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Thread: Looking for advice on programming during a cut

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by balikati View Post
    I switched from 3x5 to a top set of five and two back off sets with 90% for the squat. Also I used to alternate between two deadlift days and a single pc day and vice versa every week, but now I changed it to once a week for both. Haven't made any changes for ohp and bp, but they do feel more difficult since I started the cut.

    It's been 3 weeks since I started my cut. Failed to complete a 3x5 with 90kg and 87.5kg on the bench press so I dropped the weight to 82.5 and started increasing back up. Did 85, I'm going to try 87.5 again this monday.
    For the ohp it was similar, dropped from 60 to 57.5.
    In the meantime I increased my squats to 137.5x5 and going to do 140x5 this monday. Increased deadlifts to 152.5. 155 next wednesday. I'll see how it goes.
    Biggest problem I had was with the power cleans. When I did them on Monday last week I didn't have any issues with 72.5kgx2x4 but when they're on any other day of the week recovery becomes a big problem and I can't even complete the warmups. I'm not really sure what to do, maybe I will alternate them with deadlifts on a weekly basis.
    You're taking big jumps, especially during a cut. Switch to 1.5/1kg on the bench, and 1kg on the press. And switch to 2kg on the squat.
    Power clean is most likely a form issue.
    I don't know what you mean by doing the deadlift and cleans only once a week. Are you alternating them with chin-ups?
    Taking creatine helps you with the recovery, too.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by balikati View Post
    Well, it took me 5 months from scratch to be able to press 60kg for a set of five and considering I have a lifetime ahead of me, I should hope I'll get it to 80kg at one point. This is currently a minor setback for me and I'm in no way content with it, cutting calories really sucks, and I intend to get my life together and pick up where I left off as soon as I can.
    Not on a cut, no way. You are worried about your belly, but what you should be worried about is your pectoral and deltiod muscles, or lack of these to be precise.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Tell us again why you're not doing the program.
    Temporary break pertaining to my personal life and the shithole I live in. I intend to resume as soon as I am able to. I was just trying to find out what I can do to lose as little as possible during this period.

    Quote Originally Posted by francesco.decaro View Post
    Power clean is most likely a form issue.
    I don't know what you mean by doing the deadlift and cleans only once a week. Are you alternating them with chin-ups?
    I meant I used to do deadlifts on monday and friday and pc on wednesday one week, and pc on monday and friday and deadlifts on wednesday the next week. After I started the cut I do deadlifts on monday and pc on wednesday one week, pc on monday and deadlifts on wednesday the next week. Basically the same but I removed the friday pull. In addition to those I do chinups on bench days. So twice one week and once the week after that.
    I'll look into creatine, thanks.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jovan Dragisic View Post
    Not on a cut, no way. You are worried about your belly, but what you should be worried about is your pectoral and deltiod muscles, or lack of these to be precise.
    Obviously I don't expect to add 20kgs to my ohp on a cut, I meant after I weather the storm I am currently facing in my life and resume doing the program or whatever comes next after I exhaust my LP.
    I am not worried about my belly at all, if I did, I wouldn't have become a 220lbs man who is 5'7" tall in the first place. I'm worried about my bank account and the fact that the price of a kilo of chicken breast tripled in the last 6 months where I live. I'm worried about none of my clothes fitting and the fact that I'm unable to afford buying clothes that fit. And I'm worried about some other stuff I face in my life I don't care to share here at this moment of time. Is that enough or are there more provocative messages coming my way?

  4. #14
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    Ok, then look at doing a bunch of chins. If you start losing weight, they will become easier to do and you don’t even have to do them in a gym.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by balikati View Post
    Is that enough or are there more provocative messages coming my way?
    You certainly shouldn't have to share private details in order to get some basic advice. There are three constraints that you seem to be dealing with in various amounts. The money to buy food (which is a scary proposition), access to equipment, and time to train. Can you rank those considerations in order? It sounds like you might be on a cut because you can't buy the necessary calories. In any event, without sharing personal details that one normally wouldn't want to post publicly, if you can list the constraints you have that would make it much easier.

