Prime Cuts

This program is designed for intermediate lifters with some competency in the major
compound lifts. This is a 12 week program utilizing a simplified version of RPE weight selection.
A Word on Nutrition
Managing your nutritional intake (both caloric total and macro nutritional split) is crucially
important to the success of any fitness program, regardless of your goal. The focus of this
program is to build lean muscle mass, while recompositioning bodyfat to lean mass. The
recommended caloric intake will be based off a slight deficit of your maintenance caloric intake.
This program is also designed using all 3 macronutrient sources: Fats, Carbohydrates and
Proteins. If you are following a macro restrictive diet (paleo, keto etc) we will need to work
together to establish a proper split to ensure your body has all the resources it needs to
execute and recover from the training plan.
Determining Maintenance Caloric Intake:
While you can use any number of calculators available online free to determine your starting
point; a simple general rule is – multiply your bodyweight x 12 (10 for women) and then
subtract 250 calories. It’s important to remember that there are many variables affect an
individual’s caloric needs (medical conditions, metabolic health etc) and that this is just a
STARTING point to be assessed for efficacy and increased or decreased as necessary. For
example I weigh 250lbs, that number x 12 = 3,000 calories. This is VERY close to the number I
get when using calculators which multiply your Basal Metabolic Rate with an activity level
modifier (66 + (6.23 x weight in lbs) = (12.7 x Height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years) x 1.22
activity modifier. That total comes to 2935 calories. With a paltry difference of 65 calorie
BEFORE taking into account individual modifiers like metabolic health and medical conditions, I
find it much simpler to use the weight x12 (10 for women) formula.
Regarding macro nutrient split, I use a similarly simple approach. Each category of macro
nutrients serves an important role explained below.
First know that there are 9 calories per gram of fat, 4 calories per gram of each protein and
carbs.

Proteins first and foremost are essential in building lean muscle mass. That said there is an
effective upper limit to how much protein you can utilize. Protein in amounts greater than
around .7g per pound of bodyweight have been demonstrated to have diminishing returns as
far as muscle building. Protein isn’t a case of “more is better”. The conventional “wisdom”
calling for more than 1.5 to 2g per lbs of bodyweight is not only demonstratively wrong, it’s
taxing on your kidneys with no widely established benefit.

Fats don’t merely provide energy substrates for muscle contractions, cholesterol is a
fundamental building block of testosterone. The recommended amount of fat is 20-35% of your
caloric intake (Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Health. gov). You need fats. You need cholesterol.
Don’t be afraid of them, just stay within your recommended daily intake to support energy and
hormone levels.

Carbs make up the rest of your daily intake and are the primary place where you will make
adjustments to your intake based on results.

The Workouts
Diet GVT: what were using here is actually more appropriately named 10 X 10, but these days
everybody thinks anything that is 10 X 10 is German volume training. We are going to use 10
sets of 10 for all compound movements, and weight selection depends on your work capacity
for the day and may vary significantly. Start off your first set with 45 to 50% of your estimated
one rep max for the movement. Why so low? Because you were going to be utilizing very short
rest periods in between sets. This will tax your energy systems in ways that previous programs
have not. It’s going to be very tough and you were going to need to adapt to it. Do not be
surprised if you cannot complete all sets at the original weight, but that is the goal.
Use controlled reps with a one second eccentric and one second concentric. This can be an
excellent HIIT workout but it is also very good at training your lactic threshold, or how efficient
your body removes waste from your muscles as it tries to utilize oxygen to power contractions…
Because that glycogen it’s gonna go fast.
Recovery days are exceptionally important. If you’re going to have to stretch out and do a bit of
active recovery or you will be too sore by the time your next workout comes around. Take
recovery seriously and engage in it actively.

Weeks one through three it will only be three working days, and they will consist of four
primary movements with a few accessories
During week four through eight the workdays will increase the IV and rest time will decrease.
Weeks nine through 12 rest times will further decrease.That means that you will have as many
as four rest days and as few as three for the entire program. Make good use of them.
Weeks 1 through 3
All Movements 10x10 (unless otherwise listed) w/90 seconds rest. Face Pulls 4x 15 every
working day.
Day 1
• Overhead Pres
• Deadlift
• Dumbbell Curl
• 100 bicycle crunches
• Planks 4 minutes total.
Rest
Rest
Day 2
• Bench Press
• Squat
• Triceps Kick Back
• Lat Pull Down
• 100 Leg Raises
Rest
Day 3
• Jump Squats 100
• Push ups 100
• Sit ups 100
• Jumping Jacks 4 total minutes
• Walking Lunges 100 total
Rest/Repeat.
Weeks 4-8
Same instructions as above, but rest times reduced to 1 minute.
Day 1
• Overhead Press
• Deadlift
• Dumbbell Curl
• 100 bicycle crunches
• Planks 4 minutes total.
• 100 Air Squats
Rest
Day 2
• Bench Press
• Squat
• Triceps Kick Back
• Lat Pull Down
• 100 Leg Raises
• 100 Toe touches
Rest
Day 3
• Incline Dumbbell Press
• Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
• Drag Curls
• Athlean X High Pull
Rest
Day 4
• Lateral Raise
• Dumbbell Shrug
• Walking Lunges w/Dumbbells if possible
• Bent Over Row
Back to Day 1
Weeks 9-12
Same as above, 45 seconds rest.
This is a simple program on purpose. It’s not the collection of movements that cause adaption.
It’s the sheer unrelenting volume and constantly decreasing rest times. The combination of the
two should result in maintained or increased competency with the compound movements,
some hypertrophy, increased cardio capacity and fat loss. These workouts will feel intense.
They should. If at the end of week 3 you don’t feel ready to move on to week 4, give yourself
another week to adjust. It takes as long as it takes. If you stay in a slight deficit, this program
will help you lose weight and maintain muscle.
So what the hell are you waiting for?
I look forward to your feedback.