Hey guys, new here. Was hoping to see if anyone had any positive or good experiences cutting/leaning down and then gaining and even surpassing their heavier bodyweight strength levels? I’m cutting down for health reasons(nothing serious) but I’m staying within striking distance of my lifts but its tough as I continue to cut. My goal is to eventually gain back my old strength and increase it but at a lower weight. I know it will take some time but I haven’t found much feedback on others doing it.
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Are you tracking your training? What are your PRs? How much weight do you plan to lose?
I’m a cutting newbie but I’m down ~12lbs in 6 weeks and I haven’t lost any strength on my big lifts, but we’ll see what the future holds.
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I almost lose strength in my cuts. Perhaps a bit in bench. And sometimes I even gain strength (most likely because I’m eating better food) I usually go down 15-20lbs, but I’m already quite lean when I start
A bit of loss is normal, but if it’s significant you’re doing too much volume or not eating enough
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You’re right, it may take some time to regain your full-size strength, so don’t rush it.
If you’re inexperienced with cutting weight, sometimes your diet is too restrictive and your body is Depleted of glycogen, electrolytes and healthy fats so you feel like shit and suck at lifting for awhile.
You may feel stronger after you stop cutting and refuel once you get a few weeks into 'Maintenance" at your new lower bodyweight.
If you lost enough weight that you lost inches your ROM on lifts might have increased and your joints may be less “supported.” Like your biceps don’t mash into your forearms anymore on the bench press and its friggin’ hard at the bottom now. Or your belly won’t squash into your thighs at the bottom of the squat, so you’re way less stable down there.
To counter this you might get some elbows sleeves for bench and wear your belt on most squats sets, (or whatever) for awhile.
If lifting less weight is messing with your mind you could try focusing on some other, new lifts for awhile. Like if your squat and bench suck, work on weird stuff like Zercher Squat and 1 arm incline DB press (or whatever) for a month or two.That way you don’t have any preconceived idea of what is “good” or “bad” performance, and everything is a PR.
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I appreciate the feedback guys. This isn’t my first time cutting but I tend to overthink these things sometimes so it’s just nice to hear from someone else. I’ve been cutting slow and the deadlift and squat are staying within striking distance of my previous bests but the bench has gone down some. I just want to be able to get the bench back up to where it was and then increase it more once I am pleased with my cutting results
I eat the same meals everyday but that’s about the only thing I track. I don’t pay too much attention to the scale because weight can fluctuate. I go by more off how I look. People are telling me I look bigger so I must be doing something right lol. Just the strength isn’t where it was but the goal like I said is to get back there again
I should probably add that when I said people are telling me I look bigger I mean bigger now that I’ve lost about 20 pounds
I agree with using the mirror approach, but I would also say the scale, while subjective, is an important tool to measure cutting progress. The best way to increase the accuracy of your scale readings is to increase the data points via weighing daily, first thing in the morning.
Also, taking measurements helps a lot too; I do biceps, waist at navel, and thighs.