Cutting strategy.

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scientific muscle

New Member
I am not cutting now, but I will be at some point in the near future. All my life I was a skinny guy and always trying to gain weight. For the first time in my life I may be at the point where I want to cut bodyfat, but I have never had to do it before.

My question is this...I hate cardio work, other than hardcore hiking for recreation. Can I cut just by dieting and lifting weights, or is cardio work really important in cutting bodyfat??? And if so, is there a way I could do cardio in the gym, multiple high-rep low weight sets? or do I have to do traditional jogging, aerobics crap.

And other than cutting calories and eating a balanced diet, is there anything specific I should do nutritionally?
 
You could do some tabata work with weights if you want. You can search here for details. Really efficient.
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Keystone
 
I think it's better to do some cardio along with lifting weights. I hate cardio so most of my "cardio" consists of doing olympic lifting (I'm still working on form) and then HIIT for about 10 minutes. I only do to the HIIT once or twice a week.

What ever you do, count calories. Keep a daily journal, trust me it's worth it, even if you feel silly carrying it (mine has kittens on the cover). Once you have the # of calories right, you'll lose fat consistently week to week and should be able to maintain strength better. A 3x5 or 5x5 program works well if you are losing about 1 pound a week.
 
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(liegelord @ Aug. 08 2006,23:37)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think it's better to do some cardio along with lifting weights.  I hate cardio so most of my &quot;cardio&quot; consists of doing olympic lifting (I'm still working on form) and then HIIT for about 10 minutes.  I only do to the HIIT once or twice a week.

What ever you do, count calories.  Keep a daily journal, trust me it's worth it, even if you feel silly carrying it (mine has kittens on the cover).  Once you have the # of calories right, you'll lose fat consistently week to week and should be able to maintain strength better.  A 3x5 or 5x5 program works well if you are losing about 1 pound a week.</div>
Thanks Guys!

Good advice Leige, I hate counting calories but your method sounds consistent. What is HIIT? I will look it up if I can and also the tabata thing.
 
Also if you are constantly or even occasionally hungry from the lower calories then increase your intake of fruits/veggies. They are not calorie dense at all, fill you up, and have lots of nutrients.

I hate cardio, too, but I realized its a necessary evil and bit the bullet. HIIT/Tabata makes it easier even though it can make you feel like you've been gutted.
 
If you decide to do Tabata, I would stick to once a week at most. I prefer HIIT instead done once or twice a week, with steady state cardio on the other days. Tabata can destroy your strength when cutting and really isn't necessary. Guys have managed to cut down in the past without doing stuff like that. HIIT can drain you a lot too, which is why I think you should only do it once or twice a week. Remember that you won't recover as well on a calorie deficit as you would at maintenance or bulking.

Like liegelord said, the biggest thing is counting calories. I don't see how people manage to cut without doing that. Otherwise you won't know what went wrong if you don't lose weight consistently. Diet is what will make or break your cut.

Good luck.
 
I just added Tabata with weights since he said he didn't like traditional cardio. Balls to the wall tabata is a tad much for me and couldn't do it much more than once a week.

I use a modified tabata approach that I cycle with my HST cycle. By cycling, I mean I ramp it up over the course of my cycle. Kind of like increasing the load over the course of the HST cycle. I just up the intensity of my tabata routine as I progress. Something like this:

I found a mph speed on the treadmill that kicks my butt pretty good at the full incline. I consider this my max. I simply use the same mph speed through out my entire HST cycle but I increase the incline each week. After my cycle is over, I simply increase the speed a tad and start my ramping process again.

It's all really working well for me now. I am really trying to protect the muscle I have gained while I lean up a tad. So far so good as I haven't lost any strength yet. See how it goes over the next 3-4 weeks though.

And to add to Tot's comment. Counting calories is a must. I keep it all in a spreadsheet for my M-F eating since I can keep it constant. Then on the weekends, I carry around a log and I count as I go.

Keystone
 
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(scientific muscle @ Aug. 09 2006,03:02)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My question is this...I hate cardio work,</div>
Do you/can you play any sports?

Squash or 5-a-side football (soccer to the americans on here!
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) would be my favourites.

I hate cardio too but love sport, unfortunately work makes it hard to organise and participate but if I could that would definitely be the way I'd go.

I did actually lose about 17lbs without using cardio but I would ideally do cardio..I just couldn't find time for sport and hate it too much!

Nutrition wise - only thing I would add is to eat relatively a lot of your carbs before and after your workouts. IMO workouts (not cardio, I mean weights) are for maintaining muscle not for burning fat. Mind you I think Bryan has different thoughts in the FAQs and there are those that think Bryan knows more about this stuff than me!
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Cheers

Rob
 
I hate cardio too, so I decided to take up a muay thai kickboxing class at the gym and love it. 1 hour, 3 times week. I'm at 164 right now, down from 172 at the start of my cycle. I lost size all around, but the roll on the stomach hasn't gotten any smaller, my waist has though. Sucks how genes decide where to take it off and how much. I'm going to start bulking again after this cycle and do max stimulation, but also continue my cardio. Hopefully this combination will work out better. From what I can tell weight loss (not necessarily fat) is dependant on the amount of calories you consume. Fat loss and maintaining muscle while on a calorie deficit on the other hand is a combination of weight lifting, efficient amount of cardio (or energy expenditure), and diet (what types of food you are eating, how much, etc.) I was using a 40 C, 40 P, 20 F ratio for this cutting cycle, but next time around I'm going to try a 20 C, 40 P, 40 F ratio as I've heard some other people got good results with this configuration. I have a feeling carbs have a large part in the amount of body fat you store so maybe its just a test to see how low you need to go in carbs to start seeing the fat come off. The only problem with that though it eventually you'll have to return to your normal eating habits and it will most likely come back. So besides what you already mentioned I would try keeping your protein and fats high and try mainly to lower just your carbs each week and check your results. Hopefully it will work for you.
 
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