Through the years i've bulked up for fun....I'm a school teacher, so got the summers off to go home to mom's cooking, cut back on cardio, gain strength, and heal joints....bitch about the stairmaster every sept for a week or two....but since 1/1/10 I've been pretty consistently lean....something about turning 40 and getting over a break up (so so theraputic)...they're days were i'm not as strong or the passion wane's but for the most part this little experiment is surprising me....Not really losing too much size/strength even w/ my cardio increase...could be the years of heavy lifting building a good base (mind u since '85)...renewed vigor...stars just lining up...don't really eat too clean...frozen burritos all day...and protein shakes after my night weights/cardio....sure genetics play a role....but i think the mental genetics trumps even that....dicipline/consistency fixes a lot...I'm just rolling w/ the positive flow....of course now that I've type this they will cease...because condescendingly acknowledging it will cause it's demise...fate/life is cruel like that...jk....plateau's enivitably come...so I've read.