Seasonal Bulking: My Winter Fitness Approach | Brandon RaSean

October 15, 2026 · Brandon RaSean

Summer Is for the Pool. Winter Is for Filling Out My Hoodie.

I live in Philadelphia. I get all four seasons, and apparently, so does my physique.

Spring and summer? I want a little more definition.

My arms are out. My shoulders are out. There’s a pool in my building, and yes, I want to take my shirt off and feel good about it.

But when the temperature drops, my priorities shift.

I want to look husky in an oversized sweatshirt.

I put the hoodie on, and I want to fill that shit out.

That’s where seasonal bulking comes into my life.

Apparently, I’m preparing for hibernation

Every fall, some little mammal voice in my head starts talking.

“Winter’s coming. Better eat. Who knows when we’ll see food again?”

Sir. You live in Philadelphia. The grocery store is open.

But that’s honestly how it feels sometimes. The weather changes, the layers come out, and I get interested in eating a little more and carrying a little more size.

That’s my internal comedy routine, though—not a nutritional requirement. My body doesn’t need a winter bulk because I bought a sweatshirt.

I just enjoy having different goals throughout the year.

My version of seasonal bulking and cutting

I tend to organize my eating around three phases:

Surplus: Eating more energy than I use, with the goal of supporting muscle gain alongside my training.
Maintenance: Eating roughly enough to support my activity and keep my weight relatively stable.
Deficit: Eating less energy than I use when I want to reduce body fat.

Those are different tools. Over time, consistently taking in more energy than you use generally leads to weight gain; taking in less generally leads to weight loss. NIDDK explains energy balance here.

For me, the seasons give those phases a loose rhythm.

When it gets colder, I’m more comfortable working toward a fuller look. As warmer weather approaches, I may shift toward leaning out.

The calendar gives me a starting point. How I’m feeling and training still matters.

Maintenance deserves more love

Let me say this clearly: I love maintenance.

I don’t always want to get bigger. I don’t always want to get leaner.

Sometimes I want to eat, train, enjoy my life, and let my body stay around a place where I feel good.

There’s something satisfying about being comfortable with what you’ve built instead of immediately deciding it needs to change.

Maintenance is a real goal. It takes consistency, too.

And it gives me room to focus on my workouts without making every decision about changing my weight.

A winter bulk still needs a plan

When I say I want to eat everything because winter is coming, I’m joking.

An actual bulking phase needs more direction than “I’m wearing layers, so fuck it.”

I still care about the quality of my meals. I still train consistently. And I pay attention to whether the way I’m eating is helping me do what I set out to do.

More food doesn’t automatically become more muscle.

On the other side, I don’t want to spend the whole year chasing a leaner appearance at the expense of feeling good. Consistently under-fueling training can affect health and performance, as the Australian Institute of Sport explains.

That doesn’t mean everybody needs to rotate through bulking and cutting. It means the plan should support your training and your life.

What are you warm-weather people doing?

This is what I really want to know.

If you live somewhere warm all year, do you have a bulking season?

Is there a month when you decide, “Cool, I’m going to work on putting on some size”?

Or is it always pool season in your head?

Because up here, I have a wardrobe transition that helps me make the decision. The tank tops go away. The sweaters come out. Suddenly, I want a different silhouette.

Are you in Miami bulking in a tank top? I need answers.