Hey, Raynor,

Long time, no talk! I just got back into going to the gym regularly (my attendance was atrocious this last semester with pharmacy school). Anyways, I also was eating as though I was bulking. . . but without the exercise, so I decided to go straight into cutting (25 Ht: 6'6, Wt: 231; I'm guessing I'm at 12-14%ish body fat, and I was roughly looking (considering water loss) at cutting to the ~200 range by about May before bulking (which I think will put me around 8%, though I am not sure; clearly I'm assuming significant water weight loss here). Admittedly, my stabilization muscles need some work yet, but I've just gone into a lifting routine (should I work on stabilization first?). I was trying to figure out my 3 day split, and I know you have some workouts that you hotlink, which would be awesome; I scanned a few pages, and I'm pretty exhausted, but I can always come back and look for them later.

I was also curious of the goals of lifting during the cutting period--I have still been doing very controlled elongation movements with more explosive contraction movements. . . but I was curious if I should just be doing faster reps in cutting to keep my heart rate up during lifting as well?

Here is my present (roughly) routine. (Assume 5 sets of each exercise; Warmup, 80% 1RM, 60% 1RM, 40%1RM, 20%1RM, unless otherwise stated, with 15-20 second breaks between sets; roughly 30-40 seconds between exercises)

Day 1-6: 5 minute cardio warmup before lifting; shoulder warmup before lifting; 20 minute HIIT cardio after lifting; 5 minute cooldown & stretch.
Day 1, 4: Chest/Triceps (3 exercises each; starting with chest, typically 2 types of bench (usually dumbbells) and a fly or machine workout; Dips (3-4 sets to muscle failure, hold at muscle failure, 20 second break between), {2 of Dumbbell triceps extension, cable triceps, skull-crushers})
Day 2, 5: Back/Biceps (3 exercises each; back--usually: Deadlift first (I try to do RDLs, very controlled), Rows, pull-downs or pullups (if pullups, 3-4 sets to failure with short breaks or varied grips; my back is weak, so I often will do counter-balanced pullups to get more reps); Single arm, full-supination curls-3-4 sets per arm, no rest between sets (12 reps one arm, then the other arm), bar curls, cable curls)
Day 3, 6: Legs/Shoulders (4 leg exercises, 2 shoulders; Legs--squat first, often leg press next; otherwise 2 of: (Leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, weighted lunges, etc); 2 of: shoulder dumbbell fly (various angles-neutral, front, or back), cable fly, shrugs)
Day 7: Rest or 60 min cardio (some HIIT with some regular cardio)

Anyways. . . I'm sure my routine needs work. Oh. . . how accurate are machine-calculated calorie counts? Typically in my 20 mins HIIT my average heart rate is about 170, with max at 190-195 (I've been doing 30 sprint 1 min jog, 1 min sprint 2 min jog, or some combination), and it usually claims something like 300 calories burned, but I'm trying to figure out my caloric intake (BMR: 2300[-500+exercise] kcal), and I'm not really sure how to account for everything, so I've been considering my HIIT ~300, and guessing on the lifting.

I can give you an idea of my diet, if it would help, but I've been trying to keep carbs low & split the remaining calories about 60% fat, 40% protein.

I didn't really ask a question, huh? I guess I was just wondering what I can do to improve my workout routine? Are there specific exercises I should always do, and is my number of sets appropriate? If I have to shorten my workouts during school (gym opens at 5:45; class starts at 8:00, so given changing, showering, and walking, that leaves me about 1:30 total to work out), would it serve me to drop sets, exercises, HIIT, stretching, or just focus less on slow extension and pump out reps (other suggestions are surely welcome!)?

As always, my post has gone from something reasonable to something excessive. . . sorry for the wall of text!
Thanks again, Raynor,
~Steven

I would stick to more sets of deadlifts as this is a very important exercise.

Arnold Presses (DB) and Shoulder Press (BB) are both important, I wouldn't consider one "better" than the other.

Hey there.

Given your current goals of cutting, you need to do the following:

1. With respect to exercise, if at all possible, you need to be doing at least 45-60 minutes of intense exercise, 6 days a week. That being said, the 3 days of weight training along with HIIT is excellent, but you really need to throw at least 2-3 more days in there of a minimum of HIIT cardio, but preferably weights as well. I know you must be very busy, but in order to maximize the fat loss, this is essential.

Secondly, after you calculate your proper resting BMR, you can assume that your body will burn around 500 cals per hour of INTENSE exercise. That being said, HIIT will actually burn MORE calories per hour than standard intense exercise. 300 cals for 20 minutes does seem high, but it could be possible with your height and weight. A good rule of thumb is 750-1000 cals per hour for HIIT depending on your height/weight (bigger means more cals burned).

For eating purposes, you need to make sure you are around 500 cals UNDER your BMR on non-workout days, and about 100 cals below BMR on workout days. This means you will have a greater deficit on workout days (due to the exercise), but eat more food in total.

Keep up the good work and let's re-evaluate in 2-3 weeks.

Hey, so for my morning protein shake i've been using my gold standard ON chocolate protein powder, but it's whey isolate which i've been led to believe is a post-workout fast acting protein? it's also a lil pricy. is there another protein i can use (besides casein obv) that's cheaper and will have the same effect for a morning shake?

my morning shake is just a quick 900 cals/50 protein when i just wake up

Try getting the 10lb bags of NOW! Whey protein

Tyvm! I'll find em online, but continue using the gold standard for post workout yeah?

i got lasik 1 month ago (dec 13). is it safe to chop onions?

Yes that would be fine.

In general, yes. However, please rely on your eye doctors advice on this subject, as he has a full medical knowledge of your eyes. You will most likely notice less burning/stinging when cutting onions after lasik.

thanks

Should girls start with some easier exercises before starting on the base ones? like squat, deadlift, overhead press etc? for example, dumbbell bench press before barbell bench press? leg press and back extensions before the squat/deadlift?