I am trying to cut fat for the summer while holding on to my gains from the winter and spring seasons. I am currently doing about 3 sets of 6 reps for 3-4 compound exercises Monday Wednesday and Friday.
On Tuesday and Thursday, I do 20 minutes of HIIT. I have no trouble with my dieting, I constantly eat clean. Is this the best way to cut fat while holding onto muscle?
I never go above 6 reps for an exercise.
I wouldn’t say never go above 6 reps. By that I mean go ahead and make sure you get your heavy lifting in during the week, but you can also do things like complexes or circuit training. They can help out with the fat loss along with the HIIT.
okay why the hell would you never go above 6? i hope you have tried 8 and 10 and 12 reps and seen that you get the best gains from 6 if not thats pretty dumb.
[quote]FromTheMisc wrote:
okay why the hell would you never go above 6? i hope you have tried 8 and 10 and 12 reps and seen that you get the best gains from 6 if not thats pretty dumb.[/quote]
Did you read the OP even just a little?
Right now, his main focus is not gaining weight, its cutting fat.
One school of thought for fat loss is that the individual should stick to a routine whose volume is high enough to force the body to retain muscle, but still low enough to incur minimal muscle fiber damage, as recovery is limited due to restricted caloric intake.
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
I constantly eat clean. Is this the best way to cut fat while holding onto muscle?
I never go above 6 reps for an exercise.[/quote]
What does never going above 6 reps have to do with anything? And just what muscle do you want to hold on to at 6’2 and 192lbs?
Never mind, go on.
ah…forgot to update that, I’m 6 foot one and 205.
Also it’s summer, I save bulks for the cooler months when I won’t have my shirt off.
Seems like a pretty good idea to me. I always seem to gravitate to low reps when I’m carb depleted. I wonder if anyone has used high reps while carb depleted. For instance, the 10-15 rep range. I’d imagine it would be pretty painful and cause a lot of d.o.m.s. Awhile ago, I did tabatas while carb depleted and they absolutely killed me.
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
Also it’s summer, I save bulks for the cooler months when I won’t have my shirt off.[/quote]
You don’t get laid during Autumn-Spring? 
Any way, back to your original ? OP.
Many people find much success with low reps.
I however practice higher volume while trying to lose fat, and it works. For me. I had almost zero carb intake, and I still hit my 4x10, or 4x8, or whatever the case was for a specific movement.
The focus here I think should be on STRENGTH. If you are making progress towards strength, ( adding weight or reps, or sets, or all three ), you are at MINIMUM for muscle loss. You will still likely lose a little bit even if you are “perfect” at cutting.
Just try to UP your strength or at least maintain it.
Never forget your carbs after a session. You will not get fat…
That’s about it this shit ain’t rocket science.
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
I am trying to cut fat for the summer while holding on to my gains from the winter and spring seasons. I am currently doing about 3 sets of 6 reps for 3-4 compound exercises Monday Wednesday and Friday.
On Tuesday and Thursday, I do 20 minutes of HIIT. I have no trouble with my dieting, I constantly eat clean. Is this the best way to cut fat while holding onto muscle?
I never go above 6 reps for an exercise.[/quote]
why don’t you try bumping up the number of set to 5 instead of just 3? Also cut down your rest time between sets…This is just a starting point