NO BS! 2014 Training Log

[Grayson]

Third time is the ****ing charm.

Current Weight: 152 @ 8.5-9.5% bf
Goal Weight: 165 @ 10%

Diet/Nutrition:

Workout days
Protein 190
Carbs 200-280
Fats 114-78

Off days
Protein 160
Carbs 170
Fat 140

Day 11
Calories 2110
Protein 167
Carbs 137
Fat 99

Total Macros for Day/Night 1 -> Day 2
Protein: 304
Carbs: 912
Fat: 30-35

Peri-Workout Nutrition
30 minutes Pre:
Protein: 0.4 g/kg (0.18 g/lb) = 27-28
Carbs: 0.43 g/kg (0.2 g/lb) = 29-31
Creatine: 0.07 g/kg (0.03 g/lb) = 5
Caffiene: 200mg
Tyrosine: 1-3 g

OR

Carbs + protein: 0.3-0.5 g/kg
OR 0.15-0.25 g/kg EAA

Intra
Protein: 12-15g/hr training
Carbs: 30-45 g/hr training dex/sucrose

Post:
Protein: 0.4 g/kg (0.18 g/lb) = 27-28
Carbs: 0.43 g/kg (0.2 g/lb) = 29-31
Creatine: 0.07 g/kg (0.03 g/lb) = 5

OR

Carbs + protein: 0.3-0.5 g/kg
OR 0.15-0.25 g/kg EAA

Training:

SPLIT:
Week 1 and 2- 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Week 3 and 4- 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Week 5 and 6- 5 sets of 4-5 reps
Week 7 and 8- 6 sets of 3-4 reps
Week 9 - off
Week 10 - start over with 3 sets of 8


DAY 1:
FULL BODY WITH A BIT MORE VOLUME FOR CHEST AND BACK:
Incline DB Press (3-4 x 8-10, 4 x 6-8, 5 x 5, 5-6 x 3-4) - change the reps each week
Wide-Grip Weighted Pull Up - same set and rep scheme
Lateral – 3-4 x 8-12
Squat- 3-4 x 6-8
Leg curl 3-4 x 6-8
Calf- 2-3 x 15-20
Pec flye- 2-3 x 12-15
Close-Grip Pull-down – 2-3 x 12-15
Optional
Incline DB curl 1-2 x 10-12
Decline Db Triceps ext. 1-2 x 10-12

DAY 3:
Heavy Legs and traps
Loading movements
Squat- 3-4 x 8-10, 4 x 6-8, 5 x 5, 5-6 x 3-4 (change set and rep scheme every 3rd time you hit this workout)
Romanian Deadlift + shrug- 3-4 x 8-10, 4 x 6-8, 5 x 5, 5-6 x 3-4
Calf raise- 5 x 5 (with 5 second pause at the bottom)
Density Movements
Close Stance Squat- 1-2 x 15-20
Leg Curl or Glute Ham- 4-5 x 5-8 with 30-45 second rests
Seated calf raise- 4 x 15-20 with 20 second rest

DAY 5:
UPPER BODY
Heavy chest and back, light shoulders and Arms
Loading Movements:
Flat Barbell Bench Press - 3-4 x 8, 4-5 x 5, 5-6 x 4, 6-8 x 3 (lower the reps and increase the sets every 3rd time you hit this workout)
T-Bar Row- 3-4 x 8, 4-5 x 5, 5-6 x 4, 6-8 x 3
Density movements:
Pec-flye- 4-5 x 5-8 w/30 second rests
Pulldown- 4-5 x 5-8 w/30 second rests
Heavy Arms and Shoulders, light chest/back
Loading movements
Military Press- (3-4 x 8-10, 4 x 6-8, 5 x 5, 5-6 x 3-4) change reps every 3rd time you hit this workout)
Close grip bench press- (3-4 x 8-10, 4 x 6-8, 5 x 5, 5-6 x 3-4)
Preacher Curl- (3-4 x 8-10, 4 x 6-8, 5 x 5, 5-6 x 3-4)
Density movements
L-dumbell raise- 4-5 x 5-8 with 25 second rests

DAY 6:
Light legs
Bulgarian Split squat or Lunge- 3 x 6-8/leg
Leg curl - 4 x 6
Calf raise - 3 x 20

