Cutting phase

toa$t

Bluelighter
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How long should I being doing this to look my best? I'm going away the first week of september and I want to be in primo condition for it. I've been bulking for a couple of months, but injuries have kept me from getting where I really wanted to be right now. I was hoping to hit 200 lbs before I started cutting, but that is not realistic at this point (I think I'm about 185ish, and there are definitely 10 lbs or so that I could afford to ditch).

do I need to start cutting now, or can I give it a couple more weeks? I am fully prepared to go hardcore with it.

any other tips are also greatly appreciated.
 
Age 27

• Weight 185 lbs

height 6'1"

• BF% Ballpark 15%

• Diet approx 3500 calories, 200 g protein

• Work out schedule 5 day split low rep heavy lifting no cardio (the occasional 10km rollerblade) for bulking. been doing this for ~2 months.

the plan is to cut calories to about 2500, no dairy, no simple carbs, no complex carbs after noon. no salt. maintain the protein.

switch over to 4 days a week cardio interval training.
I'd like to switch the weight training over to a circuit workout of some kind, but my gym isn't ideally set up for that. I will probably alternate body parts and switch exercises every 4 sets with no rest between sets.

e.g. curls/calves x4 switch to preacher/leg press x 4.
 
I'd def start now- thats not too long. Your unlikely to manage to shift the whole of 10lbs in less than 8 weeks even with that very decent diet/training plan.
 
start cutting 2months before hand imo. higher reps lower weight then maxing out on 4rep for mass.
 
Most people don't even THINK about cutting until they're about 20-25+ % body fat.

For sure, I've NEVER seen someone start to cut at 185 lbs & 15%, which would already be absolutely ripped by "average American" standards.
 
well, i am neither average nor american, so i guess that standard wouldn't apply.

day 2 report: cutting fucking sucks.
 
Most people don't even THINK about cutting until they're about 20-25+ % body fat.

For sure, I've NEVER seen someone start to cut at 185 lbs & 15%, which would already be absolutely ripped by "average American" standards.

But most people would agree you look your best at about 7%-10% BF. So why not go for it.

I don't think I've ever been above 20% in my life....
 
hi sorry to interrupt the thread but just wondering if anyone every has really bad joint pain when on strict low calorie diets or fasting?

I had been taking phentermine and was having protein smoothies and fruit and very low cals for a few days and also taking metformin twice a day. was also drinking alkalizing fluids like eno to help the phentermine. Anyway after a few days of this i started having very bad ankle pain and was limping badly during my walks and generally during the day. had not injured it at any time. was so bad i did not think i would make it home from walk yesterday. then during yesterday and today i started eating more normal diet and pain miraculously disappears. also had other weird symptoms like bad constipation (sorry if thats too much info) and was having chest pain in the end. thats what scared me and made me start eating normally again.

sorry to go on but thought it must have been some kind of imbalance in the body from maybe lack of salt or some other mineral. anyone else get this?
 
But most people would agree you look your best at about 7%-10% BF. So why not go for it.

I don't think I've ever been above 20% in my life....

20+% body fat doesn't look bad if you have a lot of muscle. Granted, if you DON'T have much muscle, you'd probably look a bit pudgy (or "skinnyfat", if your bodyweight is low) at 20-25%. But, by the same token, if you don't have much muscle, you will look scrawny at 7-10%.

I would guess that a guy who is 6'1" 185lbs @ 15% body fat sort of has a "long and lean" look. And conventional bodybuilding wisdom suggests that if you look long and lean, then you should continue bulking.

I could be wrong, though :)
 
Cutting is all about your diet....

I suggest cardio in the morning on an empty stomach while supplementing with BCAAs to prevent muscle catabolism...

30-45 minutes low intensity cardio should do the trick if you're consistent...

Post your diet and we'll try to see if it needs any tweaking...
 
Cutting is all about your diet....

I suggest cardio in the morning on an empty stomach while supplementing with BCAAs to prevent muscle catabolism...

30-45 minutes low intensity cardio should do the trick if you're consistent...

Post your diet and we'll try to see if it needs any tweaking...

Has this worked well for you? Cardio in the morning? When you cortisol levels are the highest? How many g's of bcaa's would you recommend to get rid of the cortisol?

To the op - I would continue bulking, at 6'1, 185, you'll probably look extremely skinny if you drop 10 pounds. JMO, I'm not sure if that's what your looking for.
 
Has this worked well for you? Cardio in the morning? When you cortisol levels are the highest? How many g's of bcaa's would you recommend to get rid of the cortisol?

To the op - I would continue bulking, at 6'1, 185, you'll probably look extremely skinny if you drop 10 pounds. JMO, I'm not sure if that's what your looking for.

Yes it has....I take Optimum Nutrition's 1000mg BCAAs caps...4 of them 15 minutes before a fast uphill treadmill walk..
 
cardio in the morning ain't gonna happen. i'm a 9-5er, and there's no way i'm getting up for that.

basically, my goal is a six pack. i'm close, but there's a little pudge that won't budge. I don't really care about being huge-- ideally I'd probably like to weigh in the 195-205 range, but that is obviously not going to happen in the next 2 months if I intend to have a 6 pack. it would really be one or the other, and considering that I intend to spend 10 days without a shirt on, i think I know which to choose.

this is what I am working with:
NSFW:
toast420
.
 
You could get ripped by September...keeping those nitrogen levels high with frequency of small meals containing at least 25grams of protein is key...

Looks like you're holding some water/sodium bloat too...keep hydrated to flush out that sodium
 
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