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Rather giving up carbs, which slows or halts muscle gain, use strategic carb cycling for fat loss
and hypertrophy.
The same hormones that help build muscle can also add fat to the body. Tactically control
these hormones with diet for fast body comp improvements.
The amount of carbs you consume each day will be based upon the priority of your workout.
Your high carb days, low carb days, and moderate carb days will be based upon how often
you train.
Take out the guess work and calculate how many calories and carbs you'll need per day given
your workout.
Over the course of my T Nation career I went from a fat but strong guy to a lean and muscular
one, despite having the worst "fat loss genetics" in the world.
In the past, I made most of my transformations via a low-carb approach. As a result, I became
somewhat carb-phobic and truly believed that ingesting carbs would turn me into a fat slob.
What's funny is that, as a strength coach, I have access to the top sports nutritionists in the world.
I've read everything by everyone. None of them were able to convince me of reintroducing carbs
to my diet. When it came to carbs, I had lost all rational thought capacity!
But as of now, carbs are back in my own diet and the diets of my athletes and bodybuilders. What
happened? A 135 pound woman made me change my outlook on building muscle and losing fat.
Her name is Christiane, a natural bodybuilder and a trainer herself. She succeeded where all the
best experts failed.-Up
Christiane always kept carbs in her diet; we even had several arguments over that. Since I was
sure that carbs equaled fatness, I wouldn't listen to anything she said. That is, until I saw her get
ripped, strong, and more muscular simultaneously, week by week.
That's when I realized that she must be doing something right! So together we developed a
dieting template that would become the one I use with all my bodybuilders and the one I use
myself.
This approach allows the athlete to either gain maximum muscle mass without gaining too much
fat (sometimes a slight fat loss is even possible) or to get into contest shape while maintaining (or
even gaining) muscle mass.
The strategy isn't complicated, yet it's the most effective way to diet I've ever used... and I've
used every diet imaginable!
Another "product" of carb cycling is Sebastien Cossette, a young bodybuilder I've trained for his
first bodybuilding competition ("Before" pics on bottom; "after" pics on top).
There are two inevitable truths when it comes to building muscle or losing fat:
1.
2.
To increase body mass you need to consume more calories than you use.
To lose body fat you need to consume fewer calories than you use.
Obviously, the type of food you ingest will impact the end result. If the bulk of your calories come
from junk food, chances are you'll end up gaining more fat than muscle. Similarly, if the quality of
your food intake is low while dieting, chances are you'll end up losing more muscle tissue.
What you eat is just as important as how much you eat. However, total food intake still remains of
paramount importance when trying to either gain muscle or lose fat.
Another thing to consider is the effect of nutrients on hormones and the effect of hormones on
muscle gain and fat loss. For example, insulin is one of the most important anabolic hormones in
the body.
Insulin directly influences the amount of amino acids and glucose transported into the muscle
cells. This is the good stuff, and the more of it you have, the more you grow.
be used for fuel after proper adaptation has set in. But a low-to-no carb diet makes you lose your
capacity to train hard in the gym.
You also risk losing muscle mass because your body may break down muscle tissue into amino
acids to create new glucose. It'll burn down the walls to heat the house.
The conversion of T4 (thyroxine, the relatively inactive thyroid hormone) to T3 (triiodothyronine,
the active thyroid hormone) is greatly impaired when insufficient carbs are consumed. A lower
level of T3 leads to a drop in metabolism and this makes fat loss harder.
So to stimulate maximum muscle growth you need carbs, and a relatively high amount to boot.
Without ample calories and carbohydrates, it'll be hard to gain heaps of muscle tissue, evenwith a
high protein intake. But the problem is that eating too much too often can also make you fat.
The first method used by bodybuilders was to divide their training year into bulking and cutting
phases. They'd consume tons of calories and carbohydrates during their bulking phase, then drop
their calories and carbs to sub-maintenance levels when entering a cutting phase.
It did allow many people to gain a lot of size, but most of them lost quite a bit of their new muscle
during the intense dieting period. Not to mention that those who were cursed with bad insulin
sensitivity tended to gain a lot more fat than muscle during "bulking season."
Also, gaining and then losing 20-30 pounds isn't exactly healthy. It puts a lot of stress on the body
and can lead to some health problems.
Finally, from an aesthetic perspective, ballooning up by gaining 15-20 pounds of fat for the sake
of gaining 10 pounds of muscle isn't the best thing to do. We want to look good naked most of the
time. Not just a few months out of the year.
Another method was the cyclical ketogenic dieting. These were based on carb deprivation
(normally for five straight days) where less than 50 grams of carbohydrates were allowed,
followed by one or two days of carbohydrate loading.
While very effective at stimulating fat loss, the long period without carbs isn't conducive to
maximum muscle accumulation. In fact, by the second or third day you're pretty much in a severe
catabolic state.
Sure, there's an anabolic rebound during the loading days. But it can't compensate for the rest of
the week. It's enough to prevent muscle loss on a weekly basis, but not enough to promote
maximum muscle gain.
I've used this type of dieting several times in my life and did get great results as far as fat loss is
concerned. I was even able to add a small amount of muscle, but I was never able to gain a lot of
it on this type of diet.
A third approach championed by guys like Dr. John Berardi started to gain popularity. This dietary
approach was based on avoiding carbs and fats together and on allotting carbs for times of
increased insulin sensitivity (in the morning and post-workout). So you basically had three meals
with carbs and three meals without them every day.
This approach is darn near perfect for gaining mass with minimal fat accumulation. However, I
found that it could still be improved to get the best body composition results.
