Increase Reps, Decrease Weights When Cutting?

What’s Your Approach?

Here are my thoughts on the matter:

I’ve heard a recommendation centered around more sets, but no rep ranges over 5 reps per set. This would keep volume the same overall. Any thoughts on that approach versus what I laid out?

not on a cut = lift heavy ass weight
on a cut = lift heavy ass weight

the high rep on a cut “tone up the muscle” fad was made up by pencil neck PT’s, same ones that tell you its not healthy to eat a whole egg.

you keep lifting heavy. the diet controls your fat loss. thats why alot of noobs who shouldnt be cutting in the first place just end up in square 1 after a cut wasting a year for nothing.

No, do not change the way you train. When cutting, the diet and cardio will take off the fat. You don’t need to do high reps to “tone” your muscle. Lift as heavy as possible with tight form. You could throw the occasional superset in every now and then, but that’s about it. broscience at it’s finest.

I am at work, so I can’t view the video, but here is my take.

The same stimulus that builds a muscle will maintain a muscle. IMO, that means lifting heavy.

And when in a caloric deficit, you’d better be sure to be giving your body a reason to keep that muscle, and again, that means lifting heavy.

I am personally 4 weeks away from a contest and still adding more weight to the bar each week. I am pretty shredded at this point and I have to laugh when a friend of mine asks, “When are you going to switch to high reps to get definition for the competition?” “Excuse me?” I could take my shirt off and show him what 5 rep sets combined with a smart diet can do, but instead I just tell him that I am sticking with lower reps.

I lift the same regardless of my body comp goals,i get stronger during a cut,just not as much as i would when iam on a bulk.

Are you really eating 5000 cals a day to ‘bulk up’?

S

This is one of those things that started off as a perfectly valid way to get cut up for a bodybuilding competition, that turned into a “myth” over time because people completely butchered the idea.

In the 60s and 70s, bodybuilders didn’t do cardio before competitions. They literally just cut carbs down as low as they could handle, and increased the intensity of their weight lifting by supersetting big exercises for higher repetitions (10-15 usually) while still making time for heavy sets for each exercise.

They thought it was best to burn the calories through training, because it would keep the blood and oxygen pumping into the muscles instead of walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike (I don’t even think either of those devices were in Gold’s Gym at the time).

Kind of like crossfit, or a barbell complex, except not as lame.

But the whole idea was to pump as much blood into the muscles as you possibly could (usually chest and back supersets, bicep and tricep supersets, and thigh supersets were done) so they used higher reps.

But they still did heavy 6-8 rep bench presses and deadlifts and things during the workout. It wasn’t because they believed high reps to be magical fat-busters, that is just what it took to get the biggest pump and fatigue the most muscle fibers.

^^^^^^I don’t know where you heard they didn’t do cardio, everything I’ve ever heard indicated that they did…Hell it even shows Arnold jogging in Pumping Iron and he mentions it in his book. Serge Nubret is the only one I know of who chose to do sit-ups in lieu of traditional cardio.

I’ll go ahead and agree with the OP.

For me, some loss in strength or at least stagnation is inevitable when I’m trying to lose fat. It’s a lot easier psychologically to go from 15 reps down to 11-12, than from 5 reps to 3–and those 3 will feel hard as hell. I guess if your will & ego is made of iron it won’t bother you, but I like to feel strong.

Then again, I do high reps when muscle gain is the focus, so I guess I’m training the same way I did to build the muscle in the first place? LOL who cares anyways.

This thread sucks

This clip rules

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Are you really eating 5000 cals a day to ‘bulk up’?

S[/quote]

Of course. I’m actually at the point where I’m going to up my cals too, as the scale is standing still for the past few weeks. I just made a video on how this frustrates me. I’ll post it when it’s uploaded.

Lots of great responses in this thread, thanks everyone.

Ryan

[quote]Proud_Virgin wrote:
^^^^^^I don’t know where you heard they didn’t do cardio, everything I’ve ever heard indicated that they did…Hell it even shows Arnold jogging in Pumping Iron and he mentions it in his book. Serge Nubret is the only one I know of who chose to do sit-ups in lieu of traditional cardio.
[/quote]

Lol. no.

