Training Frequency When Cutting

Would you recommend a higher frequency split when cutting, i.e. 2 days a week per muscle group, or is it just as condusive to muscle preservation to be hitting each muscle group once a week?

The way you trained which got you the mass in the first place will probably be the best at preserving it. Don’t change shit.

Personally, I do not recommend changing splits, frequency, number of reps, etc. from off season training to prep. I’ve seen too many people where this backfired.

I’d stick to the split you know it works for you. This is the one split you were able to build a lot of muscle with (hopefully) and I don’t see the good in throwing it away when you switch to a cutting phase.

My trainings look the same off season and during preparations. Nutrition and energy system work is where I make adjustments.

Obviously if you’ve made gains training with a certain frequency (ie. each bodypart 2x a week), you won’t want to make drastic changes. However, if you choose to keep your cardio work on different days from the weight sessions, you may have to shift things a little bit. I usually hit every bodypart twice in 8-9 days.

However because I need to currently have two cardio days, I end up with a 6 day cycle with every 3rd day reserved for interval work. Anything more than this (meaning hitting each muscle group less frequently) would most likely lead to less chance of maintaining muscle while cutting.

S

I kinda have a different point of view on this.

If you are going to do a faster cut (ie dropping >1lbs per wk.) Then maintaining strength is the goal. Just getting some reps in the >85% 1rm should be good for this in the short term. It could even ben 10x2 or 8x1 with 85-90%. The goal is to just maintain and not accumulate too much fatigue.

Then depending on the person, cardio/metabolic work can be used to create a greater deficit if needed.

If you are gonna go about things in a slow steady way (ie <1lbs per week) then you probably just keep your training exactly how it was when building. BUT, you just slow down the rate that you are progressing on your lifts or cut down the number of lifts you are trying to progress on and maintain the rest.

The same thing would go for cardio as above.

But based on your question I also think this… It IS NOT a good idea to raise the frequency while cutting. If you’ve been building on 1x per week, then 2x a week will be overkill whilst cutting. If you’ve been building on 2x, then 2x is likely possible while cutting.

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Obviously if you’ve made gains training with a certain frequency (ie. each bodypart 2x a week), you won’t want to make drastic changes. However, if you choose to keep your cardio work on different days from the weight sessions, you may have to shift things a little bit. I usually hit every bodypart twice in 8-9 days.

However because I need to currently have two cardio days, I end up with a 6 day cycle with every 3rd day reserved for interval work. Anything more than this (meaning hitting each muscle group less frequently) would most likely lead to less chance of maintaining muscle while cutting.

S
[/quote]

So what does your training split look like then Stu? I appreciate the structure you’re describing, I just can’t quite put it on paper! Do you totally separate cardio and weights days then, or is there an element of cardio before or after your weights days?

I have completely separate cardio and weight days. My current split is:
1- Chest / Calves
2- Back / Bis
3- INTERVAL CARDIO
4- Delts / Tris
5- Legs
6- INTERVAL CARDIO

I find this allows me to lower my macros on the days I want to make inroads into my stores (cardio), and then up them slightly to get more bang (more muscle retention) from my weight sessions.

S

Do you then have a rest day after the 6 days, or straight back into chest/calves day?

Also, would it be possible/beneficial to edit that split around to superset between bodyparts? I.e. chest/bis - back/tris - intervals - delts/core - legs - intervals (or any other pairs)