I’ve been cutting for about 20 weeks now.
I’ve been doing 4 day a week full body olympic lifting program. Structured like
Day 1:
Clean
Upper Body Push
Upper Body Pull
Quad-Dominant Lower Body
Day 3:
Snatch
Upper Body Push
Upper Body Pull
Hip-Dominant Lower Body
Day 1:
Jerk
Upper Body Push
Upper Body Pull
Quad-Dominant Lower Body
Day 1:
Snatch
Upper Body Push
Upper Body Pull
Hip-Dominant Lower Body
I would throw in arms or abs at the end, also.
I’m 5’8
In late March, when I started, I was 213 18% BF. Waist 37.5 in
10 Weeks later, I was 194 at about 12% BF. Waist 33.5 in
Solid Progress. My Snatch went up 10kg and overall I gained a bit of strength up until Week 9, when I started to lose a bit.
I took a break for three weeks. Stabilized at 196.
The next 7 weeks I continued with a similar program but different exercises.
I dropped to 191 in week 4 of the second phase of the cut, then did not drop further. My last measurement, today, actually was 193. The lowest I weighed in was 189. My body fat has hardly seemed to drop as my waist has not gone below 33 in.
And my strength has stayed the same or went down.
Possible reasons:
-
I hadn’t really increased my ESW or lowered my calories when fat loss first stalled. I need to make adjustments more rapidly
-
I was studying in the first part of the cut a lot. Lately it’s been summer. So I’ve been drinking more lately than before, and the calories there can add up.
I don’t want to be cutting for too long. But I’d like to drop down to 7-8% BF at 180 by August 15.
Now I’m going on vacation for a week and a half. I’m thinking then to continue with my cut afterwards, doing a 4-week cycle of 5/3/1 for strength and adjusting calories down and cardio up.