Maintaining muscle while cutting

[1more]

Hi everyone,

I'm just about to start another cutting phase and am a little worried about losing too much muscle while doing  it. I understand expecting to keep all my muscle mass is unrealistic, however any products/tips for minimising the loss would be helpful.

Thanks.

[DK II]

Just up your protein and don't diet down too fast.

are you natural?

[Purge_WTF]

  And keep weight-lifting too--one of the best ways to maintain mass while dieting.

[kicker]

Up your protein intake...1-1.5 grams/bodyweight.  Don't drop more than 1-2 pounds per week and keep training heavy, though you might want to cut back on a couple of sets (to decrease chances of overtraining or compromising recuperative ability while dieting).

Glutamine and BCAA's should help in sparing muscle while cutting.

[MCWAY]

Add some creatine to the mix to help maintain your strength. It helped me out last year when I lost 25 lbs. in three months.

[BigIronMike25]

Up your protein intake...1-1.5 grams/bodyweight.  Don't drop more than 1-2 pounds per week and keep training heavy, though you might want to cut back on a couple of sets (to decrease chances of overtraining or compromising recuperative ability while dieting).

Glutamine and BCAA's should help in sparing muscle while cutting.

Good Advice,  protein should be 1.5-2grams per lb of bodyweight while dieting...carbs should be about 1g per lb of bodyweight with some days lower than this....heres a strategy that always worked well during comp prep for me.

Sun- Low Carb Day  100grams or less
Monday - Wednesday       Normal Carbs (200g)
Thursday - Low Carb Day (100g or less)
Friday-   Normal carbs (200g)
Sat -  High Carb Day  (500g Carb but reduce protein to 1g per lb of bw)


I think its very important to have at least one higher carb day per week to keep the metabolic rate guessing...plus you're muscles are so depleted of glycogen that once you give em more carbs than normal they will really suck it up and you'll get a crazy pump that day in the gym (make sat (high carbs) your training day for your weakest bodypart)....also dont train with weights on the 2 extreme low carb days (cardio only)...cardio + weights on these low carb days can lead straight to catabolism!!!

Keep an eye on the scale but an even closer eye on the mirror and adjust accordingly, this sport is all about making adjustments and how you handle setbacks!!!  I aim for 1 to 1.5 lbs of wt loss per week, however if you lose more during the 1st 3-4week dont freak out, you will lose a great deal of water weight due to lower carbs....Dont make radical changes all at once!!! ...

this has been a public service announcement brought to you by MIKE....i thank  you for youre support  

[MidniteRambo]

My advice is to Keep a bottle of water mixed with 10g of glutamine next to your bed, and use it to swallow 20-30 liver tabs during the night.  When cutting, more than ever, you need to keep night time catabolism at bay (without incurring significant calories, fat or simple carbs during the night).

[DK II]

My advice is to Keep a bottle of water mixed with 10g of glutamine next to your bed, and use it to swallow 20-30 liver tabs during the night.  When cutting, more than ever, you need to keep night time catabolism at bay (without incurring significant calories, fat or simple carbs during the night).

not a good idea because glutamine is unstable in water. get glutamine caps.

[MidniteRambo]

not a good idea because glutamine is unstable in water. get glutamine caps.

See? I knew there was a reason I come on this board.  Thanks.  I'll switch to glutamine caps.  By the way, out of curiosity,  you have a source on the glutamine/water issue? (I keep a little research library for tidbits like that).

[1more]

Hi,

Thanks guys. Mike that was really helpful, a bit scientific to what I'm normally used to but I guess I got to go that way. This liver caps/glutamine sounds like a good idea to off set catobolism, but I don't think I'll be able to set my alarm to get up enough times to get all those tabs down. Do you guys seriously go to that length...maybe I might need to rethink it. I know people like Jay Cutler suggest that 8hrs+ of good quality sleep is a must so I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks again

[DK II]

See? I knew there was a reason I come on this board.  Thanks.  I'll switch to glutamine caps.  By the way, out of curiosity,  you have a source on the glutamine/water issue? (I keep a little research library for tidbits like that).

Sure.

L-glutamine is also known as 2-aminoglutaramic acid, levoglutamide, (S)-2, 5-diamino-5-oxopentaenoic acid and glutamic acid 5-amide. Its one-letter abbreviation is Q, and it is also abbreviated as Gln. The terms L-glutamine and glutamine are used interchangeably. D-glutamine, the stereoisomer of L-glutamine, does not have, as far as is known, biological activity. L-glutamine is not very soluble in water, and aqueous solutions are unstable at temperatures of 22 to 24 degrees Celsius. For these reasons, the more soluble and more stable glutamine dipeptides are used as delivery forms of L-glutamine in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solutions.

Here's the full article.
http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/lgl_0125.shtml

[Bast000]

Good Advice,  protein should be 1.5-2grams per lb of bodyweight while dieting...carbs should be about 1g per lb of bodyweight with some days lower than this....heres a strategy that always worked well during comp prep for me.

Sun- Low Carb Day  100grams or less
Monday - Wednesday       Normal Carbs (200g)
Thursday - Low Carb Day (100g or less)
Friday-   Normal carbs (200g)
Sat -  High Carb Day  (500g Carb but reduce protein to 1g per lb of bw)


I think its very important to have at least one higher carb day per week to keep the metabolic rate guessing...plus you're muscles are so depleted of glycogen that once you give em more carbs than normal they will really suck it up and you'll get a crazy pump that day in the gym (make sat (high carbs) your training day for your weakest bodypart)....also dont train with weights on the 2 extreme low carb days (cardio only)...cardio + weights on these low carb days can lead straight to catabolism!!!

Keep an eye on the scale but an even closer eye on the mirror and adjust accordingly, this sport is all about making adjustments and how you handle setbacks!!!  I aim for 1 to 1.5 lbs of wt loss per week, however if you lose more during the 1st 3-4week dont freak out, you will lose a great deal of water weight due to lower carbs....Dont make radical changes all at once!!! ...

this has been a public service announcement brought to you by MIKE....i thank  you for youre support  

500g carbs?  I understand the boosting the metabolism theory but that's excessive.

[BigIronMike25]

500g carbs?  I understand the boosting the metabolism theory but that's excessive.

yeah excessive if the person is a buck fifty.....or 175 but i was 210lbs...Im just laying out what works best for me, its up to everyone else to figure out what works best for them...My body utilizes carbs very well (i have to eat 600-700grams in the off-season or i cant put on any decent size)...Endomorphs (those that put on BF easily) obviously should stick to a lower amt of carbs