Rep ranges on a cut

[AllAboardTheTestTren]

I'm cutting over the summer, and while I was bulking I used pretty low reps (4-6) for the Big Three lifts and rep ranges of 8-15 for everything else. Now that I'm cutting, I'm wondering if I should keep these rep ranges or adjust accordingly. I know I'm not putting on new muscle as I cut, so would a hypertrophy routine be worthless? Should all my rep ranges be less than 8 or 10? I've never done db curls or lateral raises with less than 8 reps haha.

 

[jm425]

Doing 4-6 reps all the time will eventually wear down on your joints and cause damage. I'm not saying never go that low, but only do it every once in a while to change things up while mainly sticking to 8+reps as a bber. I believe it's not wise to low rep especially while dieting down because you are eliminating water retention from your body and joints. As a result, I believe that the risk of injury also increases as a result while dieting.

 

[ROCKEDUP]

In my experience when cutting there's a tendency to increase reps for 2 reasons. One is the belief that it helps to burn more fat or increase definition faster. The other is that it's easier to cope mentally with the loss of strength. I've found the former reasons to be inaccurate, and the latter reason to be a poor excuse. Everyone's different but I think you'll benefit most by continuing whatever you did to get the muscle in the first place. The person that maintains the most strength in the 6 to 12 rep range during cutting is the person that holds onto the most muscle, all things being equal. Just my opinion bro!

 

[AllAboardTheTestTren]

I completely agree ROCKEDUP, I figured I should up the reps for those very reasons, but I read somewhere that strength gains go down the tube unless you keep up the low rep, high weight intensity. The first two weeks of this cut I've been doing everything, including big 3 lifts, between an 8-15 range. I might go down to six reps some.

 

[sammy555]

Ki stay the same for the most part. Normally 8-13. I might reduce overall volume a bit if I feel I'm getting over trained but holding muscle and strength iabsolute number one priority. Diet and cardio for fat loss weights for muscle retention/ growth

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[!MeanStreak!]

In my experience when cutting there's a tendency to increase reps for 2 reasons. One is the belief that it helps to burn more fat or increase definition faster. The other is that it's easier to cope mentally with the loss of strength. I've found the former reasons to be inaccurate, and the latter reason to be a poor excuse. Everyone's different but I think you'll benefit most by continuing whatever you did to get the muscle in the first place. The person that maintains the most strength in the 6 to 12 rep range during cutting is the person that holds onto the most muscle, all things being equal. Just my opinion bro!

Agree just keep doing what your doing and focus on diet/cardio/sex