how many reps when cutting?

[ascendant]

just wondering how many of you out there do higher reps when you're cutting up? i know the reasoning is supposed to be that you burn more calories that way, but what about the strength loss? i mean since your muscles are gonna typically be low on glycogen anyway when cutting, that in itself will cause a loss in strength already, and then dropping the weight down low enough to do a lot of reps seems like it would really make your strength levels drop.

personally, i don't tend to do much higher reps than i typically do when cutting. i usually just keep them between 6-15, but more often in the heavier range of 6-10. i find it helps keep my strength up, but of course i still lose strength cause of being low on glycogen. just wanted to hear of other peoples experiences who have tried it BOTH WAYS and can give a two-sided view as to what they liked more and why. if you only do it one way and always have, please don't post as i'm looking for people who can give a basis of comparison. thanks for those who do and let's see how many people fail to even read that and post anyway .

[IronReload04]

what ever "got" you the muscles, is going to "keep" the muscles.....the only reason i would ever slightly lower weight is for safety reasons.....

my stance

diet and cardio take the fat off

pumping iron builds and maintains muscles


edit- i did read your post, and sorry i cant make a comparison

also, what we do over at intensemuscle.com is this

we keep trying to beat the logbook into the diet......inevitably, eventually we will start suffering strength loss.....here,what we do is significantly lower the weights.......like for example,if we are sqauatting 500 for 10 reps, we move down to 450 or even 425.......we go to failure in higher rep ranges.......each week, we add 5-10 pounds.....add weight every single time and go to failure........what we've found is that getting close to a show, you end up with strength levels right where they were at when you first started dieting.......alot of those guys even "grow into the diet"

[IronReload04]

last post edited see post above

[IronReload04]

doggcrapp, dante, basically promised that we will not lose muscle when doing this and will most likely end up with our strength levels very close to where they were when starting the diet after doing that each consecutive week

[Ronnie Rowland]

just wondering how many of you out there do higher reps when you're cutting up? i know the reasoning is supposed to be that you burn more calories that way, but what about the strength loss? i mean since your muscles are gonna typically be low on glycogen anyway when cutting, that in itself will cause a loss in strength already, and then dropping the weight down low enough to do a lot of reps seems like it would really make your strength levels drop.

personally, i don't tend to do much higher reps than i typically do when cutting. i usually just keep them between 6-15, but more often in the heavier range of 6-10. i find it helps keep my strength up, but of course i still lose strength cause of being low on glycogen. just wanted to hear of other peoples experiences who have tried it BOTH WAYS and can give a two-sided view as to what they liked more and why. if you only do it one way and always have, please don't post as i'm looking for people who can give a basis of comparison. thanks for those who do and let's see how many people fail to even read that and post anyway .

There's a lot of variables to take into consideration but you pretty much answered your own question. When cutting, people take more anti-estrogens to rid the body of excess fluid in conjuction with entering a state of ketosis. If you go too low with the reps you can get injured because there will less cushioning effect due to having low glygocen levels and less water in the muscles/joints. On the other hand, you will lose too much strength and stand a greater chance of causing tendonitus by performing only high reps. I find a medium rep range of 8-10 reps with moderate volume training (NOT HIGH VOLUME or LOW VOLUME) is best for maintaining strength and muscle mass on a long drawn out diet. Moderation is the key.

[Johny-too-small]

Im a firm believer that diet/cardio determines cutting or bulking, NOT the training.

From my exp. strength is lost when overloading and compound lifts are removed in place for only isolation or high rep lifts.

[Ronnie Rowland]

Im a firm believer that diet/cardio determines cutting or bulking, NOT the training.

From my exp. strength is lost when overloading and compound lifts are removed in place for only isolation or high rep lifts.

Absolutey!! Also, a bunch of intense high rep training combined with cardio can over-train the Central Nervous System in short order.

[Johny-too-small]

Absolutey!! Also, a bunch of intense high rep training combined with cardio can over-train the Central Nervous System in short order.

lol. Tell me about it. My back is still jacked, full of trigger points makes for a lousy nights rest.