Hello everyone. I wanted to post some pictures of my current cut. I am just trying to lean out a bit after a long bulk. I have lost about 17 pounds in four months down to 194lbs. I had about an entire month where my progress was derailed due to an Army training exercise. It was basically little to no protein/proper nutrition and zero training whatsoever. I am currently eating about 2800 calories/day with 300g protein, 260g carbs, and 85g of fat. I train 4-5days/week using a traditional body part split with LISS cardio 3-5x/week. I have plateau’d a bit over the last two weeks, so I’ve been reducing my calories by about 200/day and slowly increasing the cardio each week.
I am looking for some opinions of others as to how I should continue about with this cut and when is the right time to stop cutting. I’m not cutting for a competition, but I would like to get lean before my next bulk because last time I put on a good bit of size and fat (hence the cut). Also, I would like to get some opinions for what are some weaknesses to work on and any strengths that I may not want to focus on as much. Thank you for all of your guys help.
Edit. Final pictures are located at the bottom of the post
Looking good dude!
I’ve had much more success with complexes and HIIT vs. LISS, so that may be worth a try.
Also, I have to ask, do you have a back problem? No offense intended at all, but your back appears to slant to the side just a bit. Maybe it was just how you were posing?
I will have to give the complexes/HIIT a try. Do you have any specific go to’s?
I don’t believe I have any back problem; I’ve never been diagnosed with anything. It is probably my lack of experience with posing.
No really glaring weaknesses. Rear delts look a little too small compared to mid front delts, so maybe focus on that.
Your lats have really low insertions which is a huge advantage. But instead of putting that on the back burner I would try to capitalize on it as much as possible
Solid work so far. How much do you want to cut? How frequently will you have to do the army training drill that messed up your current cut? Bear in mind if you get too lean then the next time you have to do that particular army training stint you will basically only have muscle to lose. It might be smart to “save” a little fat for it
It may have just been a shadow, but particularly in the first picture it looks as though your spine is leaning to the right. I’m sure it’s just a weird camera thing because if your back was as crooked as it appeared I’m sure you’d know about it.
Complexes are awesome! You’ll build testicular fortitude and add or maintain muscle while losing fat, and get stronger. I’ve followed the “complexes for fat loss” article, which calls for complexes first thing in a training session. Got a hell of a conditioning/work capacity boost in just four weeks of that. Body fat went from 11 to 10 and my diet was terrible. I probably should have gained fat considering how I was eating.
Mostly I’ve used complexes as finishers. They’re a great way to end a session, especially if you feel like you still have a lot of gas in the tank. I’ve also used complexes on off-days (train-train-complex-train-train-complex-off), usually just working through one each day so as to not compromise recovery. I got the most out of complexes with the pre-training (naturally) so if fat loss is a goal that’s definitely something to consider. At the very least, finishing a session with a complex will help get you closer to your goals.
Use the search feature and you’ll find tons of great things on complexes. There’s even an article called “complexes made simple” that explains the rules to build your own complex. I’ve followed some of the pre-existing ones and made some of my own. Seriously, complexes rock! I have yet to find a more versatile and effective tool to add to my training.
[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
No really glaring weaknesses. Rear delts look a little too small compared to mid front delts, so maybe focus on that.
Your lats have really low insertions which is a huge advantage. But instead of putting that on the back burner I would try to capitalize on it as much as possible
Solid work so far. How much do you want to cut? How frequently will you have to do the army training drill that messed up your current cut? Bear in mind if you get too lean then the next time you have to do that particular army training stint you will basically only have muscle to lose. It might be smart to “save” a little fat for it[/quote]
Thanks! I will definitely make the rear delts more of a priority. When you say to capitalize on the last do you mean just to keep training them as is? I looked again and it seems to me that my upper lat/arm pit area is severely lacking. This is especially evident by my front double biceps pose.
I won’t have another army training event like that for a good while. I’ve only had a month long event twice in four years that I have been in. Most of the time its a week or so and that’s pretty manageable and it’s really not that often.
I’m thinking right now I’m going to continue to slowly cut down to 185-190 or september time frame whichever comes first. This is my first real cut, so I’m kinda experimenting and learning along the way. I’m just questioning if it’s worth it to keep going because I am mentally getting drained and it is causing me to cheat on my diet and eat more calories then I should.
[quote]shralpinist wrote:
It may have just been a shadow, but particularly in the first picture it looks as though your spine is leaning to the right. I’m sure it’s just a weird camera thing because if your back was as crooked as it appeared I’m sure you’d know about it.
Complexes are awesome! You’ll build testicular fortitude and add or maintain muscle while losing fat, and get stronger. I’ve followed the “complexes for fat loss” article, which calls for complexes first thing in a training session. Got a hell of a conditioning/work capacity boost in just four weeks of that. Body fat went from 11 to 10 and my diet was terrible. I probably should have gained fat considering how I was eating.
Mostly I’ve used complexes as finishers. They’re a great way to end a session, especially if you feel like you still have a lot of gas in the tank. I’ve also used complexes on off-days (train-train-complex-train-train-complex-off), usually just working through one each day so as to not compromise recovery. I got the most out of complexes with the pre-training (naturally) so if fat loss is a goal that’s definitely something to consider. At the very least, finishing a session with a complex will help get you closer to your goals.