DAY 8:
Erectors, Traps, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps (Although it’s not written in, you would ideally vary your sets and reps every 3rd time you hit this workout as I described above)
Horizontal Pressing movement (DB bench press) - 4-5 x 6-8
Flye or crossover movement - 2 x 12
Shoulder lateral movement - 3 x 10-12 (use a triple drop set, strip set, rest-pause, or static-hold on the last set)
Lying Triceps extension - 4 x 8 (use a triple drop set, strip set, rest-pause, or static-hold on the last set)
Deadlift or Rack Pull 3-4 x 6-10

DAY 10:
Lats, Biceps, Calves, Quad, Hamstrings (Although it’s not written in, you would ideally vary your rep range every 3rd time you hit this workout as I described above)
Pulldowns or chins - 4 x 6-8 (Insert a triple drop set, strip set, rest-pause, or static hold on the last set)
Curls - 3 x 8-10 (Insert a triple drop set, strip set, rest-pause, or static-hold on the last set)
Standing calf raise - 3 x 20
Squat - 3 x 6
Hack Squat- 1 x 15-20
Leg curl- 3 x 5/ 1 x 15-20 (That’s 3 sets of 5 followed by 1 set of 15-20)

Day 11
Off - Light calories

Day 12-14
Depletion - Half-Maintenance Calories

Supplementation
Start: 10/06
End: 11/03
Ostarine: 25mg/day
EP1C: 2 cap/day

PCT:
Torem 120/60/0/0
Tropinol XP 4/4/4/4
TransFORM 0.5/0.5/0/0
ABE: 5/5/4/4

 

[Grayson]

About training/diet:

Basically, this is a cyclical bulking diet. I've taken Kelly Baggett's NO BS system and added Blade's Advanced Concept Diet v2.0 principles for dieting. That's why protein seems low on the off days. After day 10, the last major training day, I will lower the calories to -25% of my total bulking calories, lower the carbs and begin transitioning to a very low calorie diet.

During days 12-14 and the first portion of the second round of day 1, I will be at half-maintenance, which translates to about 1200-1250 calories. During this period I will deplete glycogen and try to burn as much fat as possible.

Then after my workout on day 1, I will carbload and take in approximately 6x current bw in carbs, while keeping protein steady and fat to a minimum. Carbs will then be dropped to ~200g. On days that I feel wrecked, I'll lower the fats and increase the carbs.

On off days I will be doing 15-20 min HIIT sprints.

[reserved for noods]

 

[Grayson]

For those that want some weekend reading, I present Blade's Advanced Concept Diet v2.0:

Page 1:

Børge ***erli’s Advanced Concept Diet v2.0

The goal of many trainees can be simplistic summarised as “less fat, more muscle”. Many people have walked this path, some to success and others to failure. Yet far too many trainees stumble along with an unstructured and untested plan that ultimately leaves them nowhere.

After more experimentation, dialogue with the “The Four Horsemen” (Martin Berkhan, Lyle McDonald and Alan Aragon) and the interpretation of additional research, we present a powerful tool to help you achieve your goals.

We present the Advanced Concept Diet – v2.0.

Before you continue reading, I assume some basic experience with managing your diet, preferably having followed the Health & Fitness Concept over a few weeks.

With that, you should have established a caloric “baseline” – a rough indication of how many calories you should consume.

With those caveats aside, let’s begin.

The critical anabolic trigger – Training

An accepted truth is that you should eat carbs and protein right after exercise for optimal recovery and growth. However, is it necessary to consume 100g of fast-digesting carbs after a workout consisting some benching and some bicep curls? No, not necessarily.

Much of the research on glycogen needs is derived from studies on endurance athletes and not strength training. In the strength training context, Lyle McDonald estimates that about 5g of glycogen is required for 2 sets of 10 reps. This, of course, varies with the nature of exercise (isolation vs compound) and the rep-range used (higher reps => more glycogen used). However, it is representative of the sort of carbohydrate requirements for strength training. With that, a typical strength workout rarely requires more than 30-60g of glycogen. [1]

Having low glycogen stores is not conducive for strength gains or muscle growth. Hence, low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diets are not optimal when you want to build muscle. This is because glycogen status in the liver and muscles provide a number of key hormonal signals that promote anabolism over catabolism.

In this regard, both research and practical experience indicates that the majority of your daily calories should be focused in the period after exercise.

