OK then. I've been on this path for towards a new lifetsyle for 24 months. In that time, my weight has gone from 225-->175. My bodyfat has gone from around 25% to 11-12%.

A lot of the weight loss (40lbs) came in the first twelve months. In the last 12 it's been a net loss of 12 lbs but a nice increase in mass though not dramatic.

In the past year I had a job change, major stress, long hours, many days on the road, eratic workout schedules. Through it I've still made (very) slow but steady progress. I'm pretty good at building workouts, my nutrition has been pretty solid but, sitting here at ~11% bodyfat I'm finding that I need a new direction. Something to help me blow through 11% down to 9%. It's not proving easy (not like I thought it would be of course, getting here wasn't a walk through the flowers) and I think I need some "expert" advice from my peers about what might shake thinsg up and help me get there. Just 2%. Should be quick but knowing me it won't be.

So let me have it. Suggest a workout or tweak what I'm doing:

Today's meal (a little low on fat- usually get some olive oil and small salad in there at lunch:

6am
1 capsule Multi Vit
6 each Egg - boiled white
1 T Honey
1 cup (dry) Quaker Oats Old Fashioned


9:30a
1 oz almonds
1 can albacore tuna


12:30p
1 capsule Multi Vit
2 slices Ezekial 9-Grains Bread
3 ounce(s) Turkey Breast


30 minutes PreWO
1 Banana

Immediately PreWO
5 gram(s) All the Whey 20/30
10 gram(s)
10 gram(s) Maltodextrin

PWO
20 gram(s) All the Whey 20/30
30 gram(s) Dextrose
30 gram(s) Maltodextrin

7p
6 ounce(s) Chicken Breast
4oz Green Beans
.5 cup stewed/seasoned tomatoes

9:30p
1c 1% Cottage Cheese
~2150 calories; 40/46/15

Water is 1-1.25 gallons daily

I'm 6/2, 38, 175lbs (11% BF%). I had been zig-zagging calories doing 2500 on lifting days like today and 2100 on cardio only days. If I eat any less than this, the lifting suffers. As in today, I lifted on a low-calorie day. I got through it but not my best day.

Lifting. M-W-F days a week- whole-body split. 2 sets, 8-12 reps 1 rep from failure.

Squats
Stiff-legged deads
standing calf raises
BB Bench
curl-grip lats
seated cable rows
Seated DB press
DB upright rows
tricep pressdowns or extensions (varies on my mood)
DB curls

I usually follow this with 15-20 minutes HIIT. T-R-Sa I do 45 minutes low-intensity cardio.

So that's about it. I really want to get lean this summer so that I can bulk cleanly late summer/early fall. But my progress has really been quite slow and I need to turn down the thumbscrews. What worked for you?

I'm not sure, but maybe you should just take a break for a while? like maybe a week or so.

Given what you have, and if I was looking to get ripped fast, I would drop the calories a bit- maybe substitute the preWO meals with the banana and some cottage cheese an hour or so before lifting, and drop the sugar and whey. Post-workout I would drop the dex/malt to 15/15. At your size you really shouldn't take all of that in, esp. on a cut. It's just not all going to get used to shuttle glycogen to the muscles (that's my opinion anyway).

As for HIIT, and if you ever see my posts, there will be no way you can perform proper HIIT after lifting. I would do medium intensity cardio for 20 mins after lifting, and do HIIT or long, medium intensity cardio on your off days. If you want to do HIIT, make sure you are hitting those intervals AS HARD AS YOU CAN. You should feel like you can barely walk when you're done, and your lungs should burn each interval.

As for lifting when you're decreasing calories, it all depends on the day, in my opinion. I have, in general, increased strength and weight on all my lifts on this cut, but I have had some horribly slow, lethargic days too. I had to go through a period of 2-3 weeks when I needed to up my caloric intake to give myself a boost.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

Interesting how everybody differs on this. I've had a couple of replies privately that say I should up the calories and carbs (33p/50c/17f lifting days; 40/40/20 off days) and do this for cals: 2800 lifting, 2600 cardio, 2150 off.