Wetlook

Today went a little better. I gave myself the day before off completely from everything, and I at least managed to maintain my lifts and actually add a few reps here and there.

Yep, I know. It was just that on previous cuts, the routine was more forgiving to strength losses. HIT is kind of a one way street when it comes to recovery, so I'm just questioning whether or not to just resign myself to temporary regression knowing it is the cut and/or cardio and no matter how much I rest I'll still be weaker or extend the recovery time and hope for the best.

This is my first cut while on a HIT routine. Today I really fucking sucked. I was struggling and I was real weak. It's to be expected on a caloric deficit, but I'm not sure how to handle my routine. You can see it here.

Because today was legs and abs, I'm not quite sure if it is due to the addition of cardio (two days a week on the stationary bike for six miles alternating with 2 days a week 1-2 miles on the treadmill) and therefore cutting into my recovery, or the diet itself.

My question is, should I rest for an additional day and only work out every six days? Or just ride it out until the end of the cut and deal with regressing performance because that's going to happen no matter what? I'll be working out again (chest and back) on Thursday so then I'll be able to get a better sense of this being just a leg thing from the cardio or not.

Hey, you're from my neck of the woods. Where in New Jersey are you from?

You don't understand! You just need to work harder to get where they are! :rolleyes:

I remember a video on Kali Muscle's facebook page imploring skinny guys to just "eat more" and "work harder" to get where he is and then later says he doesn't even count macros and yadadadada. He had the audacity to claim he's natty, too.

I got banned from his page because I asked how long before he made that video did he inject slin.

Welcome to AB! It doings like you're very disciplined! Curious what's your height & weight?

5'9" and currently just under 163 lbs. That's at a fairly high BF% as I just started my cut for summer about five days ago.

Im curious what your workout looks like. Mentzer HIT is isolation of the larger muscle then a compound movement to exhaustion?

Basically, yes, though he recommended that after a certain point, dropping the pre-exhaust movement and going with a consolidated routine. I'm not there yet in my development though.

I also stick to the really slow cadence he talks about; 3 second positive and 3 second negative, with a pause of up to 1-3 seconds at the fully contracted position for some movements.

Here's my current routine, currently done every 5 days. All sets are to positive failure, and I rotate in positive failure plus 2-3 forced reps and positive and negative failure sets as well. The rep ranges are just for the targeted weight at positive failure - if I can exceed the range before going to failure, I up the weight.

Workout 1 - chest & back

pre-exhaust – pec deck 1x6-10

compound set – machine bench press 1x1-3

pre-exhaust – Nautilus pullovers 1x6-10

compound set – BB rows 1x6-10

shrugs 1x6-10

leg curls 1x12-20

Workout 2 - legs & abs

pre-exhaust – leg extensions 1x12-20

compound set – squats 1x12 (only to positive failure)

calf raises – 1x12-20

sit ups – 1x12-20

Workout 3 - arms & shoulders

lateral raises (DB) – 1x6-10

bent-over lateral raises (DB) – 1x6-10

Nautilus machine curls – 1x6-10

pre-exhaust – cable pushdown 1x6-10

compound set – dips 1x3-5

Workout 4

repeat workout 2

I've been lifting seriously for over six years now. I was a late starter in the iron game, so I'm 30+ now. Joined because I heard this board had a good reputation and quality members.

I've been natural so far. I've tried pretty much all the common supplements, virtually every training routine, and a fair number of diets out there, but I haven't been happy with the results and I am contemplating taking things to the next level.

Last summer I got down to 7.8% BF without any drugs or diuretics or anything else. I looked small as hell in clothes. When I'm bulking I look "bigger" but not like anyone would ever guess I'm a bodybuilder.

I'm a very disciplined lifter. I drink alcohol very rarely (maybe 5 times a year, and even then, I don't ever drink to the point I get drunk more than once or so). I cook for myself and I've been tracking my macros day in, day out since summer 2009. I've still got spreadsheets that go back to when I started. Knowing how hard I work and how much time and effort I put into this in comparison to other guys and still being as small as I am is incredibly frustrating.

Currently I'm on a Mentzer style HIT routine for maybe the last 5 and a half or six months (gotta check my logs) and it's been the most productive I've tried so far.

I look forward to learning more!