r/naturalbodybuilding

i've went from 198 pounds (5 11) to 168 pounds. I'm pretty lean right now. I've been lifting for 7 years.

The only thing I don't have is shredded abs. I genuinely believe I am only 2-5 pounds away. But holy crap. This diet has been AWFUL the last few pounds.

I unfortunately store ALL of my last fat in my stomach it feels like. I am exceptionally lean (my arms and legs are shredded) except for my lower belly. Apparently this is genetic. Some people store fat elsewhere I guess?

Anyways, these past few weeks have been awful. I am really strict with my diet. My deficit isn't even that large (3-400 calories a day). My body is really rejecting getting leaner.

I am:

Getting migraines

Feeling cold all of the time

I CAN NOT SLEEP

Feel hungry ALL OF THE TIME. Its now CONSTANT

I did an entire week where I ate ABOVE maintenance 2-300 calories a day just to give my body a break and when I went back down my body went INSANE.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it even worth getting shredded abs at this point? I'm honestly leaner then 99% of the population, and have abs when I am fasted and flex in good lighting. But I don't have rock hard abs.

Let's say, over the next 12 weeks, I add 10kg to my max bench press (would be 110kg), and 5kg to my max OHP (75kg), will my incline bench press go up despite not training it?

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

In order to minimize repetitive questions/topics please use the search function prior to posting to see if it has already been discussed or answered. Since the reddit search function isn't that good you can also use Google to search r/naturalbodybuilding by using the string "site:reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuildling" after your search topic.

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Does anyone else include an “extra” day in their training? Like a day to just sort of hit whatever you want to? I run an U/L/R but have recently implemented an extra day where I do mainly arms but also some dips, pull-ups and rows with the hope to bring up my lagging back. I also hit arms on my upper days. Anyways these days are so fun and allow me to take some pressure off the logbook and try some new exercises and maybe will eve start Incorporating bench press just for fun. What are your thoughts on having a day like this? Is it better in the long term to have all training days more tracked and structured?

I'm considering running cardio everyday of the week. But sometimes when I see weightloss they say 4 or 5 times a week only of 30 minutes incline for example. Is there a reason for that? Do you not wanna do cardio on a rest day even though it's low intensity? or do you wanna keep cardio to rest days? Curious if there's any logic or if it's just to make it more managable for people to lose weight.

Maybe im doing something wrong, below are the key points that i stick to when cutting, i think they are all true...

- use the same routine and weights i used for bulking, if i was squatting 120kg for 8, do the same on the cut.

- You can drop volume significantly as long as you train hard. my sets of 4/3 go to 2, and sets of 2-3 go to 1-2

- try to maintain weight on the bar at all costs - losing a rep deep into the cut here or there is fine, but dont suddenly lower the weights just because you are on a cut

- 500-700 kcal deficit should provide good weight loss in decent time but isnt so extreme that you will tank hormones

- sleep 7-9 hours if you can

- steps for cardio is all you really need. 10k steps or more daily. some incline treadmill walking sessions helps but isnt strictly required.

I have done 3 cuts now, i always start at around 17-19% with a goal of reaching close to 12% in 6 weeks, which puts me in a 650ish deficit. By the end of week 6, im usually not happy with my leanness but at the same time, i feel like there is no way i could go another week because my body feels fried. tired all the time, knees and lower back start to feel off. I end up doing a deload at maintenance for a week and going back to bulking because while i want to lose a bit more belly fat, i dont like how small my arms feel. i typically end at 13-14% i think.

Maybe the answer would be to do maintenance cals and deload for a week or two, then continue the cut, but after a deload, its unlikely i would be able to jump straight back into a cut using the same weights i used throughout the previous 6wk block. Deloads always seem to set me back and i need at least a week to get my strength back.

On the next cut, i was thinking about dropping the weights by 5%, but that goes against what i was previously told, dont lower the weight just because you are on a cut...

mentally I dont have a hard time eating less calories, but i seem to physically. For reference im usually eating 2600kcals at the end of my cut, so not extreme at all, but still averaging 0..6kg p/w loss.

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

In order to minimize repetitive questions/topics please use the search function prior to posting to see if it has already been discussed or answered. Since the reddit search function isn't that good you can also use Google to search r/naturalbodybuilding by using the string "site:reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuildling" after your search topic.

Please include relevant details in your question like training age, weight etc...

