Aethix Fitness

I’m EXCITED for this cut ✂️✂️

Some changes I make to my diet while cutting as I slowly drop calories:

- replace certain calorically dense foods like wraps, tacos, burritos, wheat pasta with lower calorie, but satiating options like bowls, stir fry’s, black bean pasta (higher protein than wheat), etc
- minimize the ultimate bulking snack, complete cookies 🥹 (don’t worry, you can still fit in these foods in the context of an otherwise well planned meal plan)
- fat and protein macros don’t vary quite as much but carbs are the biggest variable here. Keeping protein on the higher side does help with retention of lean mass on a cut and fat is crucial for proper hormone function, amongst other things. As much as I love carbs and how much they can help with performance, during a bulk they can get very high and I’d argue that pulling from there is likely the best option and probably won’t impede performance much unless calories get substantially low.

I’ve experimented with slow and fast cuts and a slow and steady approach wins by far. I can get pretty freakin’ lean on 3000 calories/day still with my activity level and strength still stays loyal. It takes longer but it’s worth it!

Currently looking like this on an unintentionally slow bulk!

Calories are at 3400/day and weight gain has been plateaued for over a month or so now at 189-192 lbs, give or take depending on the day.

Strength and reps have been slowly going up so not trying to push it much more. Maybe 100 more calories per day for a bit to see what we can do.

I’ve been training Muay Thai 3-5 sessions a week and strength/hypertrophy training 4-5x a week. The most important lessons I’ve learned for myself personally:

1.) The body can be a lot more capable with adapting to physical and mental stressors than some people acknowledge.

2.) Proper form, technique, injury and fatigue management are KEY with hybrid training and higher volume training. This means autoregulation and having a good coach or knowing your own body very well is paramount.

4.) Strength transfers very well to other sports and I personally love moving my body in more “athletic” ways. Not saying strength is everything in other sport, but take the same person and add some muscle/strength and that will create a more explosive athlete. (There is a trade off at a certain point, depending on the sport)

4.) I need to eat more than I think and there’s not enough time for it, even with working a desk job from home 🤣

Alright there’s probably much more but I’ll leave yall with that 😤😤 I’m coaching for strength/hypertrophy training again now so feel free to hit me up via DM, email at [email protected] and/or check my website at aethixfitness.com. Much love 💚💚

📸

Fun fact about me: I actually broke my left elbow badly when I was about 6 or 7 years old and the first hospital I was taken to didn’t take me in to try to fix it because it was such a bad break. I had to go to a special children’s hospital and have pins put in and even then, they were skeptical about the recovery.

To this day, the integrity of the joint in my left elbow is impaired - my left arm can’t straighten fully and I can’t train it quite as well, causing my left triceps to lag behind quite a bit compared to my right. It’s definitely caused me to be a bit more self conscious about the left side of my upper body because I feel like it lags a bit more and it’s always the limiting factor with upper body, bilateral pressing (and usually pulling) exercises. The self consciousness of the development of my left arm is actually part of the reason why I decided to start tattooing my left arm!

That being said, I’m even more stoked when I see a photo of myself that I like from my left side, and this is one of ‘em - so great job with the 📸 ! 🤣 Thankful that I can still train hard and do what I love despite the impairments!

That sweet spot during the bulk where you just look fuller and not obviously fatter yet 🥹🥹😘👌

Maintaining in the low 190’s and right now - time to kick the calories up by another 100-200 in the next couple weeks and see how it treats the exercises in my rotation! Time for some PR’s 😉

Eat your vegetables, pet your cats! 🌱