Once the warmer months approach everyone starts to shift away from bulking and more towards cutting. It’s a classic case of Shred Fever. Perfectly normal. Perfectly acceptable.

But before you start to follow the typical training prescription of rapid-fire, non-stop punishing workouts and a carb-reduced diet to drop as much fat as quickly as possible—let’s consider another approach.

HFP expert contributor Tim McComsey (@TimMcComsey) has designed the smarter solution.

Get super-strong first

Let’s say, as an example, you’ve been following something like Tim’s 4-week Winter Bulk Up for a few cycles along with the Redemption plan thrown in there. Both of those plans are designed more for muscular size, but not necessarily strength. Yes, if you did follow them you probably did get a bit stronger by default, but the primary goal was not strength, it was size. Here’s where the Pre-Cut plan comes in and why.

Those rapid-fire, non-stop punishing workouts and a carb-reduced diet above are tough on the body. In fact, when people don’t cycle off or go overboard with them, they could end up losing tons of muscle instead of fat. And that sucks because a ton of hard work was put in for negative return. So for this season, focus on getting your strongest, most resilient before jumping into an aggressive cut too soon.

You could follow up the Pre-Cut with the 10×10 Shreds and the Quick-Switch plan. If the Pre-Cut plan has too many days for your schedule, you could also try the 3-day Monster plan.

Here’s what you’ll notice in the Pre-Cut plan

As mentioned above, our goal is to get stronger in the training block. Not bigger, not leaner. Stronger. We’re not making a huge amount of changes or using any highly-advanced training strategies.

Introducing cluster sets

Cluster sets are a way of breaking down strenuous, strength-spiking lifts into shorter, more manageable bouts of exercise. For example: Instead of performing five sets of five reps at your five-repetition max, those sets are broken into four “clusters” of two reps with brief periods of rest (3-5sec) in between. Ultimately, you’re performing more work, but you’re allowing your body to briefly recover.

Priming the stabilizers

Due to the fact that we’re going a little heavier than usual, we want to wake up and warm up those stabilizer muscles. We’ll do this with an easy superset on a suspension trainer like the TRX.

The Pre-Cut Directions

Perform the following workouts with one day of rest between. When selecting weights, for cluster sets, use your five-repetition maximum. For other exercises, select resistance where you “fail” one-two repetitions shy of the prescribed amount.

The Pre-Cut Workouts

DAY ONE: HOW TO GET A SUPER STRONG BACK

1. TRX W PULL superset ROW PULL
3 sets x 10 reps
Rest 45 sec

2. WEIGHTED PULL UPS  *modified cluster set 1
5 sets (4 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 10 seconds between clusters
5 Rep Max

3. BARBELL ROW  *modified cluster set 2
5 sets (6 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 15 seconds between clusters
3-5 Rep Max

4. UNDERHAND CABLE PULL DOWN
3 x 8-10
Rest 45 sec

5. DUMBBELL INCLINE BENCH ROW
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec

6. SEATED CABLE ROW
3 x 12
Rest 30 sec

7. TRX PIKE superset BENCH REVERSE CURL
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec

DAY TWO: HOW TO GET A SUPER STRONG CHEST

1. TRX PUSH UP superset TRX FLY
3 x 10
Rest 30 sec

2. BARBELL FLAT CHEST PRESS * modified cluster set 1
5 sets (4 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 10 seconds between clusters
5 Rep Max

3. BARBELL INCLINE CHEST PRESS * modified cluster set 2
5 sets (6 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 15 seconds between clusters
3-5 Rep Max

4. PUSH UP
3 x 8-10
Rest 45 sec

5. FLAT KETTLEBELL FLY
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec

6. CABLE CHEST PRESS
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec

7. TRX OBLIQUE SWINGS superset BICYCLES
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec

DAY THREE: HOW TO GET SUPER STRONG LEGS

1. TRX SQUAT superset TRX HAMSTRING ROLL INs
3 x 10
Rest 30 sec

2. BARBELL FRONT SQUAT * modified cluster set 1
5 sets (4 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 10 seconds between clusters
5 Rep Max

3. BARBELL ROMANIAN DEADLIFT * modified cluster set 2
5 sets (4 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 15 seconds between clusters
3-5 Rep Max

4. BARBELL SUMO SQUAT
4 x 5-8
Rest 60 sec

5. SINGLE-LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT
3 x 8-10
Rest 45 sec

6. BARBELL BRIDGE
3 x 8-10
Rest 45 sec

7. SUPERMANS
3 x 10
Rest 30 sec

DAY FOUR: HOW TO GET SUPER STRONG SHOULDERS

1. TRX HIGH PULL
3 sets x 10 reps, rest 30 sec

2. STANDING BARBELL SHOULDER PRESS
5 sets (4 clusters of 2 reps), rest 2-min between sets; 10 seconds between clusters

3. SEATED DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE
5 sets (6 clusters of 2 reps), rest 2-min between sets; 15 seconds between clusters

4. INCLINE BENCH LEANING FRONT RAISE
3 sets x 8 reps, rest 45 sec

5. SEATED NEUTRAL DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS
3 sets x 10 reps, rest 45 sec

6. WEIGHTED SIT UP
3 sets x 10 reps, rest 45 sec

7. AB WHEEL ROLL OUT
3 sets x 12 reps, rest 30 sec

DAY FIVE: HOW TO GET SUPER STRONG ARMS

1. TRX BICEP CURL superset TRX SKULLCRUSHERS
3 x 10
Rest 30 sec

2. BARBELL CLOSE GRIP CHEST PRESS  * modified cluster set 1
5 sets (4 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 10 seconds between clusters
5 Rep Max

3. STANDING EZ BAR CURL  * modified cluster set 2
5 sets (6 clusters of 2 reps)
Rest 2 minutes between sets; 15 seconds between clusters
3-5 Rep Max

4. CHAIN DIPS
3 x 8
Rest 45 sec

5. INCLINE CURL
3 x 8
Rest 45 sec

6. DIAMOND PUSH UP
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec

7. ECCENTRIC HAMMER CURL
3 x 10
Rest 45 sec