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What did you do for cardio the weeks out from competing?

Funny Monkey

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Just curious I seem to of hit a wall and cannot pass it. Right now I am doing abot 45 minutes of medium intensity cardio 5 days a week and lifting 3 of those days in the afternoon. I am going to eye my diet a little closer to see if something is sneaking in there by mistake. My stats are 6'3" 230lbs 10~11% bf
 
I hit a wall the size of the moon when I get to 10%. It seems the harder I try, the more it slows. Don't know how Bruce ever got where he did.
 
I just watched Cutler's "Ripped to Shreds" last night. For the 3 weeks leading up to the 04 Arnold he did around 3 hours of low-intensity cardio everyday. I couldn't do it :box:

But then again, he's Jay Cutler.
 
Add in some ephedrine/caffiene. If you've already got that in there, I would add 15-20g of good fats to your daily diet, clean up your carbs a bit, and do a second, low intensity cardio session 2-3 days a week for an hour.
 
Its your diet. You need to manipualte it much more when reaching single digits. Unless you are genetically gifted, not many people know how to do it.

More cardio is not the answer if your diet isn't right.
 
Bobo said:
Its your diet. You need to manipualte it much more when reaching single digits. Unless you are genetically gifted, not many people know how to do it.

More cardio is not the answer if your diet isn't right.
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Can you be slightly more specific? Generally is it caloric manipulation, macro manipulation or a combination of both? I know that in your case this knowledge pays the bills but a hint would be very generous of you :)
 
LOW LOW to almost no carbs for a few days then carb up and repeat.


CROWLER
 
B5150 said:
Can you be slightly more specific? Generally is it caloric manipulation, macro manipulation or a combination of both? I know that in your case this knowledge pays the bills but a hint would be very generous of you :)
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Both. In general it has to do more with fat intake (as in reducing) than carb intake. Reducing carb intake will help the asthetics but it won't increase fat loss. THere is a time and place for it and eventually the overall caloric restricition forces you to lower carbs to a point to be considered low carb (but rarely under 100g until the final week)
 
CROWLER said:
LOW LOW to almost no carbs for a few days then carb up and repeat.


CROWLER
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Not if you want to maintain fat loss form 10-6% for the majority of people. You want to do the above when you hit 6-7% and achieve a better asthetic look.
 
Bobo said:
Both. In general it has to do more with fat intake (as in reducing) than carb intake. Reducing carb intake will help the asthetics but it won't increase fat loss. THere is a time and place for it and eventually the overall caloric restricition forces you to lower carbs to a point to be considered low carb (but rarely under 100g until the final week)
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Excellent!!! I'm cooking with gas ;)
 
Sorry I hate to bring up Cutler (perfect genetics), but in his last few shows he has not done ANY carb manipulation in the weeks leading up to the shows. Again, theres a reason why he a pro. Just thought I'd like to share.
 
I think dexter's genetics are better than cutler's overall. Cutler's got some crazy size but dexter seems to be able to come in with a way better look and way "sharper" overall. dexter is a badass, if anyone can save the "sport" of bodybuilding from eating itself it's that man...
 
I think again this a specific to the individual. My buddy who's competing in a national NPC qualifier June 4th goes carbless for about 3 to 4 days then loads up for a day, then repeats. This time he started at about 6 weeks out. A few days before he competes he carb loads like crazy (10 to 12 lbs of potatoes and copious amounts of dry oatmeal), no water and small portions of fish. I want to say he does cardio 5 times a week in the mornings (low intensity for about an hor or so) along with his lifting which includes higher reps and shaping exercises. He also uses EC during the prep phase and a dieretic (sp?) a few days before the show to take care of any extra water. I know he uses steroids but I'm kind of hesitant to ask him what he uses. Anyways, he's looking awesome right now and still has a little more than week before the competition. But again, he's competed in several competitions so he know exactly what it takes to get dialed in.

I forgot to mentioo that his diet consists mainly of ground beef and green beans on his carbless days with some whey thrown in there for good measure.
 
exnihilo said:
I think dexter's genetics are better than cutler's overall. Cutler's got some crazy size but dexter seems to be able to come in with a way better look and way "sharper" overall. dexter is a badass, if anyone can save the "sport" of bodybuilding from eating itself it's that man...
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:goodpost:
 
I know several competitors that change it up everytime. They do something difference every show.

I remember Cory Everson stating she used to always carb up in the early years then figured out that eventually it didn't make much of a difference with her.


There are many pro's that don't lower them below 250g/day. A guy in my gym never went below 350 in his national qualifier. It depends on how you respond but overall I think the whole carb maniulation is very overrated.
 
