thank you!
the main reason i’m doing this cut is that in a month i’ll begin an 8-week coaching period with paul carter, where i’ll focus on putting on some serious muscle mass.
for the occasion, i want to get lean and prime myself for muscle gain. i’m very excited for this!
Third day of cut
I wanted to take a video of my rack pulls for a formcheck as I’d never done the movement but I accidentally took a time-lapse video so oh well, I’ll try again next week.
This workout was very fast paced and hard, and towards the end I felt like almost puking (again).
I designed this kind of workout basing myself on the suggestions by @danteism and I was inspired by the workouts he posted in his log during the military that were very short and fast-paced.
Meanwhile, I was skimming through my old pics and came across this one that I took I think one month after I started working out, more than two years ago.
Ahh, good times XD
Do you guys count the carbs from veggies when doing a cut?
I wouldn’t with green veggies, but I’m currently mostly eating peppers and tomatoes, which have more carbs than your average veggie.
I have to bust my ass during a cut so yes I track everything. I’m sure some will reply they dont and even some experts (Paul Carter I think?) say you can eat unlimited greens
Well the number is probably low anyway, but considering I eat this many veggies…
I don’t eat them as fillers and the amount is constant so no. If you increase your veggie intake drastically as you go into a diet or it varies by a lot between days then you may want to count them
How’s my rack pull look? I thought the rom could be a little short, my rationale was to hit the back as hard as possible and really overload it. Felt it in my traps a lot.
Maybe I should try lowering by one pin?
Try to pinch your armpits more - like you’re squeezing something in your armpits - to activate and lift with the lats more than your traps, otherwise this can be a trap dominant exercise. Right before every rep I slightly pronate my shoulders, then I initiate the lift by retracting them and pulling on the weight.
Gotcha, thanks, I’ll try.
How’s ROM look?
Good - you could lower it by one pin if you want, but try to get some more back activation first - you might find that extra ROM just yields more lower back and leg work at this point, so I’m not sure.
Il ROM sembra buono. Io amo fare questo esercizio con una scrollata a ogni ripetizione.
Week 1 of mini cut day 5
Incline db press 30 x 8, 8, 32 x 5
Smith-Machine close grip bench press alternating with db curl
Press 52 x 9, 57 x 8, 62 x 6
Curl 16 x 8, 14 x 8, 12 x 7
Pec deck alternating with rear delt machine 3 sets
20 min steady state cardio
Week 2 DAY 1
Machine shoulder press alternating with chinup
Press 65 x 10, 75 x 5, 70 x 8
Chin bw x 11, +8 kg x 7, 5
Squat 102 x 5, 112 x 5, 5
Zercher squat alternating with smith machine rdl 2 sets
Dead hang
Week 2 DAY 3
Rack pull 112 x 5, 132 x 6, 152 x 7
Cable row alternating with chest press
Row 85 x 8, 80 x 8, 9
Press 80 x 11, 10, 7
Rack chins alternating with lateral raises 3 sets
Been also doing some form of cardio on off days.
Either treadmill sprints or one hour walks.
Week 2 DAY 5
Incline db press 32 x 6, 6, 6
Smith machine close grip bench press alternating with db curl
Press 57 x 10, 67 x 5, 62 x 6
Curl 8 x 16, 18, 10 x 12 then switched to one arm curl and got some more
Flat Prone chest fly paired with rear delt fly 3 sets
Week 3 DAY 1
Squat 112 x 5, 122 x 3, 112 x 4
Zercher squat alternating with smith machine rdl 2 sets
Standing db press alternating with Pullups
Press 20 x 9, 7, 7
Pullup bw x 10, 8, 6
2 sets farmer walks
Week 3 DAY 3
Rack pull 132 x 6, 5, 6
Cable row alternating with chest press
Row 85 x 9, 8, 80 x 8
Press 85 x 11, 9, 5
Rack chins alternating with lateral raises 3 sets
I’ve been ramping up the cardio. Today I didn’t have my car and getting to the gym just to do cardio would have been a pain in the ass, so I walked 90 minutes with quite a bit of the walk being uphill.
There are 10ish days of cut left, then on September the 17th I’ll begin my mass gain phase with @Paul_Carter and I’m really excited for that!
For this last week of cut, I want to accomplish some more fat loss while retaining muscle so to prime myself for gains when I start the mass gain phase. Not having problems sticking to my diet, even if it’s getting pretty low on calories.
We’re talking 2,000 kcal on training days and a couple hundreds less on non training days.
How’s the minicut going?
Looking somewhat leaner and I don’t think I’ve lost any muscle mass.
Training has been good and cardio sustainable. I’ve got until Friday. Then on Saturday I’ll have a nice cheat day (I don’t plan on going too much over maintenance with the calories, I’ll just eat some junk) and then I’ll go back to a deficit on Sunday (like you suggested doing after a cheat day in your log). That’ll be the end of the cut.
