Off season update: fat loss phase

Off season update

Recently I executed a fat loss phase as a part of my off season. This might sound confusing because the off season for a bodybuilder means it is an improvement phase - a phase where you are trying to get better and improve your physique for next time you compete. In this case the improvement phase has involved the inclusion of a fat loss phase. Whilst I haven't been improving in terms of adding muscle mass at this time, it is contributing towards putting me in a smarter place overall (body fat wise).

Rationale

The general idea is that if I can get leaner I will be in a position where I can sustain a surplus and continue to perform well in the gym for a reasonable length of time without getting ridiculously far away from contest condition (in terms of body fat levels). As such I will be in a better position to begin contest prep when I eventually decide to.

Duration

So far I have been cutting for fourteen weeks and I am now entering the final week of the cut. So at the end of this week the cut will have been approximately a fifteen week fat loss phase. Originally I called this a "mini cut" but I would say this has gone well past that as a mini cut is usually six weeks or less in duration.

Nutrition Structure

The approach I took was to simply count protein and calories. Carb and fat targets were not specific but often ended up being similar on most days anyway. My target calorie intake was 3000 - 3100 calories per day. Usually I was conservative and tried to hit 3000 but sometimes actually went below this. Typically my macronutrient intake ended up as something along the lines of 240 - 260 P, 330 - 350 C, 55 - 75 F.

Refeed days were included at 4000 calories. The major target here was a carb range of 600 - 625 grams. Protein was usually fairly consistent and fat was adjusted to fit the remaining calories. The set up for this was 7 days low, 3 days high. This is something we trialed over the course of this fat loss phase. I can confirm that I did feel better as a result of the consecutive refeed days but of course doing things this way it does tend to drag out the overall length of the deficit. Using this approach one needs to allow a longer period of time to lose body fat.

Some additional things I did to make this cut more tolerable and practical is I did not measure or track my vegetable intake but was fairly consistent each day having several servings of vegetables with dinner. Usually it would be onion, garlic, green beans, capsicum, mushroom and kale/spinach. I also did not weigh out my fruit intake (I did track it but I didn't weigh the individual pieces of fruit). Instead I estimated the weight of the fruit to generally be around 100 grams each. I had one banana and one apple of similar size each day. This just made things a whole lot easier and less stressful as it can be a pain in the ass to measure fruits and vegetables every single day.

Cardio

I also did no formal cardio during this fat loss phase. I continued any normal recreational activity that I did regularly in the off season (one karate class per week, surfed sometimes and went for an occasional walk) but I didn't go out of my way or formally plan to do anything additional that would count as cardio.

Training

My training throughout my fat loss phase has consisted of around three training blocks. The goal of each of them has been primarily to maintain strength and muscle mass. The structure of each block has been a little different, the first including more frequency per body part, the second having a lower frequency per body but higher intensity and the third retaining fairly low frequency for some body parts but substituting some volume for intensity. For the most part it has been fairly effective. I have lost strength universally for all the big lifts but it is in line with the changes that we would expect to see eventually during an extended fat loss phase (altered leverages, reduced energy, potential muscle loss).

Results

Body weight has been tracked daily during this cut and a weekly average has been used along with weekly photographs to track progress. Weight loss has been fairly smooth with some periods of slower weight loss but continued fat loss ie no change in weight but visually leaner. As such no changes to calories or cardio have been required throughout the fat loss phase. Essentially if things looked a bit slow I just waited it out and stayed consistent and over time I continued to make progress. I think if you give yourself a good amount of time this can be a really good way to do things because you can maintain a higher caloric intake for a longer time period.

The absolute amount of weight I have lost to this point is ~ 6 kg.

Personal Experience

Even though this cut has been for a reasonable length of time, I haven't experienced too many negative side effects. Energy has been fine, mood has been undisturbed, libido is normal. I would say the only two things I have experienced have been some strength loss (this wasn't obvious until the second half of the cut) and also some occasional hunger. I have also experienced a few minor injuries but I cannot say for sure whether the cut played a role in the development of these or not. For the most part though I have enjoyed the process and I've felt pretty good physically and mentally throughout it.

Starting Stats

Starting weight - 106 kg
Off season calories - 3900 - 4000
Low day calories - 3000 - 3100
Refeed day calories - 3900 - 4000
Cardio - none
Squat estimated 1 RM - 217.5 kg
Deadlift estimated 1 RM- 235 kg
Bench Press estimated 1 RM - 170 kg

 Starting photo - front

Starting photo - rear

Starting photo - most muscular

Finishing Stats
 

Finishing weight - 100 kg (99.7 kg lowest weight so far)
Low day calories - 3000 - 3100 (no change)
Refeed day calories - 3900 - 4000 (no change)
Cardio - none (no change)
Squat estimated 1 RM - 207.5 kg (4.6 % decrease)
Deadlift estimated 1 RM- 222.5 kg (5.3 % decrease)
Bench Press estimated 1 RM - 155 kg (8.8 % decrease)

 14 weeks - front

 

14 weeks - rear

14 weeks - most muscular
 

How do you think I did with this fat loss phase? Leave a comment below or on social media. You can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan