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Barbell thoughts on following program during cut.

SethRen

Level 4 Valued Member

Table 2. SBD: Singles-Only Template​


Session One
ExercisePrescription
Back Squatx1 @9-9.5 RPEx1 @ 90% of top single
Bench Pressx1 @9-9.5 RPE2×1 @ 90% of top single
Session Two
ExercisePrescription
Deadliftx1 @9-9.5 RPEx1 @ 90% of top single
Bench Pressx1 @9-9.5 RPE2×1 @ 90% of top single
Session Three
ExercisePrescription
Back Squatx1 @9-9.5 RPEx1 @ 90% of top single
Bench Pressx1 @9-9.5 RPE2×1 @ 90% of top single
 
Heavy weight(B 280,SQ 390,Dead 500) low volume. Do you think I need more volume? Only eating 1700 cals a day
I think that sounds like a huge cut. What is your height, weight, current body fat, and goal weight/cut duration?

I think it is too high intensity. Did you build this program or get it from somewhere? What is your training goal?
 
I think that sounds like a huge cut. What is your height, weight, current body fat, and goal weight/cut duration?

I think it is too high intensity. Did you build this program or get it from somewhere? What is your training goal?
5'9 205lbs. I guess I'm 18% BF(too high) 2 month cut goal weight of 185. Training goal...? Keep as much strength as I can.
 
Do you think I need more volume?
Yeah. I'd probably look more into the 6-12 rep range for multiple sets.

1. It requires a lower weight, so you don't get a surprise failure at a max weight.
2. Helps offset muscle loss during the cut.
3. 1700 seems a bit low (but I know nothing about your maintenance calories). Shoot for 1-2% BW per week and it is usually pretty sustainable with fewer side effects.
 
5'9 205lbs. I guess I'm 18% BF(too high) 2 month cut goal weight of 185. Training goal...? Keep as much strength as I can.
Where did you get this training plan? What did you use to determine 1700 calorie goal? How many calories are you currently eating, and how has your weight responded to that amount?
 
Where did you get this training plan? What did you use to determine 1700 calorie goal? How many calories are you currently eating, and how has your weight responded to that amount?
Hey John. It seems I don't lose fat(not muscle), but fat if I don't keep my calories under 1800 a day. I'm getting 160-180 grams of protein in per day. Don't get me wrong, I feel sluggish. I'm down 2 pounds in 2 weeks(was 207). here's a link to the workout.


I can walk by a barbell and gain muscle, but fat comes with it.
 
5'9 205lbs. I guess I'm 18% BF(too high) 2 month cut goal weight of 185. Training goal...? Keep as much strength as I can.
I’m the same height and weight but probably 20% BF. I definitely am nowhere near as strong as you and would struggle to do much eating that few calories
 
I’m the same height and weight but probably 20% BF. I definitely am nowhere near as strong as you and would struggle to do much eating that few calories
maybe you guys are right. I just can't seem to slim down if I don't drop my calories to 1800 or under.
 
maybe you guys are right. I just can't seem to slim down if I don't drop my calories to 1800 or under.
I’m 44, and leaning out is much harder than when I was 24 or even 34. Currently trying 20/4 fasting a few days a week. I’m an eater, I can easily eat too many calories in a day, and it doesn’t matter how healthy, too many calories is too many. I’m finding eating from 3pm to 7pm is enough time to eat, but not enough to eat too much. I also like not having to think about food during the day.

Good luck with it whichever way you go
 
I’m 44, and leaning out is much harder than when I was 24 or even 34. Currently trying 20/4 fasting a few days a week. I’m an eater, I can easily eat too many calories in a day, and it doesn’t matter how healthy, too many calories is too many. I’m finding eating from 3pm to 7pm is enough time to eat, but not enough to eat too much. I also like not having to think about food during the day.

