I must suck at cutting, as I only lost 9 pounds in 6 weeks. But the good news is that I met all my previous PRs this week on all major lifts. It definitely feels weird lifting 405 pounds on an empty stomach.
When you all cut, how low do you take your calorie levels? Do you time your eating around the lifts so your body has it’s max energy for your workout? And what kind of workouts do you do?
What’s wrong with 1.5 lb.'s/week? I wouldn’t want to go too much higher than that, personally.
I’m dieting right now. I just focus on getting my reps in and beating the logbook. I remember Cosgrove stating that if you normally train for strength (I don’t differentiate between strength training and BBing), that you should focus on something else while dieting, to prevent yourself from becoming discouraged by your dwindling numbers. That sounds like some self-defeating bullshit to me, though. That being said, something along the line of his ‘afterburn’-inducing workouts are probably ideal for pure fat loss. I’d rather keep my strength.
As far as eating around workouts, that’s probably the biggest difference compared to my regular training. I have to get at least two meals in me before I head to the gym, otherwise I burn out fast. Also, I will say that while I still push myself hard, I know when to call it. Most of the time. Hypothetically.
Train for hypertrophy when dieting, it’s the best way to convince your body to continue to feed your muscles and not have them atrophy in a caloric deficit. It’s really just that simple.
S
[quote]humanjhawkins wrote:
I must suck at cutting, as I only lost 9 pounds in 6 weeks.
[/quote]
That’s actually very good going, you are on track if that keeps up.
Thanks for the tips and info. I thought 2-3 pounds per week was typical, though I don’t know what gave me that idea.
I am hoping to get to BB competition levels of body fat just to prove that I can do it. I probably have another 5-10 pounds of fat to lose and a few pounds of water. I don’t have a deadline for this, as it’s just a personal goal.
Would you recommend continuing the cutting now, or give the muscles a few weeks of strength training with normal calories before another phase of hypertrophy w/ calorie deficit? (I know it’s not rocket science. Just curious how you guys would do it.)