Make some new PRS like Rep PRS, do so much Reps you possibly can. Maybe you did before 50 push Ups and now you can 70 or 80. Change your style of training but not completely. My English isnt the best but I hope you understand what I mean:)
Definitely. This is especially true when it comes to the bench press. I’m so close to benching 315 for 8 reps that I do not want to cut any time soon. The good thing is that you can increase your weighted pull ups, do more weighted on the weighted pushups, weighted dips, and other weighted body weight stuff.
Cutting is physiological and psychological easyer if you create caloric deficit by burning more calories than consuming less calories, if you keep your carb intake not too low you can keep your workout intensity high, cortisol levels low, you have more energy and you can recover quickly, also your muscles are less depleted, you can keep your strength and muscle mass, so until you hit singel digit bf create 300/500 cal deficit by doing cardio and weightlifting workouts
1000%. I only lose weight when i do cardio. Im the type of guy who can eat a horse everyday. People say its 80% diet but have zero idea how much exercise helps. What it really comes down to is that small range of calorie differential. If you eat in a 500 calorie deficit per day, and cardio allows you to burn 500 extra calories, you will lose fat twice as fast as if you were to just sit on your ass. People say “its just one donut” but when youre already only eating 2000 calories a day, 500 is a BIG difference
I 100% agree , this is by far the best way to cut , I still cut calories but not by that much , instead I try to walk a lot more . And it works like a charm .
the tip you gave about making the plate mostly about veggies is a game changer, literally eating 400g of vegetables may have to shit more but im always full
@@captainaesthetics Vegetables are very Satiating and easier to digest. Meat is the best source for protein however it takes way longer to digest and hardly contains any fiber.
Cutting out the extra or unnecessary snacking is absolutely key, & can be difficult for man people because it requires behavior & habit change, as well as some planning to come up with healthy strategies on how to stop or avoid it.
Just when I needed it most. I have been dieting for just over a year and a half now. I have lost 100lbs and my calories have gone from 2400 down to 1700. I am struggling. I have been unintentially consuming more calories and maintained for the past 10 weeks despite the mindset that I am "in a deficit" I have now decided to take a diet break and maintain for a couple of months just to give my brain a rest. Ready to hit a cut to get rid of the past of my excess weight. Thanks Alpha.
Don't lose sight of the fact you've already made so much progress. It's perfectly normal to have those struggles after 18 months straight in a deficit. Plus physiologically you likely need a diet break too. Also, don't panic if you gain a few pounds during the first couple of weeks eating at maintenance - it's almost all water and will go away as soon as you resume the cut. Well done and get at it!
This video resonates with me so much, when i got through a cut back then, i kept counting the days left before i back to bulk, i remember when i came home after playing 2 hours of football, went straight to the bed starving because i had no more calories left to eat, but learnt so much about discipline and consistency
Agree with everything you said! When I used to lift at the gym, seeing the lift numbers drop was definitely demoralizing. I have since switched to high-rep calisthenics/yoga and with these disciplines, losing weight makes the movements easier and lets me load up a weight vest. Definitely helps the cutting morale
Yes! Thank bro, the timing of your topics of discussion are impeccable. About a month and a half into my cut and have seen good progress...but I started thinking "this is good enough" yesterday. IT'S NOT. I've gotta keep going for the long haul.
You added mad lighting techniques though. Still look great. I use a lot of your advices and I thank you for everything you put out which is quality content.
All I can say is that the times I recall being my leanest were when the focus was on extra cardio with minor attention to diet. When I cut back/out the cardio and rely mainly on diet, it’s like slowly chipping away at my body and mind. But this of course is just how my body works, for other people they’re better off with minimal cardio and less calories
Yeah, it's saying goodbye to those maintenance/surplus cals and saying no that's hard. Easier to settle and say this is "good enough" and have flexibility. Good point about how every time you eat those foods, it makes you want to do it more. There'll always be another event, celebration, cake to stuff your face with, it's saying no to them consistently and getting to the goal that's hard. Aside from the physical hunger, that mental hurdle is the biggest one.
Last couple minutes were important to watch and listen. Struggle so hard with caving to cravings that end up being multiple days or even weeks of poor eating after putting in a ton of work. Gotta block those neuropathways and exercise the discipline and discomfort. Great video as always, keep it up.
I made it to the end, and I must confess that im not those extreme fellas. I'm satisfied with 15% body fat. Being lower is nicer, but not worth for me. I envy you all who can actually do it 👍🏽
Bodyfat is for largely determined by genetics. I‘m currently on a bulk and am around 12-14% bf with visible abs I don‘t train. After 3 days of eating to my appetite i my abs were way more visible. Downside is I have to stuff my face until I nearly have to vomit only to gain a tiny bit of bodyfat. Used to be 185 cm and a bit less than 60kg.
@@guntera3845 im 173cm 75kg. Currently around 18-20bf % im just doing maintenance calories had enough of the cutting bullshit. Ive always been thick boy so i dont mind it.
I started off at 120kg on 18th March 2021. Age 27, 6ft2 Calorie intake: 1400kcal to 1800kcal Cardio: 30 mins slow walk / day for the first 2 days. Bumped it up to 2 hrs for following 2 months. Then 4 hrs....then 6 hrs, sometimes 8hrs. Currently at 77kg. / 20% bf Calories intake: 1400kcal - 2000kcal with 3 to 5 hours of slow walking per day. Estimated calories burned: 200kcal/hour. Some days where imperfect, fell of my diet a couple of times...the secret is to get back on track right away (not Monday). Target weight is 70 to 72kg. It's a long process. When the constant hunger hits, learned to make better food choices to suppress hunger.
The struggle and discipline described in this video is what it takes for me to hit 20% body fat. Some people are metabolic monsters, my body is constantly in hibernation mode.