Good luck with it whichever way you go
Thanks Half
 
Hey John. It seems I don't lose fat(not muscle), but fat if I don't keep my calories under 1800 a day. I'm getting 160-180 grams of protein in per day. Don't get me wrong, I feel sluggish. I'm down 2 pounds in 2 weeks(was 207). here's a link to the workout.


I can walk by a barbell and gain muscle, but fat comes with it.
maybe you guys are right. I just can't seem to slim down if I don't drop my calories to 1800 or under.
Alright. Couple things.

You CAN lose weight at 1800 or likely above. If you are currently tracking, you are likely either not measuring correctly, not tracking completely (eating/drinking and not logging it), or not doing so consistently enough. But, if you have not tracked your baseline calories (where you eat and maintain 200ish lbs) you are starting blind. If you have a hard time losing weight, trying a very big cut (2+lbs a week) is NOT a good idea. If you have a hard time logging consistently or eating below your maintenance calories, a big cut is NOT a good idea.

Losing 2lbs in 2 weeks is great results. If you maintain that rate, that is awesome. If you are eating so little you are feeling sluggish, there are two options - eat more and try to add more activity and lose weight more slowly, or become OK with feeling like that.

I would suggest working on eating 2500 calories a day, tracking EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth (EVERY. THING.), and seeing what your weight does for 2 weeks. Now, based on how you're measuring and tracking, you've established a baseline and can change your calorie intake - e.g. if your weight is holding steady for those two weeks, now you have your baseline intake, take away 250 calories and monitor for 2 more weeks.

As far as training, a couple things...

Training minimally will make you burn less calories than when you were training "normally" and will make whatever caloric reduction less of a reduction, and potentially even into a surplus. Your daily activity (including exercise) can add 400-1000 calories to your daily "burn," and reducing most exercise will drastically effect that.

Why do you want to maintain your strength? If you do not have a competition coming at the end of the cut, it is better to move to something like @silveraw suggested. Accept "losing" some strength and then "rebuild" later. Getting weaker short term is not that big of a deal.

If you are invested in minimal training, I was going to recommend something more similar to his "singles and backoffs" - work up to an easy max single for that day, do an AMRAP at 90% of that (likely 2-4 reps), then do an AMRAP at 80% (likely 3-6 reps), then do some "fluff and buff" accessories, then walk @ incline for as long as you have time for. I'd suggest doing one "big exercise" a day, and S-B-D once a week each, and rotating variations of each exercise in 3-4 week cycles. For instance, do that with a competition squat in Week 1, a box squat in Week 2, and a pause squat in Week 3; for bench, you could do wide-medium-close grip or you could do flat-incline-decline, etc; for deadlift, blocks-floor-deficit works well - all that assuming you "only" have access to a regular bar. Doing something like this both allows you to maintain some strength, vary the intensity based on how you're feeling (more or less the same as the single @ RPE 9-9.5), but then adding in the reps in back offs and the accessories will help maintain muscle while adding to daily activity. Varying the exercises helps you train to those heavy singles weekly without negative effects. But again, if you do not have a competition at the end of the cut, accept the small loss in strength.
 
Alright. Couple things.

You CAN lose weight at 1800 or likely above. If you are currently tracking, you are likely either not measuring correctly, not tracking completely (eating/drinking and not logging it), or not doing so consistently enough. But, if you have not tracked your baseline calories (where you eat and maintain 200ish lbs) you are starting blind. If you have a hard time losing weight, trying a very big cut (2+lbs a week) is NOT a good idea. If you have a hard time logging consistently or eating below your maintenance calories, a big cut is NOT a good idea.

Losing 2lbs in 2 weeks is great results. If you maintain that rate, that is awesome. If you are eating so little you are feeling sluggish, there are two options - eat more and try to add more activity and lose weight more slowly, or become OK with feeling like that.

I would suggest working on eating 2500 calories a day, tracking EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth (EVERY. THING.), and seeing what your weight does for 2 weeks. Now, based on how you're measuring and tracking, you've established a baseline and can change your calorie intake - e.g. if your weight is holding steady for those two weeks, now you have your baseline intake, take away 250 calories and monitor for 2 more weeks.

