Mini-cut

[blastthru23]

I just completed a mini-cut (3 weeks) so I figured I write a little blurb on it.

A mini-cut is just as its name suggests, a quick cut that is short in duration. You can fashion it how ever you see fit, that is, the duration, and the extremeness of the deficit in energy balance. You can do it in the middle of a mass gain cycle if you sense or see that you are gaining to much fat, when you are cutting, and you would like to quickly remove a few percentage points quickly. I don't believe that this is a strategy to use if your are merely trying to lose fat when you're body fat is already high, and if your insulin and leptin sensitivity are compromised, though it may be fine if you are already steeped in a training program and progress is already substantial. That is my opinion, which is loosely based on what I have come to understand about the endocrine system and metabolism. I'm not going to delve into that rabbit hole now, as I don't believe I am qualified to do so yet.

First, you will need to estimate your TDEE from which to decide at what level of deficit you want to run the low days. There are many calculators online. Remember, this is an estimate much like bf%, it's not exact, but in general its fairly close. For the sake of this topic, I will use my own numbers (because I'm Lazy). I'll give you the menu as well, its hella simple.

TDEE 3100; Weight 210; BF% 9.4; Age 47; Male

I decided to go with a conservative deficit of 600 calories or 2500 calories (LOW days), and 3000 calories on the maintenance day. (NOTE: I fucked up when measuring the oats in my whey shakes for the first week, for some reason I did 4 tablespoons instead of 8 so the calories were lower. Oops). I was able to drop over 1% bf in 10 days. Separation in the quads really came through, which was no less than delightful. The cut resulted in scale weight at 206-207, bf% in the 8% range, (and I am now 40 years old, and 6 feet tall, whoa who would of thunk!) I will admit that I was hardly ever satiated the first week and a half, I did raid the fridge from time to time in the late night hours when waking to take a leak, nothing too drastic, sometimes a slice of bread dipped in salsa, a piece of fruit, but never chocolate. I had my daughter hide the chocolate, and instructed her to never under any circumstances eat her ice cream, in return I pinky promised I wouldn't snack on her ice cream at night. Anyways...I cheated here and there but not on junk food. And it still worked. Training did not change, though energy would be exhausted sooner than usual. Didn't add cardio. And, boy the maintenance day was fucking awesome! Eggs and rice yummmmm.

Monday: Low

Tuesday: Low

Wednesday: Low

Thursday: Maintenance

Friday: Low

Saturday: Low

Sunday: Low

Monday: Maintenance

MENU: LOW DAYS- 2500 CAL [P: 281; C: 187; F: 70]

Meal 1: Whey 46g; Oats 1/2 cup; Glucose 5g

Meal 2: Chicken 7oz; White Rice 1 cup; Asparagus

Meal 3: Chicken 7oz; Avocado oil 1 1/2 tblsp; Asparagus

Meal 4: Chicken 7oz: White Rice 1 cup; Asparagus

Meal 5: Whey 46g; Oats 1/2 cup; Glucose 5g (Post workout)

Meal 6: Chicken 7oz: Avocado Oil 1 1/2 tblsp

MENU: MAINTENANCE DAY-3000 CAL [P: 225: C: 375; F: 64]

Meal 1: Whey 38g; Oats 1 1/4 cup

Meal 2: Chicken 6oz; White Rice 2 cups; Avocado Oil 1 tblsp

Meal 3: Egg Whites 2-3 yolks 2 cups; Oil 2tblsp (used for cooking); Asparagus

Meal 4: Chicken 6oz; White Rice 2 cups;  Asparagus

Meal 5: Whey 38g; Oats 1 cup; Glucose 16g (post workout)

Meal 6: Chicken 6oz; Avocado Oil 1 Tblsp; Asparagus (Sometimes I would add avocado instead of oil)

 

 

 

 

 

[Mister A]

We are nearly the same weight and body composition (215 8.6%) but if I ate like this I would gain fat and lose muscle at an alarming rate. It's pretty cool. Congrats on your success with the mini cut. My mini-cuts are very differently designed.

 

[blastthru23]

What does your look like? You know I'm interested. On the one above, and likely due to the compounds I've been using, strength stayed fairly steady, tho squats went down a little, but that could have been due to the deficit energy balance.

