12-Week Cutting Workout Guide

David Diaz Gil 7 min. of reading Training Routines Leave a comment

A cutting phase isn’t won in the kitchen alone. When you adjust your diet, your training needs to follow suit: maintaining strength, training with purpose, and combining weights, metabolic conditioning and cardio without improvising every day.

That’s why we’ve created the 12-Week Cutting Workout Guide, a 12-week training plan with sessions organised by day, including exercises, sets, reps, rest periods, cardio and HIIT.

Who is this guide for?

This workout plan is not designed for beginners. If you’re just starting out, the priority is to learn proper technique, control your tempo and progress gradually. There will be plenty of time for cutting or bulking phases later on.

It’s aimed at experienced individuals with at least one year of consistent, intensive weight training, as it incorporates metabolic training methods (supersets, combos, METCON and HIIT) focused more on hypertrophy than performance, introducing new approaches compared with traditional bodybuilding routines.

Why follow a structured plan during a cutting phase?

During this phase, there’s less room for improvisation. A structured plan tells you what to train each day, how long to rest, what loads to use and when to include cardio, helping you avoid weeks where you simply train whatever you feel like.

What’s more, the variety of training methods used throughout the 12 weeks helps you maintain the training stimulus without constantly repeating the same workouts.

What’s included in the guide?

12 weeks featuring different training systems depending on the stage: upper/lower splits, full-body workouts, strength training, hypertrophy routines, split routines and metabolic conditioning.

Daily workout tables with exercises, sets, reps, recommended loads, tempo and rest periods.
Cardio included every week: HIIT, MISS/LISS, intervals, METCON and running sessions, with optional sessions clearly indicated.
Advanced techniques: supersets (marked with a “+”) and metabolic combos grouped into separate tables.
Training guidelines: warm-ups, activation, tempo, stretching and how to select your training loads (based on your rep maxes).

How the 12 weeks are structured

Week	Focus	Description
Week 1	Hybrid metabolic training with abdominal work	Full-body, lower-body and upper-body workouts, with a METCON session at the weekend. Cardio: 2 HIIT sessions, 1 LISS session and 1 METCON. Approximately 70 minutes per workout, excluding cardio.
Week 2	Upper/lower split with metabolic combos	Upper- and lower-body training, plus a full-body workout incorporating metabolic combos. Cardio: 2 HIIT sessions and an optional 10 km run at the weekend.
Week 3	Heavy and metabolic upper/lower split	Alternates heavy training days with metabolic sessions, with longer rest periods on strength days. Cardio: one METCON session and 5 × 1 km running intervals.
Week 4	Upper/lower and full-body training with combos	Combines upper-body, lower-body and full-body sessions with metabolic combos. Cardio: one MISS session, one HIIT session, running intervals and a 10 km run.
Week 5	5×5 strength training (Madcow style)	A shift towards strength training, featuring explosive movements, sets of 5 reps and longer rest periods. Approximately 90 minutes per session, with optional cardio.
Week 6	Modified 5/3/1 (“Boring But Big”)	Upper- and lower-body training over 4 days, combining traditional and explosive tempos, with optional cardio. Sessions last 50–60 minutes.
Weeks 7 and 8	PHAT (Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training)	Combines heavy strength days with hypertrophy sessions across 5 training days, with optional cardio and a 10 km time trial in the second week. Sessions last 70–90 minutes.
Week 9	Upper-body-focused split routine	Legs, chest and triceps, back and biceps, shoulders with glutes and lower back, plus a heavy upper-body day. Cardio: one HIIT session.
Week 10	FST-7 training system	A muscle-group split (arms and calves, legs and abs, chest and triceps, back, shoulders and biceps), incorporating 7-set protocols for key exercises. Optional cardio.
Week 11	Metabolic upper/lower and full-body training	Metabolic combos return, with lower-body, upper-body and full-body sessions, plus optional cardio including longer runs at the weekend.
Week 12	Metabolic full-body training	To finish, three metabolic full-body workouts combined with 3 HIIT sessions spread throughout the week.

To clarify the approach: before each workout, complete a warm-up including an activation phase and, once you’ve finished, spend 10–15 minutes stretching the muscle groups you’ve trained.

Nutrition and training: the two pillars

Training is only one part of the equation. For a successful cutting phase, you need a well-planned diet tailored to the demands of your workout routine.

For reference, you can check out the HSN Protocol: Lose Fat Without Sacrificing Performance.

Get ready for your cutting phase with the Cutting Pack

If you’re planning your cutting phase, HSN offers the Cutting Pack, which combines Evolate 2.0 (whey protein isolate, 2 kg, also available without sweeteners) with Evoburn or Evoburn SF ().

Evolate 2.0 is a whey protein isolate obtained through cross-flow microfiltration (CFM), with a high protein content and a complete amino acid profile. It can be mixed with water or milk and offers a convenient way to meet your daily protein requirements. Protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass.
Evoburn is a capsule-based food supplement designed for daily use during your cutting phase. You can choose between versions with or without stimulants.

The pack is designed for active individuals and athletes who already follow a controlled diet and want a simple way to organise their supplementation.

Go to Week 1

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