How do you best maintain muscle mass while cutting?

Hi Craig,

Here are the most important factors in order of importance:

1. Ensure AT LEAST 1 gram of protein intake per pound of your body weight and don't cut calories too drastically - losing weight too fast is the easiest way to lose a higher percentage of muscle.
2. Take creatine - and I hope you haven't fallen for any of that nonsense that creatine makes you look bloated or that it is somehow harmful if taken for long periods. Creatine, like higher protein diets has been proven to maintain more muscle when dieting - and I DON'T use the word "proven" lightly.
3. Have a cheat meal (with a big serving of carbs and calories) every 3 or 4 days - this not only helps stoke your metabolic rate back up but also (to put it simply) signals the muscles that they are not starving thus avoiding their breakdown for use as fuel.
4. Obviously keep lifting weights - you may want to back off a little on the volume but keep the intensity high. Don't all the sudden use higher reps and lower weights (you should use a combination of both high and low rep workouts throughout your many phases of training throughout the year anyhow - higher rep training can be just as effective for gaining mass as the traditional 6-12 reps per set). Some guys use shorter rest periods, which does lead to slightly lighter weights being lifted but ensure you still have heavy days too. Shorter rest periods increases your muscle's ability to suck up carbs (and therefore water), so as to look fuller when you carb up for photoshoots or contests.
5. Cut mostly carbs to hit your weight loss goals. Guys who use gear (steroids, etc) can get away with low-fat diets but natural guys usually can't.

Just to go off track a bit, with regards to the creatine, are you saying that you don't need to cycle it? Or that you can use it for much longer than guidelines say? And how does it help when dieting then? I had been using creatine while bulking but was going to cycle off it while I'm cutting before getting back on it again after.

There have been hundreds of studies on creatine, in thousands of research subjects and millions of people have used it and there is still no reason to believe that it has any negative effects.

I've been on it virtually daily for over ten years with only a few breaks when I lay off training for a few weeks or go on holiday.

Read my creatine articles if you want all of the facts. If you like reading about sports nutrition, you should find it fascinating because there are so many myths about creatine...http://fitnessinventor.com/articles/574-creatine-facts-and-myths-part-1-does-it-work-and-is-it-safe

Hi Craig, I've just completed a cut so I can offer a little advice. Like Mark said, keep the protein high, keep doing your weights and gradually add more cardio in.

You should aim to lose 1-2 pounds per week, so 2-4 weeks is probably too short to get where you want to be. I think at least 8 weeks is advisable, but just play it as you see the results. If you don't think you have achieved what you want to once the 4 weeks is up, just continue for as long as you need.

Hi Harry, well I'm not looking to lose that much weight! ha, my body fat is 15% so 4-5% drop is fine. I'm more focused on bulking, the cut is just to break it up so I don't add too much fat while bulking. I read in Mark's bulking article that eventually as you bulk more and more the composition of muscle and fat you put on slides more towards fat and thats exactly what's started happening to me, so I only want 2-4 weeks break to bring it back down before bulking again.

Mark, I'll definitely take a look at that Creatine article!

Thanks a lot guys.

Hi Craig,

Yes, glad to hear yet more confirmation of what I've observed over the last two decades plus... I've experimented with myself endlessly and with dozens of serious athletes, bodybuilders, fitness models, hard-core exercisers etc and the longer you're on a gaining cycle, the more you have to ensure that you make moderate weight gains because the gains become less and less from muscle and more and more from fat. Carb / calorie cycling can help to avoid this but but it is a very complex strategy to get right.