[K-Antoni]

Don’t worry about it at all, you need to look at the bigger picture , at the end of the end of the push up you will have more muscle than ever before

Try to remember this , when a decent bodybuilder competes , they try to get as lean as they possibly can and in that process they may lose some muscle, that’s part of it because you typically can’t get truly lean without losing some and then everyone is in the same boat , so the competition is who can get the leanest and hold the most , but that doesn’t mean worrying you have lost even some.

Get as lean as you can , accept muscle will come off a bit , each push phase start with more muscle than the previous ( not hard if you go back up slow) , and then each diet try to end leaner than the previous and see if you can lose less muscle

It’s all a process that really doesn’t need any “ worry “ , at any point . When I see the words worry in this context, it’s a bit of a sign of potential there to hold someone back from achieving a really good physique , because of irrational worries

@Jordan_peters thank you for the response

I appreciate the advise and I will continue to drop body fat levels further for another 5-6 week push aiming for around 165lbs (a loss of 7-8lbs) that is a scary number too see haha I couldn’t imagine I would need to be 165lbs when I started at 192lbs

You are 100% right and I know I will be thankful I did drop body fat further when I do start to push my body weight up and enter an improvement phase

[K-Antoni]

Wow congrats amazing cut, still high in kcals though for this condition!

For the stringy feeling 😂😂😂😂 even bigger boys feel than while in cut, this is a glycogen stuff, when you wanna run a cut, you just deplete yourself and feel skinny. I do feel same whatever the weight I am, it’s just a normal state of mind, but when We see your visual, you did not lost mych muscle though, so really good self guidance well done

@allisontestu thank you for the response

Thank you I appreciate that, I thought my calories where too low haha I never go below 2000 calories as I feel it just becomes too hard to stick to any I generally just start running into issues (sleep,binging,etc) and isn’t necessary as I’m also not prepping for a show.

That’s good to hear that it’s normal to feel this way would you recommend incorporating refeeds every 7-9 days to mitigate this and to help upkeep metabolism training performance and overall sanity, with the extra calories coming from carbs but making sure they are from unprocessed whole foods if my deficit calories are 2000 would you recommend eating around 2500-2600 for a day or two aslong as progress has been good through the week

I appreciate the second opinion I think it’s good to hear that you don’t think I’ve lost much muscle as I might have. A skewed idea as it is my own physique

[K-Antoni]

Hiya Kian,

Thanks for that info!

Just looking at your pictures you don’t look to have lost much muscle at all.

How has your rate of loss been so far over these past 5 weeks? Have you stuck to this cardio/food/step regimen the whole time and have been seeing your weight come down consistently or have you made any adjustments?

Also how is your training right now? Are you recovering well, enjoying training and maintaining strength or struggling?

As for feeling a little stringy like you’re ready to eat up and grow, is that solely based on your opinion on how you look or are you mentally feeling a little fatigued from dieting and maybe focusing on food a little more? It’s very normal to feel a flat and small as you diet for a period of time especially if you’re pushing for a little more condition.

I’ve responded with a lot of questions (sorry) but these things are great to consider to help make decisions if it’s necessary to adjust anything or if you’re fine to continue on as you are with your current regimen. Let us know and we may be able to guide you a little more!

Thank you for the response @Maddy Lulu-Belle Daniel

– my rate of loss has been between 1lb and 2lbs per week that’s what I’m generally aiming for but I track everything as I’m super ocd so can give you specifics below
Week 1:180.7lbs (lost -1.2lbs)
Week 2:178lbs (lost – 2.7lbs)
Week 3:176.1lbs (lost 1.9lbs)
Week 4/5 i went on holiday so had no scale but was smart with food choices and kept training consistent came back weighing 172.3lbs so over the two weeks lost another 3.8lbs so roughly 1.9lbs per week for weeks 4/5
Steps have been consistent at 15k a day if I’m off one day I will make up for it on another day for example maybe Monday:14k then Tuesday I’ll make sure I get 16k calories and cardio also have been very consistent training is going well I train with very high intensity taking all sets to failure I just like training this way but I have droped back on the weight slightly as I have been improving my form (range of motion,control,tempo etc) but still training to failure regardless

I think you are 100% right and it is based on opinion on me wanting to bulk and grow due to the feeling skinny/depleted I’m just gonna suck it up and keep pushing for further fat loss

[K-Antoni]

I will upload the training programs below so you can see them more clearly

[K-Antoni]