I’m a Registered Dietitian, you don’t need to lower calories when stall unless a huge weight loss has happened (around 8-10kg equates to around 200-300 kcal less lost in BMR) if weight stalls you and you are sure you are 100% percent strict accounting for everything. You gotta do diet breaks at maintenance for about 3-4 weeks or even more, energy preservation mechanisms will stop, you can even have your lowest weight at higher calories and you avoid cutting calories which add extra stress. Chris bum stead was at that low because people don’t know what they are doing and because they strive for excessive fat los per week, also need to “make weight” since steroids increase water retention and fuck up with hydro electrolytic balance. I got to 9% (real 9% at 83kg 6,0 feet tall. My lowest calories were 2400, 4 days per week gym and other 3 days 10k steps that’s it. After you are lean af you need to do a metabolic rebuild phase where you fill up and look lean and full af. So just clarifying that up. the leanest I’ve gotten, I got there by eating the highest calories I’ve ever cut on. Even if you are in high calories while cutting, the body fat percentage itself, not the calories, is what will make you suffer and stick to the diet, it’s the body fat that causes the stress not necessarily the low calories, you might be absolutely starving at 2.5k calories. Cutting calories further would only exacerbate that.
@Blades O Grass probably cause you are doing too much, you can either train hard or train for long, I would advice against a 7 day split, you might be accumulating too much fatigue and stress, hence the extra hunger. Metabolic building is a period where you reached your maximum leanness or near. And then you go back to maintence raising mainly carbs and keeping fats low, you will eventually start to train harder thus increasing expenditure thus you can eat more, and the cycle repeats, if you do it correctly not only you will balance ghrelin and leptin preventing rebound but you will look your fullest and your leanest since glycogen and intramuscular triglycerides are replenished. If you were to let’s say compete, ideally on stage you should be eating more calories than what you started cutting at or even your last maintenance. The leaner you are the more calories you have to be consuming compared to when you started cutting, not the other way around. It’s an inverted grafic between body fat and calories, lean equals more kcals or a 300 kcal deficit from your true MAINTENANCE (not the one you think decreased just cause you stalled), at MOST not even 7 days in a row. fatter equals the ability to go low in calories cause hormones will let you. Or else you will never get there or at least look good at a very lean Bf%
@@ResistanceQuest it’s a recompilation of many things and articles over the years. There is great info but sadly you need to be part of the “international society of sports nutrition” to have access to the articles. I would still recommend you look menno henselmans and Éric bergs work to have a small context of how it’s works.
Great video - every cut is hard no matter what - like you say right at the end it’s breaking the habit of instant gratification - applies to so much in life - if you can’t resist the urge and know it will pass - you will go a long way toward whatever goal you set in life
Im also of mediterranean descend and I totally have that pasta addiction. One thing ive done, other then switching to whole grain is swiching from lets say "pasta with mix veggies" to "mix veggies with a little pasta". Usually pasta is the main component with stuff sprinkled around. Well one can make mix vegetables, some protein and sprinkle some pasta around, just a handful. Its good.
Love all your content man !! Best on UA-cam in my opinion !! You still plant based ? Just curious. I started the vegan/plant based life in 2015! Love it still !
A really underrated hack is to create maximum distance between yourself and your favourite foods. When i cut i spend the week or two before eating the food in my house which i know i will want when cutting. If there is a multipack of crisps in the house, i.e. a food option that is very tasty and consumable instantly in a pre-prepared portion, i will probably end up eating it. When it's just a load of tastless tinned food such as beans, tuna etc, frozen veggies, frozen chicken, bags of uncooked potatoes etc in the house, you are just not that likely to go to the trouble of preparing these things from scratch if you are tempted by any off-plan eating. If things get hard i will even get rid of the spices and herbs, salt and pepper, butter etc just to make the opportunity to binge as awkward as possible. And when leaving the house for a walk or something, if you don't need your wallet leave it at home so you're not tempted to buy any instant food. Before you know it, procrastination/boredom eating are a thing of the past because there's just not that much pleasure in eating really basic foods, and when you put up barriers so you need to actually expend quite a bit of effort to make the foods somewhat edible, your binging tendencies will PLUMMET. Simply by freezing something you will now have to unfreeze it before eating it - boom, there's an easy barrier right there - you can't binge on something you can't even chew through.
solid video, lot of good advice. i'll be cutting soon , keeping a tracker on an excel spreadsheet which i can also graph by weight and date, but i'm so focused on getting my lift numbers up i find losing my gains more hard to take than losing body fat.
I often fall into the trap when I get deeper into a cut where I will progressively increase cardio duration and intensity. That increases my appetite exponentially. I have to remind myself the balance between hunger trigger and cardio effectiveness.
For me the biggest thing is trying to keep your gains or even make a few more while in a small deficit. Not only do you now have to incorporate LISS cardio, you likely have to increase the volume and intensity of your workouts to barely eek out any progress. Your day revolves around your workout. It also becomes very demotivating seeing the numbers stagnate (or even drop) and seeing the RPE increase week after week. You also have to be surgical spacing your cardio far from your workout, ensuring your sleep is perfect, and not going too crazy with your cut. Best part is the social aspect where everyone makes fun of you because you’re always taking in mostly protein based meals because the total calories for the day are so low and your 1g/1lb protein to body weight is so high. Oh and did we talk about feeling lethargic? I understand why it’s SO attractive to do low dose PEDs and make the whole process so much easier… staying natty is depressing sometimes. You’ll see guys only 2y in the gym looking way better than you.
My favorite thing to do is get around 10k steps a day just walking around. Very little fatigue, more energy for the gym, and can keep eating a little more to keep more muscle. Every time I start getting more steps I notice the weight falling off!
The struggle is real. Mike Israetel (Renaissance Periodization) has my favorite lectures on this topic, but your advice is good and aligns well with the RP protocols. 👍
On my first cut, I started around 185 lbs . I cut down to 140ish all in the matter of 3 1/2 months, the level of discipline I had was outstanding because I don't know if I can do that again. Mind you I'm 6'1. Getting shredded is unnecessary now.
