Cutting: What do you do for weight training?

[cleverlandshark2001]

I've been on a nice responsible diet and doing some great cardio
-first thing in the morning on an empty stomach / 45 min
-after weight training in the afternoon / 30 min

My question is...On a low calorie diet (2000-2900 cals p/day, 100g carbs) what do your weight training workouts look like? I'm not very strong (obviously) and was wondering if I should cut volume back as well as the poundages? Should I push onward with high volume, lighter weight...I've heard so many different methods. I do lift heavy if I've had a high calorie day the day before and I feel great, but with this diet...I want to keep as much muscle as I can, realizing that not much is going to be built on a low cal diet. I'm planning on losing the gut (20lbs) and then slowly working into a building phase while mainting some cardio 3x per week.

What are your thoughts or experiences?

Thanx.

 

[MrMakaveli]

Heavy Weight/ Low reps/volume. Works like a charm for holding onto muscle while cutting.

I usually use either 5x5 or 2x8.

 

[jerkbox]

i do the same shit i do when i'm not cutting....

 

[cleverlandshark2001]

How can your weight training stay the same when you're taking in thousands of calories LESS each day?! When you're doing a ton of cardio?! When you simply don't have the blood glucose to carry out a heavy lifting program?
Weird.
Thanx.
-Bash

 

[crunch1]

bump

im curious about this too

im currently taking in 2000 cals a day, and my training is hard..i do 1.5 hours of lifting, 3 days a week, supersets mostly, but im feelin beat. 3X8-10 for everything.

im wondering if its too much

 

[MrMakaveli]

If its taking 1.5 hours to lift...yes its too much.

If you dont have the blood glucose to lift heavy for a few reps you REALLY dont have enough glucose to do alot of reps and burn it all up do you?

Anyway unless your on gear, overtraining is going to hit you hard if you do too many sets

There have been alot of good threads on this in the past, when I get back from class I'll try to dig up some better answers.

 

[jerkbox]

How can your weight training stay the same when you're taking in thousands of calories LESS each day?! When you're doing a ton of cardio?! When you simply don't have the blood glucose to carry out a heavy lifting program?
Weird.
Thanx.
-Bash

1. don't really do much cardio
2. calories are really only reduced by 500 or so from a maintenence level for me....certainly not reduced by thousands.

my weight training routine basically stays the same....sometimes i don't have as much energy, but in general, my lifts don't drop too much....now I certainly don't make much in strength gains...but that is to be expected. I simply continue to train to preserve muscle.

 

[gymtime]

How can your weight training stay the same when you're taking in thousands of calories LESS each day?! When you're doing a ton of cardio?! When you simply don't have the blood glucose to carry out a heavy lifting program?
Weird.
Thanx.
-Bash

It won't. However you should act as if it does by keeping the weights as heavy as possible. You won't be able to lift as much, but it's still important to challenge your muscles.

Also, cutting should not involve a drastic diet change and "a ton of cardio." The better your diet, the less cardio you have to do, even when cutting. Your workouts should not change.

 

[ammon]

totally agree with gymtime-

let the cutting be afunction of your super strict diet and moderate cardio. Train with low volume and high intensity to hold lean mass.


Ammon

 

[cleverlandshark2001]

Thanx for the responses.

If you do the bulk and cut type of training and dieting, you WOULD be cutting thousands of calories...Of course I wouldn't cut over a thousand below maintenance...lol.

How much cardio do you guys do to rip up? I'm about 20-25%bodyfat and I've been doing 45 min 6 mornings per week along with 30 min in the pm on a few other days....It all comes out to about 4-6 hrs of cardio per week.

I don't think that is excessive at this point, is it?

When I get closer to a flatter stomach, I'll obviously cut back on the cardio and hit the weights harder.

 

[cleverlandshark2001]

Nevertheless, I'm going to take you guys up on that good advice...it does make sense to me since that is how I built the muscle in the first place (heavy weight, low reps and sets)

Thanx a million...

-Bash

 

[gymtime]

Thanx for the responses.

If you do the bulk and cut type of training and dieting, you WOULD be cutting thousands of calories...Of course I wouldn't cut over a thousand below maintenance...lol.

How much cardio do you guys do to rip up? I'm about 20-25%bodyfat and I've been doing 45 min 6 mornings per week along with 30 min in the pm on a few other days....It all comes out to about 4-6 hrs of cardio per week.

I don't think that is excessive at this point, is it?

When I get closer to a flatter stomach, I'll obviously cut back on the cardio and hit the weights harder.

If you're looking to lose as much muscle as you possibly can, then no, it's not excessive at all.

You're going about this all the wrong way bro. You're falling into the trap of "eat next to nothing and do tons of cardio." Yes, you will definitely will lose weight, but you will also sacrifice the very muscle tissue you need to burn fat. Plus, the loss will be temporary. What took you three months to lose will be back in three weeks.

You want to lower that bf quickly and retain as much muscle as possible? Do this:

1. Focus on your diet. Make that your first fat loss priority.
2. Do NOT do a bunch of morning, empty stomach cardio. It will do more harm than good and will give you false progress.
3. Do maybe a half hour of running, three days a week. That's plenty, again, assuming your diet is sound.
4. Workout like you normally would. This will burn as many or more calories than all that extra cardio you're doing.

 

[ammon]

Yep, what he said....

AM cardio is very catabolic! If you insist, at least have 20-30 grams of whey prior (maybe 100mg r-ALA as well) to supply much needed amino protection.


Diet/HIT/Moderate Cardio/ALA/NYC/Glutamine

All set!

 

[molnii]

still go heavy and a rep range 6-10