Thread: getting ripped

I completed my first bulk ever, and ended up putting on about 18 lbs of mass over about 4 months. I did put on a bit more bodyfat then I wanted, but the only reason I went on a bulk is because I finally felt confident enough in my ability to shed fat. So, let's get to work. I want to cut for exactly two months and end up at 195lbs.

Some stats:

Age: 27
Weight: 208lbs
Start of cut: March 08, 2010
End of cut: May 08, 2010
Goal Weight: 195lbs.

So I need to lose 13lbs over about 8 weeks. This means on average, I need to be losing around 1.5lbs of fat per week. I know my body by now, and it's very doable.

I will be starting off with reduced carbs, then eventually introduce carb cycling into the mix as I lean out. Weights 3 times a week, cardio (mixture of steady state and HIIT) 5 times a week.

Weekly update photos will be posted.



PS: As an aside, I went up to 210lbs from a very lean 192lbs, so I hope to end up at 195 this summer with about 10 more pounds of lean mass.

Want something that might work well for you from here?

I train four days a week so I'll set it up for Monday Tuesday, Thursday Friday.

The diet I generally follow is EITHER flat-out Atkins (high fat, moderate protein, low carb) OR carb cycling, as set up in my blog: Got Built? » How to set up a diet – basic carb cycling

Like you, I tend to start with low carb and move toward carb cycling as the cut progresses.

Here's a sample workout

Monday: horizontal push pull (5x5T-bars, 3x8 one arm rows, 2-3x12cable rows; 5x5 barbell bench, 3x8 dumbbell bench, 2-3x12 flyes)

Tuesday: quad dominant, ham accessory (5x5 below-parallel barbell squats, 3x8 front squats, 2-3x12 walking lunges; 3x8 Romanian deads, 2-3x12 SHELC)

Wednesday: off

Thursday: vertical push pull (5x5 weighted chins or negative chins, 3x8 unweighted chins or lat pulldowns, 2-3x12 single arm lat pulldowns; my shoulder module from my blog for vert push Got Built? » The Shoulders of Giants)

Friday: ham dominant, quad accessory (5x5 deadlifts or Romanian deads, 3x8 good mornings, 2-3x12 SHELC; 3x8 back or front squats, 2-3x12 stepups)

Saturday: no lifting

Sunday: no lifting

The movement planes always starts with a 5-rep heavy compound and works its way down the rep ranges, although you can vary the workout order according to equipment availability.

For instance, Monday's workout, horozontal pushing and pulling.
5x5 T-bar rows
3x8 one-arm dumbbell rows
2-3x12 seated cable rows.

5x5 flat or low incline barbell press
3x8 flat or low incline dumbbell press
2-3x8 flyes, cable flyes or pec deck

You could do the T-bars, then the one-arm rows, then the barbell bench, then the seated cable rows, then the dumbbell press and then the pec dec, for instance. But you wouldn't start with the cable flyes or the dumbbell rows. Make sense?

If you're bulking, you'd do the entire workout, and make sure you consistently eat more food than you require, in order to ensure that you gain weight.

Since you're cutting, you'd do only the 5 and 8 rep work, and as the cut progresses, you'd drop to 4x5, and then 3x5 for the heavy compounds, and perhaps only do 2x8 for the 8-rep work. The reason is because on a cut, you don't have that much energy and it's important to save what little you have for the heavy stuff, to stimulate muscle-retention. You're not going to build any muscle while dropping weight, the best you can hope for is to not LOSE any muscle. Hitting the muscles hard in short workouts, and hitting them frequently (you pretty much hit everything at least twice a week) helps stimulate them to stick around without overtraining them to death.

If you're going to do cardio, you can follow the setup offered in "how to do cardio if you must", copied below:
Got Built? » How to do Cardio if you MUST!

Day 1 – Horizontal Push Pull – high (or medium) carb day
Week 1. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM or 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 2. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting
Week 3. 25 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 4. 30 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
Max 60 minutes SS cardio for the day as your cut progresses

Day 2 – Quad Dominant – high carb day
Week 1. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM or 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 2. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 3. HIIT in the AM OR right after lifting; 5 – 20:40 work:recovery intervals;
– start and finish with SS for a total of 20 minutes.
Week 4. HIIT in the AM OR right after lifting; 6 – 20:40 work:recovery intervals;
– start and finish with SS for a total of 20 minutes.
Add one extra sprint per week – Max of twelve 20:40 sprints as your cut progresses

Day 3 – Rest – low carb day

Day 4 – Vertical Push Pull – high (or medium) carb day
Week 1. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM or 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 2. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting
Week 3. 25 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 4. 30 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
60 minutes max for the day as your cut progresses

Day 5 – Ham Dominant – high-carb day
Week 1. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM or 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 2. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 3. 20 minutes of SS cardio in the AM and 20 minutes right after lifting.
Week 4. HIIT in the AM OR right after lifting; 4 – 30:60 work:recovery intervals;
– start and finish with SS for a total of 20 minutes.
Add one extra sprint per week – Max of eight 20:40 sprints as your cut progresses

Day 6 – No lifting – low carb day
Week 1. Half hour moderate intensity SS cardio
Week 2. 20 minutes of hill-repeats
Week 3. 25 minutes of hill-repeats
Week 4. 30 minutes of hill-repeats
Max for hill repeats is 40 minutes. You’ll know why when you do ‘em. <smirk>

Day 7 – Rest – low carb day

**Always give yourself at least one full day without training**

Keep up the good work.