Man that is some hard truth. I just want 10 pounds less, been struggling for 2 years now or just not being real about saying no and being uncomfortable.
You're looking better than ever, Alex. Can you do a video talking in more detail about how you use concurrent periodization? The 3x10 after maxing out got me a bit confuse lol, it got me thinking where is the "line" that separates volume and intensity days.
Never really had issue cutting (barely going below 2k cal), because i always do everything in my power to be busy or to occup my mind with something (sometimes video games, but rarely). Doing a bunch of LISS cardio helps a lot to eat more, tbh! And i already achieved single digit BF% (estimated around ~7-8%)
One thing I've noticed helps keep me motivated instead of binging is getting new gym clothes or supplements or whatever. Slowly. Just to have something fresh to look fwd to instead of going out and buying an extra meal outside....
b-roll of pelican curls got me interested, u been using them more often bro? ur arm progress would be real helpful to look at for guys who may have average genetics to see that someone with possibly worse genetics can get it done. Keep it up!
I'm honestly okay with the hunger and social aspect, but the hardest thing to let go of is the strength I built whilst bulking. I hit a 140kg tng bench, squatted 170kg for 5x5 and pulled 173kg for 3x8 at the peak of my bulk where I was around 84kg, and ever since starting to cut, my biggest challenge is accepting that I'm going to get weaker. Not only that, but also fear of doing a cut incorrectly, losing too much muscle, etc. I'm sort of in a stage where I am suffering from paralysis by analysis, but I am fully gonna commit to the cut and do it the right way (losing weight slowly, no crash dieting or excessive cardio) so I can keep the most of my hard earned muscle and strength! I have heard that even if you do lose a bit of muscle during a cut, you have quite a bit of muscle memory, and that you can always build again later if you screw something up, so that's extra reassurance to me. :P
It depends man, how much fat do you have to lose? When I cut I honestly lose barely any strength, I actually hit a 225kg deadlift pr at 72kg while cutting recently. But I remain pretty lean year round so only cut around 3-4 kg before summer. The key for me is to only reduce cals by around 200-300 initially and do burpees after every workout, usually about 100. Then as you progress drop the calories by 100 or so and do a little bit more cardio. Other forms of cardio I would do is skipping (great for Calves) or stairmaster. You only need to do about 15 mins of cardio after your weights. Also even though you might lose a little bit of strength gains your relative strength will go up and you'll find pull ups, push ups and other bodyweight exercises easier. People lose strength when they drop calories too much
@@vxsr33 thanks for the response, it’s much appreciated! As for how much I’d like to lose, I’d like to get down to 77 or 75kg, and just maybe see how I look from there. I’m not looking to get shredded, I was a ripped 70kg and it honestly wasn’t worth it being that lean year round. I used to compete in Muay Thai so I was a bit afraid of weight gain for a bit, as I wanted to “stay” at that same weight (it was a weird psychological complex I had, I felt like I “couldn’t weigh anymore than that”) but now I’m over it. If I still look too fluffy from there, I’ll see how I look at 73! I’ll definitely try reducing calories by 200-300 only for sure, I am in literally zero rush to cut and I’d much rather take the slow and steady route after all my years of crash dieting for combat sports LOL! Once again, thanks a whole bunch for taking the time to help me out dude! Good luck with your training and goals yourself! 225kg at 72kg is a big DL!
@@dblifts8887 that's all good man. Yeah just cut slowly then once you're happy with your bodyfat start clean bulking again. Sometimes it's better to just fully commit to a goal otherwise you can end up just spinning in circles and making no real progress lol. I'm guilty of this, did it for a few years when I first starting training, was always trying to gain muscle whilst staying lean so literally went nowhere. Only started making good progress when I actually did proper bulk and cut cycles. Good luck to you too bro, your lifts are impressive as well, I'm hoping I can get a 140 bench soon.
@@vxsr33 Dude, my first two years of training were utterly stunted by not gaining weight and bulking, and I honestly regret it. As you said, I was trying to hit two birds with one stone, IE trying to get as strong as I could while not gaining weight or gaining muscle which wasn’t conducive at all. But when I said “screw the abs” and finally bulked, my strength EXPLODED, which goes to show with how much progress I made in a year and a half. And it’s funny, because I got more compliments when I was a bit fluffy than I ever did when I was super lean, since I sorta looked like a shrimp with clothes on! Once again, thanks, my lifts aren’t too impressive with the exception of maybe my bench, but I am quite proud of how far I’ve come! I have always had decent pecs and back, even when I was a young kid, so bench has always been a very natural movement for me, but I’m not very gifted in the leg department, my squat really sucked when I first started out, but through hard work I managed to get it to at least respectable! My deadlift will probably always be on the crappy side (short arms, long legs) but I’d like to eventually try to pull 5pl8 like you have!
Derek mentioned this in a video, but you could potentially give yourself an edge with curbing appetite, if you try to incorporate lean asf meats, since they can take a while to chew. Or ig, incorporating jaw training, where you're just chewing on a jaw piece for a little bit for curbing appetite. Essentially having a chewing stimulus to make your body think that you've eaten.
@@AlexLeonidas exactly, a whole bag and you take your time to eat it all. you get "full" and don't have to fear of eating snacks. such a game changer for sure hahaha
Eat high fibre and don't cut good fats. Protein isn't as important as it's made to be. I see plenty of people hit crazy protein numbers and completely sacrifice other things like fibre and vitamins/nutrients. Let's say, you have a very good, balanced diet, you'll get more out of it. People don't seem to realise that, and they super focus on hitting protein goals. It's very much overrated to eat a f*ck ton of protein.
