Mini-Cuts: A How-to Guide

As part of my work on my upcoming book, Hard Gains, I advocate for periodic 4-6-week mini-cuts to break up bulking periods. Here is a review of how my previous mini-cut went, back in the summer.

The Method

My approach in Hard Gains is geared towards bulking for the majority of the year, where mini-cuts are implemented for the following reasons:

• To offset the law of diminished returns.

• For health reasons.

• Maintain an ability to partition nutrients.

In my first cycle of bulking and cutting, I completed a 20 week bulk, followed by a 6 week mini-cut. I typically class anything from 2-6 weeks as a mini-cut, with an actual cut lasting 6 weeks +.

Having recently decided that I am not completely satisfied with my results over the years, I decided to follow an approach of aggression on all fronts. In a bulking phase, a calorie surplus is on the high side, with short, aggressive mini-cuts to avoid muscle loss.

Mindset

One of the most challenging parts for me was to adopt a mental frame of being OK with not gaining significant muscle or strength for six weeks. For this to be successful, a mindset of trusting the process is imperative. Time spent planning is time wasted if you are not going to see the plan through.

And you learn so much in that process of executing your plans. You can’t accurately gauge if something is working for you or not if you don’t follow some sort of roadmap, and commit to it. For example, one thing I learned is that my girlfriend loves to overfeed me, and a cut for me is as much a sacrifice for her LOL.

A mindset that prioritizes process and learning serves well here. This is referred to as the growth mindset, in Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

The Transitionary Period

One key reason I favour long, extended bulking periods is that transitioning between phases of training and nutrition, means that there will be a certain loss of progress during the adaptation that occurs between phases. Essentially, you are learning a new set of habits each time you switch between phases.

I learned that I do struggle with switching to a new calorie range and style of training, having become attached to the results of the previous phase. It is a classic case of thinking that the grass is greener on the side I had previously been on. Viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses, and all that.

It took me several weeks of adjusting my caloric intake from over 4,000 calories, down to an eventual 2,800 in the final weeks of my mini-cut. Now, I still lost 5KG overall, just as I intended, but for the next mini-cut, I know now to aggressively drop my intake right from the get-go, rather than trying to ease into it.

The Results

I went from 87KG down to 82KG and was pretty happy with the results of a photoshoot I took at the end of the mini-cut. What I was happiest about, was my ability to commit to the mini-cut, even though every fibre of my being wanted to continue gaining weight on my bulk.

Being one week into my next bulking period, I’ve already set some PRs, so strength loss was not an issue. This was very much a reason why I opted for short and sweet mini-cuts.

As mentioned, what I could do better with in future mini-cuts is to switch over quickly. To enter action with boldness. Adaptability is probably the most important feature of the human condition, and I think this method is a great way to train it.

I’ll post another update at the end of the next mini-cut.