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I have come to that point at the start of the summer - should I buld more muscle for the long rugby season ahead etc etc or should I cut up and lose this spare tyre that has been haunting me for years!

Currently I have been doing reasonably well -low carb for most of the week with a day or too of absolutly filthly carbs! Pizza, deep fryed fish and chips etc etc

To send my progress one way or another, am I right thinking that I should concerntrate more on lifting during the week and eating cleaner carbs on the weekend?

and to cut more fat - do a fair amount of HIIT Cardio and cut out or minimise my carb up as Mark suggests?

I am just in too minds at the moment - although I hate my love handles and moobs - Im leaning towards a Fat Burning Summer!

Any Ideas/ Advice Anyone?

What bugs you most: not being as big as you like, or not being as lean as you like?

For me, the answer was clear. I want to lose the last twenty or thirty pounds of fat I've acquired over the years, come what may. The fact that I'm still substantially overweight -- thought not obese anymore, Hallelujah! -- is the thing that bothers me the most. So even though I want to pack on plenty of muscle, I'm re-focusing my goal toward getting lean first, working out hard, and then once I get to that 10%-15% range that I want to be at on a day-to-day basis, then begin really focusing on adding slabs of muscle.

Of course, if I hit 10% body fat, that means I'm only 10 pounds away from 5% body fat, and if I'm 15% body fat, I'm only 21 pounds away from 5% body fat. Losing just ten pounds is way less intimidating than losing forty!

I don't think I'm going to have the ripped, lean look I want this summer... but by fall, I want to be close enough that it's a stone's throw away at any time.

--Matt B.

Yea, you know what - I would rather be lean than be huge!

I think I will commit myself to cutting this summer - hope to get to 15% BF by Sept - I know I can do it if I just Stick to the Program.
(Easier Said than Done)

Will I still burn a decent amount of Fat if I have a Carb up now and again?
Or will it result in much more of a Bulking Diet? than a cutting one?

If I manage to lose fat while still keeping the muscle ive built - I reckon - the muscle will only stand out more since theres no fat hiding it? would this be accurate or am I making excuses? haha

Mark K

I have decided to give up on trying to get lean and stuff and do this bad cycle on and on and for the next 2-3 years to build as much mass as I can. Of course I want to keep bf in logical amount but I don't really care now. I'm 19, it's the best period for me to build.

No cardio for me! No little calories for me!Give me the eggs!!!

kearnsmark wrote:I have come to that point at the start of the summer - should I buld more muscle for the long rugby season ahead etc etc or should I cut up and lose this spare tyre that has been haunting me for years!

Any Ideas/ Advice Anyone?

Hey mate

I'm guessing from the fish and chips and rugby references that you're a fellow Englishman Rugby players like Neil Back (an absolute legend) were always lean but still more than held their weight in the forwards, so as long as you're not a prop then you can probably afford to lean out and benefit from it next season. You won't necessarily lose strength, which is what you'll want to keep I should think. Mark's programme is more about building a certain physique than strength, mind.

Mark's programme is more about building a certain physique than strength, mind.

Yeah,agreed. Think powerlifting when we are talking about pure strength.

Very close Richard A! Im an Irish Man living in England - So I brought the rugyby from home and have embraced the English tradition of Fish and Chips and never looked back!

I have decided to cut up and try as best as i can to preserve the muscle i have built over the winter - pre season rugby training is starting soon as you may well know and it would be good to be lean as possible as i am stronger now than i have ever been, and to lose the fat and maybe move around the field a little better could only enhance my game dont ya think?

Im Second row so a good amount of muscle is essential but i dont think the props want to lift my lard ass in the line out right now - I could stand to lose a stone before september!

ps. Neil Back is a Legend - Im aiming for Paul O Connell physique! What a man! haha

kearnsmark wrote:Very close Richard A! Im an Irish Man living in England - So I brought the rugyby from home and have embraced the English tradition of Fish and Chips and never looked back!

I have decided to cut up and try as best as i can to preserve the muscle i have built over the winter - pre season rugby training is starting soon as you may well know and it would be good to be lean as possible as i am stronger now than i have ever been, and to lose the fat and maybe move around the field a little better could only enhance my game dont ya think?

Im Second row so a good amount of muscle is essential but i dont think the props want to lift my lard ass in the line out right now - I could stand to lose a stone before september!

ps. Neil Back is a Legend - Im aiming for Paul O Connell physique! What a man! haha

Sounds like a good plan then! I just remember an old flatmate of mine shouting loudly at the TV at a rugby match "where did he do his pre season, in the fish and chip shop?" LOL

Good luck with it anyway mate.