Finding good sleep is definitely my nr. 1 problem. My sleep suffers big time, whenever I'm cutting below around 15% bf. Not being able to stay away from chocolate is nr. 2. Can say "no" to everything, but a day without chocolate is pretty much impossible. Fortunately calories are essentially no problem at all, since I loose weight below ~ 4000 kcal. When I try to cut, I just eat just the same but cut my sweets down to one 100 g chocolate bar instead of 3-4 😅
Have you ever tried keto? The societal pressure to eat carbs is still a huge issue, but you will NOT be hungry. It may not be the best diet for preserving muscle, but having your insulin chronically low will absolutely kill your appetite. At least until you're approaching single digit bf%. After that, there aren't really any tricks. lol.
Your friends story getting shredded to 125 really spoke to me. I went from 180 to 140, trying to hit 135 & 8% BF My friends treated me for my birthday, and that cheat day became a cheat week, then month. I've definitely noticed my appetite shift to being hedonistic, wanting all those sweets. I'm fired up now. Not to be content with that plateau you mentioned in my 140's, Time to reach for the summit! #Motivated
I got the leanest I have ever been all the way down to 10ish percent shredded pack and veins everywhere and I did next to no cardio I just played golf and lifted hard. I was eating like a bird just cannned tuna and chicken thighs and I felt fine.
Oh man,the hunger is really a mental game too,cutting really puts you out the comfort zone,you have to either eat way less or move way more,and carefully because if you move too much(like the freaks who do 30k steps)hunger kicks in HARD
Hey Alex. We would love you to have a tour of your home gym so you could show us your equipment and tell us what you recomend to buy or not to buy and also where to find some of these things. Best regards from Sweden
One hurdle I have is I used to be extremely skinny. Underweight for sure. I need to cut now (I'm up more than 50 pounds since being underweight) but it feels wrong. I have to remind myself it's necessary to move forward.
I had been staying away from it as it's "junk food" but started eating it again after Greg's suggestion. As long as I leave room for it in my calorie budget it certain does fill me up for the rest of the evening.
Definitely gonna keep this in mind when I finish my bulk. It'll be a few years, only 17, good to have the info before I need it. Edit: dang, just watched the end, that was a major confidence boost, I'm hitting 160 in a few weeks for sure now.
Apply topical fenisteride(side effect free) with minoxodil. I know you are ok with getting bald but that is so till you lose all your hair. Good content
for me the hardest thing is the strength loss when cutting, its very demoralising
Yeah especially when you just came back from a bulk.. filled with PRs.
Make some new PRS like Rep PRS, do so much Reps you possibly can. Maybe you did before 50 push Ups and now you can 70 or 80.
Change your style of training but not completely. My English isnt the best but I hope you understand what I mean:)
Definitely. This is especially true when it comes to the bench press. I’m so close to benching 315 for 8 reps that I do not want to cut any time soon. The good thing is that you can increase your weighted pull ups, do more weighted on the weighted pushups, weighted dips, and other weighted body weight stuff.
@@AlexLeonidas how do i cut without losing muscle size ,my last cut i lose a lot of muscle and fat
Thats just ur ego getting hurt because u want other people to think ur strong
Cutting is physiological and psychological easyer if you create caloric deficit by burning more calories than consuming less calories, if you keep your carb intake not too low you can keep your workout intensity high, cortisol levels low, you have more energy and you can recover quickly, also your muscles are less depleted, you can keep your strength and muscle mass, so until you hit singel digit bf create 300/500 cal deficit by doing cardio and weightlifting workouts
1000%. I only lose weight when i do cardio. Im the type of guy who can eat a horse everyday. People say its 80% diet but have zero idea how much exercise helps. What it really comes down to is that small range of calorie differential. If you eat in a 500 calorie deficit per day, and cardio allows you to burn 500 extra calories, you will lose fat twice as fast as if you were to just sit on your ass. People say “its just one donut” but when youre already only eating 2000 calories a day, 500 is a BIG difference
carb backloading
@@ENGRAINING its legit but you still should do cardio
@@mysteretsym yes and do potty after the cardio and before eating
I 100% agree , this is by far the best way to cut , I still cut calories but not by that much , instead I try to walk a lot more . And it works like a charm .
the tip you gave about making the plate mostly about veggies is a game changer, literally eating 400g of vegetables may have to shit more but im always full
Haha that's the way bro! I do the same thing, around 400-500g per meal and it makes such a difference on appetite.
Gotta make the toilet earn its keep
Bad idea m8. You’re gonna wreck your gut. Eat more satiating foods like chicken and fish.
@@captainaesthetics Vegetables are very Satiating and easier to digest. Meat is the best source for protein however it takes way longer to digest and hardly contains any fiber.
100% bro. I take a shit 3 times a day sometimes due to eating so much fruits and veggies.
Cutting out the extra or unnecessary snacking is absolutely key, & can be difficult for man people because it requires behavior & habit change, as well as some planning to come up with healthy strategies on how to stop or avoid it.
As a man person I can attest this is true
Just when I needed it most. I have been dieting for just over a year and a half now. I have lost 100lbs and my calories have gone from 2400 down to 1700. I am struggling. I have been unintentially consuming more calories and maintained for the past 10 weeks despite the mindset that I am "in a deficit" I have now decided to take a diet break and maintain for a couple of months just to give my brain a rest. Ready to hit a cut to get rid of the past of my excess weight. Thanks Alpha.
Don't lose sight of the fact you've already made so much progress. It's perfectly normal to have those struggles after 18 months straight in a deficit. Plus physiologically you likely need a diet break too. Also, don't panic if you gain a few pounds during the first couple of weeks eating at maintenance - it's almost all water and will go away as soon as you resume the cut. Well done and get at it!
Congrats man that’s awesome. 100 lbs is a lot of mass.
Thanks for the comments. Means a lot. I do sometimes forget about the progress made but we are our own worst critics.
