Bulk and Cut - Finding the balance..

Hi all,

I saw Fadi's Lose Fat / Maintain Muscle program, but was wondering what others out there do.
I wouldn't mind trimming down by a couple of kilos - as I've had steady growth from 68kg to 80kg over the past few months (i'm 173cm).
I'd like to tone up, but not take away from my strength.. I know some people out there have actually increased strength while cutting.. What are the secrets!?!?!?

I train 4 days a week - two of the days I follow a program outlined by Markos. Only just started that recently, and if I pair that with eating heaps, and heaps of milk - i'll definitely keep growing!
But.. I wouldn't mind trimming down a bit first.. Particularly with summer around the corner..

While I've been bulking up, I stayed away from any cardio. Maybe I should introduce some interval training/weight circuit/kettlebell stuff on top of my weights program.. and maybe it's time to eat a bit less carbs, and drink only a glass or two of milk a day..

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Raphsta, I am slowly trimming down fat levels at the moment. I have simply cut back on what I am eating. I was consuming 3500 cals a day and now I am more around 2600 - 2800. This has allowed me to gradually lose fat whilst still gaining strength. Just make sure you get some carbs before training.

I was 77.5kg about a month ago and am now 75.8kg (last weigh in) so I am certainly not doing it fast, though I feel I am still maintaining and even still putting on muscle mass. I do eat a bit more on the days I train.

Thanks Josh,
That's good to know - as I've seen you've still been making steady progress in your training journal.

I think i'll just need to be a bit more sensible with my eating. I did have a tendency to go overboard with carbs.. and been having about 1 litre of full cream milk a day, might drop that down so I don't go overboard with my calorie consumption.

I also had been neglecting squats for the past few months, but now it's twice a week - so that will definitely help exert any excess energy!

Cheers.

Josh_GTiR said:

Raphsta, I am slowly trimming down fat levels at the moment. I have simply cut back on what I am eating. I was consuming 3500 cals a day and now I am more around 2600 - 2800. This has allowed me to gradually lose fat whilst still gaining strength. Just make sure you get some carbs before training.

I was 77.5kg about a month ago and am now 75.8kg (last weigh in) so I am certainly not doing it fast, though I feel I am still maintaining and even still putting on muscle mass. I do eat a bit more on the days I train.

Click to expand...

Hey Josh,

Sounds like your doing well mate! Slow and steady results, hey why do you try (I do eat a bit more on the days I train) swapping this around, so you eat the extra cals on the days you 'dont' train, it will then go straight to your growth & recovery and you will burn more of your glycogen on training days upping your fat loss.

MD

See Mika, now you are going over my head.

My main goal is still to increas strength, fat loss is second to that at the moment. My reasoning for eating more on my training days (more so carbs) is so I have enough fuel to get through my workouts and enough fuel to keep on increasing in strength. Maybe I have been doing it wrong.

That is a great idea, I will be sure to give it a go. Thanks mate.

Interesting Mika.. That does make sense..

So maybe we can consider rest days as not only growth and recovery from the past session, but preparation for the next session as well.
Since simply eating more cals/carbs on the training day, probably would not be as effective as eating more leading upto that day.

raphsta said:

Interesting Mika.. That does make sense..

So maybe we can consider rest days as not only growth and recovery from the past session, but preparation for the next session as well.
Since simply eating more cals/carbs on the training day, probably would not be as effective as eating more leading upto that day.

Click to expand...

EGGs ACTLY !!

Rest days are for rest, recovery & re-fueling, feeding your body all the goodies it needs to:
A: repair all the muscle fibres your tore in the squat rack
B: replace all the glycogen you used to fuel your workouts
C: decrease the chance of over training or injury &
D: Prepare for the .. carnage to rain down with grave vengance and furious anger... (next workout)

Its a 2 for 1 deal, not only do you get to eat a bit more, but you cycle your cals (keeping your body guessing), and increase the chance of your bodys making a full recovery ready for the next round!

To burn body fat, ideally you need to train in a depleted state, so loading up on foods before training will combat this.

To burn fat: 60 mins cardio before breakfast as (glycogen) energy (carb) stores in liver & muscle are depleted due to 8 hours of refueling sleep so fats are targeted sooner or;
15 - 30 mins cardio after weight training as (glycogen) energy (carb) stores in liver & muscle are depleted due a kick ass weight session, both will see results.

Complete this with a wholefood diet of lean meats, green vegies and good fats!

Job done

MD

Mikasadan said:

D: Prepare for the .. carnage to rain down with grave vengance and furious anger... (next workout)

Click to expand...

Haha.. I like that..

Thanks Josh and Mika for your input - very helpful..

Hey,

ive recently just started a bit of a cut a couple of weeks ago. i didnt look too much into calories but rather i looked at "cutting" diets from books and some sites on the net to get an idea of the sort of portions i should be eating because i think calorie counting has its place, but for me, it creates too much stress than what its worth. eventually you can sort of feel what is working for you.

If your workouts suffer then you need to eat more. if your not losing fat then eat less. ive gotten to the point where im losing fat and still getting stronger (slowly) but i dont know how much longer that will last. However i have noticed that sometimes i dont recover as quickly. so i think your best bet is to try what works for your body cos everyone is different. I train 3 days a week and i started doing HIIT cardio on my days off a couple of weeks ago having not done serious cardio in over a year which i was completely stuffed for. but i have noticed that it has seriously helped with my high rep squats and have now decided to keep cardio as part of my program. i try and increase the cardio intensity every session.

anyways thats whats worked for me, so hope this helps mate