Meatheads Cutting program.

meathead1987

Here is my advice to anyone that wants to lose fat with minimal muscle loss.

The Training

My advice would be to do 3 fullbody workouts a week(to optimise AMPK activity in each muscle group, (seebelow)) followed by 30minutes of low intensity cardio.

A good example of a fullbody split workout would be:

Workout A(all 3 sets 8 reps except where indicated different)
Squat
Leg curl
Pullup
Incline bench
Arnold press-->2 sets
hammer curl-->1-2 sets
Skullcrusher-->1-2 sets
Standing calf raise
Crunch-->1 set

Workout B(all 3 sets 8 reps except where indicated different)
SLDL
Leg press
BB row
Chest dips
Standing military press-->2 sets
DB curl-->2 sets
Tri pushdown-->1-2 sets
Seated calf raise
Leg raise-->1 set

Alternate these workouts as so:

Mon-A
Tue-rest
Wed-B
Thu-rest
Fri-A
Sat-rest
Sun-rest(or cardio, see below)

Mon-B
Tue-rest
Wed-A
Thu-rest
Fri-B
Sat-rest
Sun-rest(or cardio, see below)

Repeat

On a 1 rest day a week(I advise sunday)perform this routine:

3min warmup

10sec ALL OUT sprint
80sec recovery
repeat 5-10times

20-30mins low intensity cardio.

You may choose to perform "Iron cardio" instead of this session. This would include:

1. Choosing an olympic lift you like. My suggestion, hang cleans

2. Perform 2 sets of 10 with the bar to warmup.

3. Find a weight you can perform 8-12reps with

4:
Do a set of 3-5 with this weight
rest 15-30secs
repeat this 10-20 times

Follow this with 20-30 minutes of low intensity cardio.

The science:

Weight training depletes ATP in the muscle cell.

Altering the ATP:ADP ratio in this was activates angiosen matigated protein kinase(AMPK) AMPK deactivates Acetyl-CoA-carboxylase(ACC). This inhibits Manoly-CoA in the mitachondral membrane(in the link reaction I believe). In turn, this increases the amount of carnitine palmitate transferase(CPT) in the mitachondral maxrix.

All that blabber means that fat will be the preferred energy source over glucose.

Frequent workouts will also maximise mRNA transcription and ensure you are always as anabolic as possible.

Diet:

Find your maintenance calorie intake. I will give the example of a person with a 2500 calorie maintenance weighing 150lbs:

Every day, eat:

200g protein
50g fat
1240calories

+

on rest days 100g carbs: extra 400cals-->1640calories(860under maint)

on the cardio day 150g carbs: extra 600cals-->1840cals(660 under maint)

on 2 workout days 200g carbs: extra 800cals-->2240cals(460 under maint)

on 1 workout day 400g carbs: extra 1600cals-->2840cals(340over maint)

The caloric deficit will be:

3x -860 = -2580
1x -660 = -660
2x -460 = -920
1x +340 = +340
=3820cals under maintenance a week.

On rest days, these carbs should be split into 2-3 meals, with 30-50g carbs a meal. The remaining 3 meals you have(6total) should be protein + fat

On workout days, have 3/4 of the carbs for that day pre/post workout. this works out to:

1. On 200g carb days 75g carbs pre and 75g post workout, 50g somewhere else in the day

2. on the 400carb day 150g carbs pre, 150 post.

On the cardio day, 60g pre cardio, 60g post cardio, 30 in the rest of the day.

Try to get all of your carbs from Low GI sources:
Brown rice
Oats
and Sweet potato are my favourites.

The exception is post workout(after the low intensity cardio) here I would advise 20-30g dextrose with whey. These carbs DO count for your daily intake.

The science:

AMPK activation also increases musclular Glut-4 expression, this means that more of the nutriwnts you eat will be transported to muscle cells as opposed to fat cells. Hence "feeding" tour muscle cells, and starving your fat cells.

Give it 6-8 weeks of performing this split, then take a week off.

You should lose a lot of fat on this-->1-2lbs a week. You may well also gain some muscle, given you are over maintenance on one of the workout days.

If people would like, I can also outiline my supplement advice. I would also request you comment on anything else I have missed.

Happy cutting...

Anonymous

very good post meathead

i enjoyed reading it. i will be applying some of these principles to my cutting next year.

cheers

Nick500

great post meathead

Couple of comments tho.
wouldnt it be better to do say 45 minutes medium intensity cardio first thing in the morning (8am...) and then 8 - 10 hours later do a weights session?

Why restrict to 3 times a week too? and why no split? surely its better to train cardio every day (ok perhaps 1 day off a week), weights maybe 4 or 5 times a week (not too heavy on the legs) with a 2 day break, or is this mainly based as a general thing, for not advanced lifters?

Also, what would you suggest to adapt to the role of using an ECA for improved metabolism, to adjust for the added calorific deficit that is is likely to create? I am planning a big cut starting 2 weeks into pct, will be doing 3 EPH25's a day for approx 6 weeks. (with the odd day off)

was planning on 45 minutes cardio every morning, followed by weights after work at 6, and trying to maximise my sleep.

also will be trying to get protein from natural sources ideally rather than shakes.

i think my natural calorific maintenance level is approx 3000 cals, (i will get it calculated), so will aim for 3500 in food, 50/30/20 split prot/carb/fat with an eca burning 3 times a day, and medium intensity cardio in morning and medium intensity weights after work.

i figure from the cardio and weights thats about 1000 burned off, then 500 or so extra from eca, so a rough 1000 deficit for the day.

too much?

thoughts please.

mrheh

Hi nick, I've got a few questions regarding your routine:

Why not try and keep calories at maintenance level rather than 500 above? Surely aiming to stay at your maintanence level will give you better results when you add in the eca and cardio? Or start off at 3500 then drop to 3000 half-way through as your fat burning slows down?

If you are in PCT, don't you like to use clen? I know it can mess up your cardio, but if you are a BB performance in cardio isn't as important as fat loss and muscle sparing effects.

I'm not trying to offer you any advice - more the other way round, just wondering why you made these choices.

Cheers,
John

Nick500

hi

i dont want the daily deficit to be too high, otherwise my body wont react well to storing fat and could even start storing fat. the idea of keeping calories 500 aboive maintenance allows for 1000 burnt in other means, plus thermogenic intensifier effects - thus a 1000 or so deficit total.

I have some clen, but i'm a little scared to use it . this is my first cycle and i see clen as way more of a big step than taking superdrol, also I'm not sure how it wiould fit into work.

Plus, i've used eca before with good results.

no doubt in the future or in a next cycle i'll go down the clen road, but at the moment i'm not comfortable about it.

also, i quite like the idea of becoming a bit cardio fit, at the moment i'm so bad, i had to stop twice on the walk home from a club last night ! hehe

Nick

zx9rjas.

clen really should be used when yourbf gets to point when you have removed as much bf as you can without it, as I found out.

Nick500

yeh.

i think i'll do the 4 - 6 weeks eph and if i'm happy with what i'm like i'll stay at that, if i wanna burn that extra bit off then i'll do a 2 weeks clen course at the very end.

thing is tho, its not like i want to go into competition or anything so getting ripped isn't that important.,