Congrats bro that's some solid progress. Treat yourself now and again it'll help
Keep going man, it will be worth it in the end!
This video resonates with me so much, when i got through a cut back then, i kept counting the days left before i back to bulk, i remember when i came home after playing 2 hours of football, went straight to the bed starving because i had no more calories left to eat, but learnt so much about discipline and consistency
Those encouraging words at the end of the video are golden thank you.
4 weeks of cutting left, really needed this. Thank u so much 🌼
Agree with everything you said! When I used to lift at the gym, seeing the lift numbers drop was definitely demoralizing. I have since switched to high-rep calisthenics/yoga and with these disciplines, losing weight makes the movements easier and lets me load up a weight vest. Definitely helps the cutting morale
Yes! Thank bro, the timing of your topics of discussion are impeccable. About a month and a half into my cut and have seen good progress...but I started thinking "this is good enough" yesterday. IT'S NOT. I've gotta keep going for the long haul.
You added mad lighting techniques though. Still look great. I use a lot of your advices and I thank you for everything you put out which is quality content.
All I can say is that the times I recall being my leanest were when the focus was on extra cardio with minor attention to diet. When I cut back/out the cardio and rely mainly on diet, it’s like slowly chipping away at my body and mind. But this of course is just how my body works, for other people they’re better off with minimal cardio and less calories
Dude you look absolutely mental. Also your advice on weighted pull-ups are making me get substantial back gains. Keep up the good work man🙌🙌
Mental? Why you say that?
@@wesleygaitan he looks incredible, it's a compliment
Your passion is unmatched🙌🏻
Thank you for the wisdom brother
Yeah, it's saying goodbye to those maintenance/surplus cals and saying no that's hard. Easier to settle and say this is "good enough" and have flexibility. Good point about how every time you eat those foods, it makes you want to do it more. There'll always be another event, celebration, cake to stuff your face with, it's saying no to them consistently and getting to the goal that's hard. Aside from the physical hunger, that mental hurdle is the biggest one.
Best fitness channel out there!
I’ve learned about all the points you mentioned but your perspective and delivery was the most motivating I’ve come across, thanks!
Went through the exact same issues while I was cutting, thankfully its done and now I can finally lean bulk and hit some proper PRs.
My man
Nice profile pic
Looking great Alex and also huge congratz on 250k ! 👍
Hey Alex, I just wanted to ask if we will see any q&a videos or livestreams in the future. Keep up the grind bro!
Last couple minutes were important to watch and listen. Struggle so hard with caving to cravings that end up being multiple days or even weeks of poor eating after putting in a ton of work. Gotta block those neuropathways and exercise the discipline and discomfort. Great video as always, keep it up.
I made it to the end, and I must confess that im not those extreme fellas. I'm satisfied with 15% body fat. Being lower is nicer, but not worth for me. I envy you all who can actually do it 👍🏽
Bodyfat is for largely determined by genetics. I‘m currently on a bulk and am around 12-14% bf with visible abs I don‘t train. After 3 days of eating to my appetite i my abs were way more visible. Downside is I have to stuff my face until I nearly have to vomit only to gain a tiny bit of bodyfat. Used to be 185 cm and a bit less than 60kg.
@@guntera3845 im 173cm 75kg. Currently around 18-20bf % im just doing maintenance calories had enough of the cutting bullshit. Ive always been thick boy so i dont mind it.
@@valitsemllaluokanavahyvaks3556 lol literally the same body composition as me. how do you do
Excellent video. Everything is on point. Thanks for giving no bs advice for natural lifters.
This is so far the best video I watched !!!!
Dude, just amazing and such an awesome share of your journey.
I started off at 120kg on 18th March 2021. Age 27, 6ft2
Calorie intake: 1400kcal to 1800kcal
Cardio: 30 mins slow walk / day for the first 2 days. Bumped it up to 2 hrs for following 2 months. Then 4 hrs....then 6 hrs, sometimes 8hrs.
Currently at 77kg. / 20% bf
Calories intake: 1400kcal - 2000kcal
with 3 to 5 hours of slow walking per day. Estimated calories burned: 200kcal/hour.
Some days where imperfect, fell of my diet a couple of times...the secret is to get back on track right away (not Monday).
Target weight is 70 to 72kg. It's a long process. When the constant hunger hits, learned to make better food choices to suppress hunger.
The struggle and discipline described in this video is what it takes for me to hit 20% body fat.
Some people are metabolic monsters, my body is constantly in hibernation mode.
Are you sitting down all day when you're not working out? Track your steps? Accurately tracking calories?
@@ProFow Mostly sedentary, but for some guys that doesn't matter.
@budthecyborg4575 metabolism does make some difference but your giving it way too much credit
@@nathanghazi7235 All the 2,000 calories per serving weight gainer supplements say otherwise.
@@budthecyborg4575bro u are coping hard
Greetings from Greece my man ...keep up the good work....
Much love my Greek brother!
Whenever you wanna come you re welcomed !!!!!
My friend... we re everywhere!!!!
I’m a Registered Dietitian, you don’t need to lower calories when stall unless a huge weight loss has happened (around 8-10kg equates to around 200-300 kcal less lost in BMR) if weight stalls you and you are sure you are 100% percent strict accounting for everything. You gotta do diet breaks at maintenance for about 3-4 weeks or even more, energy preservation mechanisms will stop, you can even have your lowest weight at higher calories and you avoid cutting calories which add extra stress. Chris bum stead was at that low because people don’t know what they are doing and because they strive for excessive fat los per week, also need to “make weight” since steroids increase water retention and fuck up with hydro electrolytic balance. I got to 9% (real 9% at 83kg 6,0 feet tall. My lowest calories were 2400, 4 days per week gym and other 3 days 10k steps that’s it.
