Hi All,

What I was:-

End Oct 2013 - 90kg (198lbs) at 166cm (5ft 5inch), endomorph
End Dec 2013 - 71kg doing all cardio and eating way too less than TDEE
End Feb 2014 - 67kg after joining gym for 2 months, doing bro splits weight lift in the evening and cardio in the morning for 6 days a week. Eating at 1800kcal a day
March 2014 - Eating at 2100kcal, started with Strong Lift. 2100kcal is TDEE as there is no weight gain or loss in 1 month of eating at 2100kcal
August 2014 - Eating at 2400kcal, still doing Strong Lift. Bench at 65kg, OHP 50kg (half cheating leg drive), Squat 105kg, DL 110kg, Bend over rows with wrong form. All 5 reps. Body weight at 73kg
September 2014 - Changed gym. Started doing bro split again, while concentrating on above big lifts. Starting to eat at 2700kcal because I stalled on all lifts.
End March 2015 - Body weight at 80kg, fat as fuark. Bench at 80kg (8 reps), OHP 50kg with stricter form (8 reps), Squat 133kg (8 reps), conventional DL 143kg (5 reps), Sumo DL 125kg (12 reps) bend over row 47kg with proper form (12 reps).

Looking into the mirror I hated how I looked. I started my cut journey.

End March 2015 - Eating at 2500kcal (Body weight 78kg by mid April)
Mid April 2015 - 2300kcal (Body weight 75kg by mid May)
Mid May 2015 - Eating at 2100kcal (Body weight hovers at 74 - 75 kg by beginning July)
Beginning July 2015 - Eating at 1800kcal (Body weight at solid 74kg)
10th August 2015 - Incorporated small runs in the morning. 12 minutes, running 1km, LSST.
Till date - Eating at 1800kcal (Body weight at solid 73kg)

The lifting work in gym remained the same. Some of the weight and reps I lift goes up and down in this cutting phase. Major lifts remained compulsory every session. Those supplement work out change here and there in terms of variety and weight.

Till date (yesterday), my lifts are:-

Bench at 80kg (7 reps)
OHP 42kg (8 - 10 reps)
Squat 120kg (5 reps)
Sumo DL 130kg (10 reps), conventional DL 143kg cannot even do 1 rep for continuous 3 weeks
Bend over row 47kg (12 reps)

I am eating now P/C/F - 40/39/21
Sleeps max 7 hours a day if my baby doesn't wake up in the middle of the night

Since this is my first sensible cut (or at least I think it is), I am inexperienced on how the body should react. I am at all time low energy ever since March 2014, my lifts numbers go down, I don't get the fun of eating, I am demotivated. Since the beginning of the cut, I am able to slash gym time bit by bit daily, hence the sessions are more efficient. However, ever since I started running the whole session become sluggish again. 1 hour every session now.

Looking at those numbers I lift, should the cut be doing this? Or I have done something wrong? I have tried to provide as much info as I can. I have no drive at all in the gym now. I don't know what should I chase now everyday. I am kind of lost here. Please comment/ suggest/ help if there is any.

No pics?

I only have pictures when I first started. Recent picture not so. Any advice or comment?

Smart Volume regulation during cutting is key to prevent loss of strength.

Mind explaining more. I tried googling but nothing sensible comes back.

First make sure you are in 300 cal deficit not more.

Basically when you cut, your body is not that effective in muscle building compared to bulking state. The building blocks/input is less during cut, and your body is compensating by burning your fat storage to meet energy demands.
So during cutting the body could not handle the same workout volume that we use during a bulk. The focus must be towards reducing volume intelligently whereby it's optimum for strength maintenance and also might allow strength gains.
If I were to go into a 300 deficit now (-600 cals from my current intake), I'll get really fck'ed up in 2 weeks time doing my current workout.

Lastly, I hope u are not doing some crazy 1000~1400 cals per day cut.

1800kcal perday vs maintenance at 2100kcal now. I can only try to lift as heavy as I can, as much reps as II can to achieve hypertrophy still.

