Cut and bulk: Teenagers explain why they want to get ripped

Ripped. Shredded. Jacked. Swole. Which are you?

Gym jargon such as this, which refers to the size and definition of muscles, has long been heard exchanged between pumped men in gym locker rooms – and now among teenagers too.

TikTok videos show boys as young as 13 and 14 in school toilets, flexing veiny biceps which bulge out of their school uniforms.

The quest for brick-like abs has become serious business – even if you’re still only in Year 8 – with posts on socials with hashtags like #shreddedphysique being viewed more than four billion times.

The desire to get this look, for many, might mean doing a few deadlifts and drinking a protein shake from time to time. For others, it could be working out a few times a week, playing sport and eating a lot of chicken.

But for a growing few it means going to the gym most nights, often following intense training regimes from social media, and learning how to “cut and bulk”.

The cut and bulk cycle consists of eating hundreds of calories more than your recommended daily intake to get bigger, retaining some fat in the process, then several weeks later cutting calorie intake down to lose the fat for a leaner, more defined look.

It can be all-consuming, and involves a lot of calorie counting, working out and dedication.

Some sports nutritionists say it can be harmful – affecting hormone health, growth, and development, and could potentially lead to problems with eating disorders such as muscle dysmorphia – the idea your body is smaller and less muscly than it actually is.

I’ve spoken to three teenagers, who all share a love of the gym, about what is driving them to get ripped this way.

When George Holland first walked on stage he thought he might feel nervous.

The 14-year-old was by far the youngest contestant in the under-19s category of the National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association finals.

Wearing fake tan and a pair of small trunks, it might have felt a bit exposing to start flexing his muscles before an audience of hundreds – but, George says, “I had practiced everything and I knew there was nothing to be worried about.”

He went on to win the bronze medal.

George joined a gym when he was 11, having watched some of the bodybuilding greats online who inspired him to give it a go. In the early days, he explains, he would work on each muscle group twice a week, lifting no more than 10kg – the heaviest permitted for a child under 16 at his local leisure centre.

But, after changing gyms, for a “proper gym vibe”, he says, he could start to increase the load, working out alongside 20-30-year-olds.

After seeking out more experienced men from whom to learn, George is now coached by a former Mr Universe, Eddie Ellwood. He’s bench-pressing 140kg, squatting 180kg, and deadlifting 200kg.

His drive, he says, comes from looking at others in the gym and wanting to be as big as them.

George eats six meals a day, goes to school, trains hard (four days on, one day off, four days on) and posts to his 140,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram.

He’s currently in a “bulking” stage, he explains, consuming around 4,100 calories a day.

After 16 weeks, he will start to cut, gradually reducing his calorie intake to 2,200 a day.

When I ask if he’s worried about the intensity of his fitness regime and the desire to look big at such a young age, he’s very clear: “I completely disagree with that, going to the gym when you are young is dead good for you.

“It’s good for your mental health, your overall fitness, and it gives you good discipline.”

George Hazard was 12 when he started working out. That was during lockdown and his home gym consisted of a pull-up bar, a few weights, and a plastic bench in his garage.

Now 17, he says going to the gym has become a bit of an addiction – he’s there five or six nights a week – and along with his mates, he bulks out and cuts back.

George feels it’s helped him stay mobile since recovering from a leg-lengthening operation where a nail was put through his femur bone, after he was born with one leg shorter than the other.

He says you can get “fountains of knowledge” from social media, especially around optimal muscle growth.

But how do you distinguish between well-tested, science-based recommendations and other, less informed suggestions, I ask him?

“Once you’ve spent a good few hours on TikTok for example, you get a feeling for what is a load of rubbish and what is good stuff,” George replies.

“For a start – the decent ones put links to studies alongside their content.”

He says you can workout and eat well, but it can be difficult being so young because you “can’t stick to a strict diet and tell your parents exactly what they have to make for tea”.

George does eat lot of chicken, has several eggs for breakfast, and says his grandma is very good at giving him a high protein diet.

There is a movement of young people who are interested in health, fitness and working out, he says, and he feels that’s no bad thing.

“You work hard and see the results,” George says. “You can’t really cheat getting bigger.”

Seeing his uncle powerlifting spurred Nat Walney into working out aged 12 – and he’s loved the gym since “day one”.

Between the ages of 13 and 16, he tried “dirty bulking” – a process of eating huge amounts of food to get big.

The more he worked out, the bigger he grew. But it became unsustainable.

Nat, who is now 18, says he was eating 80% junk, 20% nutritious food and while he might have looked jacked on the outside, on the inside his “gut was a mess”.

“I had really bad acne and I felt really self-conscious.”

He tried cutting out fast food and other ultra-processed foods, then he found the carnivore diet and began to fast. The carnivore diet does not come without risks, but Nat is adamant it works for him.

The 18-year-old shows me the main foods that that he eats: raw steak, eggs and raw milk.

“It’s an ancestral diet,” Nat says, “which is what we survived off – it’s primal.”

Nat fasts for 20 hours a day, to improve his mental clarity, he says. He says his family have always been supportive of his choices, but even they have found it difficult to adjust to his regime.

Some studies suggest intermittent fasting can have some positive effects as an adult, but it can be harmful for teenagers because they still need fuel for growth.

Nat says he had a “spiritual awakening” after fasting for a week – using ChatGPT for advice and guidance.

Fasting for more than three days can have an impact on major organs.

Using AI bots to help devise fitness plans is something many do, but they should be used with caution – the quality of the information they provide is variable and may not have any credible evidence behind it.

What’s his endgame I ask Nat, surely this kind of lifestyle is difficult to maintain?

He wants to promote his way of life online, to “help others” he says. “I’ll keep going for as long as I can. I have recently read something that does not recommend fasting, so if I start to feel bad, then I can just change my diet.”

All the experts I’ve spoken to agree there’s nothing wrong with the desire to be fit and healthy, especially from a young age.

But what does that mean? Is “fit and healthy” becoming increasingly wrapped up in a tight torso and sculpted pecs?

“Too often, it’s about the look, rather than what healthy really means, which comes in all shapes and sizes,” children’s dietician Lucy Upton explains.

She says this growing trend is not only pushing some teenagers to extremes, the advice online on how to achieve it often lacks credible evidence.

“Sometimes content [on socials, for example] can nod to a scientific truth, but when examined that ‘truth’ is in a completely different context,” says Ms Upton.

In the first instance, she recommends looking more closely at the person posting the content – thinking about whether it’s coming from personal experience or a clinical background, and whether it applies to your own situation.

“And if someone is trying to sell something they are endorsing – then that’s a big red flag.”

Meanwhile, Sam Grady-Graham, a GB Boxing coach, says following restrictive eating regimes in your teens is potentially harmful.

He says the rate of growth between 12 and 18 is “exponential”, so the body needs a full and nutritious diet to fuel it.

Foodwise that’s a balanced, holistic diet from the main food groups – fruit, vegetables, grains, proteins and dairy – and not going to extremes.

When it comes to working out, and varying levels of intensity, he says don’t go too hard too quickly.

“Movement over muscle is the way we look at it,” he says. “Get the movement right when you’re lifting. You might not see progress immediately, but long term, you set yourself a strong foundation to build upon.”