After you are lean af you need to do a metabolic rebuild phase where you fill up and look lean and full af. So just clarifying that up. the leanest I’ve gotten, I got there by eating the highest calories I’ve ever cut on.
Even if you are in high calories while cutting, the body fat percentage itself, not the calories, is what will make you suffer and stick to the diet, it’s the body fat that causes the stress not necessarily the low calories, you might be absolutely starving at 2.5k calories. Cutting calories further would only exacerbate that.
I'd like to learn more about this. Do you have an article on this particular subject matter or one that you recommend?
@Blades O Grass probably cause you are doing too much, you can either train hard or train for long, I would advice against a 7 day split, you might be accumulating too much fatigue and stress, hence the extra hunger. Metabolic building is a period where you reached your maximum leanness or near. And then you go back to maintence raising mainly carbs and keeping fats low, you will eventually start to train harder thus increasing expenditure thus you can eat more, and the cycle repeats, if you do it correctly not only you will balance ghrelin and leptin preventing rebound but you will look your fullest and your leanest since glycogen and intramuscular triglycerides are replenished. If you were to let’s say compete, ideally on stage you should be eating more calories than what you started cutting at or even your last maintenance. The leaner you are the more calories you have to be consuming compared to when you started cutting, not the other way around. It’s an inverted grafic between body fat and calories, lean equals more kcals or a 300 kcal deficit from your true MAINTENANCE (not the one you think decreased just cause you stalled), at MOST not even 7 days in a row. fatter equals the ability to go low in calories cause hormones will let you. Or else you will never get there or at least look good at a very lean Bf%
@@ResistanceQuest it’s a recompilation of many things and articles over the years. There is great info but sadly you need to be part of the “international society of sports nutrition” to have access to the articles. I would still recommend you look menno henselmans and Éric bergs work to have a small context of how it’s works.
This needs to be higher up. Taking breaks to recover your metabolism is essential when cutting as a natty.
This is a really good comment, good job
The last few minutes hit hard. Great video.
This vid is incredible…. Especially the last few min 😎
all of his cutting segments i have on repeat while im cutting lol
watch "appetite control 101" as well, if you haven't
Yes more content like this! Extremely informative and helpful man!
Great video - every cut is hard no matter what - like you say right at the end it’s breaking the habit of instant gratification - applies to so much in life - if you can’t resist the urge and know it will pass - you will go a long way toward whatever goal you set in life
Im also of mediterranean descend and I totally have that pasta addiction. One thing ive done, other then switching to whole grain is swiching from lets say "pasta with mix veggies" to "mix veggies with a little pasta". Usually pasta is the main component with stuff sprinkled around. Well one can make mix vegetables, some protein and sprinkle some pasta around, just a handful. Its good.
I feel you on that brother!
Reason 1
My Deadlift goes down and I start getting paranoid about my strength lol
Then the bench BRO will suffer
You're looking great man awesome gains 💪
Love all your content man !! Best on UA-cam in my opinion !! You still plant based ? Just curious. I started the vegan/plant based life in 2015! Love it still !
A really underrated hack is to create maximum distance between yourself and your favourite foods. When i cut i spend the week or two before eating the food in my house which i know i will want when cutting. If there is a multipack of crisps in the house, i.e. a food option that is very tasty and consumable instantly in a pre-prepared portion, i will probably end up eating it. When it's just a load of tastless tinned food such as beans, tuna etc, frozen veggies, frozen chicken, bags of uncooked potatoes etc in the house, you are just not that likely to go to the trouble of preparing these things from scratch if you are tempted by any off-plan eating. If things get hard i will even get rid of the spices and herbs, salt and pepper, butter etc just to make the opportunity to binge as awkward as possible. And when leaving the house for a walk or something, if you don't need your wallet leave it at home so you're not tempted to buy any instant food.
Before you know it, procrastination/boredom eating are a thing of the past because there's just not that much pleasure in eating really basic foods, and when you put up barriers so you need to actually expend quite a bit of effort to make the foods somewhat edible, your binging tendencies will PLUMMET. Simply by freezing something you will now have to unfreeze it before eating it - boom, there's an easy barrier right there - you can't binge on something you can't even chew through.
solid video, lot of good advice. i'll be cutting soon , keeping a tracker on an excel spreadsheet which i can also graph by weight and date, but i'm so focused on getting my lift numbers up i find losing my gains more hard to take than losing body fat.
We're all going it make it, brahs.
More relatable rants and content like this
I often fall into the trap when I get deeper into a cut where I will progressively increase cardio duration and intensity. That increases my appetite exponentially. I have to remind myself the balance between hunger trigger and cardio effectiveness.
For me the biggest thing is trying to keep your gains or even make a few more while in a small deficit. Not only do you now have to incorporate LISS cardio, you likely have to increase the volume and intensity of your workouts to barely eek out any progress. Your day revolves around your workout. It also becomes very demotivating seeing the numbers stagnate (or even drop) and seeing the RPE increase week after week. You also have to be surgical spacing your cardio far from your workout, ensuring your sleep is perfect, and not going too crazy with your cut. Best part is the social aspect where everyone makes fun of you because you’re always taking in mostly protein based meals because the total calories for the day are so low and your 1g/1lb protein to body weight is so high. Oh and did we talk about feeling lethargic? I understand why it’s SO attractive to do low dose PEDs and make the whole process so much easier… staying natty is depressing sometimes. You’ll see guys only 2y in the gym looking way better than you.
looking insanely good
Sheeeeesshh looking diced bro. 💯🔥💪
My favorite thing to do is get around 10k steps a day just walking around. Very little fatigue, more energy for the gym, and can keep eating a little more to keep more muscle. Every time I start getting more steps I notice the weight falling off!