Right after exercise is when the uptake of carbohydrates is at its peak – a result of increased insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake by muscle contractions via GLUT-4 receptors. Insulin sensitivity is a measure of how efficiently food is absorbed in the cells at a given insulin secretion. In this case, having high insulin sensitivity in your muscle cells, with lower sensitivity in fat cells, preferentially shuttles calories for recovery and growth rather than fat storage.

In other words, with good insulin sensitivity, we achieve favourable nutrient partitioning.

Interestingly, avoiding a high-carbohydrate intake post-exercise and sticking to protein and fat can maintain this increased insulin-sensitivity for about 12-24 hours. However, do note that increased insulin sensitivity per-say does not increase muscle-protein synthesis (the mechanism of growth).

On the contrary, we see many more benefits to replenishing glycogen stores after a bout of exercise. One of these benefits revolves around AMPK inhibition. AMPK, which was mentioned in Part 1 of the Myo-reps series, is an “energy sensor” that increases during muscle contraction, more so after endurance training. AMPK in turn inhibits mTOR, which is the primary signal for muscle growth.

By training sensibly and avoiding excessive training volume ( auto-regulation ), and by focusing food intake post-exercise, we can decrease AMPK and increase mTOR, favouring muscle growth.

While a lower intake of carbs increases fat oxidation , this does not seem to be affected if one takes carbohydrates in moderate amounts. (as opposed to chugging down that dextrose mass-gainer with 100-200g of carbs)

Another protocol that has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity is Intermittent Fasting. This involves daily periods of fasting, from 12 hours, up to 16-18 hours. There are evolutionary reasons why people should not start the day with a hearty breakfast, and it isn’t uncommon to hear people complain about lethargy and sluggishness after their morning meal.

That said, this protocol takes some getting-used-to, especially if you’re a habitual breakfast-eater. The hormone Ghrelin, which is associated with hunger, tends to be entrained to a specific time period. If you habitually eat breakfast at 7am, your ghrelin is likely to be above baseline at that time, leading to a hunger response.

The good news is that ghrelin is flexible, and after a while (usually 1-2 weeks), it re-aligns itself with your new routine.

Of note, Martin Berkhan of leangains.com has a brand of intermittent fasting which he and his clients use to maintain low body fat all year round while building muscle mass and increasing strength. Leptin also seems to be affected positively with periodic fasting, and may explain why one can maintain low body fat without the typical side effects.

Contrary to the myth that more meals stokes the metabolic fire, there are in fact several benefits to a lower meal frequency, which we will touch on later.

Composition of Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat
I have developed a model based on metabolic typing that I use when I set up diet and fitness programs for clients. An article is in the works, but here’s a short summary.

Most pertinent, is to recognise that who you are as a person will decide how your diet should be set up. We can thus split people into 2 types: sympathetic-dominant (S), and parasympathetic dominant (P).

Before we delve into that though, keep in mind that like all models, this is designed to be general. And while you may gravitate towards one of the types at present, the ultimate goal is that through smart planning and execution, you can naturally switch between the two at will.

Traits of the sympathetic-dominant (S)

high insulin sensitivity with controlled and mediated oxidation of glucose. Literally gets warm and has stable, high energy after a meal with lots of carbs
higher endurance with the ability to withstand a lot of training, but can be burnt-out with a combination of high intensity and high volume training
usually an analytical, logical, detail-oriented perfectionist who loves to plan and be prepared for all eventualities. comment: watch out for paralysis by analysis
wakes up early in the morning, and prefers to snack often rather than have big meals
tends to keep it light on salt and fat. consuming salt and fat (like nuts) can lead to a “trigger” which makes it hard to stop eating
some research indicates a relationship between sympathetic-dominance and likelihood of contracting an eating disorder
An important factor to note is that the sympathetic-dominant tend to have lower serotonin levels and high cortisol production. Consuming carbohydrates increase serotonin and reduce cortisol, which explains their contextual preference. The corollary is that such people don’t do well on low-carb diets.

High amounts of exercise, especially cardio, will also result in increased cortisol levels. This in turn results in water retention. To the frustrated dieter, this present a lot of psychological stress, which paradoxically, they respond to by cutting calories (and carbs) further and exercising more.

Hence, the low-carb + high cardio approach is ill-suited to the sympathetic-dominant person.

