Help critique my cutting routine please!

[cavtrooper96]

Hello all, I am working on cutting down a bit and wondered if some of you could critique my routine?


Background: Im 34 yrs old, 69in 200lbs and about 14%BF. I am currently deployed in the godforsaken Middle East where there is nothing here to do but eat and workout. The gym here is first class and they have EVERYTHING and then some. My goal is to get under 10% BF while preserving muscle and strength. I???ve been working out for many years and help run the Army PT program. I always score high on the PT test. Top 3-5. I have always been bulking from the 137lbs of hardgainer to the 200+ I was before we got mobilized and do not have a lot of experience personally cutting so Im looking for any pointers.


Diet: I have calculated that to maintain at my current LBM and daily activity level I need 3200 cals to maintain. I have healthy options here in the chow hall but calculating macros is not a perfect science here and sometimes it???s hard to stay at the exact cals I need for the day so I am trying to stay at approx. 2500 cals. My only carbs come from breakfast usually and is oatmeal, banana and sometimes small milk or cranberry juice. Breakfast is usually hardboiled eggs and turkey bacon with cottage chz and yogurt if they haven???t ran out yet. For lunch and dinner I stick with grilled chicken, turkey and pork mostly. I usually pick whatever the leanest meat is that they offer, broccoli, cauliflower and mixed veggies with a romaine/spinach salad. I will eat a small side of pasta on Tuesday night before my 5k run. I occasionally snack on nuts and low fat beef jerky.



Supplements: Basic ECA stack, creatine, bulk BCAA???s, beta alanine and one muscle milk shake before bed and maybe one during day. I am thinking about getting purple wrath instead of the bcaa???s on this next order? What do you all think. Oh and I have all the basics. Multi-V, fish oil and vit C, B complex. Im keeping it simple.


Workout: I do two a days with there not being much to do here. Usually first thing in the morning and then shortly after lunch. I try to do major compound lifts. Sets depend but reps are always between 5-8. I then follow up with the elliptical for 20-40 min. I will get my heart rate to 180bpm 2-3 times and then just sustain it at about 130bpm. Below is the basic workout. It varies some but not a lot. The 5k run is mandatory every Wed so it throws a kink in things sometimes.



Day 1 ??? AM: chest/back
PM: shoulders/abs
Day2 ??? AM: bis/tris
PM: Legs
Day3 ??? AM: 5k run
PM: Off
Then I either repeat or take more time off depending how Im feeling.


Chest: 3 sets of 5-8 reps incline, decline and flat = total 9 sets.
Back: 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps of Pulldowns, t-bar rows, deadlift
Shoulders: 5 sets of 5-8 reps military press followed by 3 sets front, side and rear lat raises and shrugs
Legs: 4 sets squats, leg press, calf raise, 3 sets leg extension and curl
Bis/tris: various workouts just to finnish out or hit on what I feel may be lacking from the compound exercises.
Abs: 2-3 times a week. I am focusing on weighted ab exercises primarily and sometimes follow up with other body weight routines.

 

[Built]

Okay, cutting, I'd ditch direct arm work while cutting, and move toward a routine that hits your parts with a bit more frequency. A two-day alternating program works well for this, with some upper and some lower in each workout. Stick to heavy compounds. I like the twice-daily workout idea - each workout can be twenty minutes long, and you won't be utterly spent. Eat your carbs at the end of the day; stay low carb through the day otherwise, and don't snack at all. No need for pasta on your running days; cardio doesn't need carbs unless you're running for performance.

 

[cavtrooper96]

Okay, cutting, I'd ditch direct arm work while cutting, and move toward a routine that hits your parts with a bit more frequency. A two-day alternating program works well for this, with some upper and some lower in each workout. Stick to heavy compounds. I like the twice-daily workout idea - each workout can be twenty minutes long, and you won't be utterly spent. Eat your carbs at the end of the day; stay low carb through the day otherwise, and don't snack at all. No need for pasta on your running days; cardio doesn't need carbs unless you're running for performance.

