Extending cruise while dieting

[Bobby Light]

Hey guys, new to the forum and just started the program and love it so far. I've been trying to read as much as I can but had a question that I haven't seen answered directly..forgive me if it has been.

I'll try not to be too long winded...Before officially starting while I was dieting I had taken pieces of the program and applied them to my training so I already know that training this way (or starting the program at least) while dieting hard isn't the best thing for me personally. My question is lets say I plan to do a 4 week mini diet at some point in the future where the first two weeks would be an intensive cruise already built in to the program. Would it be advised to maybe continue the cruise another two weeks if calories are low and cardio high? I tend to go pretty low during these phases to drop fat fast to put myself in a position to rebound and trying to grow again. So for example right now it would be..

6 week blast --> 2 week cruise
6 week blast --> 4 week cruise while dieting hard
6 week blast --> 2 week cruise

Hope this question is easy to understand and I did a decent job getting the point across

[Scott Stevenson]

Hey guys, new to the forum and just started the program and love it so far. I've been trying to read as much as I can but had a question that I haven't seen answered directly..forgive me if it has been.

I'll try not to be too long winded...Before officially starting while I was dieting I had taken pieces of the program and applied them to my training so I already know that training this way (or starting the program at least) while dieting hard isn't the best thing for me personally. My question is lets say I plan to do a 4 week mini diet at some point in the future where the first two weeks would be an intensive cruise already built in to the program. Would it be advised to maybe continue the cruise another two weeks if calories are low and cardio high? I tend to go pretty low during these phases to drop fat fast to put myself in a position to rebound and trying to grow again. So for example right now it would be..

6 week blast --> 2 week cruise
6 week blast --> 4 week cruise while dieting hard
6 week blast --> 2 week cruise

Hope this question is easy to understand and I did a decent job getting the point across

Sure, you could do that and probably do a nice job of holding muscle mass / strength, I'd bet.

A Few thoughts:

Your blasts won't always last 6 weeks - duration is auto regulated.

You might cut the Blast before your mini-diet a bit short in terms of duration, so you don't go into the dieting prolonged cruise with compromised recovery. (Maybe if it WERE to be a 6 week Blast, as your best guess, make it a 4 week blast.)

I'd then probably structure the 4 week cruise as a 3d/wk training alternating between Day 3 and Day 4 of the program (Muscle Rounds), and NOT making the last ⅓ of the IC non-training), but rather taking a short break (just skip the last of what would be 12 workouts), before firing into the next Blast.

-S

[Bobby Light]

Sure, you could do that and probably do a nice job of holding muscle mass / strength, I'd bet.

A Few thoughts:

Your blasts won't always last 6 weeks - duration is auto regulated.

You might cut the Blast before your mini-diet a bit short in terms of duration, so you don't go into the dieting prolonged cruise with compromised recovery. (Maybe if it WERE to be a 6 week Blast, as your best guess, make it a 4 week blast.)

I'd then probably structure the 4 week cruise as a 3d/wk training alternating between Day 3 and Day 4 of the program (Muscle Rounds), and NOT making the last ⅓ of the IC non-training), but rather taking a short break (just skip the last of what would be 12 workouts), before firing into the next Blast.

-S

Thanks Scott..and yeah I know the length of blasts will vary in duration based on a number of factors, was more just giving a black and white example to get my point across I like the idea you mentioned there, it’s more or less what I was thinking about doing to the T.

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks Scott..and yeah I know the length of blasts will vary in duration based on a number of factors, was more just giving a black and white example to get my point across I like the idea you mentioned there, it’s more or less what I was thinking about doing to the T.

Awesome! (Just putting that in there as far as blast duration for others who might be reading. )

Let us know how it goes!

One last thought - all of this is built on the notion that you really need to (and do better with for whatever reasons) dieting with a more severe deficit taking a more slow n' steady, get the most from the least (deficit) approach, which I think works best probably in most situations. Sometime, though, some folks are more so all or nothing and just want to go after it with a more rapid fat loss.

This CAN be done, but seems to be most successful in folks (like yourself) who've been at it for a while and now how hard they can push. Many guys end up just spinning their wheels, with the quintessential example being the guy who pushes really hard to gain weight (get as large as possible throwing body comp. into the wind to some degree) and has to diet down so hard that any gained muscle is lost in the process.

-S

[Bobby Light]

Awesome! (Just putting that in there as far as blast duration for others who might be reading. )

Let us know how it goes!

