Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below I've never "cut" before, but this summer I'm going to try and get more defined rather than bigger. In the past I've always used 4-8 reps. I realize that diet is the real key to cutting, but I've gotten mixed responses about reps. Some people have told me that it's smarter for me to up the reps in the 8-10 range and throw in some drop sets, while others have told me to just keep it the same. I'm new to the "cutting" thing so I could really use some different opinions on what you guys believe. Should I change my rest in between sets to shorter, more drop sets, slower movements, etc......
More Reps For Cutting????
- Thread starter tzan
- Start date
You build muscle in the gym.
You lose fat in the kitchen.
Just keep building muscle, as you lose fat you MAY lose some strength so it is important NOT to focus so much on the weights that you use. You may have to go a bit lighter, but remember that you are not building...you are losing. It is just a different train of thought.
B True
You lose fat in the kitchen.
Just keep building muscle, as you lose fat you MAY lose some strength so it is important NOT to focus so much on the weights that you use. You may have to go a bit lighter, but remember that you are not building...you are losing. It is just a different train of thought.
B True
bignate73
New member
b fold the truth said:
i actually train heavier than i used to when i was fat. keeps my metabolism high, the demand for LBM is there so i wont eat myself as food as easy either. impose a demand on the body and it will comply. as long as calories arent out of hand (low) there should be no problem with maintaining or even gaining a bit of LBM as long as meal timing, calorie manipulation etc is done dilligently.
bignate73 said:
I totally understand. I have to switch my mind set to the "leaning" stage instead of the gaining stage...I have to give 100 percent to one or the other...ya know?
B True
<----gaining stage
<----leaning stage
<-----low calories
bromocriptine / vitex
You will loose some strength when you are seriously dieting down. This loss in strength will affect your 1-5 reps more than your 6-10 reps. So i recommend to do at least more than 5 reps, but still you want to push as heavy weight possible, if not to build muscle, but at least to maintain muscle while cutting....
So you really need to keep doing heavy compound exercises and don't get caught up in 15 reps triceps kickbacks. However it's not likely you gonna set new personal records on the flat benchpress.
A good middleground is to switch to dumbell routines and (some) machines, you trade the lack of raw powew for slightly more isolation, still benefitting from assisting muscles. Also since your are pushing less weight than when bulked up, you must try to use very strict form to get the most out of each rep (peak contraction - slow eccentric, really avoid cheating etc) since it is no longer brutal heavy weight that does the work for you, it's now the mind-muscle connexion that forces your muscles to stay awake
Since you leave out the barbells andl suddenly hit your body with lots of dumbell movements, it will give lots of "new" stimuli to your body, hence adaption needed...
To keep reps relatively LOW and weight relatively HIGH you might want to try 4-6 sets of 6 reps (multi joint exercises) or 8 reps (single joint exercises) where you lower the weight juuust a tiny bit each next set in order to complete the same amount of reps. This is INTENS!!!
Here some good exercises that give decent isolation AND allow decent weight to be used:
PEC
incline dumbell press instead of incline benchpress
flat or decline dumbell press instead of flat benchpress
BICEPS
slternate dumbell curl and db scott curl instead of barbell curls
TRICEPS
lying 1 arm dumbell french press instead of barbell skull crusher
QUADS
hack squat or front squat instead of back squat
You will loose some strength when you are seriously dieting down. This loss in strength will affect your 1-5 reps more than your 6-10 reps. So i recommend to do at least more than 5 reps, but still you want to push as heavy weight possible, if not to build muscle, but at least to maintain muscle while cutting....
So you really need to keep doing heavy compound exercises and don't get caught up in 15 reps triceps kickbacks. However it's not likely you gonna set new personal records on the flat benchpress.
A good middleground is to switch to dumbell routines and (some) machines, you trade the lack of raw powew for slightly more isolation, still benefitting from assisting muscles. Also since your are pushing less weight than when bulked up, you must try to use very strict form to get the most out of each rep (peak contraction - slow eccentric, really avoid cheating etc) since it is no longer brutal heavy weight that does the work for you, it's now the mind-muscle connexion that forces your muscles to stay awake
Since you leave out the barbells andl suddenly hit your body with lots of dumbell movements, it will give lots of "new" stimuli to your body, hence adaption needed...
To keep reps relatively LOW and weight relatively HIGH you might want to try 4-6 sets of 6 reps (multi joint exercises) or 8 reps (single joint exercises) where you lower the weight juuust a tiny bit each next set in order to complete the same amount of reps. This is INTENS!!!
Here some good exercises that give decent isolation AND allow decent weight to be used:
PEC
incline dumbell press instead of incline benchpress
flat or decline dumbell press instead of flat benchpress
BICEPS
slternate dumbell curl and db scott curl instead of barbell curls
TRICEPS
lying 1 arm dumbell french press instead of barbell skull crusher
QUADS
hack squat or front squat instead of back squat
