There is a large misconception concerning weight training for losing weight in bodybuilding/physique/fitness circles that to lose weight or “cut” you must use very high volume, low weight, and large amounts of steady state cardio to “tone” or “cut” the muscles.
This is absolutely untrue and, in my honest opinion, is the exact opposite of what you should do.
One can see this if you have access to any of my bulking, cutting, or personal training programs. I try to reduce the amount of cardio as much as possible to reduce the amount of lean muscle lost during the cut and perform any needed cardio in HIIT (high intensity interval training; sprints, sleds, truck push/pull, etc.) fashion in lieu of steady state (walking on a treadmill).
In my experience, this will result in greater muscle fiber retention along with greater fat loss, win-win right? Along with this, weight training will change slightly as well.
During a cut, we will want to decrease volume but increase intensity.
When you enter a caloric deficit, your body goes into survival mode and thinks it’s going to “starve” so it starts holding on to energy reserves (body fat). Since extra muscle tissue actually causes you to consume more energy (you will burn more calories at rest as your %muscle increases) your body will literally start eating your gains (muscle gets broken down into amino acids and transformed into glycogen for energy) while the body fat you are trying to lose is stored as energy.
This is why most folks you see in the gym on a “cut” or trying to lose weight just look skinny fat; they are maintaining their fat stores and burning all their hard-earned muscle performing high volume, light work trying to “tone” their muscles.
You must give your body a reason to hang on to the muscle tissue present or it will be used as energy, and you’ll be a not-so-proud member of the skinny-fat club.
That club is super uncool.
Don’t be part of that club.
So, how do we give our body a reason to hold onto our muscle tissue? Low volume, high intensity. What this means is that you will use heavier weights, lower rep/set counts, and lots of compound lifts to get the most bang for your buck (squats, military press, deadlifts).
Bottom line, your body will only retain as much muscle as it thinks it absolutely necessary during a caloric deficit. The only way to convince your body it needs to keep your hard-earned muscle tissue is to LIFT HEAVY ASS WEIGHT.
I normally like to keep training days to a minimum (as opposed to 5-6 days a week; I’m not telling you to only train once a week…) to keep from over taxing your body when it is in a hypocaloric state.