I am 5ft 7 (170cm) tall and i weigh 181lbs (82kg) right now looking soft. Id be surprised if my body fat level isn’t north of 20% (1.5 years of good training experience, so a beginner)
Considering that i am planning to compete in 12 months, would i be better of
- Doing an agressive mini cut for a mesocycle or so, and spending the rest of the year in maintaintance / surplus
- Doing a slow cut over the course of a few mesos instead
- Being in maintaintance for the entire year (I don’t have a problem with counting calories) and sort of letting my body burn fat and build muscle over time
I don’t really care about my looks but just gaining weight is not an option as i am already at my weight class limit.
What would be the best long term approach if strength gains are a priority and what do you guys think about agressive cuts in general for performance athletes (not water cuts, fat loss primarily) thank you.
I don’t think there’s a difference in long-term outcomes provided adherence is the same. I think it depends how aggressive you mean when weighing in on athletic performance, but you said it yourself…you’re kind of new to this so does it really matter?
I also don’t think you should be putting yourself in a weight class just yet, as it’s hard to know where you’ll end up after more training.
I’d use your waist circumference to guide your management.
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My waist is 35inch / 90cm, i considered to just recomp year round but i have heard several people recommending bulk / cutc cycle for better progress
At one point Austin made a post on instagram about how he added a lot of weight to one of his lifts over the course of a few years while only adding a few pounds of body weight like less than 10 if i remember correctly (he hasn’t mentioned if he did it in maintenance or bulk / cut)
Thoughts on that approach? You said that it probably doesn’t matter but any experience with just maintaining year round? (Appreciate insight on things like this besides all the free info already published!!)
I think that people who are following good programming during supportive times in their lives can gain strength independently of what their BW is doing.
I have been basically at maintenance level for the last few years. I don’t think it’s the best way to go about getting freakishly strong, but it’s certainly an option.