes to diet / nutrition. His ideas regarding cutting / bulking and calories in general really have nothing to do with reality. By following his advice, untrained individuals new to lifting will simply not be able to progress past their newbie gains after several months of training. It’s a complete mystery to me why a man with his experience and strong educational background would be saying such things. Now let’s get to it, addressing each nonsense claim piece by piece, and there are eight of them total…

NONSENSE #1 – Cutting / Bulking is a “myth”

Jeff seems to promote the idea that cutting and bulking is inefficient or even useless. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. Cutting and bulking cycles, if done right, are actually the most efficient ways to transform your body. Gaining noticeable muscle mass in a caloric deficit is possible for 1.) newbie lifters, 2.) those who are returning to lifting after a long pause, and 3.) people on anabolic steroids. For experienced lifters and all those people who’ve already reached their newbie gains, this may only be possible in a very small deficit of perhaps 200 calories, and even in that case, the progress would be excruciatingly slow and not worth the struggle. Same goes with simply eating around maintenance calories and lifting. This approach, known as re-comping, is also very slow, definitely not suitable for everyone, and usually recommended for skinny-fat body types.

Yet Jeff attempts to prove that building muscle in a deficit is possible by citing a study involving overweight newbies. Unfortunately, as with all newbies, after a couple of months of some strength and muscle gains, progress will come to a halt, and a surplus of calories will be needed in order to continue making gains. But at the end of the day the question shouldn’t really be whether it’s possible to build *some* muscle in a deficit, but whether it’s efficient, how much muscle can be built, and under what conditions this can occur.

Jeff says that a positive nitrogen balance is all that is needed to build muscle. The problem with this is that he’s simplifying a rather complex issue. See, whether you’re in a caloric deficit or a caloric surplus, the body is both anabolic and catabolic throughout the day. A deficit and a surplus cannot be seen as an on/off switch. With both processes being active, your body stores fat, builds muscle, and breaks down muscle, all throughout the day. So while your body can definitely build new tissue in a caloric deficit, it is your energy balance on a day to day basis that will decide what’s really going to happen in the long run. Think of it as an accumulation of both anabolic and catabolic processes, so to speak, with your calories and macros influencing which process will prevail. So when you lift properly in a caloric deficit, unless you’re in one of the three groups of people I mentioned at the beginning, the best thing you can accomplish is retaining the muscle mass you already have.

If Jeff’s theories were true, people getting plenty of protein in a deficit would always be growing and making gains. But they’re not. Because it’s not possible without drugs. It is as simple as that. So while Jeff is technically correct that positive nitrogen balance is “all that’s needed” to build muscle, the muscle being “built” in a deficit will not lead to actual gains, because at the end of the day there will be more losing than gaining, leading only to muscle retention and no actual additional growth. Unless, again, you’re in one of those three groups I mentioned earlier.

NONSENSE #2 – If you bulk you’ll look like s**t

Jeff seems to distort the whole concept of bulking by saying that those who bulk have to “look like shit” half the year. Again, this is a complete distortion, because you do *not* have to get fat when bulking. All that is required is a small to moderate surplus, something known as lean bulking. Of course gaining some fat on a bulk is inevitable, but by lean bulking those fat gains will be minimal, and it’ll be very easy to lose that fat later on.

The truth is, newbies on various Athlean-X programs will definitely make newbie gains by simply eating around maintenance or even in a deficit, but their progress will eventually come to a screeching halt. At this point, going into a caloric surplus will be the only way to make more progress, except, of course, resorting to drugs. Jeff however does not seem to care about any of this, and promotes the idea that basically just eating “healthy” with lots of protein is all that’s necessary to build muscle.

NONSENSE #3 – Soreness is important

Soreness is not an indicator for growth. Period. It never has been and never will be. The topic has been discussed ad nauseam. Yet Jeff has lots of videos where he insists on achieving soreness after a workout. Just a simple Google search on soreness and everything related to it will show beyond a doubt that his approach has nothing to do with reality. It’s not even worth discussing, really.

NONSENSE #4 – Squats are “anabolic”

Another claim that’s been discussed to death virtually everywhere and completely debunked, yet Jeff has a video promoting it as truth. Basically, doing heavy squats has an anabolic effect because it raises testosterone and helps you build muscle overall. The problem? It’s complete nonsense, and a debunked myth. Google is your friend.