Carb/Calorie Cycling
It's called carb cycling, but it could also be called calorie cyclingtoo. It sticks to the basic theory of
ingesting carbs only in the morning and after workouts. The only difference is that the amount of
calories and carbs consumed will vary each day. Here's what it does:
It'll allow you to include maximum fat burning days and maximum muscle accumulation
days in each week.
It'll favor long term success because it's relatively easy to follow, especially compared to
the more restrictive ketogenic diets.
One sentence summarizes the carb cycling philosophy: "Eat for what you did and have to do."
Carb cycling is based on having three different carbohydrate intake levels during the week: higher
carbs, moderate carbs, and lower carbs. Ideally these days are split according to your training
schedule.
Select your two "priority workouts." These are the workouts where you're training the
muscle groups you need to improve the most. On these days, you have a high(er) carbohydrate
day.
On the two other workout days, you consume a moderate amount of carbs.
Select your two "priority workouts." On these days, you have a higher carbohydrate day.
The other workout day has a moderate carbohydrate intake level.
Among the four remaining days of the week, you have one more moderate carb day along
with three low carb days.
Select your two "priority workouts" where you're training the muscle groups you want to
improve the most. On these days, you have a higher(er) carbohydrate day.
Select two "secondary workouts." On these days you have a moderate carb intake.
On the remaining workout day and during your "off" days you consume a low(er) amount of
carbohydrates.to
When you've established your basic structure, you need to set the food intake appropriately. The
first thing to do is calculate your TDEE, total daily energy expenditure. That's the amount of
energy in calories you use each day.
This baseline figure will be used to set caloric and nutrient intake during the various types of
days.
For Men
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)
So for a 30 year old bodybuilder of 220lbs (100kg) at 5'11" (178cm) it comes up to:
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x 100kg) + (5 x 178cm) - (6.8 x 30)
BMR = 2122 calories per day
For Women
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)
So for a 28 year old figure girl of 132lbs (60kg) at 5'6" (165cm) it comes up to:
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x 60kg) + (1.7 x 165cm) - (4.7 x 28)
BMR = 1380 calories per day
Activity Lev
1.0
Sedentary
1.2
1.4
Light activity
1.6
Moderate activity
1.8
High activity
2.0
Extreme activity
By sedentary we mean doing nothing all day like sleeping and watching TV. By very light activity
we mean doing nothing physical, like working a desk job without performing any type of physical
activity during your day.
By light activity we mean having a non-physical job, but performing some sort of physical activity
during the day, like walking, but no hard training.
By moderate activity we mean having a non-physical job, performing some sort of physical
activity during the day, and including a daily workout session in your routine. This is where most
of you are at.
By high activity we mean either training plus a physical job or non-physical job and twice-a-day
training sessions. By extreme activity we mean a very physical job and daily hard training.
So if our 220-pound bodybuilder with a BMR of 2122 calories/day is moderately active, his daily
energy expenditure is bumped up to 2122 x 1.6 = 3395 calories per day. This is the amount of
calories he'd need to consume to maintain present body weight.
So he's now consuming 2640 calories a day (1320 from protein and 1320 from carbs). Let's say
that he's an endomorph. If he wants to gain muscle mass, his caloric intake should be around
3734 calories a day. So he has 1094 calories to consume in the form of fat, preferably good fats.
Since fat has 9 calories per gram, this comes up to 121 grams of fat per day.
To recap, our endomorph bodybuilder of 220 pounds wanting to gain size should consume the
following on "moderate" days:
330g of protein
330g of carbs
121g of fat
If he wants to lose fat, carb intake on the average days should be set at 1.25g per pound of
bodyweight. For our sample guy that comes up to 275g per day.
Protein intake is kept at 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight (330g in our example) and the rest of
the calories are made up with fat.
In the case of our endomorphic bodybuilder who should consume 2716 calories a day to get
ripped, we come up with 2420 calories from protein and carbs, so he has around 300 calories to
consume from fat, or 33 grams per day.
To recap, our endomorph bodybuilder of 220 pounds wanting to get ripped should consume the
following on "moderate" days:
330g of protein
275g of carbs
33g of fat
For example, if you're consuming 344 grams, 275 grams, and 206 grams, you'd reduce it to 324
grams, 255 grams, and 186 grams. If fat loss doesn't stall, there's no need to reduce anything
though.
When trying to gain mass, there's no set pattern of increasing caloric intake. If after 2-3 weeks
you haven't been gaining size, increase protein and carb intake by 25 grams each.
At first, add this amount to your post-workout meal. If after another 2-3 weeks there's no change,
add the same amount to your breakfast. If you're still not gaining, add some more to your postworkout shake, etc.
To maximize food absorption and favor muscle gain over fat gain (or to preserve muscle mass
while dieting) you should ingest 6-7 meals per day. Three of those meals should contain carbs
and proteins (breakfast, immediate post-workout drink, and meal 60-90 minutes after your
workout).
The remaining 3-4 meals should be made up of protein, good fats, and green veggies.
The ideal time to train is around 10:00 am. This gives us the following eating schedule:
Meal 1 (upon waking up):Carbs + protein meal
Meal 2 (post-workout, around 11:00):Carbs + protein recovery drink)
Meal 3 (12:30):Carbs + protein meal
Meal 4 (15:30):Protein, fat, and green veggies
Meal 5 (18:00):Protein, fat, and green veggies
Meal 6 (21:00):Protein, fat, and green veggies
Obviously, not everybody can train at this time. For those who have to train in the evening
(around 5:00 or 6:00pm), the following schedule is appropriate:
Meal 1 (upon waking up):Carbs + protein meal
Meal 2 (10:00):Carbs, protein, and green veggies
Meal 3 (12:30):Protein, fat, and green veggies
Meal 4 (15:30):Protein, fat, and green veggies