For me hunger isn't the issue eventually you come to Peace with it the crippling energy levels is what I hate
That’s where I’m at now… have just enough energy to get in the gym and keep up with my running a tad, otherwise I feel like a sloth
True, I'm only at my 2nd exercise and I'd already be exhausted
The struggle is real. Mike Israetel (Renaissance Periodization) has my favorite lectures on this topic, but your advice is good and aligns well with the RP protocols. 👍
Hell yeah, awesome video
I love that "nooo" at 1:12
It's what I think when I hear someone telling me they've stopped eating carbs, haha
Your brachioradialis has to be one of the most underrated features of your current physique. You'd be a monster with a bigger neck and traps.
Reverse curls for the win, I even do them on the preacher bench these days, such an underrated exercise
@@apolloniusbeitsman5444 agreed, any bigger and they'll ruin the flow of his physique from the front
hes had em bigger just hes cutting, they inevitably get smaller... i think his traps are huge, id say they look gigantic in person
@@youssef2575 Now that you mention it, his traps are pretty huge haha.
Nah his traps are already big as hell. His neck just got smaller from the cut.
Thanks for the motivation, great content.
Alex looks super good.
How many steps do you do on an average day? I find cranking up the step count does a lot without taxing the cns
you nailed it bro . getting those steps in is a key factor in my opinion. more calories burnt less stress on your cns and helps with recovery.
How many calories can you burn per distance walked? (Say a mile)
@@Alex-mq6qi a hundred if you weight 70kg
On my first cut, I started around 185 lbs . I cut down to 140ish all in the matter of 3 1/2 months, the level of discipline I had was outstanding because I don't know if I can do that again. Mind you I'm 6'1. Getting shredded is unnecessary now.
Man that is some hard truth. I just want 10 pounds less, been struggling for 2 years now or just not being real about saying no and being uncomfortable.
Had to revisit this for Motivation
You're looking better than ever, Alex. Can you do a video talking in more detail about how you use concurrent periodization? The 3x10 after maxing out got me a bit confuse lol, it got me thinking where is the "line" that separates volume and intensity days.
Looking good man These videos are great
Never really had issue cutting (barely going below 2k cal), because i always do everything in my power to be busy or to occup my mind with something (sometimes video games, but rarely). Doing a bunch of LISS cardio helps a lot to eat more, tbh! And i already achieved single digit BF% (estimated around ~7-8%)
Holyshit he looks fantastic
One thing I've noticed helps keep me motivated instead of binging is getting new gym clothes or supplements or whatever. Slowly. Just to have something fresh to look fwd to instead of going out and buying an extra meal outside....
b-roll of pelican curls got me interested, u been using them more often bro? ur arm progress would be real helpful to look at for guys who may have average genetics to see that someone with possibly worse genetics can get it done. Keep it up!
You’re the only one who can rock a red shirt ! Much love brother
Learning how to say no! I like this topic if you could make more on it that would be great. Great content Alex as always 👍
Great content ,keep it coming !
I'm honestly okay with the hunger and social aspect, but the hardest thing to let go of is the strength I built whilst bulking. I hit a 140kg tng bench, squatted 170kg for 5x5 and pulled 173kg for 3x8 at the peak of my bulk where I was around 84kg, and ever since starting to cut, my biggest challenge is accepting that I'm going to get weaker. Not only that, but also fear of doing a cut incorrectly, losing too much muscle, etc. I'm sort of in a stage where I am suffering from paralysis by analysis, but I am fully gonna commit to the cut and do it the right way (losing weight slowly, no crash dieting or excessive cardio) so I can keep the most of my hard earned muscle and strength! I have heard that even if you do lose a bit of muscle during a cut, you have quite a bit of muscle memory, and that you can always build again later if you screw something up, so that's extra reassurance to me. :P
It depends man, how much fat do you have to lose? When I cut I honestly lose barely any strength, I actually hit a 225kg deadlift pr at 72kg while cutting recently. But I remain pretty lean year round so only cut around 3-4 kg before summer. The key for me is to only reduce cals by around 200-300 initially and do burpees after every workout, usually about 100. Then as you progress drop the calories by 100 or so and do a little bit more cardio. Other forms of cardio I would do is skipping (great for Calves) or stairmaster. You only need to do about 15 mins of cardio after your weights. Also even though you might lose a little bit of strength gains your relative strength will go up and you'll find pull ups, push ups and other bodyweight exercises easier. People lose strength when they drop calories too much
@@vxsr33 thanks for the response, it’s much appreciated! As for how much I’d like to lose, I’d like to get down to 77 or 75kg, and just maybe see how I look from there. I’m not looking to get shredded, I was a ripped 70kg and it honestly wasn’t worth it being that lean year round. I used to compete in Muay Thai so I was a bit afraid of weight gain for a bit, as I wanted to “stay” at that same weight (it was a weird psychological complex I had, I felt like I “couldn’t weigh anymore than that”) but now I’m over it. If I still look too fluffy from there, I’ll see how I look at 73!
I’ll definitely try reducing calories by 200-300 only for sure, I am in literally zero rush to cut and I’d much rather take the slow and steady route after all my years of crash dieting for combat sports LOL! Once again, thanks a whole bunch for taking the time to help me out dude! Good luck with your training and goals yourself! 225kg at 72kg is a big DL!
@@dblifts8887 that's all good man. Yeah just cut slowly then once you're happy with your bodyfat start clean bulking again. Sometimes it's better to just fully commit to a goal otherwise you can end up just spinning in circles and making no real progress lol. I'm guilty of this, did it for a few years when I first starting training, was always trying to gain muscle whilst staying lean so literally went nowhere. Only started making good progress when I actually did proper bulk and cut cycles. Good luck to you too bro, your lifts are impressive as well, I'm hoping I can get a 140 bench soon.
