HST and cutting

L

Lance

New Member
There are alot of tweaks out there now following the HST principles.

Within 2 months i'll be cutting for the summer. Last year, at that time, i was just doing the regular 3 x week HST, 15's, 10's, and 5's. Things went great, but with HST, things allways go great.

Now this off season i've messed around with alot of things, higher frequency, specializing muscle groups with loaded stretches, pulses, etc. Things have just been getting better, more demanding, but more results.

I'm wondering why do anything special when cutting? You can't gain muscle ... you're in a caloric deficit ... so why add more sets for chest, or do this, or do that. I've been emphasizing my chest and arms lately, and things are going good. But if i can't grow muscle while in a caloric deficit, what's all this emphasist going to do then? I would assume nothing but burn some calories.
 
Well, you should always be using the right amount of volume anyway. After all, if you're not cutting, you want to be growing as fast as possible. This means doing as much as possible (within reason).

When people cut, they often mistakenly think that the stimulus to keep muscle is different than the stimulus to build muscle. In reality they are one in the same. Whether or not your training results in growth (assuming its correct) depends on the condition of the tissue at the time and the diet. Eat too many calories and you get heavier (muscle and fat). Eat too few calories and your get lighter (muscle and fat).

You can reduce the amount of fat you gain by controling your calories and bad fat intake. You can reduce the amount of muscle you lose by not reducing calories unnecessarily far.

The key to pure fat loss is control and being consistant. If you are going to cut fat, simply figure out how many calories you need each day and cut it back by about 250 calories (carbs/fat). Then add about 250 calories worth of cardio. Keep doing that without cheating/binging and you will eventually reach your body fat goals though you may have to re-evaluate caloric requirements as you go.

The one thing I would suggest is to skip SD while cutting. There is nothing good that will come from not training while you are trying to keep muscle.
 
If you skip your SD, aren't you losing the hypertrophy signal that is letting you keep your muscle in the first place?

I was under the impression that while cutting, i could do my SD at about maintenance calories, then go back to lifting with a hypocaloric diet.

Also ... so if i'm bulking, and have worked my way up to lets say 3 sets per exercise ... purely hypothetical ... then when i start cutting, is it important to keep the same volume (hence stimulus) to keep the amount of muscle you've developed.

Thus ... the more muscle you have, the more resistant it is, thus more volume (or other techniques for more strain) to make it hypertrophy. Do we need the same amount of volume to mantain it?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Lance @ April 19 2005,5:32)]If you skip your SD, aren't you losing the hypertrophy signal that is letting you keep your muscle in the first place?
I was under the impression that while cutting, i could do my SD at about maintenance calories, then go back to lifting with a hypocaloric diet.
Also ... so if i'm bulking, and have worked my way up to lets say 3 sets per exercise ... purely hypothetical ... then when i start cutting, is it important to keep the same volume (hence stimulus) to keep the amount of muscle you've developed.
Thus ... the more muscle you have, the more resistant it is, thus more volume (or other techniques for more strain) to make it hypertrophy.  Do we need the same amount of volume to mantain it?
Click to expand...
Lance look at your statement again. If you are cutting via diet, then you aren't going to grow anyway. Inadequate nutrition, even with HST, is not going to get you growing. What Bryan is saying is that taking an SD while trying to cut may cause you to loose more lean mass than if you just kept working out because of the catabolic effect of dieting.

If I remember right you do not need the same volume for growth vs maintaining it. I read somewhere, it might have been from Bryan but honestly I don't remember, that if eating isocalorically you could maintain your lean mass with one workout per week. So if training via standard 3X/week, that is 2/3 less volume to maintain, naturally that is a guess as I haven't seen any studies that say to maintain lean mass you need 2/3 less volume than to build.
 
I believe it was Vicious who said that working each muscle once per week is enough to mantain.

DKM, people used to come on this board and ask should i not use HST while cutting because it's only for growing muscle? And me and others would tell them, no, use HST for cutting. The principles allow for maximum hypertrophy stimulis, thus while cutting you have a high chance of hanging onto that muscle tissue.

That's why i was asking, if your'e in the middle of cutting, and restart an HST cycle, wouldn't that jump from heavy 5's/negs down to ~70% 15RM not give nearly any stimulis anymore. Wouldn't you be now conditioned past that and to a much heavier load.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I believe it was Vicious who said that working each muscle once per week is enough to mantain.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that is under the assumption that you're eating maintenance. I personally think a trainee should get in 3x-a-week anyway if a person is cutting, just hold back on the overall volume and keep to basic movements.

I think most people should take a break from dieting down every 8 weeks anyway. Helps a little with your metabolic setpoint and it enables you to relax a bit. Along that lines, I just don't think it's desirable for most people to diet through their SD or rest period. It's only a week and a half anyhow.

cheers,
Jules
 
I have found that I can lose fat in the beginning without losing much muscle, if any, but that as I become leaner and closer to where I want to be, I need to work a little harder in my workouts and not eat too far under maintenance. If you can add enough cardio to make up for a few extra calories, I believe that is the way to go (for preserving muscle).

As for the SD question, if you eat maintenance calories I don't see any reason why you would lose muscle during SD. I think Bryan was saying that you shouldn't diet through SD, and that if you want to continue dieting, you should continue lifting.
 
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