Functionally, a lean body is more efficient as you can move better and faster. However, a bulk body is necessary if you wish to enter professional bodybuilding or appear a certain way.
Bulking and gaining lean muscle are two very different tasks that necessitate two very different types of exercise. If you want a slimmer and cut appearance, go for lean muscle, while if you want a bigger, more bodybuilder-like appearance, go for bulk.
From the two illustrations, lean muscle is the healthier option in the long run because it is easier to stick to a routine that offers flexibility and is also a much more natural way to stay fit and workout.
You'll Look Bigger.
An aesthetic physique is 90% illusion. As fat melts away, hard earned muscle is exposed, along with increased vascularity. No wonder you look bigger at a lean 180 then you did at a sloppy 215.
A lean bulk focuses on a slow weight gain where the protein intake stays somewhat the same and the additional calories mainly comes form carbs. A lean bulk is a clean bulk and many people might refer to it as reversed dieting. Keep in mind that to lose fat is not a focus when bulking.
The Illusion of Small
So the first 6-10 pounds of fat you lose won't make you look more defined. Muscle definition will look the same, but clothes will be looser and you'll feel smaller because your muscles will be flat from a lack of glycogen. So you'll look and feel smaller without actually looking more defined.
Even if you gained some fat, you'd still be slightly leaner than you were before. Depending on your goals and genetics, you may have to gain a higher proportion of fat than my example, but the point still stands: You can stay relatively lean because proportionally, you're adding more muscle than fat.
In fact, getting too lean can be actively unhealthy. You might end up with amenorrhea, low libido, disordered eating, bones like Swiss cheese, social isolation, and a host of other problems. Some elite bodybuilders rely on drugs like stimulants, diuretics, and other drugs just to keep themselves going.
A lean physique, put into words, looks like this: Low body fat. Good muscular definition, but not overdone (think “toned”) Body Fat % in the 12% – 20% Range (sustainable for most people)
When you lose weight your face slims down. This naturally changes its shape. Regardless of bone structure, a lean face always has a better-looking jawline compared to a puffy and round face. Weight loss helps achieve a more elongated shape and better definition.
You should bulk first if you are skinny fat. A 10% caloric surplus is optimal to build muscle while ensuring you don't put on a lot of excess body fat. Stay in a surplus for a minimum of 4 months and then begin a slow, gradual cut.
Bulk vs Cut (or Recomp) FAQ. Should you bulk or cut first? If you are underweight, you should bulk. If you are overweight, you need to cut; however, the less training experience you have, the more likely it is that you will gain muscle simultaneously as you lean out (though you'll lose weight overall).
According to recent studies, the most attractive male body shape is a muscular upper body. When asked to rate images of shirtless guys, women consistently found the ones with the stronger looking, more muscular men to be more attractive.
Top hourglass body shape
Considered to be the most attractive body shape, this is very similar to hourglass body shape, except that in this case the curves are more defined.
As mentioned before in Perett's book, In Your Face: The New Science of Human Attraction, women show a stronger attraction toward men with a figure consistent with the ideal hunting physique: strong shoulders, narrow waists, and broad chests and shoulders.
Ectomorphs. Generally thin and lean, ectomorphs tend to have slender waists, narrow hips and shoulders, small joints, and long legs and arms. They tend to be slim, without much body fat or noticeable muscle mass.
Lean body mass is your overall weight minus your weight from body fat. Basically, if you subtract the weight that comes from fat (your body fat percentage) from your total weight, you will have your lean body mass.
Lean body mass is calculated as the difference between total body weight and body fat weight, or more simply, the weight of everything except the fat. The range of lean body mass considered to be healthy is around 70% - 90% with women being towards the lower end of the range and men higher.
When you lose intramuscular fat, muscle glycogen, and intramuscular water you "deflate" your muscles. As a result, these muscles aren't pushing as much on the joints. The bigger the muscles are, the more "packed" the joint is, even passively.
People with leaner bodies tend to be healthier, more flexible, more injury resistant, and have quicker cardio recovery times than other people of active lifestyles with higher levels of body fat.
Believe it or not, skinny people often do NOT possess the low body fat one might expect due to their low muscle mass in relationship to what body fat they do have. Lean people, on the other hand, possess a much higher amount of lean body mass (mostly muscle) coupled with a very low amount of body fat.
For many people, getting shredded requires them to build muscle mass or "bulking" before focusing on fat loss. And that's really it in a nutshell; there are only two requirements for getting a six-pack: Build abdominal muscles. Lose body fat.
Generally, it's better to bulk first and then cut if your goal is to build muscle. But, again, it all depends on your goals. Bulking first and then cutting allows you to increase muscle mass and then cut down excess fat or weight you gained during the bulk.
Most experts think the appropriate body fat range for beginning a bulk or cut should be between 10-15% for men and 20-25% for women. This range is ideal as it provides enough energy to build muscle while allowing for visible definition. Once you hit the upper end of the range, start cutting.