How far into your cut before you experience strength loss

[steveP]

It's not a black and white area. The deeper you get into a cut, usually the more cardio you're doing. So I guess you could lose strength in regular dietary conditions if you over did the cardio as well.

It also depends on how long you're cutting for and how much you need to cut.

Ball park figure, I'd say you should be able to maintain your strength up until 4 weeks out of D-day.

When you start cutting, you usually start eating cleaner and start dropping body weight. So with exercises that involve body weight (squats, deadlifts, push ups), you're actually moving less weight. As a result, during the first stage of your cut, you'll probably get stronger/add weight to the bar.

 

[steveP]

So really even for a natural lifter it is agreed that a bulk cut cycle is still required to build muscle and mass, although with a longer time frame, instead of bulking to be fatty boomba and cutty to me soccer player thin and hence losing all your gainz anyway.....

The true bulking/cutting cycles are for enhanced lifters. This is because while on gear they have increased protein synthesis. So you want to maximise the amount you can gain during your window on gear.

For natural lifters, slow light bulking is the best.

 

[Darkoz]

^ "light bulking" , now I've heard it all

 

[Darkoz]

I don't really know where to start with this bulking/cutting myth, yes it's a myth no doubt.
Who does tbe bulking and cutting? Yep, professional/competing bodybuilders, they'll reduce calories LEADING UP TO A SHOW so they will be more defined and therefore they can be judged according to the competition's criteria ON A PARTICULAR DAY.

Now it's no secret that the one's who may benefit more from this approach are drug taking professional/competing bodybuilders, once tbe competition is over some will go back to eating like they do normally which is still healthful and sensible while other lazy bastards, usually huge ifbb pros for instance , will go on an eating rampage mainly because they can but also because they are taking a cocktail of chemical enhancement, something that a truly natural competitor cannot get away with and certainly not you or I.

if you're a competing bodybuilder and you have to get in condition for a particular competition on a particular date, then sure, you have to reduce calories to to appear defined to be competitive.

However, amateur, recreational lifting (that counts all of us here) is about a lifestyle which includes what and how we eat each and every day, it's not about fucking dieting, cutting or fucken bulking, which is the dumbest thing you could do, it's no different than the stupid girls who get sucked into the latest fad diet, you know, the ones you laugh at.

 

[Jungnaut]

I don't think most of us natties would be silly enough to go on a drastic GOMAD and allyoucaneat bulk followed by balls to the wall diet of coconut water just for the hell of it. Unless you're tracking with the accuracy of a nuclear boffin mad scientist the average person will be eating to a slight surplus (light bulk), now this adds up over time so a "cut" every once in a while to trim the excess fat off is a very healthy thing to do not to mention aesthetics brah..

So as you can see the cut is only embarked on a "as needs" basis for us mere mortals. Actually in my case I forgot that I can't put on muscle as hectic as I did in me early twenties so I started to lose dat damn six pack.