Well I guess I shoudl add that I am currently doing Rob Faigan's diet NHE and following it to a T carbing up every 3 and 4 day. I shoudl also add the only thing that I am taking right now is Ultra Hot fenugreek and a multivitamin. I might throw some ephedrine hcl in there but I know I can get lower without having to do that.

I am going on a cruise in 10 days damnit is it going to be hard not to gorge myself
 
Hmm...low carbing and stalling out. What a surprise :D
 
Bobo said:
Hmm...low carbing and stalling out. What a surprise :D
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Well actually I have done the traditional way of cutting. Counting calories and keeping carbs at about a 1:1 ratio with my protein intake all while watching my fat intake with hawk eyes. I did this 2 sperate times and both times with keeping carbs that high I lost so much muscle it was rediculous I would bulk all year and gain strength and mass and then just lose it all when trying to cut. The carb cycling is the only thing so far that has worked beautifully for me. Remeber BOBO I use to weigh 311lbs @ ~35% bf. It is extremely easy for me to gain fat. Back in the day my diet relied heavily on carbohydrates. Just my 2cc's with life experience. I am by no means saying you are wrong some things just need to be tweeked or changed all together for certian body types.
 
Then you tapered the diet wrong, didn't have enough calories or probably did a host of other things wrong. I have pletny of people that were 300+lbs and obese and none of them need a low carb diet. There is a reason you are stalling and its because of the low carb diet. I know you think you are a special case because of your previous history but you are not. Obese suibjects have problems oxidizing lipds, not carbs. There is a reaons you are stalling and I've seen it MANY times but if you want to continue with that type of diet, get ready for disappointment. They work to a point, then stop altogether.
 
Bobo said:
Then you tapered the diet wrong, didn't have enough calories or probably did a host of other things wrong. I have pletny of people that were 300+lbs and obese and none of them need a low carb diet. There is a reason you are stalling and its because of the low carb diet. I know you think you are a special case because of your previous history but you are not. Obese suibjects have problems oxidizing lipds, not carbs. There is a reaons you are stalling and I've seen it MANY times but if you want to continue with that type of diet, get ready for disappointment. They work to a point, then stop altogether.
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That's cool. I have read too many books to think that if I signed up for your program and that voila I am going to get shredded. I see your points. Not trying to be an ass so don't take it that way. I am going to try and work within the bounds of my diet to see what works best for me. I appreciate your advice though.

One more thing it isn't really a low carb diet its more of a carb timing. I am just stretching the amount of time a bit.
 
I understand but you have to understand that if you have doing this type of diet for a while and it does have prolonged periods of low carbs, your body simply has nowhere else to go in terms of fat loss. You have bascially hit that wall because the diet you designed didn't take into account the effects of prolonged dieting. Once you get to a point (and its usually around 10-14% with low carbs) you have nowhere else to go unless you take time off (and that is weeks, not days). You can't fix months of dieting with 3 days of carb ups.

I'm not trying to get you to sign up at all (there isn't really room anyway!). You have achieved enough on your own but now you have to start looking at things from a different perspective. The main problem with starting a low carb diet at high bf% is that once you get to the low teens your body will just stop responding due to hormonal effects of prolonged dieting coupled with the hormonal effect of low carbs. If you start out witha more balanced diet and take into account the effects of months of dieting, a 40/40/20 diet gives you MUCH more leeway in terms of adjustments for the long run and enables you to get past certain sticking points that a low carb diet will not allow you to get past. ITs the difference between planning a 4 week diet in which you are just trying to lose a couple lbs vs. a planning a long term diet which allows you to reduce bf% while keepping muscle during a very long peroid of time.
 
Bobo said:
Once you get to a point (and its usually around 10-14% with low carbs) you have nowhere else to go unless you take time off (and that is weeks, not days). You can't fix months of dieting with 3 days of carb ups.
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:goodpost: Well said Bobo. I see people almost weekly that make the same mistake and they look emaciated. When they ask me what to do (after not listening for months and finally getting frustrated) I always reply with one word.....EAT. Once a long term depletion sets in, it is extremely hard to recover (especially for ectos). ...And especially if you have also boosted your metabolism through HIIT and hardcore circuit and drop set training (I've done this as an experiment on myself...so I know how it goes from personal experience).

