Cutting with no Weights

[Gunz]

I am a long time lurker, first time poster. Some of you know me in real-life, (Flexmaster), I am looking for opinions from anyone on my situation. For those of you that don't know me, I have been lifting for around 14 years now and have gone from 145lb to 270lb. So I have some solid base. Recently I started having shoulder pain in my left shoulder. I felt like it was nothing but went ahead and got an MRI. The results showed that I had basically destroyed the rotator cuff socket. I had surgery where they had to; Shave/scar a tendon to get it to bleed and scar up on its own, drill a hole and re-attach another tendon with a metal anchor; and shave down the rotator cuff. I have been in a sling for a month and have two more weeks to go. I was told it would be another 8 months to 1 year before I will be fully back to the weights.

I have always been around 12-15% and wanted to cut, but never really did. I was thinking of taking this time to do it. I can do cardio (walk, elliptical, stair master etc. ) but cannot lift. I have tried doing some lower body and core work, but it has to be very light so I don't strain/flex my upper body, which I tend to do. I am sure I can start adding in some lifting as the months go buy, but in the mean time I was just thinking of doing cardio. I was hoping I could get some opinions on this? Not sure if it would be a bad idea to do cardio when I cannot really signal the muscles that they need to maintain or grow. Again, cardio and fat loss has never been my exact foray so, yes, I am very naive here.

My second question along with that is the use of gear. I have had two thoughts. The first being too take this time and let my system "clean out" or to run say 1/2 gram of test a week to help prevent muscle loss.

Again any help is appreciated.

Thank you, Gunz

 

[oldfella]

Wow, tough situation. Cutting without weights will ultimately mean the loss of some muscle mass. it will be inevitable. Without the stimulation of resistance on a muscle it will atrophy some through cardio alone. Your body has no use for the extra mass unless it is put to use, therefore it will drop it. Just the way we are geneticly designed, unfortunately. But keeping up a pretty high protein intake and doing what you can to keep as much muscle on yoru frame should slow this down some. Some serious changes in diet will be required to achieve results. Be patient and be somewhat happy with the fact that we have muscle memory. You will get it back once you resume lifting again. All the best with your recovery.

 

[thebrick]

Wow, sorry to hear that. I think oldfella is right.... something to thing about though, and I think I would stay with low intensity cardio such as walking or power walking... cardio will help keep your metabolism higher which will help speed your recovery and healing process.

 

[Golgo13]

get your test levels checked.. You may need TRT. And while you are at it get a script for GH.. Recovery from this kind of thing is where GH shines.

 

[Dad]

Gunz,

Sorry to hear about yuor situation - hope the recovery goes smoothly!

I'd recommend yuo NOT try cutting under these circumstances. As Brick and Oldfella have pointed out, trying to cut without weight training is going to be tough. Unfortunately, it's not only going to be tough, it's going to be viirtually impossible. Yuo're going to lose some muscle mass just by virtue of not weight training, and trying to cut cals and/or add aerobics is simply going to speed that process up and result in even more muscle mass loss. This is the same thing the fat public achieves with yo-yo dieting combied with no exercise. They cut claories and lose "weight," but a significant amount of this "weight" (up to and over 50% in some cases!) is muscle.

My advice would be to just try and stay healthy, and stick with the light lower body/core stuff as this will help salvage some of the possible muscle loss. There's also a systemic effect from ANY training, so this should help with the upper body stuff to some small degree.

 

[km2000]

o.k.

the way i see it you are going to lose a significant amount of muscle no matter what you do , so expect it....
if it were me i would definatly do some cardio, and light core, lower body stuff too.... i would stretch and do as much lower body (using only your bodyweight) work.... ex. squats, one legged squats, lunges, leg extensions, leg curls, step ups, walking stairs, etc. there are tonz of things you can do to stimulate growth using only your bodyweight... i would change your style of training to doing a lot of static holds, super slow training, to wake up some of your dormant fibers that regular weight training dosent hit.... like dad said your stimulation will be systematic so you will be preserving more than just lower body mass and strength.... also cardio builds mitichondria, somethig weight training has minimal effect on if any.... this will be a good time to get your heart in great shape (cardio) so take advantage of it...

others may tell you to not do cardio and just sit on your ass all day till you heal up, but that would make me go crazy! give yoursef some new physical goals, wether its walking a mile at a faster pace each week, or doing 100 squats with just your bodyweight (its tougher than it sounds). be creative and dont think about what your losing (as it will all come back and some) rather think about what your gaining. i would bet that this little break will render a rebound effect also, so when your all healed up take advantage of it!

now onto your aas,
i would use a minimal amount of test. (whatever that is for you) and take some anavar. var is used oin cancer patients to help preserve muscle, while in a wasting state... gh also if you have it....

now right now your supplemention will dictate a lot... i would use a lot of aa's during and after your training.... and keep the diet at a caloric amount that will allow you to keep the bodyweight from dropping too drastically....

you could also do some internal cleanses, and really clean out your system...

good luck! let me know if you need any more ideas

 

[paulwigan]

have read studies but cant remember were, maybe worth a search were people reduced muscle loss and increased recovery by imagining doing the actual exercises.
may sound daft but these were medical studies I had seen and got to be worth a shot.