1800 cals cut very good edy. Need tweak your workout volume.

ermm... wat matters is d weekly / monthly deficit rather than daily. 1day before or d day u do workout, jus eat at maintenance / or slighly higher than dat (much recommended). i hav tried eat at maintenance durin 1day n d day during heavy workout, d energy level r abit less than usual, but its much much better than when u doin full cutting.

u hav reduce cal intake from 2500 to 1800. dats roughly 700cal.n alerady incoporated cardio.

I was eating at 2500 and I felt like a fat superman.

I gradually cut that down to 1800 and the energy level plunges dramatically the last 2 weeks. I have been eating at 1800 from the beginning of July. Not sure if it is the 3 cardio sessions on those 3 heavy days. Please don't ask me to move the cardio to other days. I can't manage on other days. Inb4, no cardio is required during cut.

haha... it doesnt matter if u eat at maintenance wether u r 85kg or 75kg. mayb u consume too much sodium makin water storing too high in ur body thus u feels bloated n muscle like vry fluffy/no definition

cardio does help to a certain level. after dat level, adding it doesnt do any good from my experience.....

This post has been edited by low yat 82: Aug 25 2015, 12:43 PM

Never manipulate 2 variables at once.

1800kcal since beginning of July. I introduced cardio 2 weeks ago. Not sure if the 1800kcal is finally taking toll, or because I have added cardio.

I can help you if you post your whole workout routine here

Back (Tuesday):-
Deadlift - 3x10 (at least what I used to do)
Bend over barbell row - 3x12
Tbar close grip row - 3 sets pyramid weight (12, 10, 8 reps)
Seated Vbar cable row - 3x12
Wide lat pulldown - 3x12
Close grip pull down - 3x12

Chest (Wednesday):-
Barbell bench - 3 sets pyramid weight (12, 10, 8 reps)
Dumbbell bench - 3 x 10
Chest Flye - 5 x 12
Declined barbell bench - 3 x 12
Cable chest raise - 3 x 12 (burn set)
Push up to failure

Legs (Thursday):-
Squat - 3x10
Leg press - 3x12
Lunges - 3x12
Leg curl - 3x12
Standing calves raise - 5x15

Shoulder (Saturday):-
OHP - 3x10
Side lat raise - 5x12
Rear delt flye - 5x12
Shoulder press - 7 sets (run the rack)

Supplement (Sunday if I have time):-
Pull ups - 40 reps
Sumo deadlift - 3x10
Chest dips - 5x12
Dumbbell bench - 9 sets (run the rack)
Seated calves raise - 5x15

This post has been edited by lingleeyen: Aug 26 2015, 09:19 AM

If you want to cut then forget about hypertrophy. Go heavy with less reps to maintain strength and preserve your muscle.

Btw, you workout in Klang?

I workout in Klang yes.

I am trying to go as heavy as I can, as much rep as I can manage on those major lifts. Prioritise weight first, then reps. But I can't be doing 1 rep of everything with super heavy weight right? I am targeting 5-8 reps.

This post has been edited by lingleeyen: Aug 26 2015, 12:35 PM

Remove all underlined exercises. Change all Bold exercises to 3x5~7.
Remove Sunday if possible.
Preferably add some arm work into your routine.

Focus on maintaining strength while dropping body-weight. Relative strength is a bitch to obtain. Things like 1.5x bw bench can take 1.5~2 years to get. 1x body-weight OHP or 2x body-weight bench can take 3 years to get. So remember that when you drop weigh.

I'll be really happy if you can report back to me here in 2 weeks on how it goes.

This post has been edited by Armesh: Aug 26 2015, 12:36 PM

Oh. Can workout together. Hehe..

Go heavy and low reps for main lifts to maintain/gain strength. You don't wanna lose strength on a cut.

For bulking or cutting. Simply adjust your calorie intake.

Other assistant work you want do any weights or reps its up to you.

Which gym do you go to?

At this moment, only BB bench and row maintain unaffected. OHP is the first to deteriorate, followed by squats, then DL. Both OHP and squats already doing low reps. For DL, I am still not able to deload to a weight that I can do 5 reps.

Yesterday I deloaded to 285 from 315 and only manage to do 4 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep. I am not able to do 1 rep at all at 315 now.