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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5645​·​

I want to go to the gym today but I didn’t sleep well last night.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5650​·​

I’m running an experiment to see if I can keep my strength while on an aggressive cut. If I go to the gym today and get weaker numbers, I won’t know whether to attribute that to the cut or to poor sleep.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5657​·​

But if I still hit PRs while on aggressive cut and having slept poorly, that data point would be all the more meaningful for it.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5662​·​

I may still know depending on the numbers. If my strength dips a lot, then it’s not plausibly due to poor sleep (I didn’t sleep that poorly) and I should ease up on the cut anyway.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5651​·​

I’ve gone to the gym twice already during this cut and kept my strength each time, even hit PRs on some exercises. And last time I did this cut I also hit PRs.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5652​·​

But this is the first time I’m doing a cut this aggressive for more than just a week. I’m approaching the two-week mark. I know eventually I won’t be able to maintain strength, but it would still be good to know where the cut-off point is, roughly.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5653​·​

Okay but if I go tomorrow and I do lose strength, I won’t know if it’s because I waited too long.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5663​·​

A single additional day won’t cause much strength loss, if any.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5660​·​

I’ll be on the cut for another week at least, so there’ll be one more workout to compare with. Not everything hinges on today or tomorrow.

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Dennis Hackethal​·​#5661​·​

But knowing I’m losing muscle would inform my decision about stopping the cut sooner.

Criticism of #5660