NONSENSE #5 – “Fat-burning” workouts

Jeff talks about fat-burning workouts in some of his videos. Why is this nonsense? Because there’s no such thing. Those workouts will only burn calories, and unless you’re in a caloric deficit they won’t make you leaner. You can do the most intense activity to “burn fat”, but what matters is your energy balance at the end of the day.

This particular nonsense is interesting because in a recent video Jeff talks about the importance of good eating habits vs. striving to lose fat through exercise. However, even in that video he’s not being very precise about what this is actually supposed to mean. He’s not telling his audience the most basic information which would be most helpful, and that is that a caloric deficit and only a caloric deficit is that which causes fat loss. The concept of clean eating or healthy eating habits does not equal fat loss. Jeff unnecessarily complicates something that is very simple.

NONSENSE #6 – Hard-gainers

Sure, there are hard-gainers, but Jeff again turns a simple matter into a complicated one. It has nothing to do with exercise or getting protein or eating healthy or whatever. Rather, a true hard-gainer has a significantly higher maintenance / TDEE than another person with the same body stats. There are many factors which contribute to your TDEE, but it’s a fairly complex subject and unnecessary for this discussion. The cure for hard-gainers? Eat more calories than you expend on a daily basis. The problem? Jeff hasn’t told his audience that, not even once.

NONSENSE #7 – A calorie is not a calorie

Jeff has a video in which he argues that not all calories are created equal.
I’ll just quote Lyle McDonald from one of his articles because he puts it very well, writing: “You see idiot level comparisons of “So you’re saying 3000 calories of chicken and broccoli are identical to 3000 calories of jelly beans” but this is idiotic. Nobody with a brain has ever said that macro-nutrient (protein, carbohydrate, fat, alcohol) content doesn’t matter; it’s simply that no magic macro combination can overcome the energy balance equation.”

In other words, Jeff is over-complicating very simple matters, and again misleading people. The fact of the matter is that you can eat very “healthy” and “clean” food with lots of protein and lots of vitamins/minerals, but if you’re in a significant and constant caloric surplus with those “healthy” foods you will eventually gain lots and lots of fat. Why? Because you’re in a damn surplus, and regardless where those excess calories came from, that unused energy will be stored as fat. This brings us to the last nonsense claim made by Jeff, which is about calorie counting.

NONSENSE #8 – Calorie counting is unnecessary

This is directly related to his views on cutting and bulking. Basically, Jeff’s diet philosophy is to avoid junk food and sugar, and get lots of protein. That’s it. If you do this and train right, you will build muscle. He claims that calorie counting is unnecessary and even counter-productive.

The problem with this approach is that it’s complete nonsense. Like with all newbie gains, once the neurological adaptations and beginner muscle gains have reached their maximum, progress will halt. At this point, unless you’re getting on steroids, adding calories to your diet is the only way to make progress. That’s where precise calorie counting and following specific macros comes into play. The fact of the matter is that tracking calories and macros is the only way to make significant body composition changes past the beginner stage, provided your training is done right.

Conclusion

Jeff knows his anatomy very well. He’s a very smart guy, actually. And although this is subjective, I think he has a great physique as well. His channel definitely has some quality content and I enjoy watching many of his videos. Unfortunately, he is also misleading a lot of people making me question whether he’s doing more harm than good. If you follow his advice in regards to proper form and injury prevention, the chances of getting yourself injured will be extremely low. However, the false information he is spreading in regards to diet / nutrition is very damaging.

Basically, his channel is great if you already know about the terrible advice he gives out. So you can just ignore that terrible advice and focus on the good stuff. As I said earlier, he gives fantastic advice on proper form and injury prevention. I also find that his videos are very motivational, and there is always useful information about weight training, how to effectively target certain muscles in various ways. He also has what I see as a very positive attitude and a good sense of humor.

If Jeff wouldn’t insist on spreading so much false information about calories (among other things), his channel would probably be one of the best fitness channels on YouTube. Unfortunately, at this point, even though he’s very successful in doing what he does, and even though he has a great physique, he’s really misleading a lot of people by spreading false information.

The sad thing is that this false information doesn’t bring him anything positive. Claiming that a calorie surplus isn’t necessary for muscle gain will not help sell his products better, so it’s a mystery why he does it. Actually, none of the false information he presents seems to be helpful to his brand. If we lived in an ideal world, Jeff Cavaliere would make a lengthy video addressing what is written in this text, correct / retract at least some of his false claims, and move on, striving to make his channel better and more in touch with reality.

You’ve reached the end of my text, and yes I feel better now.

Feel free to send any comments / questions via e-mail: cuttingbulking@gmail.com