Progression while 'Cutting'

[Aslin]

Ok guys, sorry if this has been brought up before, I've not ran a search. no excuse.


I've been 'cuttting' the last 2-3 weeks, and managed to lose about 6lbs, a bit more than I expected. I'm hoping to keep it at a steady 1lb a week to preserve muscle....


Anyway i've noticed that All of my lifts have managed to progress, or at least maintain my pr's. All with the exception of the press....

I've lost a good few kg's of weight off my working sets with this lift... I used to be able to do 3x5 of 70kg's on a recovery day, now I cant even make 3x5 of 69, i only did 2x4 of 69, and 1x5 of 65.....


When cutting, do the lifts that use smaller muscle groups deteriorate first?

[msingh]

Not nearly enough info. What sort of deficit are you running? Large(>30%), moderate (20%) or small (10-15%) Are you doing a ketogenic diet (carbs less than 50g a day)? Are you training on depleted glycogen or not? If so do you have regular carb reloads scheduled to replenish glycogen?

If you're doing a ketogenic diet then you've lost mostly water weight, etc.

The way to maintain your lifts is to a)keep a high protein intake, b)take carbs around workouts, c)maintain intensity (bar speed and weight) but you can cut volume down quite a lot, around 10-12 reps is sufficient.

[Aslin]

Sorry I dont think I made myself clear

I'm mearly asking wether the lifts that use smaller muscle groups ie the press are the hardest to maintain on a cut.

I'm not doing anything crazy, i've just dropped calories (mostly carbs) until the weight has began to shift.. It's not really a ketogenic diet, maybe close to a TKD.... No, I dont do refeeds, my muscle glycogen is never getting depleted...

[Bloodninja666]

Sorry I dont think I made myself clear

I'm mearly asking wether the lifts that use smaller muscle groups ie the press are the hardest to maintain on a cut.

I think the answer to this question is almost certainly yes.

[Paul Stagg]

The short answer to your question is: It Depends. It's hard to predict, and will vary by person based on a number of factors.

The longer answer: You can't serve two (or more) masters. Pick a goal, and go after it. If that goal is one of body composition, then you need to focus on that goal and move strength and conditioning to the back burner.

After a couple of weeks, not much will change, and it could be your press was going to stall, anyway.

[MEbigUsmall]

what is the best plan to follow for someone wanting to loose some BF while on SS.

[RobertFontaine]

What I have found is that I can continue to increase my lifts for the first 10-12 weeks of a 16 week diet (for me that's when I get down to about 10-12% body fat). After 3 or 4 weeks of eating less than maintenance calories, however, my endurance and ability to recover are affected and volume/frequency need to be managed pretty carefully. By the time I hit week 12 of a diet I am fighting to maintain my strength levels in the big lifts. A 16 week diet for me is usually a 30-40 pound weight drop from 250 to 220/210.

The best plan for someone who wants to cut is probably not to use SS. Without the excess calories it will almost certainly crush you like a bug.

[bcsmith3]

what is the best plan to follow for someone wanting to loose some BF while on SS.

Losing weight while utilizing the lifts prescribed by SS doesn't mean you're doing the program. One of the 'best plans' to get as strong as possible as fast as possible is to eat a lot of quality food and lift as described in SS. Part of creating a plan to meet your goals is to make sure you're speaking the same language as your resources (in this case, these forums), and around here, your goals are not consistent with SS.

All that said, I've used heavy compound lifts as described in SS while losing weight/BF over the last year quite successfully. (in terms of MY goals, not in terms of absolute strength development) For me, the most important factors have been 1) finding a caloric deficit and macronutrient breakdown that balances my desire to lose weight with my desire to get stronger, 2) accepting that my progress will be significantly slower than if I were doing the program correctly and 3) having the discipline to stick to my plan, knowing I'm walking a pretty fine line.

I'm also brutally honest with myself. I don't hesitate to say that I've gone about gaining strength + lowering BF/weight in an incredibly inefficient manner. If I'd done the program correctly starting from last year, then done a proper cut starting ~4 months ago, I would be stonger with a lower BF% as compared to where I am now. I'm just a vein SOB and wasn't willing to accept the temporary fatness. This makes me less of a worthwhile human being, but what can you do? I picked the option that made me the happiest. Feel free to PM if you have any follow-up questions about utilizing SS techniques in a sub-optimal manner

[MEbigUsmall]

So what would a cut look like? Since u said you could have done it the other way, bulking then cutting.

[bcsmith3]

So what would a cut look like? Since u said you could have done it the other way, bulking then cutting.

The exact numbers vary considerably with individual circumstances (goals, timeframe, etc), but the tl;dr version: eat to a caloric deficit between 200-500 calories, with a minimum of 40% of those calories being protein, while continuing to lift as heavy as possible.