When pursuing your fitness goals, you might encounter plateaus during bulking phases or find yourself gaining more fat than desired. A mini cut offers a strategic solution: a short, aggressive dieting phase designed to optimize long-term muscle growth. This article delves into the concept of mini cuts, exploring their benefits, implementation, and expected results.
Understanding the Mini Cut
A mini cut is a short-term, aggressive dieting phase that helps you build more muscle long-term. Dieting to gain muscle sounds counterintuitive, but the strategy can set you up to make a prime amount of muscle. Unlike traditional diets, a mini cut is not a long-term sustainable strategy to get lean. For a mini cut to work, the follower needs to be in a dramatic caloric deficit, and one should only eat this way for a short period. If a mini cut lasts longer than six weeks, it is considered a regular diet.
The Purpose of a Mini Cut
The primary goal of a mini cut is not to achieve extreme leanness or contest-level conditioning. Instead, it serves as a strategic tool to:
- Extend Muscle-Building Phases: Mini cuts are best placed at the end of a consistent building phase, allowing you to prolong the time you spend building muscle long-term.
- Maintain Leanness During Bulking: As you bulk, you may gain some fat. Mini cuts help you manage body fat levels, preventing excessive fat gain and maintaining a more favorable muscle-to-fat ratio.
- Break Through Plateaus: If your size gains stall during a bulk, a mini cut can help reset your body and create a more favorable environment for future muscle growth.
Before and After: What to Expect
The results of a mini cut can vary depending on individual factors such as body composition, training intensity, and adherence to the diet. However, some common outcomes include:
- Fat Loss: The most noticeable result of a mini cut is a reduction in body fat. This can lead to improved muscle definition and a leaner physique.
- Muscle Preservation: When executed correctly, a mini cut should prioritize muscle retention. By consuming sufficient protein and engaging in resistance training, you can minimize muscle loss during the calorie deficit.
- Improved Insulin Sensitivity: Short periods of calorie restriction can improve insulin sensitivity, which can enhance nutrient partitioning and promote muscle growth in subsequent bulking phases.
- Enhanced Motivation: A mini cut can provide a mental refresh and boost motivation. Seeing visible progress in a short period can encourage you to stay committed to your long-term fitness goals.
Real-World Example
Glenn Almond-Smith, a clinical vascular scientist, provides a compelling example of the transformative power of a mini cut. Struggling with a "skinny-fat" physique and low self-esteem, Almond-Smith enlisted the help of a personal trainer and underwent a six-week transformation. By overhauling his diet, prioritizing protein intake, and incorporating two-a-day workouts, he reduced his body fat percentage from 14% to 8.7%. Beyond the physical changes, Almond-Smith reported a noticeable improvement in his mood, energy level, and confidence.
Read also: The Reverse Diet Guide
Key Considerations for a Successful Mini Cut
To maximize the benefits of a mini cut and minimize potential drawbacks, consider the following factors:
Duration
Whether you should air on the shorter or longer side of a mini cut depends on how lean or fat you are. Typically, skinnier folks (a.k.a. hardgainers) respond well to an ultra-quick two- to three-week-long cut. People with more body fat on their frame should probably stick it out for the entire six-week cap.
Calorie Deficit
Creating a sufficient calorie deficit and consuming an appropriate ratio of macronutrients is vital to a successful mini cut.
To establish your target deficit, calculate your suggested weekly weight loss percentage. To calculate a two percent loss, you would multiply your body weight by 0.02. For 1.5%, multiply by 0.015. After calculating the weight, you aim to lose, multiply this by 500 to find your daily calorie deficit.
Macronutrient Intake
Macros matter. And they matter when you’re depriving your body so drastically of its normal energy levels.
Read also: The Truth About Cutting Supplements
- Protein: It’s essential to consume sufficient protein to preserve muscle mass and manage hunger levels.
- Fat: You should keep fat intake high enough to support critical hormonal functions.
- Carbohydrates: Fill the rest of your calories with carbohydrates - an essential macro for energy. To find this number, multiply your protein intake by four and your fat intake by nine, add those two numbers together and then subtract it from your calorie goal.
Food Choices
What food you eat matters too. With your calories so low, you will experience hunger. That’s part of the process. Accept it. When calories are low, people can cave into cravings and eat foods that taste great but are 100% opposed to their goals. Opt to eat nutrient-dense, high fiber, low-calorie foods - or foods high on the satiety index. Choose lean protein sources over fatty ones. Replace starches and grains with leafy greens and fruits. Potatoes and rice are easy-to-digest and filling carb sources.
There is a reason bodybuilders have been dieting for decades on foods like oatmeal and egg whites or chicken and broccoli. The body’s feedback loops consider nutrient intake, not just energy intake to some extent. If you are full of nutrients and full because you have chosen highly satiating foods, you are far more likely to adhere to the diet plan. If you can comply with the program, it will be over before you know it, and you can get back to bulking. A simple rule to help you achieve this is to “eat the rainbow;” eat various colored fruits and vegetables.