Traits of the parasympathetic-dominant (P)

often powerfully built, and with lower insulin sensitivity
often tired and bloated after a meal with lots of carbohydrates
explosive, with low stamina, and must build-up exercise tolerance over time. Likes lifting heavy, but can be burnt-out with a lot of maximal lifting and high training volume and high training frequency. Auto-regulation is almost necessary for this type
impulsive, likes change, seeks action and excitement, and seeks reward in the form of results. Will soon get tired of following the same routine
tends to look at the big-picture, and gets overwhelmed or loses interest with too much detail
likes to stay up at night and sleep throughout the morning
likes to eat big meals, and sleeps better after a heavy meal before bed
prefers salty and fatty foods. Eating sweet foods, sugar and carbohydrates, especially wheat products, can lead to a “trigger” that makes it hard to stop eating
Dopamine levels are low and/or dopamine receptor sensitivity is reduced in parasympathetic dominant folk. Protein is the nutrient that stimulates dopamine secretion best, and hence a higher protein diet would suit such people best.

This personality type is unfortunately mis-diagnosed as ADHD in children, when it could simply be a sensitivity to sugar, wheat and carbohydrates. This is a case where changing the diet may in fact, result in a radical (positive) change in behaviour.

Instead, fat is a better caloric source, and it also helps reduce blood sugar fluctuations. This should be controlled according to activity levels and total caloric intake.

Such people generally fare well on low-carb diets and ketogenic diets for fat loss. With higher training volume however, carbohydrate demands may increase, and regular carbohydrate refeeds should be part of the overall strategy.

 

[Grayson]

Page 2:

In practice

The first step is to determine your caloric needs. If you have been following the Health and Fitness Concept, you should have a good idea of this. If not, you can simply use a rough estimate, given by 30-33kcal/kg bodyweight (14-15kcal/lbs). Of course, this should be adjusted according to real-world assessments.

In the following sections, we address protein, carbohydrate and fat intake. Do note that in general, a higher carbohydrate intake results in lower fat intake, and vice versa.

Do not lock yourself into a rigid plan. Instead, think long-term and give your body time to adjust before making subsequent changes. When you do make changes, do so gradually; do not make radical changes where you do the exact opposite of what you’ve done in the past.

Also remember that muscle growth is a function of protein synthesis and protein degradation. Growth happens when there is a net positive change in protein synthesis. Hence, it is absolutely natural to experience fed gains, and fasted losses without your muscles falling off. What we want to do is then find ways to optimise our gains.

Unfortunately, as we shall see the following sections, this isn’t as simple as force-feeding yourself with protein and training your head into the ground at every waking moment.

How much protein and how often?

Although studies show a maximal effect on protein synthesis in muscles with only 20g of protein, the research also shows that hard-training athletes need additional amino acids to support bone, joint and connective tissue health, as well as to support hormonal, enzymatic and the immune function.

Another advantage of a high protein intake is the thermogenic effect of feeding (TEF). This refers to the fact that digestion itself is an energy consuming process, and metabolising protein in particular requires up to 20-30% of the original calories consumed (net uptake is 70-80% and not 100%). While not very significant, this could be an aid in fat loss efforts, especially considering the satiation effect of protein.

To preserve muscle mass on a diet, or to ensure sufficient building blocks for muscle growth, I recommend at least 2g of protein per kg bodyweight. During a fat loss phase, this number can increase up to 3.5-4.0g per kg bodyweight.

That’s a minimum of 120g protein up to 240g for a 60kg lady, and at least 180g and up to 360g for a 90kg man.

On the topic of how often to consume protein, recent research by persons such as Layne Norton has showed that there is a ‘refractory’ response of muscle protein synthesis when intramuscular leucine is sustained at elevated levels. This potentially indicates that muscle protein synthesis is inhibited if you eat protein too often.

On top of that, a bigger meal with higher protein will take longer to digest. One study showed that as little as 30g of casein (milk protein) maintained positive nitrogen balance for up to 6-8 hours. This explains why one sees a higher net retention of protein in the body (ie: muscle mass) with casein than with whey.

So while fast-digesting protein sources gives a higher peak in protein synthesis, it is transient at best, not to mention that this is often accompanied by increased amino-acid oxidation (they are used as energy instead).

Viewed over an entire day, a combination of fast and slow-digesting protein sources (MyoProtein is engineered to take this into account) gives the best results. I guarantee that you will still see a net positive balance of amino acids in the muscles 10-12 hours after a mixed meal of steak, potatoes and vegetables.

