Long Rests While Cutting: How Ineffective?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve read Thib’s article from today; it states that you should take short workouts when going for fat loss. I’ve been cutting for about 10 weeks now, at a pound per week average weight loss. When I work out, I go something like this:

Exercise A
90-120 second rest
Exercise B
90-120 second rest
Exercise A
90-120 second rest

And so on until I get 5 sets of each. Rinse and repeat for exercises C and D.

How bad is it that I’ve been doing this? Should I switch up my programme immediately to give myself less rest between sets?

2

Are you pleased with the weight loss?
If so then you should probably keep going.

You could always change it up and track the progress to see how you react… nothing groundbreaking there.

3

Rest periods are highly individual, but I would start working towards shortening them if I were you. It’s another way to progress, and it’ll help with the cutting…more work in less time leads to more calories burned and a greater metabolic effect, I do believe.

4

Yeah I agree with Freakey Style, progressively shortening the rest periods is a great way to progress. A lot of programs I’ve seen shorten the rest periods by 5-10 seconds week to week, until there is about a 40-45 second rest between sets.

5

Well hold on here, do you still “shorten the breaks” if you’re “lifting heavy”?

I mean, if it’s a 3x8 day, how different is the breaks for a 5x5 or a 6x4 day?

Given that cutting is the sole goal. Beginner gains great, but fat loss is it.

I know we all like to lift heavy, but I tell you 5x5 or 6x4 is a godsend compared to 2x12 or 15. Thats murder. And I’m wondering if that’s what I should be doing with long rests for fat loss.

6

[quote]msd0060 wrote:
Well hold on here, do you still “shorten the breaks” if you’re “lifting heavy”?

I mean, if it’s a 3x8 day, how different is the breaks for a 5x5 or a 6x4 day?

Given that cutting is the sole goal. Beginner gains great, but fat loss is it.

I know we all like to lift heavy, but I tell you 5x5 or 6x4 is a godsend compared to 2x12 or 15. Thats murder. And I’m wondering if that’s what I should be doing with long rests for fat loss.

[/quote]

10x3 for Fat Loss uses 45 second rest periods, so you can certainly shorten them up with heavy lifting.

7

Appreciate everyone’s input.

Is it still to alternate exercises, or should I start doing the same exercise for 5 sets in a row, then go to the next one, etc?

8

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282

9

[quote]Rampage74 wrote:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282
[/quote]

Yes, I’ve read this article before; I do HIIT and do heavy lifts, as perscribed. However, I’ve been weary of doing the lactic training for fear it might interfere with my strength gains. Guess I might give it a whirl starting from next week, though…

10

I like to alternate sets or superset if possible for fat loss. So you do more work in a shorter amount of time.

As for 5x5 and 6x4, I would recommend cutting the rest periods. Longer rest periods are for strength and muscle building, to give your muscles adequate time to recover for the next set. When losing fat, you don’t want your muscles to be fully recovered to work them in a state of partial fatigue so you will work the muscles harder and burn more calories.

11

I considered what everyone advised today. To answer Bonez: my fat loss has been stalling for a good week. So, today, I did the lactate inducing workout from the article posted by Rampage. Or, to be more precise, I took a page from that article as well as the “Meltdown” workout article http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459809

The workout was DEADLY, especially considering how short it was. I didn’t do the 50-70 second sets perscribed, they were probably closer to 40… Probably gonna have to pick smaller weights and easier exercises to make sure I can get to 50 next time.

Still… DAMN! My lungs were on fire for the first time in ages. The 20 minute walk I had afterwards was HARD. Think I’m gonna get some real DOMS tomorrow! Haha! :smiley: Something this tough can’t NOT give results, right?

My plan, for now, looks like this:

Day 1: Heavy lifting, 5x5, + Tabata protocol HIIT

Day 2: Lactate-inducing workout (Circuits) + 20/30 minutes of walking

Day 3: OFF

Day 4: Heavy lifting, 5x5, + Tabata Protocol HIIT

Day 5: Lactate-inducing workout 2 + 20-30 walking

Day 6+7: OFF

Gonna do this for a week and see what results I get.

My initial question still stands, though: for my strength workouts, if I shorten the rest intervals, is it still OK to alternate the exercises?

g_et3rnal: if my strength drops as a result of shorter rest periods, won’t this result in muscle loss? I strongly believed, until know, that the best way to maintain muscle mass was through heavy weights. The “Destroying Fat” article recommends this as one of the tactics, too: however, my weights will have to decrease slightly with smaller rest periods. Do you think this will result in lost muscle?

~G

12

[quote]G87 wrote:

g_et3rnal: if my strength drops as a result of shorter rest periods, won’t this result in muscle loss? I strongly believed, until know, that the best way to maintain muscle mass was through heavy weights.

The “Destroying Fat” article recommends this as one of the tactics, too: however, my weights will have to decrease slightly with smaller rest periods. Do you think this will result in lost muscle?

~G[/quote]

I don’t think you will lose muscle as a result of the shorter rest periods. You may have to use lower weights but you should maintain your current strength and muscle. As you probably know, it’s impossible to gain strength and lose fat at the same time.

Fat loss requires a calorie deficit while gaining strength/building muscle requires a calorie surplus. I went on the 10x3 program for fat loss for 4 weeks and I did not lose any strength or muscle but still cut weight and made progress week-to-week.

13

I’ve been doing a mix of 10x3, EDT, and lactic acid training and haven’t lost any strength. I have to cut the weight a little with the 10x3, but the last couple sets still feel pretty heavy and I am noticeably slower getting the weight up.

Sometimes I’ll cut th weight down 5-10 lbs in the middle of the workout too, if I think I started too heavy.

I also think you can gain strength on a caloric deficit, maybe not optimally, but if your diet is aimed at a low to moderate rate of fat loss, you will probably end up a little stronger.

The lactic acid training is pretty brutal, but I personally I like doing those workouts.

Here are some more articles on lactic training if you want some more workout ideas:

Lactic Acid Training for Fat Loss by Charles Poliquin
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=724381

Complexes for Fat Loss by Alwyn Cosgrove
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1624757

14

g_eternal, I don’t think it’s impossible to gain strength while in a caloric deficit, at least at my level. I’ve actually gained quite a bit of strength despite losing about a pound a week for the past 3 months.

theuofh, I’ll probably stay with the programme I’ve decided on for this time, but those links will be useful in the future. Cosgrove’s article is especially interesting, although I can’t do a lot of the lifts there :frowning: Will have to wait until after I find an oly lift instructor!

My only concern right now is that Tabata protocol HIIT might overlap with the lactic training - I’ll probably alternate exercises for every 20 second burst to prevent lactic acid build-up. However, if that fails, I might change my training up a bit and implement some of the concepts from those articles.

Thanks for the input :slight_smile:

15

If what you are doing is working OK, keep it the same. When the fat loss diminishes, THEN change something.