@@vxsr33 Dude, my first two years of training were utterly stunted by not gaining weight and bulking, and I honestly regret it. As you said, I was trying to hit two birds with one stone, IE trying to get as strong as I could while not gaining weight or gaining muscle which wasn’t conducive at all. But when I said “screw the abs” and finally bulked, my strength EXPLODED, which goes to show with how much progress I made in a year and a half. And it’s funny, because I got more compliments when I was a bit fluffy than I ever did when I was super lean, since I sorta looked like a shrimp with clothes on!
Once again, thanks, my lifts aren’t too impressive with the exception of maybe my bench, but I am quite proud of how far I’ve come! I have always had decent pecs and back, even when I was a young kid, so bench has always been a very natural movement for me, but I’m not very gifted in the leg department, my squat really sucked when I first started out, but through hard work I managed to get it to at least respectable! My deadlift will probably always be on the crappy side (short arms, long legs) but I’d like to eventually try to pull 5pl8 like you have!
Derek mentioned this in a video, but you could potentially give yourself an edge with curbing appetite, if you try to incorporate lean asf meats, since they can take a while to chew. Or ig, incorporating jaw training, where you're just chewing on a jaw piece for a little bit for curbing appetite. Essentially having a chewing stimulus to make your body think that you've eaten.
hey alex, you should definitely upload a calisthenics leg workout! interested to see how that would play out
Very motivational Alex
that tip of popcorn from greg doucette, helped me alot too !!!
you don't fall for snacks etc like that aswell.
Bro the popcorn is such a game changer 😂
@@AlexLeonidas exactly, a whole bag and you take your time to eat it all. you get "full" and don't have to fear of eating snacks. such a game changer for sure hahaha
Seeing this 4 days into my annual winter cut, god bless you Alex 💪🙌
Diminishing returns
Would love to hear mor info on cutting. Currently trying to cut and feeling the appetite grow more while I eat less.
Eat more Rice.
Eat high fibre and don't cut good fats. Protein isn't as important as it's made to be. I see plenty of people hit crazy protein numbers and completely sacrifice other things like fibre and vitamins/nutrients. Let's say, you have a very good, balanced diet, you'll get more out of it. People don't seem to realise that, and they super focus on hitting protein goals. It's very much overrated to eat a f*ck ton of protein.
Bear mode but the bear is ectomorph😂
Gosh its weird seing you this lean. Fucking awesome you can See a difference every Week or two fucking Machine keep going brooo
Is this workout is good for hypertrophy:
Weighted dips
Overhead press
Weighted push ups
Decline push ups
Laterial raises
Triceps extensions
Finding good sleep is definitely my nr. 1 problem. My sleep suffers big time, whenever I'm cutting below around 15% bf. Not being able to stay away from chocolate is nr. 2. Can say "no" to everything, but a day without chocolate is pretty much impossible. Fortunately calories are essentially no problem at all, since I loose weight below ~ 4000 kcal. When I try to cut, I just eat just the same but cut my sweets down to one 100 g chocolate bar instead of 3-4 😅
If you had poor sleep, it had nothing to do with dieting. It’s because of your lifestyle and poor mental health.
@@videogazer801sleep does get worse when dieting, but usually when you start to get really lean
Great video. Thanks man!
It would be cool to hear about your lifting numbers and intensity and such by the end of your cut.
You look amazing Alex
You should do a full day of eating with the plant based diet
Spaghetti is plant based
Have you ever tried keto? The societal pressure to eat carbs is still a huge issue, but you will NOT be hungry. It may not be the best diet for preserving muscle, but having your insulin chronically low will absolutely kill your appetite. At least until you're approaching single digit bf%. After that, there aren't really any tricks. lol.
Your friends story getting shredded to 125 really spoke to me.
I went from 180 to 140, trying to hit 135 & 8% BF
My friends treated me for my birthday, and that cheat day became a cheat week, then month.
I've definitely noticed my appetite shift to being hedonistic, wanting all those sweets.
I'm fired up now. Not to be content with that plateau you mentioned in my 140's,
Time to reach for the summit! #Motivated
Love you Bro💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
Shout out to anyone cutting fat, the shredded guys in the gym I work at usually have the better atittudes
I got the leanest I have ever been all the way down to 10ish percent shredded pack and veins everywhere and I did next to no cardio I just played golf and lifted hard. I was eating like a bird just cannned tuna and chicken thighs and I felt fine.
3:55 absolutely yes
Holy fuck you look insane Alex
Oh man,the hunger is really a mental game too,cutting really puts you out the comfort zone,you have to either eat way less or move way more,and carefully because if you move too much(like the freaks who do 30k steps)hunger kicks in HARD
Hey Alex. We would love you to have a tour of your home gym so you could show us your equipment and tell us what you recomend to buy or not to buy and also where to find some of these things.
Best regards from Sweden
Calorie deficit, cardio, weights and low carb diet. Learned the last one the hard way. You body doesn't burn fat as fuel if insulin is in circulation.
One hurdle I have is I used to be extremely skinny. Underweight for sure. I need to cut now (I'm up more than 50 pounds since being underweight) but it feels wrong. I have to remind myself it's necessary to move forward.
Can you make some videos on neck training again? How often do you train it these days
Wonder if Greg's gonna do a video on this haha. Popcorn is really an underrated cutting food item though
I had been staying away from it as it's "junk food" but started eating it again after Greg's suggestion. As long as I leave room for it in my calorie budget it certain does fill me up for the rest of the evening.
No one here is mirin' Alex's great cut! You're ooking fantastic king!
Definitely gonna keep this in mind when I finish my bulk.
It'll be a few years, only 17, good to have the info before I need it.
Edit: dang, just watched the end, that was a major confidence boost, I'm hitting 160 in a few weeks for sure now.
Apply topical fenisteride(side effect free) with minoxodil. I know you are ok with getting bald but that is so till you lose all your hair. Good content
Walking is the best appetite suppressant and cutting tool there is. Combined with fasting it's unbeatable.
Best thing that keeps me lean is cycling to work back and forth 20km 5 times a week up steep hills :D