 

[Gunz]

Thanks for the support/replies everyone. I really appreciate the help, right now is a tough time, but it too will soon pass and I will be back to training. I think I will try the low intensity cardio along with the lower body training and monitor my weight and BF% and make sure I am not losing too much of the wrong thing. I like the idea of doing the hundred rep BW squats, along the same lines I was thinking of doing some sled pulling when I am able. I will keep the cardio minimal for health and not try and cut, save that for when I can train again. I will keep the test running at a low dose with some anavar and see how it plays out, I guess it couldn't hurt. Other than that I will keep doing what I can for legs and core and add in what I can when I am able. I thank you all for the help and advice, I really appreciate it, and will keep you updated on the recovery.

Stay strong,
Gunz

 

[Pekkerwood]

I have been "cutting" with no weights

Due to a Heart Failure I have been clean and cutting with no resistance training and minimum cardio. I walk for 30 minutes at a normal pace. I have not been cleared for any exercise so this is it for a while. I have not lifted since April 28 so I am 3.5 months in.

I look a lot better than I feel. My arms certainly have gotten smaller and softer and my chest feels softer but realistically I look a lot better than I feel. It seems because I just don't feel "tight" anymore and I am sure my strength is in the crapper. If I do get to start lifting again I'm going to approach it a little differently to hopefully keep my weight in the 225 and under range instead of the 260-270 range to make it easier on my heart.

I have tried to take care to still have 4 or 5 meals a day, but smaller portions, and about 35-40 grams of protein per meal.

If I could I would run about 200 mg a week of test, but I have been totally clean. I have been pleasantly surprised at how I look, still getting some stares and the occasional complement. Of course its only been 3.5 months too.

Good Luck to you,

Pekkerwood

 

[thebrick]

glad we got an update from you pekkerwood! hang in there.

 

[oldfella]

Good to hear from you Pekkerwood. Have been wondering how you were getting on! Sounds like things will work out for you.

 

[Pekkerwood]

Thanks Old Fella and Brick

Thanks guys:

I go back to the doctor in ONe Month for another echocardiogram. I am not going to cast judgements on my prognosis until after a full year with no progress. I was basically the same on my last checkup, no real improvement. This time with increased usage of my CPAP for the sleep apnea, weight loss, and increased dosages of my primary medication (Coreg) a beta blocker, I hope to at least start to go up in function.

Outside of that my life is normal other than not being able to workout. Everytime I read up on my probem (cardiomyopathy that has led to congestive heart failure) people seem to have much larger problems than I am having at my Ejection Fraction(20%). I keep looking for those cases where someone got a good recovery, but you have to read twenty five cases of moaning to get to that one sliver of hope. I wonder if the benefits out way the gloominess I have to wade through to get there.

With that said, and back to the purpose of this thread, I think I am a decent case study for losing weight while not training. I will report my progress as progress is made, which is quiete difficult as my girlfriends mother is visiting from Italy and we eat like pigs to often.

Pekkerwood

 

[Kaiser]

Seems like mostly everyone has given solid advice here. One thing of mention. Use of AAS while not working out tends to make your muscles atrophy. Your body only hangs on to the amount of muscle necessary for it to survive or at least what your body's perception is to survive. Look at it this way; AAS is made to repair muscle quicker than your body can with it's own chemical make up. If your body is repairing itself sufficiently with what it supplies, then compounding the repair process with outside help tends to trick your body into thinking it does not need the muscle mass you currently have because it repairs so easily and is "waiting" for something else to work on. This makes muscle fiber deteriorate because your body feels it is not necessary to keep it. Yes you may find yourself put on more weight, but I assure you it is water weight and your muscles are actually getting smaller underneath the layer. In short, just like everything else, your body gets rid of what it feels it does not need. Just some thoughts.

 

[Gunz]

Seems like mostly everyone has given solid advice here. One thing of mention. Use of AAS while not working out tends to make your muscles atrophy. Your body only hangs on to the amount of muscle necessary for it to survive or at least what your body's perception is to survive. Look at it this way; AAS is made to repair muscle quicker than your body can with it's own chemical make up. If your body is repairing itself sufficiently with what it supplies, then compounding the repair process with outside help tends to trick your body into thinking it does not need the muscle mass you currently have because it repairs so easily and is "waiting" for something else to work on. This makes muscle fiber deteriorate because your body feels it is not necessary to keep it. Yes you may find yourself put on more weight, but I assure you it is water weight and your muscles are actually getting smaller underneath the layer. In short, just like everything else, your body gets rid of what it feels it does not need. Just some thoughts.

Thanks for the comment. I had never thought about it like that. It does make sense. Maybe I will take this time to clean out. I will probably just start with a nice long PCT to help everything kick back online, and see how it goes from there. I really do appreciate all the advice everyone.

Thanks again,
Gunz