Of interest, protein pulsing, or eating 80% of your daily protein intake in a single meal, resulted in as good or better protein retention compared to spreading protein out in multiple meals in elderly women. The difference is not as big in younger women, but it certainly tells us the notion of eating many small doses of protein is dubious.

Another study at the University of Oslo by Therese Fostervold Mathisen showed better increases in muscle mass with 3 meals vs. 6 meals given the same caloric intake.

Research aside, Martin Berkhan and his clients seem to be doing fine with taking in all their calories in a 8-10 hour period.

Practical guidelines for protein intake

Parasympathetic dominant (P), or when in a calorie deficit:

2.5-4g protein per kg body weight – equivalent to 150-210g for a woman of 60kg and 225-360g for a 90kg man

Sympathetic dominant (S), or in a muscle-building phase with sufficient calories:

2 to 2.5 g protein per kg body weight – equivalent to 120-150g for a woman of 60kg and 180-225g for a 90kg man

A period of high protein intake should be followed by a period with lower protein intake to maintain sensitivity to amino acids. An overnight fast will help to restore this, while intermittent fasting (12-16 hours each day) will obviously have an even more significant effect. You can also have a higher protein intake on workout days, and reduce intake on rest days.

The first meal on a rest day after a training day should be the biggest meal, with the highest intake of protein since protein synthesis will still be elevated after yesterday’s workout. You then gradually decrease protein intake through the day and keep it relatively low in meals preceding the next workout. By ‘relatively’, I mean, for example, reducing protein intake by 10-20% on the rest days. So if you eat 200g protein on training days, you can reduce this to 160-180g on rest days.

A study was just published that showed that fasted training increased the levels of several important signals for muscle growth compared to the same training performed after a carbohydrate breakfast 90 minutes earlier. Other studies show that intake of amino acids (with or without carbohydrate) immediately before training, gave a better effect than the same intake soon after.

The explanation is that amino acids take time to be assimilated into the bloodstream, and consuming them right before training ensures that these aminos are available once the workout is finished.

BCAA (leucine, isoleucine and valine) and EAA (all essential amino acids) can be taken immediately pre-workout to great effect. This praise does not extend to hydrolysed proteins, and studies show that a good percentage of such proteins are used by the splanchnic bed instead of the muscles.

Do note however that the response from BCAAs is short lived: only about an hour or so. Hence, if you’re working out more than 30 minutes after your pre-workout meal, a better choice would be a slightly slower digesting protein like whey (MyoProtein ).

It is still unclear whether carbohydrates are needed before exercise for optimal response, but since it only requires 5-15g of carbs to achieve optimal blood sugar levels and performance capacity, it is fine to have a small piece of fruit before your workout. Some people however, find that they experience sluggishness if they have carbs before training, so do experiment as see what works best for you.

 

[Grayson]

Page 3:

Meal Frequency
For practical reasons, I would recommend that you eat about every 4-5. hours, which comes to about 5 meals a day – or 3-4 meals with 1-2 protein shakes between meals.

Alternatively, you could have 3 meals spread over 8-10 hours while following an intermittent fasting protocol. Protein intake should be distributed fairly evenly between meals, but I recommend that you consume a greater proportion of protein in the first 1-2 meals after exercise and during the last meal of the day.

Let’s look at two examples, given a daily protein intake of 200 grams.

Example with 4-5 meals a day

Breakfast / Meal 1: 25g
Lunch: 25g
1h before training: 30g – possibly just before training: 10g BCAA
After training: 30g shake of MyoProtein, then another 40g at most 1-2h after exercise – or 70g if you eat a large meal immediately after exercise.
Before bedtime: 50g

Rest day (180g protein):

Breakfast / Meal 1: 50g
Lunch: 30g
Meal 3: 30g
Meal 4: 30g
Before bedtime: 40g

Example with 3 meals a day

1-2h before exercise: 30g – possibly just before training: 10g BCAA
After training: shake with 30g MyoProtein, then 50g at most 1-2h after exercise – or 80g in one meal
Meal 2: 40g
Before bedtime: 50g

Rest day (180g protein):

Meal 1: 80g
Meal 2: 40g
Meal 3: 60g

Those who are parasympathetic dominant can have more high-fat sources of protein like red meat, salmon and eggs (and dairy if you tolerate that well). Wild game such as reindeer and elk are also good, while pork is not considered to be the best choice.