I feel as I have been dieting for so long now and can definitely feel I am ready to put some size on and get some strength back I’ve noticed I am becoming a lot more food focused and feel like I will end up binge eating soon should I pull back to maintenance for two days relax increase carbs etc then look too push my body weight down another 5-10lbs ? Or would you recommend just lowering through

[K-Antoni]

Keep pushing for a little more if you can get leaner from here you will see more growth once you come out the other side

I appreciate that what would you recommend roughly should I drop another 5-8lbs ? Or some for roughly 165lbs

[K-Antoni]

Me in January at 192lbs

[K-Antoni]

I’ll also add back and legs are very lean and tend to stay lean throughout my bulks as I store the majority of my body fat on my stomach,chest and lower back

[K-Antoni]

Sorry this was in my notes saved as I had tried to post previously I am doing cardio at 7 sessions for 30 minuets a week now as my weight loss had stalled

[K-Antoni]

This is my current condition

[K-Antoni]

Can I ask for advice here as i can’t make a post for some reason I have tried 12-15 times not over the last 4 days lol I’ll post below if anyone can help me out that would be great.

I’ve been dropping weight since around January where I was 192lbs with fatloss and maintenance phases I am currently in a fat loss phase again
Where I am sitting at 172lbs currently
I was hoping to get some advice as I wanted to drop body fat a little more before I look to put on some more muscle and was wondering if this is the right idea due to my age and training experience as l’m aware the majority of time should be spent in a small surplus aiming to gain around 0.1-0.2kg per week.

previously been in a cutting phase for 5 weeks now since my last maintenance phase I started at 180lbs and I’m now at 172lbs so I have dropped roughly 1.6lbs per week close to 1% of my body weight l’m wondering do I keep pushing or put the idea of being leaner aside for now and focus on putting on some more muscle and increasing my metabolism or do I continue to drop body fat another couple weeks or go to maintenance then into a gradual surplus.

More info/current stats:
– 2000-2200 calories per day
– macros p:180 f:60 c:185-235
– 15k steps everyday
– incline walk 4 x 30 minuets per week
– maintenance I believe is around 2500-2700
calories
– age:21
– training for 2 years
– height 6,1
I will post a photo below
If it allows me to

[K-Antoni]

Is there any reason I can’t post on forums ?

[K-Antoni]

Hi Kian,

I think if you’re leaning toward an upper/lower split, then getting it mapped out and understanding how you progress and recover is a smart approach.

It might be worth considering that if you’re going to adopt an RIR approach with 4 sets per movement, it could take you quite some time to work through an upper/lower split. You’ll get a sense of how workable that is as you try it.

Re educational videos , you can find Jordan’s take on upper/lower set up on YouTube

Thank you for the response I’ll give that video a watch now so would you recommend me follow the RIR approach or the top set back of set I want to follow the one that will give me the best results of course I don’t struggle to train to failure and honestly prefer it I went back to trying RIR system yesterday for the first Time in a few months felt

My analysis of the two are

RIR

-better pump

-definitely got more sore

-last set to failure felt better as I had more blood in the muscle and had already performed the movement 3 times so form and setup was perfected by the last set

-took longer to complete the session

Top set back of set

-feel more efficient as just causing stimulus then recovering

-I don’t really get sore from this training even though I’m taking both sets to failure (might be due to lower volume)

-sets later on in the workout are more efficient as I am more fresh

-makes tracking progression easier as you just have one set to beat in a set rep range per exercise

-you can’t really miss and it is easy to see how your performing as you cant get training to failure wrong but it is easy for a lot of people to miss judge RIR sets (but even with RIR I take last set to failure) so with failure you know 100% if your progressing platued or regressing but RIR also offers more chances to progress as you can increase one variable across more sets have

what is your experience with the two and what would you recommend thanks [/quote]

But why won’t you just try both and see which one yields the most results and go with that ?[/quote]
I have and I’ve seen results from both but I think that might be down to the fact I have only been training for 2 years so would see results as long as intensity is there

[K-Antoni]

No, load and back off set let’s you work on the same piece without adjusting the profile , as your working in diff rep ranges .

Yes, focus on total volume , and driving your body weight and strength up

@Jordan_peters What’s a good range to start with for volume

[K-Antoni]

@Jordan_peters sorry to be a pain I just want to make sure I understand as I am young and at some point want to become a online coach so I’m trying to learn as much as possible so I can be the best coach I can be

okay so top set back of set was a way of getting different resistance profiles into a workout whilst also managing volume and the amount of sets i do on an exercise is pretty much irrelevant and the key factor I should be focusing on is weekly volume and total working sets per muscle group? So the questions I should be asking instead is what I’m doing allowing me to recover And progress within the gym?