Restricting your calories is necessary to lose fat, but it also hampers your post-workout recovery, physical performance, and energy levels. 

Does that mean you should train less or less intensely when cutting?

In most cases, no, this isn’t necessary or beneficial. In fact, it’s more likely to work against you by slowing down fat loss (through reduced energy expenditure).

Thanks to the combination of “newbie gains” and mild-to-moderate training loads and volume, this is especially true if you’re still relatively new to strength training (a year or less training experience). 

In this case, you’ll make steady progress in your workouts, gain plenty of muscle and strength, and have no issues related to recovery, even when cutting.

After a couple of years of proper strength training, however, newbie gains have long passed and training loads and volume have risen, making cutting considerably more challenging. 

What typically happens in the first month or so is plain sailing, but then, it starts to get choppy—the weights feel heavier and your training motivation and intensity sags. 

But that still doesn’t mean you need to change gears. 

Before you reduce the intensity or volume of your training, ask yourself three questions:

  1. When was the last time I deloaded? If it’s been more than three-to-four weeks, take a deload week and then reassess how you feel afterward. 
  2. Am I getting enough sleep? If you’re sleeping less than seven hours per night on average, seven-to-nine hours per night will make a marked difference in how you feel and perform.
  3. Am I eating too little? If you’re often eating less than 75 percent of your total daily energy expenditure (a 25+ percent calorie deficit), staying in the range of 75-to-80 percent should help.

If you’re feeling ragged despite deloading, sleeping, and eating like you should, however, then try reducing your total weekly working sets (hard, muscle-building sets) by about a third. 

For example, if you normally do 15 working sets for your chest and back per week, cut back to 10 sets each per week. This way, you can trim down stress levels and boost recovery without sacrificing muscle or strength.