Back to cutting

Troublemonster
Troublemonster Posts: 223 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am thinking about switching to a cutting phase after 3 months or so of moderate bulking. Is it really necessary for me to come up with a whole new routine for my workout or would it be sufficient to just cut my calorie intake by a few hundred, my rest time between sets shorter, and maybe put more focus on cardio?

Right now I am doing a 4 day/wk Wendler 5/3/1 routine with a big helping of support work to go with it and a cardio/core day in the middle to break up the heavy lifting days.

Replies

  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    Why not keep pushing the same routine as long as you can until the cut makes you weaker?
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Why not keep pushing the same routine as long as you can until the cut makes you weaker?

    This is how I would do it. Reduce cals, train the same. If you get to a point that you can't keep up, reduce volume instead of reducing load.

    I wouldn't reduce rest time as that's just going to make you even less likely to maintain strength.

    Create your deficit through diet.
  • Troublemonster
    Troublemonster Posts: 223 Member
    Sweet, so do I need to adjust macros then or just drop the calories so everything stays in proportion. I am pretty high protein and high carb with low fat right now.

    I was hoping you guys would say stay with the routine I'm on because, well, I like it a lot. Plus it will be easy to keep track of then since I can just cut for say two cycles, then see where I'm at.
  • Maaarkk
    Maaarkk Posts: 93 Member
    Advice from personal experience.

    Recently went from 92-93kg down to 86-87kg.

    Kept the exact same routine, just dropped my calories to a deficit of around 3-400 calories.

    Only really worry about protein, carbs & fat; at around 40/40/20%

    Went from 14% down to about 12% at the moment with no strength losses (actually been improving some lifts)
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    I am going to keep my routine the same as long as I can. If there is strength loss I will know it is because of the calories. If there is strength gain I will know it is in spite of the lower cals. : ) I am doing the 5/3/1 with some hypertrophy accessories. If I have to reduce volume it will come off the accessories because there is not going to be any mass building anyways.

    The deficit will come from my diet. Mostly from carbs as I will keep protein and fat minimums based off body weight.
  • MelStren
    MelStren Posts: 457 Member
    bump

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