Those who are sympathetic dominant generally would stick to low-fat protein sources such as quark, cottage cheese, chicken, tuna, etc.

Fat
Fat plays an important role in the recovery, development, hormones, skin and cell structures. Despite the fact that free fatty acids, and especially certain saturated fatty acids, reduces insulin sensitivity – they have an additive effect on protein synthesis.

A study that illustrated this was done by Tipton and Wolfe. Three groups received either 237g of skim milk, 237g of whole milk or 393g of skim milk (equal in calories to the whole milk). Although there was more protein in the 393g serving of skim milk, the whole milk still led to higher protein synthesis. The researchers have no real explanation for this, but I have seen some related studies and received some tips from Wernbom, and the explanation seems to be related to aforementioned saturated fatty acids.

Another type of fatty acids are medium chain triglycerides, which are preferentially used as energy rather than stored as fat. Coconut fat contains almost 50% MCT, and is beneficial – especially for cooking. MCT can also be incorporated in pure form – see our webshop.

Mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids (especially omega-3) generally increase insulin sensitivity which is also generally a good thing. The best sources of such fats are: olive and olive oil, macadamia oil, avocado, almonds, walnuts, peanuts / peanut butter (beware of allergies).

Finally, we have omega-3 fatty acids that are most easily obtained from fish oil (salmon, trout, mackerel).

Organic meat from grass-fed cattle is preferred, which has a much higher content of omega-3 and less inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. You can also find omega-3 eggs, with free-range eggs being the best option. Relatedly, a study has shown that consumption of 3 eggs per day resulted in better muscle growth and endocrine profile than consumption of 1-2 eggs (or none).

Practical guidelines for fat intake

For those who are parasympathetic dominant (P), have lower insulin sensitivity, or have higher body fat percentage, or simply have a lower activity level:

1 to 1.5 g fat per kg body weight – equivalent to 60-90g for a woman of 60kg and 90-140g for a 90kg man.

If you respond poorly to carbohydrates but requires a lot of calories, you can increase this up to 2g fat per kg body weight.

If you are sympathetic dominant (S), have higher insulin sensitivity, have a low body fat percentage, or simply have a higher activity level:

0.5-1g fat per kg body weight – equivalent to 30-60g for a 60kg woman and 45-90g for a 90kg man.

An even distribution between meals is preferable, but generally you can eat less fat earlier in the day or at meals with lots of carbohydrates, and more fat in the last 1-2 meals – or in the first few meals if you train late and therefore consume more carbs in the last meal of the day.

You can have more saturated fatty acids in the first meal after training and more mono and polyunsaturated fats in last few meals. For example, I like to eat red meat and / or eggs in the meal after exercise, and so a large portion of salmon or chicken with avocado and 1SS Vital Arctic Oil in the evening’s last meal.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates increase blood glucose levels, which in turn increases insulin levels. Insulin has minimal direct effect on protein synthesis, but plays a “permissive” role for amino acids have the effect on protein synthesis.

And while inhibition of insulin also inhibits protein synthesis, supra-physiological doses achieved by ingesting a large amount of carbohydrates (your maltodextrin “recovery” shake) will not increase protein synthesis more than that achieved with slight elevated levels. Instead, amino acids (protein) yields the most dramatic effect.

What about protein degradation? Well, we know that sufficient elevation of insulin levels (30mU / L) can be easily be achieved with a standard meal, with no additional effect given with meals with high carbohydrate content. Even a whey protein drink of about 30g protein yields insulin levels that are about twice baseline (40-50mU / L).

Glucose will have some dampening effect on cortisol secretion, but acute and transient increase of cortisol is actually a normal physiological response to stress such as mobilising energy. It is chronically elevated levels can cause problems.

While carbs lessen cortisol secretion, this isn’t a call to start chugging down dextrose shakes. Learning stress management, and regulating your exercise volume and intensity would be much more helpful with managing cortisol over-secretion. Those who are sympathetic dominant (S) must be especially careful with the amount of exercise performed, and ensure sufficient carbohydrate intake during periods of high stress and exercise.

Finally, I must emphasise that carbs do NOT make you fat, and that you do NOT get fat by eating carbohydrates before bedtime.

