Dropping weight, and keeping strength.

[BEhave]

im on the 5x5 routine and bulking. my lifts are all going up steadily each week. the only problem is, im wondering how much strength i will lose once i cut in march. im planning to bulk until march, hopefully i'll be over 200 by then. im about 180 give or take right now.

i just want people who have cut down or what noto to share their strength loses, or if they even lost strength at all. if your lifts stayed the same or not. if they went up, or went down.

and yes, i know being ripped is sometimes a sacrifice for strength

[MrSkullCrusher]

im on the 5x5 routine and bulking. my lifts are all going up steadily each week. the only problem is, im wondering how much strength i will lose once i cut in march. im planning to bulk until march, hopefully i'll be over 200 by then. im about 180 give or take right now.

i just want people who have cut down or what noto to share their strength loses, or if they even lost strength at all. if your lifts stayed the same or not. if they went up, or went down.

and yes, i know being ripped is sometimes a sacrifice for strength

How much are you going to try to cut down to in March?

[BEhave]

well it really depends on how i look in the end. im hoping i wont have to cut down more than 15-20lbs though

[dirtpool]

I'm cutting right now, make sure you get some carbs a few hours before your workouts, eat plenty of meals just smaller portions, have a good protein shake after you workout..

I don't follow this strict 100% but when I do it helps big time

[RU4A69]

im on the 5x5 routine and bulking. my lifts are all going up steadily each week. the only problem is, im wondering how much strength i will lose once i cut in march. im planning to bulk until march, hopefully i'll be over 200 by then. im about 180 give or take right now.

i just want people who have cut down or what noto to share their strength loses, or if they even lost strength at all. if your lifts stayed the same or not. if they went up, or went down.

and yes, i know being ripped is sometimes a sacrifice for strength

I'm gonna give you a tip.

When you hit 200, STAY at 200 for about half a year to a year. THEN cut. Just trust me on this.

[vipergq]

Continue to lift heavy during your cut. Strength is not that heavily impacted by muscle mass as long as you do not lose to much.

[dparm99]

Just do a slow cut, nothing too drastic. The last time i did a small but i didn't lose any strength and in fact managed to keep gaining strength on my deadlift.

[RipStone]

Few tips..

-cycle your carbs/calories using a timed carb diet
-drop weight slowly
-don't change your lifting program
-don't overdue the cardio

If you go about things right, there is no reason to lose strength on a cut.

[marilia05]

They are right: I have actually seen some people GAIN strength while they slowly dropped two weight categories. Slowly means two years, but remember weight categories mean a lot of lbs.

[Arlecchino]

Agree with everyone who says take it slowly. I am down 15 lbs. and still hitting PR's. Not as often as I would like, of course, but then again, it is never often enough.

[BEhave]

cool thx for the tips. any reason though that i should remain at 200 for a while RU4A69

[raysmith]

im on the 5x5 routine and bulking. my lifts are all going up steadily each week. the only problem is, im wondering how much strength i will lose once i cut in march. im planning to bulk until march, hopefully i'll be over 200 by then. im about 180 give or take right now.

i just want people who have cut down or what noto to share their strength loses, or if they even lost strength at all. if your lifts stayed the same or not. if they went up, or went down.

and yes, i know being ripped is sometimes a sacrifice for strength

If you worry to much you will loose strength. This has happened to me on my favourite and best lift, the deadlift. All my other lifts are going up but my dead lift is taking a downward spiral.

My last cut I kept plus added strength, this cut I have people in my ear telling me im only going to get weaker.

[Arlecchino]

cool thx for the tips. any reason though that i should remain at 200 for a while RU4A69

Well, essential the body has three states: Anabolic (growth), catabolic (wasting), and homeostasis (which we will pretty much ignore).

Unsurprisingly, it is easiest to gain strength in an anabolic state, because hypertrophy is one of the main components in strength. Yes, CNS factors are highly significant, but the old adage of 'If you want to lift big, you need to get big' is still around for a reason. If you want to increase your lifts, this is where you wish to spend the most time. And, when you cut, the CNS conditioning that you were able to achieve while heavier will (or should) remain.

The catabolic state is present every time you are in a caloric deficit. There is no way around this. At first you can manage to lose fat and not muscle, if you are extremely careful, but this rarely lasts long, if you can achieve it in the first place (we will not discuss the drug route). So the more effort you make to maintain your weight, or cut weight, the less time you will not only spend increasing hypertrophy, but struggling to maintain the muscle mass you already have.

At 200lbs. you should have more muscle and better leverage than you do at 185, even if the difference is not tremendously significant, every little bit helps.

Should be obvious I agree with RU4A69.

[RU4A69]

cool thx for the tips. any reason though that i should remain at 200 for a while RU4A69

Bunch of reasons, one theory is that simply being heavy for a while causes a permanent increase in proprioception; and this makes sense if you think about it-the CNS adapts to the weight you're carrying around. On the same note, it is theorized (and Dante aka Doggcrapp is really big on this) that you will keep more of your size if you hold onto your mass for a while (he recommends at least 4 months).

[Dominik]

-drop weight slowly

^^^ I think that's the most important step you can take toward keeping your strength and muscle. Whichever way you go, whether it's bulking or cutting, do it slowly and you'll probably be happy with the results.

[BEhave]

Bunch of reasons, one theory is that simply being heavy for a while causes a permanent increase in proprioception; and this makes sense if you think about it-the CNS adapts to the weight you're carrying around. On the same note, it is theorized (and Dante aka Doggcrapp is really big on this) that you will keep more of your size if you hold onto your mass for a while (he recommends at least 4 months).

nice. thx man.

and im gonna be sure to take my bulk pretty slowly and my cut as well. gonna try and retain my weight when i reach my goal though.

the thing is, i want to do rugby around that time, thats when my school season starts, and i know im gonna be running a lot. i was just thinking i might as well start cutting by then. we'll see what happens though