    The advice I've seen given here when people need to cut has been to try to take weight off of the barbell *slowly*. If you fail reps, don't do a full ten percent deload/reset since that exacerbates problems. Just take a small increment off the next time that you lift. I wish I could be more helpful here.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jovan Dragisic View Post
    Ok, then look at doing a bunch of chins. If you start losing weight, they will become easier to do and you don’t even have to do them in a gym.
    I hope this advice works. I can't tell you how many times I've cut weight and expected my chin count to go up but it stayed stubbornly the same even as I dropped 5-10% of my body weight and expected to get a few more reps

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdTice View Post
    I hope this advice works. I can't tell you how many times I've cut weight and expected my chin count to go up but it stayed stubbornly the same even as I dropped 5-10% of my body weight and expected to get a few more reps
    Yeah, cuts are so cool.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdTice View Post
    I hope this advice works. I can't tell you how many times I've cut weight and expected my chin count to go up but it stayed stubbornly the same even as I dropped 5-10% of my body weight and expected to get a few more reps
    Doesn’t matter, if the OP is not going to be adding pounds to the squat, he might as well fuck around with chins. Maybe make some progress there, maybe build some abdominal muscle to help with pressing later on.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdTice View Post
    You certainly shouldn't have to share private details in order to get some basic advice. There are three constraints that you seem to be dealing with in various amounts. The money to buy food (which is a scary proposition), access to equipment, and time to train. Can you rank those considerations in order? It sounds like you might be on a cut because you can't buy the necessary calories. In any event, without sharing personal details that one normally wouldn't want to post publicly, if you can list the constraints you have that would make it much easier.

    The advice I've seen given here when people need to cut has been to try to take weight off of the barbell *slowly*. If you fail reps, don't do a full ten percent deload/reset since that exacerbates problems. Just take a small increment off the next time that you lift. I wish I could be more helpful here.



    I hope this advice works. I can't tell you how many times I've cut weight and expected my chin count to go up but it stayed stubbornly the same even as I dropped 5-10% of my body weight and expected to get a few more reps
    Well cutting doesn't just mean to lose bodyweight, it also means losing energy sources. So you may weigh less but also have less energy to perform the exercise

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by francesco.decaro View Post
    Well cutting doesn't just mean to lose bodyweight, it also means losing energy sources. So you may weigh less but also have less energy to perform the exercise
    And "cutting" always -- ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION -- means losing lean body mass at the same time.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by EdTice View Post
    Can you rank those considerations in order?
    My current financial situation is the main hinderance I face. I've always been able to make time to train one way or the other so far. And access to equipment isn't even a problem at all. My gym membership ended last week, so I went to the management and told them that I wasn't going to be able renew it at this time. But they told me they'll give me a 3 month membership free of charge. It's a small neighbourhood gym and everyone there was always telling me they were very impressed with my progress. Probably because all everyone else does is play around with machines so they're not really used to seeing people get stronger and lift heavier weights in a short span of time. I felt like they didn't want to see me go. I told them I'll pay what I owe them for these 3 months as soon as I can.

    Quote Originally Posted by EdTice View Post
    The advice I've seen given here when people need to cut has been to try to take weight off of the barbell *slowly*. If you fail reps, don't do a full ten percent deload/reset since that exacerbates problems. Just take a small increment off the next time that you lift.
    I actually got my squat up by 7.5kgs since I started the cut. Although, I switched from 3x5 to 1x5 and 2 backoff sets with 90%. I feel like it can go up a bit more too. But my upper body lifts came to a halt almost immediately.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Yeah, cuts are so cool.
    Worst thing my body has ever had to endure.

    Quote Originally Posted by francesco.decaro View Post
    Well cutting doesn't just mean to lose bodyweight, it also means losing energy sources. So you may weigh less but also have less energy to perform the exercise
    This is the biggest problem of them all. Even when I'm not training everything is more tiring now.

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