 

[Mister A]

There is a good amount of research out there that concludes losing muscle and strength takes weeks rather than days in a general setting i.e calories remain somewhat near maintenance, etc. I remember reading one study done on athletes that featured a sole variable of stopping all weight training for 6 weeks, diet staying the same. I can recall that around the 3-4 week mark is when subjects began to lose muscle, but it wasn't until the 5-6 week mark that significant losses were seen. So I have always believed that the fear most bodybuilders have of losing muscle is unwarranted assuming they are eating adequately. Losing actual muscle tissue is a little less likely than people think. Only periods of high inflammation without an adequate supply of present aminos would cause any real damage. An example of this would be like not eating all day and then going to the gym and training as intensely as possible for as long as your underfed body was able to and then not eating afterwards for hours. That would more than likely cause some muscle tissue loss. A steady (constant) supply of aminos is the best insurance against muscle/strength loss. Supraphysiological amounts of testosterone is the second best. Only at very low body fat levels do we actually start to burn muscle for fuel despite these insurance policies.

So my mini-cut theory is based in the fearlessness of the belief that a short term fat loss strategy will not cause muscle loss. It may sound a little counter intuitive, but I like to train less frequently during a mini cut because I am only utilizing mini cuts during a growth cycle so I view the secondary purpose of the cut as a chance to restore my muscles, joints and my internal systems. I think of a mini cut as an extended rest day, in a sense. My rest day goals during a growth phase are to basically restore my systems to create an improved environment for growth on my training days. So that's what a mini cut is to me, but with the added objective of lowering my body fat.

15 Day Mini Cut

Bulking calories for training days are, for the sake of this discussion, 4000 calories.

I start by decreasing my overall calories by 20%. This brings me right above maintenance. I pull this 20% from carbs. Proteins and Fats remain unchanged (Rest day and Training Day protein values are different, but remain consistent). From an insulin sensitivity standpoint, this means decreasing the number of daily carb meals from 4-5 to 3. 2 meals pre workout and one meal post workout on training days. On rest days there are zero carbs.

Next, initiate an Intermittent Fasting protocol of 16/8. On rest days protocol shifts to 19/5.

Next, add 20 minutes of fasted cardio daily regardless of training or rest day. I sip on 5g of BCAA during cardio.

Next, training frequency shifts to 2 on/1 off. 10 training days, 5 rest days per 15 Day Mini Cut. All intensity principles like drop sets, rest pause sets, supersets, etc are dropped. Number of reps per set drops from 6-12 to 5-10. Overall volume is decreased by 10%. Rest periods between sets are decrease by 15-30 seconds. This result is using the same or similar weights as normally used. Training intensity is, as always, life or death. I do not believe in ever lowering the degree of effort in my training. There is no such thing as a "light day" to me. Every time I step foot in the gym, I am doing so with the intent of being the hardest working bodybuilder alive. I adjust the circumstances of my training such as outlined above, but I work as hard as I possibly can within those circumstances. The circumstances create the limits, not my effort.

Supplements:

Yohimbine 8mg before fasted cardio.

Caffeine pre-workout.

I pull out any compounds that cause excess water retention.

Anavar 80mg daily.

Winstrol 50mg daily.

In the future I'd like to experiment with XXX at 200-400mg for the last 10 days of the mini cut, but I have not done so yet.

 

[blastthru23]

I have read/heard (podcast) the same thing, that muscle loss occurs after some weeks not overnight, especially if there is sufficient protein, and one is training. Even if, during a mini cut one did lose muscle tissue, it would so little that the sacrifice would be worth the effort to lose fat. Much like one often gains some fat while gaining muscle mass.

One thing I'll mention here is that on rest days, days that are for all intents and purposes are for muscle and CNS recovery, I have read that reducing calories on these days might not be beneficial to that end since the body needs the calories to repair muscle damage.  I believe it was Broderick Chavez and Maybe Brian Schoenfeld that suggested to actually raise caloric intake to at or slightly above maintenance on rest days. What I have noticed personally is that when a refeed occurs on a rest day, my recovery does seem to happen little more effectively (placebo? maybe). For example, when I train pecs hard, I am often sore for up to 4 days, each day progressively less. On day 4, when I train chest again absent a refeed on rest day, the pecs are slightly sore when trained again. However, If I refeed on rest a rest day, I have noticed quicker recovery, and more energy and drive when I train that group again on day four. The refeed was merely fortuitous, that is, not planned to occur on a rest day. In view of that experience, in the future, instead of following a strict pattern of deficit-refeed, I will do a refeed on a rest day, to see if over time I get the same result, namely, quicker recovery, and more effective training sessions afterward.

I like this statement you made, and I follow it more or less the same, but perhaps with less thought LOL. A so-called deload doesn't mean to make no effort, to just tippy toe through a training session. Every session ought to have max-effort.