These are persistent myths based on misinterpretation of studies, many on rats and mice. In humans, carbohydrates don’t get converted to fat so easily. It requires large amounts over several days and / or an artificially low fat intake (less than 10%) for this to happen.

The reason you put on fat is simply due to a high caloric surplus. Simplistically speaking, eat fat and you burn fat, eat carbs and you burn carbs. For a more detailed explanation, read ‘Nutrient Intake, Nutrient Storage and Nutrient Oxidation‘ by Lyle McDonald.

 

[Grayson]

Page 4:

Practical guidelines for carbohydrate intake

Once you have found your total calorie intake and protein intake, you should simply balance the fat and carbohydrate intake in relation to your circumstances and needs – primarily metabolic type and exercise / activity amount.

Since there are so many variables that determine how much to eat from each food course you should consider the recommendations more like guidelines. As in the Health & Fitness Concept, we can also use hunger as a regulator, where here it is used to determine how much to eat for every meal, and not how many meals you will eat. Keep in mind other factors, like how much you have trained and activity for the day. Still, you will soon see that hunger is a surprisingly accurate indicator.

In relation to carbohydrate refeeds, especially on a diet, there are two approaches:

You can have one day a week where you consume large amounts of carbohydrates (and minimal fat).

Or you can have a “mini-refeed” by taking a large amount of carbohydrates in the first few meals after each workout, done on 2-4 days a week. You will then adjust down on the calories on the other days so that you end in a net loss in total on the week. How much carbs to take during a refeed and how much to decrease calories on rest days is going to be a matter of experimentation. For some details and anecdotes, check out the EOD-refeed thread on Lyle McDonald’s forums.

One important thing to note is how you feel after your post-workout meal (the biggest meal). If after only a couple hours you start to feel hungry, it could be an indicator that you should eat more during the post-workout meal. Physiologically speaking, this happens because the carbohydrates are absorbed and stored as glycogen, thus falling blood sugar and trigger hunger.

If however, if you get really lethargic after your meal, consider eating less carbohydrates and more protein, or to distribute the carbohydrates over several meals.

Do note and if you have a higher body fat level, you will need less calories to meet energy needs. In practice, this means eating less on rest days and in the periods before exercise, instead eat a filling meal after training so that incoming calories are preferentially used for muscle building and recovery.

On the other hand, as body fat percentage decreases, insulin sensitivity increases, fat mobilisation will be lower and you will likely require a higher carbohydrate intake.

I would recommend focusing carbohydrates in the first 1-3 meals after exercise, either evenly or with a higher intake in the first meal and then gradually less in the last meal. Reductions in calories should therefore first occur in the last meal of the day – except when you exercise late and have only eaten one meal before bedtime.

On rest days with lower calorie intake, you can do this by reducing carbohydrate intake. You could also take more carbs in the first meal of the day and at less during the last meal. Parasympathetic dominance or lower insulin sensitivity means that you often get tired when you eat lots of carbs in the first meal, so there are benefits to more even carbohydrate distribution.

The ingestion of carbohydrates prior to intense exercise has been shown to reduce cortisol secretion, and it does not require large doses. 10-20g would be sufficient for normal workouts, but if you train long and hard – for example 1-2 hours kickboxing or soccer – it may be wise to take 30-50g before and during exercise. Nitro Fuel is formulated precisely for this purpose.

Let us assume 3000kcal for a man of 90kg

You are parasympathetic dominant (P) and have set protein to 300g (1200kcal) and fat to 100g (900kcal). You now have 900kcal left for carbs, giving you 225g. So 300P/100F/225C

On carbohydrate distribution, you could take 25 g before exercise and then 60-70g at each meal for three meals after exercise. Or you could take 150g in the first meal post-exercise and 50g in the next meal. If you work late, you can have 50g carbs over meals during the day, 25g before training, and finally 150g in the meal after exercise, which also is the last meal.

All the above are acceptable ways of getting the required 225g carbohydrate in a training optimised manner.

On rest days you reduce calories for carbohydrates, dropping them to 120g which can be split by having 60g during the first meal of the day and 30g in the next two meals.

Selection of carbohydrate sources:

As in the Health & Fitness Concept I first and foremost recommend fruits and berries, but you can and should use higher energy density like rice / rice cakes, potatoes and oats to get enough carbohydrates.

