Training Split While Cutting

Training Beginners
1

OK, I was recently in a bulking stage (one where I let my hunger guide my calorie intake). I recently lost about 110 lbs via a low-carb (and low fat at one point) diet, but I realized I lost a ton of muscle. My arms became sticks.

Now, I’m recovering. I ended up with a lot of loose skin, and plan to do surgery one day to take care of that, and I’m gonna give my body 2-3 years to snap back as much as it can and build as much muscle as possible before I go with the surgery. Ever since I really upped the carbs, I’ve noticed some fat accumulation, but alot of muscle accumulation as well. My carbs are extremely clean. Oatmeal, Ezekiel 4:9 bread, fruits, etc.

I’m 4-day split. Blah Blah, I know beginners shouldn’t be doing 4 day splits, but it’s working for me (I think)).

The month of Ramadan is coming up in a couple of days, and I’ll be fasting from dawn till sunset (about 13 hours a day), and I pretty much have no choice but to devote this period to a cutting phase. I’ve pretty much got my nutrition down for this month of fasting, but I have no idea on how to handle training.

I plan to do the Men’s Health TNT diet at this time (consuming Surge only after workouts, and then resuming a high-fat, high-protein, low-carb diet the rest of the day, much like a TKD, and (whey/casein blend & a spike shooter) before working out. I’m also planning to take a fat burner too, since I don’t see how it’ll hurt, and maybe even help me drop a percent or two extra of body fat.

I’m gonna break my fast at sunset with the whey/casein blend and Spike Shooter, then head to the gym. My problem lies in what I’ll do here. Should I stick with my current split, or should I do something different? Total body routine? Push/pull split? Upper/lower split?

2

i did the opposite to you, in a way. whats ur weight, hight, bfat%,age and how many days a week to u gym?

i started by gaining muscle(lost a bit of fat along the way) now im starting my cutting.

The biggest issue i can see are:

  1. Fasting: I used to go to bording school and sum of my friends used to fast.
    The issues which they seemed to have were: eating alot of carbs while its dark, overeating cuz they were hungry and… lack of water during the day, especially after training.

  2. Ur metabolism is going to be shocking. The best way to loose fat but retain muscle is to not work on a calorie deficit through running, but to increase your metabolsim. and the most important way to do this is through what you eat. Sadly, you do this by eating ofter, and small amounts. If your looking at 2 meals a day, you bodys metabolism is going to slow down, thats bad.

I know its been said alot, but dieting is more important than training when it comes to cutting, but i do reckon, if you stick to that, your doing pretty well considering you cant eat for 12hrs of the day.

In terms of training, while cutting you want to do 2 things. Cardio (increase metabolism and burn calories) and Heavy ass weights, so you dont loose your precious muscle. You want your body to spend every last calorie on ur muscles, and not on ur hips. Thats how you do it!

Im taking fat burners at the moment, what they do is increase your metabolism. I find they work awesome! but… i get hungry more (not that thats bad). If I couldn’t eat for the majority of the day and was taking those tables, id be a very hungry chappy, and ill lose muscle, not fat.

if i was you, instead of trying to cut while fasting, id just try and eat really healthy and maintain size. If you push it i reckon you might loose muscle not fat.

I am by no means a pro, but what you are doing sounds more like you will loose fat and muscle, instead of just fat.

iv posted exactly what im doing while im cutting here:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1715178
so thats what im working off. (only been doing it for 3days, but i think its working LS)

Hackattack

3

Yeah, I’m 20, 191 lbs (some loose skin, especially in the belly area), Now I’m either 14%, or 20% BF, just by going by the calipers. I know the loose skin really is messing up the readings. I’ll err on the side of safety and say that I’m about 20% BF. I go to the gym 4 days a week.

4

well your definatly not overweight, how tall are you?

i really think its up to you, the problem with not eating for 12 hrs a day is it dosent help you gain muscle, and it dosent help you loose fat only.

It would be safer if you actually tried to ‘bulk’, or simply, just try and not loose muscle while going through ramadan. The problem is that if you try and cut, you have a pretty big risk of loosing muscle aswell, but if you try and stack while eating heathy i cant see you loosing that much mass or gaining that much fat.

honestly i think you need another opinion on the matter lol. iv never been in a situation which means i cant eat and been trying to cut or bulk, but i do know that the key to cutting or bulking is how often you eat and how much.

1 tip would be to try and get as much casine protein with your meals as you can (slow release protein) so your muscles have something to devoar through the day, Metabolic Drive is awesome for this, or if u want a more natural product, cottage cheese is awesome!

also get sum flaxseed oil and fish oil with ur meals (healty oils which will help u loose fat) becuase they will also give ur body some calories for during the day.

Hackattac