[quote]2020Wellness wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Are you really eating 5000 cals a day to ‘bulk up’?

S[/quote]

Of course. I’m actually at the point where I’m going to up my cals too, as the scale is standing still for the past few weeks. I just made a video on how this frustrates me. I’ll post it when it’s uploaded.
[/quote]

I feel ya man,iam eating 5k a day now nd the scale is barely moving,so will have to up it a bit,as much as i love food and eating loads,sometimes i get sick of eating so much but it has to be done.

Oh, also, what color is my shirt in this video? Serious question!

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Are you really eating 5000 cals a day to ‘bulk up’?

S[/quote]

You seem distressed.

[quote]mr popular wrote:

[quote]Proud_Virgin wrote:
^^^^^^I don’t know where you heard they didn’t do cardio, everything I’ve ever heard indicated that they did…Hell it even shows Arnold jogging in Pumping Iron and he mentions it in his book. Serge Nubret is the only one I know of who chose to do sit-ups in lieu of traditional cardio.
[/quote]

Lol. no.[/quote]

Oh yeah I forgot you were there.

Moron–all existing evidence says they did.

[quote]Proud_Virgin wrote:

[quote]mr popular wrote:

[quote]Proud_Virgin wrote:
^^^^^^I don’t know where you heard they didn’t do cardio, everything I’ve ever heard indicated that they did…Hell it even shows Arnold jogging in Pumping Iron and he mentions it in his book. Serge Nubret is the only one I know of who chose to do sit-ups in lieu of traditional cardio.
[/quote]

Lol. no.[/quote]

Oh yeah I forgot you were there.

Moron–all existing evidence says they did.
[/quote]

Right, except for Bill Grant and Ric Drasin and every other bodybuilder that was actually around then who states they did no such thing.

Also, there is no footage of Arnold jogging in Pumping Iron. I think you made that up.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Are you really eating 5000 cals a day to ‘bulk up’?

S[/quote]

You seem distressed. [/quote]

Not really. I’ve just seen current and older pics of 2020 and IMO (I’ll repeat that so this doesn’t derail,… in >MY< opinion), he’s pretty soft and would be better suited focusing more on quality of his entire approach than quantity of food. It’s not like he’s a huge guy, in fact, at 6’ I’m fairly certain that he weighs what I weigh at 5’8, and I’m pretty lean at that weight, he doesn’t appear to be.

Please don’t derail and turn this into a quality gains vs bulk up thread though. We all know what worked for you by now.

(No disrespect intended to anyone, if this thread heads in that negative direction PX threads sometimes do, or a ‘rate 2020’ thread I won’t respond. I’m not trying to ruffle feathers.)

S

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Are you really eating 5000 cals a day to ‘bulk up’?

S[/quote]

You seem distressed. [/quote]

Not really. I’ve just seen current and older pics of 2020 and IMO (I’ll repeat that so this doesn’t derail,… in >MY< opinion), he’s pretty soft and would be better suited focusing more on quality of his entire approach than quantity of food. It’s not like he’s a huge guy, in fact, at 6’ I’m fairly certain that he weighs what I weigh at 5’8, and I’m pretty lean at that weight, he doesn’t appear to be.

Please don’t derail and turn this into a quality gains vs bulk up thread though. We all know what worked for you by now.

(No disrespect intended to anyone, if this thread heads in that negative direction PX threads sometimes do, or a ‘rate 2020’ thread I won’t respond. I’m not trying to ruffle feathers.)

S[/quote]

It’s not about what I weigh in comparison to you, as genetic structure has a HUGE impact on weight. It’s about what I weigh in comparison to my personal framework and natural build. I’m a severe ectomorph naturally, which means I’ve added a large amount of muscle in order to get where I’m at today. If a thicker guy to start did what I’ve done, he’d weigh more than me.

Most people think I weigh more than what I actually do, and that is because I’ve created great size on a small frame…not something that comes easy…especially as a lifetime natural.

For my reasoning above, I’m not offended at all. There are many people who are shorter than me who weigh more than me. Taller is more impressive anyway :wink: