My First Cut. Advice from the Best?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

As soon as finals are over, I am about to do my first physique style cut. I have cut for wrestling, kickboxing, and MMA, but never once happy with my physique at the end. I just spent A good amount of time bulking, and even leaning out. Ran my first pH cycle (very mild), great result. At end of cycle about 171lbs, 5 ft. 6 in, 21 years old, I was…
Squat 405 (PL legal): Bench: 225x5 crisp and clean, overhead press, 155x4, pull ups: 60lbsx3, and repping 375 on deadlift like its easy for 6-8, and extremely poor cardio ha. (not the worlds best lifts, but decent.

current: After cycle I started conditioning a little too soon, Im now 164 around 12-13% body fat, and my strength is still up, most lifts are close to where they were, and cardio much better. lIfting 4 days a week, lots of supersets with opposite muscle groups, and cardio is more frequent, 4-5 days a week. Studying is fucking everything right now for the next week thou.

GOAL: Get shredded for summer and look good haha:). But I want to be around 8% body fat, keep strength, and have great cardio. Id like to be close to 160lbs as possible, but keep in mind that for me, If i am not in great condition, then all this muscle is absolutely pointless.
My plan: Lifting: (evenings)>>>>
mon: Back (include dead lift)
Tue: Chest
Wed: metabolic conditioning (this is where I keep my athleticism on the matts, about 30 min of ketttlebells bear crawls, springts, slams, etc.)
Thur: Arms
Frid: Legs
Sat: shoulder

Cardio: Morning jogs or jump rope 20-30 minutes, low intensity. ideally followed by about 30 minutes of low intensity shadow boxing. (I do intend to return to the ring so I must do this). First think in morning Ill have 1/2 scoop of waxy maize, 1/2 whey isolate, and 1/2 tbsp chia seeds, with some coffee. On back day, it will be Hill sprints. AFter cardio will be breakfast.

Diet: pretty damn perfect. As of now its about 3300 calories if I don’t add any treats or anything in the day. Protein is around 250g/day.
I plan to cut calories gradually. Week one of this I will not cut any calories, I am coming out of finals and have had to drop my volume.
Week 2, lower the fats, and a little bit of carbs, Go down to 2900-3000.
Week 3: start cutting down carbs, and more fat. so down to 2300-3500, cut waxy maize consumption in half.
Week 4, same thing. (the last thing I cut out will be the waxy maize pre/post work out, but I get incredible recovery from it, so I am really hesitant.

Really good supplementation, Multi, cod liver oil, good pre work outs, green tea extract.
10g. creatine monohydrate a day.
Glutamine 5g. after work out.
DAA 3 grams, (once or twice a day??). I have actually already started this because PCT was feeling shitty.
and Im thinking of either doing a muscle hardener like compound20, or an anti-armomatase, (haven’t looked too much into which one).

Main questions I have are in what rep ranges and volume should I be lifting at. For me, if im not working the 3-6 rep range on my big lifts, Im not getting stronger. At the same time, those are the first to go down when I have started cutting calories in the past.
So…what should my volume and rep ranges be like? Should I be pushing to failure on my accessories? Should workouts be shorter?
Any other major points or issues?
Thanks Guys, I wanted some opinions from the more experienced.

2

Note that my PCT will be done by this point. Magnesium Asporate, hawthorn berry, and Calcium Before Bed, Zinc before workout as well.
Also, By the last week, the only fats I will be eating will be a total of: 1tbsp Almond butter, 1/2 tbsp cod liver oil, 1 raw egg, and 1/2 tbsp olive oil.

3

how can you predict what your diet will be in four weeks before knowing the results of your first 3 weeks i do not know

that is all i have to say sry

4

You were only 171 AFTER you ran a ph? Are you super ripped already? That is pretty light after bulking with a ph man.

5

[quote]ironmanzvw wrote:
You were only 171 AFTER you ran a ph? Are you super ripped already? That is pretty light after bulking with a ph man.[/quote]

He is a 5’6 manlet Take that into account

6

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]ironmanzvw wrote:
You were only 171 AFTER you ran a ph? Are you super ripped already? That is pretty light after bulking with a ph man.[/quote]

He is a 5’6 manlet Take that into account [/quote]

I understand that. I’m only 5’8 lol.

Regardless, OP could have put on way more size naturally before diving into being assisted.

Any how, can you post some pics so we can get a better idea of where you are at man?

7

Guys… any insight on the rep ranges for the cut???
And yes, I didn’t eat enough I don’t think. I could of gone up to 180. I was also doing some cardio, because I simply can’t afford not to. It was far from a perfect cycle, If I do choose to do it again, there are a lot of things I would of done differently. I also got sick twice in the cycle, which really hurt my workouts, And I had issues sleeping on it so that hurt some growth as well. Regardless, I made great strength gains, and am decently lean. Ill submit picks soon.

8

[quote]jakespeakstoyou wrote:
Guys… any insight on the rep ranges for the cut???
And yes, I didn’t eat enough I don’t think. I could of gone up to 180. I was also doing some cardio, because I simply can’t afford not to. [/quote]
Rep ranged are different for everyone man, but it doesn’t really effect cutting. Only diet. Did you gain size by lifting heavy weights or by doing sets of 20 on everything lol?

Having said that, I like to do a combination of rep schemes. I stay pretty heavy and around 5-7 reps on my big compound lifts, and in between 10-15 reps on everything else.