Use the search feature and you’ll find tons of great things on complexes. There’s even an article called “complexes made simple” that explains the rules to build your own complex. I’ve followed some of the pre-existing ones and made some of my own. Seriously, complexes rock! I have yet to find a more versatile and effective tool to add to my training.[/quote]
Thanks for the info! I am going to try adding these 1-2x/week. I’ll probably throw one in on Saturday since I don’t go to the gym on the weekends and I have some weights at my house.
[quote]Fandango wrote:
[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
No really glaring weaknesses. Rear delts look a little too small compared to mid front delts, so maybe focus on that.
Your lats have really low insertions which is a huge advantage. But instead of putting that on the back burner I would try to capitalize on it as much as possible
Solid work so far. How much do you want to cut? How frequently will you have to do the army training drill that messed up your current cut? Bear in mind if you get too lean then the next time you have to do that particular army training stint you will basically only have muscle to lose. It might be smart to “save” a little fat for it[/quote]
Thanks! I will definitely make the rear delts more of a priority. When you say to capitalize on the last do you mean just to keep training them as is? I looked again and it seems to me that my upper lat/arm pit area is severely lacking. This is especially evident by my front double biceps pose.
I won’t have another army training event like that for a good while. I’ve only had a month long event twice in four years that I have been in. Most of the time its a week or so and that’s pretty manageable and it’s really not that often.
I’m thinking right now I’m going to continue to slowly cut down to 185-190 or september time frame whichever comes first. This is my first real cut, so I’m kinda experimenting and learning along the way. I’m just questioning if it’s worth it to keep going because I am mentally getting drained and it is causing me to cheat on my diet and eat more calories then I should. [/quote]
How have you been training lats?
[quote]shralpinist wrote:
It may have just been a shadow, but particularly in the first picture it looks as though your spine is leaning to the right. I’m sure it’s just a weird camera thing because if your back was as crooked as it appeared I’m sure you’d know about it.
Complexes are awesome! You’ll build testicular fortitude and add or maintain muscle while losing fat, and get stronger. I’ve followed the “complexes for fat loss” article, which calls for complexes first thing in a training session. Got a hell of a conditioning/work capacity boost in just four weeks of that. Body fat went from 11 to 10 and my diet was terrible. I probably should have gained fat considering how I was eating.
Mostly I’ve used complexes as finishers. They’re a great way to end a session, especially if you feel like you still have a lot of gas in the tank. I’ve also used complexes on off-days (train-train-complex-train-train-complex-off), usually just working through one each day so as to not compromise recovery. I got the most out of complexes with the pre-training (naturally) so if fat loss is a goal that’s definitely something to consider. At the very least, finishing a session with a complex will help get you closer to your goals.
Use the search feature and you’ll find tons of great things on complexes. There’s even an article called “complexes made simple” that explains the rules to build your own complex. I’ve followed some of the pre-existing ones and made some of my own. Seriously, complexes rock! I have yet to find a more versatile and effective tool to add to my training.[/quote]
X2 on this
You can do complexes with a barbell, but somehwere in this article Complexes: Different, Harder, and Better he talks about using sandbags or kettle bells which are things I wanted try, but I have neither a kettlebell nor a tactical sand bag or anything sturdy enough to function as a sandbag. OP you might be able to use some of your army gear to do sandbag complexes
[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
[quote]Fandango wrote:
[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
No really glaring weaknesses. Rear delts look a little too small compared to mid front delts, so maybe focus on that.
Your lats have really low insertions which is a huge advantage. But instead of putting that on the back burner I would try to capitalize on it as much as possible
Solid work so far. How much do you want to cut? How frequently will you have to do the army training drill that messed up your current cut? Bear in mind if you get too lean then the next time you have to do that particular army training stint you will basically only have muscle to lose. It might be smart to “save” a little fat for it[/quote]
Thanks! I will definitely make the rear delts more of a priority. When you say to capitalize on the last do you mean just to keep training them as is? I looked again and it seems to me that my upper lat/arm pit area is severely lacking. This is especially evident by my front double biceps pose.
I won’t have another army training event like that for a good while. I’ve only had a month long event twice in four years that I have been in. Most of the time its a week or so and that’s pretty manageable and it’s really not that often.
I’m thinking right now I’m going to continue to slowly cut down to 185-190 or september time frame whichever comes first. This is my first real cut, so I’m kinda experimenting and learning along the way. I’m just questioning if it’s worth it to keep going because I am mentally getting drained and it is causing me to cheat on my diet and eat more calories then I should. [/quote]
How have you been training lats?
[/quote]
Recently I’ve been doing Matt Kroc’s 4 week deadlift program (I’m on my 2nd rotation). In the past, I have focused primarily on pull-ups/pull-downs. I’ve done a good bit of everything over the course of my training career but primarily 5/3/1 and DC training. I have tried doing pullovers but I always feel them in my chest. I’m currently trying to focus on shoulders and train them 2x/week. Once I give that a month or so I think I will try and prioritize my back especially the lats.
