Workout plans for cutting

Question

Background

The past 6 months, I've been on a bulking phase, where I've been able to gain about 9kg (from 78kg to 87kg), a mix of muscle and fat.

The past 6 weeks, I've been doing a benchpress program that increased my 1RM by 10%.

I'm now looking to shift into a cutting phase, and lose some of the fat I've gained, while retaining as much of the muscle mass as possible.

Question

Are there any recommended workout plans for one's cutting phase?

My plan is currently as follows:

• 3-split (legs, push, pull)

• 5x5 on main exercise each day (not counting warmup sets)

• switch main exercise every time, or in periods (for instance between flat/incline bench on push day, and between squats/deadlift on leg day)

I obviously want to keep as much of my 1RM as possible, but I concede that it might not be achievable to keep all of it.

Any experiences/tips/ideas/articles?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Don't change what's working out for you. Keep your lifts (or as close to it as possible) and eat slightly under maintenance, and you'll lose fat almost exclusively.

Answer 2

You'd be surprised by what your body can handle on a mild calorie deficit. If you aim for losing at a pace of roughly 1 lb a week (0.5 kg / week), you might not have to change anything.

The biggest challenge will be ensuring you don't fatigue too quickly to accomplish the work set out for you. If you find that being the case, then I would alter your set/rep/weight schemes. An example is to work like this:

• 8x75%, with 2 more sets 10 lbs less each set
• 5x85%, 2 more sets -10 lbs/set
• 3x90%, 2 more sets -10 lbs/set

Just vary the work so you have a mental break day.

Answer 3

If you cut calories, you are losing muscle. You need to tell your body that it dont burn muscle while in that state (because it needs it to survive :-)) and the only way to achieve that is by doing some heavy low rep training avoiding fatigue to have the body to respond with a Lot of testosterone. ..