Training
From a training perspective, it is vital to keep lifting weights. A mini cut is not the time to suddenly begin doing crazy high-rep “fat loss” workouts. Train to stimulate muscle gain and let your diet take care of the fat loss.
- Sets: You should perform volumes that are at and above your minimum effective dose (MED). Knowing your exact MED is tricky but, for most people it is around 10 sets per muscle group a week. Moving closer to your maximal adaptive volume (MAV) is the place to be. Your MAV during a mini cut is different to when bulking because you are consuming fewer calories and this effects your ability to tolerate and recover from training.
- How Often: Train each muscle group at least twice per week. Training is the most powerful stimulus to retaining muscle. Training larger muscles twice per week balances the need to create a stimulus to retain muscle mass with enough recovery each week.
Nutrient Timing
Nutrient timing is an example of a small detail that can make a big difference when mini-cutting. The goal of your training during a mini cut is to provide a muscle-building signal to the body. While you might not actually build much muscle, you will retain it. The best training when mini cutting is doing the type of training that build muscle. This is training with as much volume as you can recover from. High training volumes are best supported by carbohydrates.
Carbs are the dominant fuel source for hard weight training sessions. Having carbs pre-workout will increase the quality and quantity of the training you can do. This means you provide a more powerful muscle retaining stimulus. It also means you can do more overall volume in the gym. Carbs post-workout aids recovery. You are more nutrient sensitive post-workout so a greater proportion of the carbs you eat will be shuttled to muscles than fat.
Read also: Cutting Diet Guide
When to Stop
You don’t want to get so lean that you damage your hormones. And you don’t want to stop your mini cut before it becomes effective. Ok, so when is a good place to stop? At the very least, you want to diet to under 15 percent body fat, and ideally 10-12 percent. At 10-12 percent body fat, you won’t be shredded, but you should be able to see your abs in good lighting and when flexing them.
Adherence
Set Yourself Up for Success: above all else, the program must be something you can stick to. Pick a plan you’re excited and motivated by. When calories are low and fatigue kicks in you are more likely to train hard with a challenging program you enjoy than one you hate. Also consider logistical issues so that your weekly training plan suits your lifestyle, schedule, work and family commitments. Treat your mini cut like a bank robbery _ that is get what you want quickly (fat loss) and then get out (back to bulking) before you get in trouble (e.g., diet fatigue, low hormone levels etc.). Much like a bank robber wants to get the cash and leave before the police arrive you want to lose a lot of fat and leave the scene before the negative consequences (muscle loss and sub-optimal hormonal function) kick in.
Sample Mini Cut Meal Plan
The following is an example of the types of food you should be eating to promote weight loss and healthy muscle development. The only drinks you should consume within a cutting diet are water, green tea and if you must, black coffee. Water is calorie free, keeps you hydrated and is basically all you need to drink.
- Breakfast Options (select one daily):
- 50g wholegrain porridge, handful of blueberries and a protein shake (approx. 340 cals)
- 4 scrambled egg whites, 2 slices wholemeal toast (approx. 410 cals)
- Ham, mushroom and spinach frittata (approx. 230 cals)
- Asparagus soldiers with soft boiled egg (approx. 186 cals)
- Breakfast smoothie with banana, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, water + honey (approx. 130 cals)
- Whey protein pancakes (approx.
- Morning Snack Options:
- Banana (approx. 100 cals)
- Any single piece of fruit or handful of berries (cals vary)
- 1 cup edamame beans (approx. 250 cals)
- Handful of nuts (approx.
- Promax Lean Bar (approx.
- Lunch Options:
- Chicken, brown rice and broccoli (approx. 300 cals)
- Extra lean ground beef, cauliflower and brown rice (approx. 300 cals)
- Grilled courgette, kale, pepper and humous wrap (approx. 332 cals)
- Chicken wrap with tomatoes, cucumber, olives and hummus (approx. 243 cals)
- Chilli with quorn mince (approx.
- Post-Workout Snack Options:
- Apple and almond butter (approx. 270 cals)
- Almonds (approx.
- Promax Lean shake (approx. 240 calories for a 2 scoop serving)
- Greek yoghurt (approx.
- Dinner Options:
- Tuna steak, two sweet potatoes, broccoli and asparagus (approx. 350 calories)
- Chicken burger with wholewheat bread + fried egg (approx. 500 cals)
- Chicken stew with quinoa and beans (approx. 330 cals)
- Beef stir-fry with brown rice (approx. 400 cals)
- Low calorie chicken korma, replacing cream with yoghurt (approx. 376 cals)
- Singapore noodles (approx.
By taking the meals above and mixing them up, you can create variation every single day, for the four weeks of your cutting diet.