I am going to start the cut phase soon to get in shape for summer. I’ve been bulking all winter and have been able to add about 30lbs.
I really don’t want to lose the muscle I have gained during the bulk phase. Any suggestions on diet/excercise that would keep most of the muscle but still cut me up?
I am 5’10", 215lbs, training for 3+ years. Thanks for your help everyone.
Try JB’s “Don’t Diet”
My recommendations for you would be to take a moderate approach with cal restrictions and make sure to incorporate carb refeeds if you decide to go low carb.
For training I would do a 5X5 program for alot of reason beautifully pointed out by joel marion in his article “ripped,rugged, and dense”
Groove
I had good results with Craig Ballantynes Turbulence Training, which is designed for cutting: Supersets of combo-lifts with added HIIT.
I dropped 10 lbs in 7 weeks with minimal strength and LBM loss on a 500 kcal/day deficit, and ZMA as the only supplement.
Be smart, obviously, with your diet, but as I have stated before the issue of muscle loss in my opinion is very overrated. I had to drop four pounds one time for a fight, I weighed at 152lbs. at 3.5-4.0%bf in the summer. Yup ripped as crap. I had to make a 147lb. fight so I went on a one month hypocaloric ketogenic diet with no refeeds. It sucked ass, I ate only about 2000 calories a day(far cry from my 4500 maintance load I was used to). I lost only two pounds during that month and stayed at around 3.5%-4.0%BF. Muscle sticks pretty well, the body handles the pressure and instead creates plateus! Plenty of diets to follow here, just pick one and follow it. The biggest thing is how committed and strict can you be? They all work, so work with them?
Da Boxer
I’m in a similar situation. Go to the T-Mag home page, click on “Frequently Asked Questions” and scroll down. I’m doing the T-Dawg 2 diet (started today), and was considering EDT for fat loss, Meltdown Training, and now I’m looking at Fat to Fire (right Nate Dogg?). Good luck!
Anyone try Chad Waterbury’s “next big 3” as he suggested in a post to the Dog Pound a week or so ago? I’m ready to try it, but also waiting for that guest forum to become active so I can ask him some specifics…