Cutting and Training

[Sci]

HSTers, the question is:

When on a cutting diet, is is it better to sacrifice volume or frequency, if one or the other were to be lowered to help with the cutting cycle?

for example, is it better to do 1 set 3x/week, or 3 sets 2x/week, as a hypothetical.

 

[Sci]

2nd question:

When peaking on the 5s, in the end of an HST cycle, if you are cutting, is it better to:
A)SD, and restart,
or
b)don't SD, and just continue trying not to lose strength, using your 5rm for example until the cut is over.

 

[Jester]

Question 1:

Maintain frequency is preferable to volume when cutting. I wouldn't necessarily reduce either, frankly. But if you had a choice between 2x everything, three times a week or 3x everything, twice a week, for muscle preservation purposes I would choose the former. Maintain the acute stimulus, and you burn less per workout (less catabolic processes). You'll also feel the effects of volume more deeply when you're cutting.

Question 2:

Don't SD, just keep working out at your 5RM, when you finish cutting, SD begins.

 

[T-man]

I am doing this currently. The goal is to try preserve strength while in calorie deficit. After my last SD, I started with 75% 5RM and am slowly progressing the weights with the lowest possible increments to extend the cycle for as long as possible. I'm still doing 3 w/o per week, but I've split the first two into four days. Half on the first and third days, the other half on the second and fourth days, and everything on the fifth day which is Saturday morning when I have more time. Friday and Sunday are rest days. Doing 4 sets of 5 reps per Old & Gray's recommendation. I'll go until I can't progress, then continue to add weight, but switch to 5 sets of 4 reps, and then finally 7 sets of 3 reps. After the 7/3 I may reduce volume if it allows me to continue to progress the weight. When I no longer can progress, I'll calculate my new 5RM's and start the process over and repeat until I get to my goal weight. I started this cycle on Jan. 2 and I think I'll be able to continue for 6-8 more weeks since I'm still doing 4 sets of 5.

 

[Jester]

For my first cut I did with 6x a week, looking something like this:

2 Press
2 Row/Chin
1 Chin/Row
1 Overhead
1 Deadlift
1 Press/Squat
1 Calves
1 Shrug
1 CG BP

So so good ... man, 6x, I should get back to that ... (/tangent)

 

[Lol]

I don't SD unless it's a long cut (3 months or more) and then I up my cals during a week or so off for as a kind of hormonal reset (and a bit of a break) before training and calorie reduction begin again. It's always good to consolidate now and again on a long cut or even on a long bulk.

I like the idea of doing one day of 15s, one day of 10s and one day of heavy 5s each week with some cardio work thrown in for good measure. This is similar to Lyle's UD2, especially if you use the same kind of carb cycling during the week and have a refeed after the heavy workout.

I prefer to reduce volume a bit over the course of a cut because I find I get injured more easily when I'm restricting cals and trying to keep my loads up. Something has to give and I don't want it to be me. I have always found I get a reduction in strength when I'm on a cut, but it comes back again soon after I finish cutting and increase my cals again.