Hi all, i've been lifting for nearly two years now, i train 4 days a week (PHUL program) and consistently hit my caloric and sleep needs. I'm very new to cutting and have some questions. I've been bulking most of the time i've been lifting (185lb to 212.5lb), and i decided to start cutting my calories back in April. Since then, I have dropped to 206lb at 6'2 which is about .4lbs loss per week.

The main change to my diet was dialing back from 600g white rice to 400g white rice (cooked weight per day), along with not snacking at night (Usually had some greek yogurt and granola when hungry +/ 350 cals). Despite this seemingly minor drop in calories, my strength tanked, especially in my squats. My calories + macros are 2,400 calories, 180g protein, 185g carbs, and 100g fat. I went from back squatting 305lb 4x5 and bench pressing 215 4x5 to currently squatting 255 4x5 and benching 210 4x3.

I understand that some strength loss is expected on a cut, but is it normal to this degree? Do i just accept that for however long i'll be cutting I won't be progressing in strength? Or am i doing anything wrong?

Hi All,

Ive been flirting with the idea of trying an RFL/PSMF approach to the last four weeks of my cut. I'm currently on week 7 of a twelve-week cut with a ~500 calorie daily deficit and its going ok but i think I need to lower my calories a bit further to get the most out of it and regain abs. I hadn't previously read up on PSMF but happened to get recommended a video talking about it after watching a Solomon Nelson video on YT.

I don't really have any issue with doing it, I'm pretty experienced with various cutting approaches and I'm pretty good at diet adherence. My minor worry is what will happen afterwards. I've been doing roughly the same protocol for the last four years (mainly untracked maintenance calories year-round with two 10-12 week cuts a year) and that's been very sustainable and fit my lifestyle. I'm not competing anymore; I'm 41 with two young kids so it strikes the right balance between flexibility giving me the ability to go have ice-cream with them etc while also maintaining my body fat at a place I'm comfortable with. I don't deliberately bulk, I'm happy with my size for the most part.

For those who have done RFL/PSMF, what was the bounce like after you came off? Ive never gone as low as 1300 per day and I'm concerned that by going super aggressive I might derail a system that's been largely effective and sustainable for me.

To be clear I'm not asking to be talked into or out of it, I'm almost certainly going to do it to find out what it's like but i was interested to know what others had done to transition from PSMF to maintenance and what pitfalls i should try to avoid.

I really hate when I hear things like "just do 2 HARD sets per exercise, and thats all you need!" As opposed to what.... bitch baby sets? Of course you aren't gonna grow if you're not pushing your sets hard.

Personally, I agree with the intensity > volume sentiment. I don't think people need more than 10-12 sets per muscle per week if their intensity and form is dialled. But it's hilarious hearing guys online act as if people doing any more than 10-12 sets per week is training like a bitch. I think people can train with high volumes and high intensity, it's just not sustainable (for most people), unless they're on roids.

So, did people generally not know how to train hard before this "high intensity" trend came and took over Gymtok? Did people really lack common sense on training knowledge before this?

My grandfather was a farmer and also a cheesemaker on the side (true polymath) and my dad told me my grandpa used to throw whey, which in the past was considered waste byproduct during the cheesemaking process, in the local torrent

Nowdays Whey protein from the site i usually buy from is 50€ for 907g. This is all because they are putting whey into everything, protein cookies, protein gummy bears and so on.

Its an absolute shame that high quality supplements are becoming far less affordable for the general population. Also a piece of advice, casein protein is far cheaper than whey (30€ for 1kg) and it has the same aminoacid profile, soy protein is even cheaper but the aminoacid profile is slightly worse than casein.

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

In order to minimize repetitive questions/topics please use the search function prior to posting to see if it has already been discussed or answered. Since the reddit search function isn't that good you can also use Google to search r/naturalbodybuilding by using the string "site:reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuildling" after your search topic.

Please include relevant details in your question like training age, weight etc...

I'm trying to find a program that could be dope and easy to see progression doing, but almost every program runs like 3 different chest exercises a week. I for example have a very week chest imo, so I was just wondering if bench pressing 3 times a week instead would not be easier?
Squat 3 times a week? Like have a small selected few good compound movements and hit those 2-3 times a week each so it's hopefully easier to progress on those lifts??

Lmk why most aren't setup like that. Cause for me I feel like progression on my bench is very slow only hitting it once a week in my current program. Sometimes you have an off day. So maybe I spent 3 weeks - 4 just to see if I'm stalling or still going up and I feel like a month for that is a lot.