Awesome advice. Thank you! As far as a routine that hits with more frequency and with some upper and lower do you have any suggestions for the 2 a days? My lifting workouts have been under 30 min which leaves me with plenty of energy for cardio and not leaving utterly spent. Also, do you mind telling me a little more on why to ditch direct arm workouts while cutting?

On the 5k I am running to keep my time close to 24min which is hard in the dry desert when its close to 100F at 6am. I ran one with no carbs since I was depleting for a few days and I was dead by the 3rd mile so I tried just a little bit of pasta the night before and it helped. I came in at 26:31. If I switch my carbs from morning to night, then it should help. The variety of quality carbs are pretty lacking at night. Sometimes they have brown rice or sweet potato and a lot of times they dont. They always have pasta, yogurt and fruit.

 

[Built]

If the cardio is something you are required to keep up, then do what you need to do. If you're doing cardio for fat loss, you may choose to do something less intense, like walking, and do it fasted or at least carbless.

On a cut, you're not going to bring up anything. Arms are easy to overtrain on sub-maintenance calories, which is why I suggest ditching most if not all direct am work until you're at maintenance, or bulking.

Re workouts - well, list the movement patterns you will train: vertical push, vertical pull, horizontal push, horizontal pull, quad dominant, hamstring/posterior chain dominant.

Now split it up. Perhaps do quads and the vertial plane one day, and posterior chain/hams with the horizontal plane the other.

This could be:
squats, cleans, chins, and shoulder press
and
deadlifts/Romanian deads/good mornings, bench press, rows (t-bar or dumbbell) on another.

Since you train twice a day, for day one it could be:
AM
squats
chins


PM
cleans/clean and jerk
shoulder-press/Olympic barbell corner press

Maybe do abs with one of the workouts, and of course post workout stretches, preworkout dynamic warmup

You could break the other workout up similarly
AM
Bench press
Rows (t-bar or dumbbell)

PM
deadlifts/Romanian deads/good mornings, abs, physio/stretches

Thoughts?

 

[cavtrooper96]

If the cardio is something you are required to keep up, then do what you need to do. If you're doing cardio for fat loss, you may choose to do something less intense, like walking, and do it fasted or at least carbless.

On a cut, you're not going to bring up anything. Arms are easy to overtrain on sub-maintenance calories, which is why I suggest ditching most if not all direct am work until you're at maintenance, or bulking.

Re workouts - well, list the movement patterns you will train: vertical push, vertical pull, horizontal push, horizontal pull, quad dominant, hamstring/posterior chain dominant.

Now split it up. Perhaps do quads and the vertial plane one day, and posterior chain/hams with the horizontal plane the other.

This could be:
squats, cleans, chins, and shoulder press
and
deadlifts/Romanian deads/good mornings, bench press, rows (t-bar or dumbbell) on another.

Since you train twice a day, for day one it could be:
AM
squats
chins


PM
cleans/clean and jerk
shoulder-press/Olympic barbell corner press

Maybe do abs with one of the workouts, and of course post workout stretches, preworkout dynamic warmup

You could break the other workout up similarly
AM
Bench press
Rows (t-bar or dumbbell)

PM
deadlifts/Romanian deads/good mornings, abs, physio/stretches

Thoughts?

That makes perfect sense. Your breakdown is pretty similar to what I was thinking of as well. Just to clarify on the lifts listed aboveI would pick one of the lifts divided by a slash? For example I would do either of the deadlifts but not both and either the shoulder press or corner press but not both right?

And as far as sets, would you suggest 4-5 sets of each to start and further into the cut lighten up a bit?
Also, 2 day on and 1 off should be ok right? And would you suggest purple wrath or bulk BCAA's?

 

[Built]

On all the closed-form questions, the answer is affirmative. Re the latter, I am unfamiliar with purple wrath. Use whatever supps you find helpful.

 

[cavtrooper96]

On all the closed-form questions, the answer is affirmative. Re the latter, I am unfamiliar with purple wrath. Use whatever supps you find helpful.

Thank you very much for your help!!! It is greatly appreciated.