Wheat Products should be limited or avoided entirely, but I allow some types of bread made from fermented or sprouted grains – a process that breaks down and makes the protein structures more easily digestible. Ezekielbrød is baked in such a method and can be purchased at Helios and Life Healthcare, or can be ordered from http://www.dengodebaker.no/ This bread is very popular with the fitness community in the United States.

You can use this process with oatmeal. Simply to soak the raw oatmeal in lukewarm water with a couple tablespoons of lemon juice overnight, and cook for 5-10 minutes before you eat them. I like to make an oatmeal porridge and stir in some MyoProtein or M-factor protein powder, egg, peanut butter or Cocoa. Season with cinnamon, perhaps “gingerbread spices (cardamom, ginger, cloves), vanilla, etc, and you’ve got heaven in a bowl.

Buckwheat – which despite its name does not have anything to do with wheat – can be used for baking (pizza, rolls, pancakes / waffles).

What does this mean in practice

Let us consider the example for protein from before, now considering carbs and fat as well. You will of course adjust the amounts depending on whether you want a caloric surplus or deficit, also taking into account the composition of carbohydrates and fats that suits you.

Do not consider this as a static plan, it is ONLY an example to illustrate how to structure your nutrition on training and rest days.

Example 4-5 meals – training day (200g protein)

Breakfast / meal 1: 0-30g carbs, 25g protein, 20g fat
Lunch: 0-10g carbs, 25g protein, 20g fat
1h before training: 20-30g carbs, 30g protein, 10g fat — or just before exercise: 10-20g carbs and 10g BCAA
After training: 30-50g carbs (fruit) and 30g protein shake with MyoProtein, then 70-100g carbs and 40g protein, 10-20g fat meal within 1-2h after exercise – or 100-130g carbs 70g protein, 10-20g fat if you eat a large meal immediately after exercise.
Before bedtime: 20-40g carbs, 50g protein, 30g fat

If you exercise before breakfast, then eat carbs during breakfast, and less correspondingly less in your last meal of the day. If you react negatively to a lot of carbs in a single meal, then spread your carb intake more evenly over the meals after a workout and possibly keep fat intake along the higher end of your recommended spectrum. On the other hand, sympathetic dominant people (S) will prefer more carbs and less fat at every meal, especially breakfast.

Rest day (180g protein):

Breakfast / meal 1: 20-40g carbs, 50g protein, 20g fat
Lunch: 20-40g carbs, 30g protein, 10g fat
Meal 3: 20-40g carbs, 30g protein, 10g fat
Meal 4: 10-20g carbs, 30g protein, 20g fat
Before bedtime: 10-20g carbs, 40g, 10-30g fat

Example with 3 meals – training day (200g protein)

1-2h before exercise: 30g carbs, 30g protein, 10g fat — or just before exercise: 10-20g carbs and 10g BCAAs
After training: 30-50g carbs (fruit), shake with 30g MyoProtein, then 70-100g carbs, 50g protein and 10-20g fat meal within 1-2h after exercise – or 100-130g carbs, 80g protein, 10-20g fat in a meal
Meal 2: 40-70g carbs, 40g protein, 20g fat
Before bedtime: 10-30g carbs, 50g protein, 30g fat

If you exercise later in the day, simply have Meal 2 before training, but with less carbs. You would then increase carbs in the meal after exercise by an equivalent amount.

Rest day (180g protein):

Meal 1: 30-60g carbs, 80g protein, 20g fat
Meal 2: 20-50g carbs, 40g protein, 20g fat
Meal 3: 30g carbs, 60g protein, 30g fat

Are You Still Hanging in There?
Read through the article again and look at the examples. Don’t get hung too much on the details, and instead look at this from the overall perspective (especially those who are sympathetic dominant (S)). Experiment with options, and read about and participate on forums with like-minded people likely to have shared your experiences.

This article was both long and dense, and I recommend that you read through the article a THIRD time before you ask anything – chances are high that you’ll find the answer in the article.

It is difficult to give more specific figures on the exact number of grams or food choices since there will be large variations from person to person. The most important thing is to start with a layout, and then adjust in relation to progress.

I will remind you again that you should not measure and weigh yourself every day and panic because you gained 300 grams (equivalent to a large glass of water), and then cut your calories in half while taking an hour-long jog to compensate for all the fat you think you have put on you. Have patience and making small changes.

 

[Grayson]

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