"Training intensity is, as always, life or death. I do not believe in ever lowering the degree of effort in my training. There is no such thing as a "light day" to me. Every time I step foot in the gym, I am doing so with the intent of being the hardest working bodybuilder alive. I adjust the circumstances of my training such as outlined above, but I work as hard as I possibly can within those circumstances. The circumstances create the limits, not my effort."

No talk of the D

 

[Dolf]

Grizz that stuff is poison and dangerous brother. Please be very careful if you decide to use it. I hope you choose to use more safer alternatives. 

 

[Mister A]

Increasing calories on a rest day will help your muscular system recover faster.

However, doing so doesn't rest your digestive system. It doesn't decrease inflammation. It doesn't promote alkalinity. It does not improve kidney or liver function. It does not improve the signaling and efficacy of the AMPK pathway. It will prevent autophagy from occurring, which during a bulk is incredibly beneficial. It will also promote insulin resistance which will work against the goal of a mini cut as well as against the goal of the bulk surrounding the mini cut. A refeed on a rest day is one of the worst things one can do from an insulin sensitivity standpoint.

The intelligent bodybuilder recognizes a rest day is about much more than giving your muscles a rest from training.

 

[Mister A]

Why was that censored?

 

[Dolf]

I'm not a mod currently, but if I were I would not have censored it, but dnp is a taboo subject on just about every review site as is discussing the use of insulin. Both if not used properly can be very deadly as you already know. 

 

[blastthru23]

I hesitated to censor, but when I was made a mod, shortly after, I was told to censor anything related to that which was censored. They added a clause "No talk of DXX and iXXXXXn in the rules. Personally, I think sane discussion of such compounds would be a good idea (I had suggested an advanced forum where that and other compounds could be discussed openly, but it hasn't happened yet)

 

[blastthru23]

A refeed on a rest day is more for while dieting down. But I do understand giving the digestive system a break while bulking depending on ones state of digestive health. But, I don't think that insulin sensitivity would necessarily be compromised from one refeed on a rest day once or twice per 4 week period, unless the individual perhaps is dealing with insulin resistance, perhaps under those circumstances it may be different.

 

[Dolf]

If we could limit the discussion of tbose two things to onlu highly experienced competitive bodybuilders there would be no issue imo. The lroblem is the young guy who still believes he's invincible will also read that and irresponsibly use it. Both things can be so deadly that discussion of it's use has been banned by almost every review site. Nobody wants someones blood on their hands. It could also cause such an uproar from the general public forcing the govt to shut down sites like ours. 

 

[Mister A]

I am aware. Apparently whoever censored it is unaware that Yohimbine, if not used properly, can be deadly as well. Improper usage will continue on so long as XXX and XXX remain taboo subjects. Only by getting past the demonization of these drugs and realizing that the drugs themselves are not dangerous, but the (mis)usage behind them is, will we be able to educate people and prevent as much misuse as possible. I thought that's what the point of forums like this was - to share our experiences with others so they may make better informed decision for themselves.

I am currently using XXX and I am not dead. Because I am using it responsibly. I'm not even using it for the purpose of burning fat as so many people seem to he fixated on. I'm running XXX at 75mg a day to improve insulin sensitivity.

I guess I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around the idea of censoring the use of a specific compound but not others. We can discuss running Tren at 700mg a week or higher, but XXX at 200mg a day warrants censorship? That is the epitome of contradiction. The people running Tren that high probably have no idea about the clinical research found that shows Trenbolone leads to neurodegeneration in a similar way created by Alzheimer's. Seems pretty dangerous to me. Why isn't that censored as well?

What about Clenbuterol? How many newbies come on here and say they want to run a clen and var cycle to get ripped for summer? Does anyone even ever present the negative long term side effects of Clenbuterol? Increased cardiac hypertrophy in as little as 4 weeks of use. Left side cardiac atrophy. What about the short term stroke and sudden deaths related to overdosing on Clenbuterol? Sounds very similar to the potential side effects of XXX, yet no one has ever censored Clen on this site.

Why wasn't the Yohimbine portion of my supplemental stack censored? I feel much worse physically on 8mg of Yohimbine than I do on 75mg of XXX - much worse. And if you don't think Yohimbine is deadly, then swallow a whole bottle and prove to us that it isn't. (Don't actually do this. You will die and it will be the least enjoyable few hours of your life.)