As far as training, a couple things...

Training minimally will make you burn less calories than when you were training "normally" and will make whatever caloric reduction less of a reduction, and potentially even into a surplus. Your daily activity (including exercise) can add 400-1000 calories to your daily "burn," and reducing most exercise will drastically effect that.

Why do you want to maintain your strength? If you do not have a competition coming at the end of the cut, it is better to move to something like @silveraw suggested. Accept "losing" some strength and then "rebuild" later. Getting weaker short term is not that big of a deal.

If you are invested in minimal training, I was going to recommend something more similar to his "singles and backoffs" - work up to an easy max single for that day, do an AMRAP at 90% of that (likely 2-4 reps), then do an AMRAP at 80% (likely 3-6 reps), then do some "fluff and buff" accessories, then walk @ incline for as long as you have time for. I'd suggest doing one "big exercise" a day, and S-B-D once a week each, and rotating variations of each exercise in 3-4 week cycles. For instance, do that with a competition squat in Week 1, a box squat in Week 2, and a pause squat in Week 3; for bench, you could do wide-medium-close grip or you could do flat-incline-decline, etc; for deadlift, blocks-floor-deficit works well - all that assuming you "only" have access to a regular bar. Doing something like this both allows you to maintain some strength, vary the intensity based on how you're feeling (more or less the same as the single @ RPE 9-9.5), but then adding in the reps in back offs and the accessories will help maintain muscle while adding to daily activity. Varying the exercises helps you train to those heavy singles weekly without negative effects. But again, if you do not have a competition at the end of the cut, accept the small loss in strength.
John, dropping weight for comp. So the singles and back offs don't look to bad too you?
 
Have you heard of Easy Strength? (You can also google Dan John's 40-day workout and do it for 60 days.) Dan John and Pat Flynn both recommend a short, easy, heavy-ish strength workout followed by a long walk and I've found this to be pretty effective for preserving muscle and burning fat. If this interests you, I highly recommend you buy Easy Strength For Fat Loss to really dial it in properly.

Have you considered cycling your caloric intake? Modified Alternate Day Fasting recommends alternating days where you only eat 500 calories with days where you eat at maintenance or slightly above. In my experience, if you dial it in, you can reliably lose 10lbs a month. I've also tinkered and organized days like 500cals-1500cals-2500cals or 500cals-500cals-500cals-3000cals for a more rapid fat loss.
 
John, dropping weight for comp. So the singles and back offs don't look to bad too you?
I like singles and back offs in general. I think 1-2 singles like in your original template is "too little" unless you do a LOT on the way up.

Since you're dropping weight for comp, feel free to minimize the accessories but try and get in as much walking as possible so that your activity level stays up. I would not recommend rucking going into a comp unless you are used to it, but incline treadmill walking is great. Boring, but effective.

How far away is your comp?
 
What type of competition are we looking at as well? That would change some things. 185 isn't a common weight class in strength sports.
 
Maybe lower one point of RPE each and do more back off set. If you want to do singles then multi set of singles.
Thing can look like this:
1 x 1 @8 (to practice the lift with heavy weight)
Back off: Singles at 90% top set, stop when reaching @9

Personally I would do a top set single @8 or so, then back off set with higher rep range (3-6) with weight quite far from the top set. First set to practicing with heavy weight, back off sets for greasing the groove and maintains muscle mass.
 
The other day the computer on the treadmill told me I burned 500 calories doing one hour of some sort of random random hill program. It was boring like John K said but it was easy and I didn’t sweat.

4 days x 500 =2000 calories. I’m a math genius and I have the time.
 
I'm getting 160-180 grams of protein in per day.
There are, according to what I read, 4 calories in a gram of protein, therefore of your 1800 calories, roughly 1/3 of them are from protein. You could try keto, or at least try cutting the protein in half and substituting healthy fats.

-S-
 
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