I suggest most lifters choose a 4-5 day workout split when cutting. My go-to splits are either a 4-day (upper, lower, upper, lower) split or a 5-day split that has a lifter training most muscle groups at least twice per week.
A cutting diet lasts 2–4 months, depending on how lean you are before dieting, and is normally timed around bodybuilding competitions, athletic events, or occasions like holidays ( 4 ).
Furthermore, the longer the cut, the more muscle mass is lost overall since it is impossible to avoid muscle loss, so keep this in mind. Most bodybuilders do not exceed cuts of 4 months but usually do at least 2 months.
As a rule of thumb, it will need at least 2 weeks to lose enough fat to be worthwhile. At the other end of the spectrum, dieting for more than 6 weeks will start to increase your risk of muscle loss. So, 2-6 weeks is the range for mini-cuts.
So, what are the best rep ranges for cutting? The best rep range for cutting is one that allows you to sometimes train with heavier loads to preserve basic strength (5-10 reps) and more moderate to light loads to allow you to retain as much muscle while training in higher volumes (10-20 reps).
As long as you're using an appropriate volume and intensity in your workouts and maintaining a moderate calorie deficit, you probably won't have any trouble recovering from your workouts, and thus don't need to change anything while cutting. In fact, you may even be able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.
Conclusion. Yes, you can gain muscle while cutting. However, it may be more complicated than if you were maintaining your weight, trying to lose fat, or trying to gain muscle individually. Regardless, focus on eating a healthy diet and getting enough protein.
If you are working out two times per day and 6-7 days per week, there is a very good chance you are overtraining.
You don't have to follow a professional bodybuilders 5-days a week workout routine to build a solid, strong and muscular physique. In fact, if you are a novice, beginner, or just weight training for general fitness, you'd most likely benefit best by training only 3 days per week.
Answer: Five weeks is plenty of time to change your body and build muscle and lose fat, but you need to be very disciplined.
You sure can. Working on your muscular endurance and maintaining a calorie deficit at the same time are going to double your efforts towards achieving a leaner and more toned appearance. You'll be improving the condition of your muscles and reducing the amount of fat that surrounds them.
If you're on a cut, try to keep your intensity (how heavy you're lifting relative to your max) reasonably high, at or above a seven-out-of-ten in difficulty most of the time. This becomes particularly important late into a diet when you're at a greater risk of losing muscle.
Adding cardio into a cutting phase is not necessary, however, it can help in that it burns additional calories. In some instances, burning 200 calories more a day may be easier than eating 200 calories less per day. That is ultimately up to the individual.
Lifting heavy, relatively speaking, is ideal for preserving strength and muscle mass during the cutting phase. Many novices and ill-informed individuals will lift with “light weights and high reps” thinking this will give them a “toned” look. While this is better than not lifting, this can lead to some muscle loss.
When cutting you need to focus on heavy weights to ensure you retain muscle. Also low reps will not burn as many calories. Plus if you focus on strength you may see more size gains during a cut since you will be gaining strength.
Losing weight safely typically involves losing 1-2 pounds per week ( 1 ). This would allow you to lose 20 pounds within about 5 months at 1 pound per week or 2 1/2 months at about 2 pounds per week.
However, most people who start dieting by cutting out a certain amount of calories each day will see results within one to two weeks, even if it's just one pound lost.
Cutting is a term for losing body fat to make your muscles more visible, by “cutting down” on body fat. You cut by adjusting your diet to maximize fat loss, while you continue to train to gain muscle. It is possible to gain muscle while losing body fat, but the realistic goal is often to maintain it.
Skeletal muscle can regenerate completely and spontaneously in response to minor injuries, such as strain. In contrast, after severe injuries, muscle healing is incomplete, often resulting in the formation of fibrotic tissue that impairs muscle function.
While in a growth phase, we typically recommend consuming about 2.2g of protein per kg of bodyweight (1g per pound). However, during a cut, you should actually up your intake slightly, somewhere in the range of 2.3g/kg-3.1g/kg (1.1g/lb-1.5g/lb) (Helms et al. 2014; Ribeiro et al. 2019).