It’s finally time to cut. After 12 weeks of heavy lifting and eating to put on that mass, I’m both mentally and physically ready to trim down the fat, build definition and expose some vascularity. Honestly, 205 lbs. was a decent weight to bulk up to. It didn’t take too much effort on my part and there were plenty of foods rich in calories that I enjoyed eating. But I’ve been feeling too heavy and immobile for several weeks; anyone who has ever put on 15 or more pounds in a few months knows what I mean. It just feels SLUGGISH. Of course, there’s also the aesthetics. Bodybuilding was never about strength alone, that philosophy resides with the powerlifters. Successful bodybuilders incorporate a lot of powerlifting principles to help build strength and mass, but we also want to impress through appearance.
The link to the cutting regimen has been updated on the Onslaught Resources tab; make sure to check it out because there are plenty of modifications from the bulking phase. All comments/criticism are welcome. The new structure was inspired by principles from German Volume Training, and shares a lot of similarities to basic GVT schedules posted by others. The philosophy of a bodybuilding cut is to maintain and make strength gains while stimulating hypertrophy in the muscles. The basic premise of GVT is to introduce high volume workouts [as the name implies] for the particular muscle group being trained on that day with short rest periods in between. The rationale behind this method of training is that the short rest periods incur cumulative fatigue as you progress with each set, leading to better conditioning and strength retention. The 10 sets of the exercise hit the muscle group hard and the stress induces hypertrophy while the high rep range promotes definition. The 10 sets should be limited to 2 primary exercises per workout to prevent over-training, and is best utilized for compound movements such as benchpress, squat, deadlift, overhead press, etc. to hit as many fibers as possible. I prefer to include 2 auxiliary exercises as well with 4 sets each.
There are 2 very important concepts that should be followed to be successful with this training method. The first should be inherent, in that the weight you manage to lift 10 sets of 10 reps should be far below the weight lifted for the respective movements during the bulking phase. Typically, to satisfy the number sets and reps requirement, one will fall to about 60% of his 1RM, or 1 rep maximum. The second concept is that the rest period duration must be short, typically about 60 seconds. This is HIGHLY important; most of the effectiveness of the method lies in how diligently you manage your rest periods. For this reason, it’s highly recommended that you use a stopwatch or timer of some sort.
This GVT inspired Onslaught regimen is a bitch to get through, but initial impressions suggest that it will be well worth it…
Projekt Onslaught 