One last thought - all of this is built on the notion that you really need to (and do better with for whatever reasons) dieting with a more severe deficit taking a more slow n' steady, get the most from the least (deficit) approach, which I think works best probably in most situations. Sometime, though, some folks are more so all or nothing and just want to go after it with a more rapid fat loss.

This CAN be done, but seems to be most successful in folks (like yourself) who've been at it for a while and now how hard they can push. Many guys end up just spinning their wheels, with the quintessential example being the guy who pushes really hard to gain weight (get as large as possible throwing body comp. into the wind to some degree) and has to diet down so hard that any gained muscle is lost in the process.

-S

I definitely feel for me personally the quick and drastic approach works quite well for body recomp and fat loss in a short period of time. Now I know this first blast will be auto regulated but lets assume its 6 weeks :big grin: I will most likely cut calories pretty significantly in the intensive cruise period for a couple reasons. While a ton of fat won't be lost I will recomp some if only from mainly loss of water with a bit of fat, and it will also "prime" my body for another growth phase to come. For me, it's almost like tricking my body because in that two week period strength is not likely to drop very much as I've learned from experience.

Now I can accomplish a lot more in 4 weeks if I choose to do that in the future which I'm sure I will at some point in the summer, but at that 2-3 week mark on very low (for me) calories my strength will start to dip some, which I obviously don't want. I will play around with carbs peri workout to keep strength high and I believe training less will also benefit me in the strength maintenance department.

If you can't tell I'm a very "plan" oriented person lol but I know plans change in this game. Of course I have to go by how I feel and look during this first blast to determine if a little reduction in calories will benefit me or if I'd be better served keeping calories up and strength as high as possible rolling into the next blast. I'll have to play it by ear..I made a log so I will update for anyone that would care to see lol

[Scott Stevenson]

I definitely feel for me personally the quick and drastic approach works quite well for body recomp and fat loss in a short period of time. Now I know this first blast will be auto regulated but lets assume its 6 weeks :big grin: I will most likely cut calories pretty significantly in the intensive cruise period for a couple reasons. While a ton of fat won't be lost I will recomp some if only from mainly loss of water with a bit of fat, and it will also "prime" my body for another growth phase to come. For me, it's almost like tricking my body because in that two week period strength is not likely to drop very much as I've learned from experience.

Now I can accomplish a lot more in 4 weeks if I choose to do that in the future which I'm sure I will at some point in the summer, but at that 2-3 week mark on very low (for me) calories my strength will start to dip some, which I obviously don't want. I will play around with carbs peri workout to keep strength high and I believe training less will also benefit me in the strength maintenance department.

If you can't tell I'm a very "plan" oriented person lol but I know plans change in this game. Of course I have to go by how I feel and look during this first blast to determine if a little reduction in calories will benefit me or if I'd be better served keeping calories up and strength as high as possible rolling into the next blast. I'll have to play it by ear..I made a log so I will update for anyone that would care to see lol

And trying these things out a you are is why you've gained the experience you have upon which your'e basing this next "plan." Years of tweaking in this way can be very very valuable.

I'll try to check in on your log, as well. Good luck and KICK ASS!

-S

[Bobby Light]

And trying these things out a you are is why you've gained the experience you have upon which your'e basing this next "plan." Years of tweaking in this way can be very very valuable.

I'll try to check in on your log, as well. Good luck and KICK ASS!

-S

Thank you Scott! Finished day 3 today and I love the program. I can honestly say I haven't looked forward to training like this in quite some time. I thought it would be tough for me to take more rest days as I generally train 6-7 days. With this type of training my body needs these days and I can already tell it's helping me physically and mentally. This is really the only "plan" I've ever started in terms of lifting (I did 5/3/1 and it worked great but I tweaked it and added workouts ) but with this everything is structured perfectly and lends itself to the way I like to train. Kind of bummed I just started it now haha thanks for the program and all the free advice over the years.

[Scott Stevenson]

Thank you Scott! Finished day 3 today and I love the program. I can honestly say I haven't looked forward to training like this in quite some time. I thought it would be tough for me to take more rest days as I generally train 6-7 days. With this type of training my body needs these days and I can already tell it's helping me physically and mentally. This is really the only "plan" I've ever started in terms of lifting (I did 5/3/1 and it worked great but I tweaked it and added workouts ) but with this everything is structured perfectly and lends itself to the way I like to train. Kind of bummed I just started it now haha thanks for the program and all the free advice over the years.

You're welcome, my man! That people are enjoying training is one of my favorite things to hear, so I'm very glad that's true for you!

(Yeah, I hear you... "If I only knew then what I know now..." LOL)

-S