A car is dangerous if used improperly. A can of hair spray. A pair of scissors. All deadly if used improperly. Censoring XXX is exactly what's wrong with society today. Everyone wants to blame the Millennials for their sense of entitlement and their lack of responsibility for themselves. The truth is that this sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility they have inherited was taught to them by their Gen X parents just as you are doing so now. XXX has been demonized. Insulin has been demonized. Steroids have been demonized. The finger has been pointed to the drug itself instead of the person using the drug. "This poor guy died as a result of using XXX" "This father of two was taken too soon by steroids and insulin." No. These people were not killed by XXX or steroids or insulin. They died because they were fucking stupid. They died because of their own lack of knowledge, experience, caution, respect of the drugs they were using, etc. They died and they're responsible for themselves. That is the lesson the Millennials haven't been getting - we are all responsible for ourselves and to shift the blame for our actions away from the individual and onto something intangible and totally indifferent is not only irresponsible, but it's also short sighted.

Drugs don't go away when you don't talk about them. Kids don't stop using heroin because their parents are too afraid to talk about it with them. XXX exists. It will continue to exist. People will continue to use it. If we can't discuss it here - on a forum designed to discuss illegal and dangerous drugs - where are we going to discuss it?

This will probably get me banned and that act will be another example of what's wrong with the world today.

 

[Mister A]

Double post.

 

[Dolf]

I agree with a lot of what you said, and to think that post will get you banned is ridiculous. Lol

The problem is that tren nor clen are made with a chemical ingredient that is used to manufacture explosives. Tren will not cook your organs. Nobody has seen a well documented log of tren use go silent and then several weeks later that guys obituary posted on the review site. This guy was not an idiot. He just made an innocent mistake and it cost him his life. I personally feel discussion of the two should be allowed as long as the info and direction provided is accurate and responsible, but I don't make the rules. On the flip side I don't believe either sbould be used unless you're a pro bodybuilder, and under doctors supervision.

 

[Mister A]

Copy.

 

[blastthru23]

While I agree with much of what you said above, but I don't make the rules, and yes why one thing probably just as dangerous as another if used improperly can be talked about while other things cannot is confusing. Yes, things cannot be talked about in large due to idiots doing things improperly. I have to censor, because its in the rules. And like I said, I have asked for a closed forum for so-called advanced topics as I believe that they should be discussed. I believe the rule that prohibits talk of certain things is to keep newbies from thinking its ok to use these things. I don't make the rules and some of them I don't agree with. It may be a better idea to simply ask admin to create a forum where things like this can be discussed. I know that you are intelligent, and have researched and probably even understood on a deeper level what you have read or heard in the research studies, and its likely the case that many who read or hear research topics think they know just because the had sufficient stimulation of the optic nerve and V-5 cortex to simply see letters on a page constitutes understanding, which we know is sufficient to instantiate understanding, the letters on the page have to reach other cortices of the brain and synthesize into meaningful concepts already known to create a substantive judgement concerning the new information. Many who come on here are in fact new and often shouldn't even be running the smallest dosage of anything, not having any significant understanding beyond "Drugs will make me huge and shredded in 8 weeks", which we know is utter bs. Such is life. Most likely haven't a clue what they are getting into...

 

[SemperFi]

I also agree with much of what you posted Griz. I have made a decision to never use either of those two things because of OPEN discussion. My children have made the decision to never use heroin or meth because of open discussion. My grandson's have made the decision to pee at the base of a tree because of open discussion...

A possible improvement to the forum here is to have an 'invite only' section like some of us have requested. Until then we use the tools that are made available to us. 

 

SEMPER FI

 

[Mister A]

That makes a lot of sense to me. I forgot the platform we're using. I know you're just doing your job and I don't mean to make it seem like I'm attacking you, Blast. I respect you and I like you a lot. Every time I try to come back and get involved with the forum I am reminded why I stepped back to begin with. It's got nothing to do with any of the people here. I respect you all and I would help any one of you with anything because you have shown me respect from the beginning and that is rare. It's just the system and the way my own code of ethics does not fit in it. I am responsible for myself and only myself. Thank you to everyone.

 

[JARHEAD2]

Mister A, you have have put a lot of hard work & time in & have become way more advanced in a short amount of time in comparison to some who have been in for years! That's commendable brother & it show your Drive & passion. A year ago today you were waayyyy down around my level (not really you were still above me & now you seem to have more knowledge than most Dr's I have seen. Everyone doesn't have your passion, drive & accountability thatvyou seem to have, & they read what "The Bear" is dropping down cause he's the "The Man" & they run with it. You have much more to offer here in ways that I could never could.... rewind, look back to where you came from, stick around & enjoy us bro!

i love ya my friend