Funny Monkey - you need to look at your expenditure as well as your caloric intake. A lot of endos that I know call themselves "carb sensitive". This is a new catch phrase that came around with the Sugar Busters/Atkins revolution. I believe that there are differences in all of us. But one thing is clear to me just from experience. When an endo cuts out carbs to the point of insanity, they will gain fat back like a pig in a slop trough as soon as they touch ANY carbs. But, if you work on increasing your metabolism (increase lifting intensity with little rest and increase cardio time) and keep in the carbs in your diet (timed) you won't rebound and you will continue to release lipids.

The phrase that I use for Endos is "cheat day sensitive". I personally don't recommend very many cheat meals for a dieting endo. Only if they hit the wall psychologically.
 
SJA said:
But, if you work on increasing your metabolism (increase lifting intensity with little rest and increase cardio time) and keep in the carbs in your diet (timed) you won't rebound and you will continue to release lipids.

The phrase that I use for Endos is "cheat day sensitive". I personally don't recommend very many cheat meals for a dieting endo. Only if they hit the wall psychologically.
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I'm gonna bump on what SJA had to sat here. I used to be one of those "carb depeleted" dieters as well. This cut I have about double the carbs. I have doubled them during this cut to ~100g/d (this is experimental for me as well, and next season I may eat more) primarily timed around traing, but have added some at bedtime as well. I have had more success this cut than any other regarding proper weight loss (lots of fat loss) while retaining all my size (loosing only .25" off arms while cutting 5"+ off my stomach) and strength (still lifting same or slightly heavier weight at 22lbs lighter body weight). I have had fewer cheat meals and am less psychologically depleted as well.

I have doubled my cardio time this year but reduced the intensity by ~35%. I feel it is a very very key ingredient to my increased fat loss as well. I used to slam in 30 mins on the bike at a much high intensity, now I cruise 55-60 mins at a much lighter intensity.

I was a "carbs sensitive endo" and now am re-evaluating that "condition". See, the thing is I am not fat any more, and no longer am as sensitive (negatively) to carbs as I once thought I was. I love my oatmeal...and it loves me back.

"I'm still sensitive...I cry at sad movie" ;)
 
SJA said:
Funny Monkey - you need to look at your expenditure as well as your caloric intake. A lot of endos that I know call themselves "carb sensitive". This is a new catch phrase that came around with the Sugar Busters/Atkins revolution. I believe that there are differences in all of us. But one thing is clear to me just from experience. When an endo cuts out carbs to the point of insanity, they will gain fat back like a pig in a slop trough as soon as they touch ANY carbs. But, if you work on increasing your metabolism (increase lifting intensity with little rest and increase cardio time) and keep in the carbs in your diet (timed) you won't rebound and you will continue to release lipids.

The phrase that I use for Endos is "cheat day sensitive". I personally don't recommend very many cheat meals for a dieting endo. Only if they hit the wall psychologically.
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well said. I agree I don't call myself "carb sensitive" or any of that bull ****. I gues that I am kind of misleading when I say low carb. In all reality I probably eat just as many as the next guy I just eat them together with no fat or protein. My energy is great and I got on the scale this morning and another1.5lbs has come off this week and the mirror shows it as well. I always do a large cheat meal every Sunday night whether gaining or cutting keeps me happy psycologically and seems to speed the metobolism a bit also. I will cut the cheet meal out probably about 3 weeks out from my goal.

Tonight is hamburgers, potatoe salad, and baked beens. Probably going to have some ice cream for dessert.
 
Single biggest thing for me that has made a big difference is adding lots and lots of veggies. The more veggies the better. I have also found that keeping the calories as high as possible while still losing weight seems to be key.
 
I do have to give the clown credit for the talking up the whole foods thing :D I don't think he evangelizes veggies enough though... Eat your fucking vegetables!

:rofl:
 
I deleted my post. I feel bad for those PL'ers..... ;)

I have always pushed green fibrous veggies but there is a point in which your body will stop utilizing the intake of vitmain rich foods. So as with most things, moderation is the key.


Then again if you want to eat spinach all day it should be much of a problem :D
 
"I'm strong to the finich
Cause I eats me spinach
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"

well, it worked for him...lol.
 
Bobo said:
I deleted my post. I feel bad for those PL'ers..... ;)

I have always pushed green fibrous veggies but there is a point in which your body will stop utilizing the intake of vitmain rich foods. So as with most things, moderation is the key.


Then again if you want to eat spinach all day it should be much of a problem :D
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Haha, it's ok, I talk smack to everyone, it's all in the spirit of fun :lol:

Seriously though, I'll give credit where credit is due, your diets are spot on and you're getting people results, in the end that's what matters... Now we just need to get your heckling skills up to par :D
 
My heckling skills were born and bred in Philly. In other words, my heckling is usually insults and threats of physical violence while hurling chairs.


:lol:
 
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