need advice on planning 2nd cycle

H

Hammer-Man

New Member
Hi guys!

Well, actually I wish I could change the topic title and topic description, because they fail to describe the content, but I can't edit them, only the content itself...

Anyway: soon I will finish my 1st cycle.

I have done the second negatives workout today, and the negatives are absolutely fantastic.

I wish I could start another cycle after SD (and make it a cutting cycle), but I guess this isn't very realistic.
In a month or so I will become a father, and I also happen to be a student who didn't study very well for a few weeks, so I have quite a lot of catching up to do.

So maybe I'll have to go for something like two-three months of maintenance, training only twice a week (sometimes maybe even training only once a week).

I wanted to ask for your advice on this one...
I definitely don't want to lose what I managed to gain throughout my first cycle...

I'm also wondering if I should stop using creatine for some time.

How would the answer to this change if I did manage to start another cycle right after SD?

thanks!  
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I should rephrase the question:

How should I train, if I wish to maintain muscle mass, but can only train once or twice a week, for two-three months?

Will it be possible to do some cardio and lose body fat during that period? (without losing muscles, of course...)
 
Hammer

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">How should I train, if I wish to maintain muscle mass, but can only train once or twice a week, for two-three months?
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As close as possible to failure, most likely 5 x 5 would suit this as it gets fairly heavy, I mean some hybrid of it.
So...high volume like 4 or 5 sets...simple program but covering the whole body!

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
Will it be possible to do some cardio and lose body fat during that period? (without losing muscles, of course...) </div>

Cardio is a must, do this evry other day that you are not training, I prefer Tabata (quick and efficient), maintain nutrition at maintenance till you happy with the fat loss, after that the three months will be over, if you cut say 500 Kcal, in 3 months you could see some great improvement!
 
if you are really crazy about training and feel stressed about the possibility of going to the gym once or twice a week.... try this....
1) go 1 or 2 times to the gym and do your normal full body HST routine
2) try at home the following body routine if you don't have free weight.... you can use the following exercises to avoid your muscles having too much of a rest (which would cause unwanted conditioning.... just like in HIT)

- Chest: push ups standing on your hands, 60 degrees verticality at least, also dips using 2 chairs
- triceps: tricep bench press using 2 chairs
- back: chin ups (wide and close grip), you can buy a door bar for it.
- legs: squat, lunges, weighted steps with a couple of buckets of water and a broom and also sissy squat
- abs: crunch, russian crunch, bridge, cycle crunch, sit ups

I know it sounds ridicule but it is what I do during my frequent business trips if the hotel does not have a gym and I can't find a suitable one and I tell you, it works, it keeps the tension on my muscles.
 
Just stick to standard HST. When you are cutting, you may want to scale back the volume a bit, but the frequency and progression of load are even more important during a cut. You could go to higher frequency, but don't drop back to once a week HST training.

Here is what you need during a cut - a calorie deficit created either through trimming back your diet, or doing more work i.e. cardio - then you need some heavy weight training over your whole body to prevent muscle loss. That's about it.

If you are going to go into a cut, you don't need to SD. Just go right back into the 15s. Once you hit your 5 RM in the 5s, I would keep going until you are done with your cut, rather than starting back over in the 15s. Also, you should keep your routine basic. Don't do any isolation work during a cut - it's a waste of time. Stick to compounds and keep the sets rather low. I would dare say you could even get away with 1-2 sets per bodypart, as long as you keep going 3 times a week. If you increase frequency, you may even be able to drop down to 1 set per bodypart.

What does your current routine look like? If I were going to cut right now with HST, I would go with squats/deadlifts, bb bentover rows, dips/incline bench, military press and weighted chins.
 
Im a new father as well...baby is 5 weeks old.

You will not have time to cut!

So If i were you I would do heavy compounds twice a week.

Use as much volume as you can handle.

Space out your workouts.

For instance maybe Monday would be
bench press for 6 sets of 6 reps
Rows for 6 sets of 6 reps
Shoulder press 1 set
squats 5 or 6 sets.

If you can handle that much volume?

I would do as much volume as I could and maybe workout on MOnday then again on say Friday....maybe through in some pushups and plyometrics squats jumps while at home if you can!

Most importantly enjoy your time with your baby!.....and guess what no more sleep!..hehe
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Well it's possible to do some stuff with a new baby, if your spouse or significant other will help you out. I know how it is, I just had my third child two weeks ago. If you keep your routine short, say 10-15 minutes, maybe a half hour if you have time in your schedule, it is somewhat manageable. Like Joe said though, no more sleep. That's something to watch out for, since it's hard to train right when you haven't gotten more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Don't worry though, if you are lucky then after a month or so, your baby will sleep through the night and you'll have more time to train. For now, I would still try to do at least 3 times a week, if you keep your routine short like I mentioned above, it can be doable, but if that is not the case, then I would go with whatever you can. Still, it may be a better idea to maintain rather than cut right now.

Or... possibly the better option, depending on your point of view - you could turn it into an extended SD and just eat at maintenance until you have time to train. I would still do like Joe said and do some bodyweight exercises like pushups, squats, situps, etc when you have freetime, like for instance when the baby is taking a 3 minute nap after being fed.
 
Well said...and Tot hit in right on the head by saying keep it at maintenance.

I definatley wouldn't try to cut.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
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