Carb Backloading Macros During the Day?

Nutrition
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[quote]ESPguitarist1990 wrote:
Post workout last night i ate sweet potatoes, pork chops, brocolli, ezekiel bread and peanut butter…bad? good?[/quote]

As far as QUALITY of food, my opinion is A+. All great choices and standard in the “clean eating” world for training.

Hard to say bad/good overall, the REAL question is was the total amount of food you ate bad/good for your goals. For example, if eating your post workout meal put you over or under calories, or didn’t meet your exact macros, I’d say bad. If eating your post workout meal got you to your exact macros, I’d say good.

22

[quote]ESPguitarist1990 wrote:
those were my macros for cutting, up above. got them figured out by a coach.

[/quote]
Ok cool, so then all you need to do now is track your food and be sure you’re getting those numbers in. There are lots of food tracking apps that make it super easy, or just keep a journal with pencil and paper. That will allow you to be sure you’re reaching your numbers, thus reach your goals!

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very tricky indeed (CBL) with my training time. Thanks for your help! i have a better understanding of things now, so im gonna play around with the carbs and stuff all whilst staying in my numbers and see how my body responds.

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You can do protein pulses through the day along with a couple of fruits at each pulse, thats gonna save you some carbs and calories at dinner, and it brings vitamins,minerals and alkaline food. And also very convenient to carry in a small bag (I always leave home with like 10 fruits and my shaker)

As long as you dont eat too late (12-14hours after waking up, 2-3h before bedtime) it should be ok. At least it is for me.
Doing a transition with small-sized lunches (ie salads) for the first days might help too, so that you eat less in one sitting at night

So 7am-8pm: work,pulses/ Fruits snacks however you want
8-9pm roughly: workout window
10pm MAX: big dinner. If you finish very late, very caloric food (might be junk…) is the only solution. What I often do is a container of greek yoghurt with flakes+berries+shredded coconut and 12 eggs, thats a lot of calories and rather quickly eaten
Sleep,repeat

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My schedule, at least 3-4 times a week is this.

620am wake up. work 7am-9pm. Gym at 10pm. home by 1130.

fuck.

when training time comes around i have to convince myself to go and literally try everything i can to push through it.

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Man, I’m really sorry you have to deal with that, that is a tough schedule! What kind of work do you do? Kudos for you getting anything it at all!

Given your schedule, maybe a 3x per week full body program would be a good idea? You can make great gains on a full body program, here’s one of my favs: 10 Secrets to Building Mass

Another great full body article with a few workouts: Full-Body Workouts of the Legends

All are 3x per week, perfect for great recovery.

With your schedule, I would highly recommend NOT doing CBL, as it’s lots of time you’d spend eating that you could be sleeping! Getting your calories in during the day and pre-workout, with a smaller meal or even MD shake with oats and PB afterwards would be a good call. It would also be extremely beneficial for you to take one of your days off and cook/prep ALL your food for the week, it’s WELL WORTH the time!

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full time oil and gas work, then part time at GNC (ha) just to pay off my student debt and get ahead in life…im young, might as well grind now.

Ya i thought about the 3x a week programs i just feel lazy and like im slacking off when i take days off…

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do you have weekends at least? You could do 2 workouts in a row (saturday+sunday) and 20/30minutes bodyweight stuff everyday (pushups, pullups, single leg squats, abs stuff)

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Yup! i have weekends, thank fuck.

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but how effective could that be though?

31

you never know if you don’t try, but I’m going to have a pretty darn similar schedule for the next few months, and that’s what I plan to do:
-try to get ONE day during the week where you leave work a bit early to fit a good workout (say, on wednesday)
-do 2 workouts on consecutive days (ie weekend)

if you think about all the classic splits that are upper/lower/off/upper/lower/off/off

then this routine wouldn’t be very different being saturday upper/sunday lower/off/off/wednesday full body/off/off

-If you reaaally have zero option throughout the week, I thought about quick bodyweight routines that can be performed everyday and keep some activity. Or just having a walk, anything really.

that was my .02, but IMO you may enjoy it better than going to the gym following a standard template when your schedule and mindset are very far from lifting heavy stuff.

32

[quote]ESPguitarist1990 wrote:
My schedule, at least 3-4 times a week is this.

620am wake up. work 7am-9pm. Gym at 10pm. home by 1130.

fuck.

when training time comes around i have to convince myself to go and literally try everything i can to push through it.[/quote]

You obviously work longer hours than 90% of the population so you will have to make adjustments.

Do you get any extended 1hr break during the day to eat a large meal ?

Have you considered going the opposite way and training at 5am-6am ?

You could set it up as follows:

Wake up 5am
Train 530am-630am
630am 50g whey
1pm: Large Meal with 75% carbs + 50% daily protein (assuming you get a break for lunch)
930pm: 50% protein 25% daily carbs.

Divide the fats up however you like.

This is assuming you work in a sedentary job and can take a 30min break to stuff your face with food during the day.

You don’t have to get to the gym everyday to build muscle/lose fat. Someone suggested a 3 day split and I agree, I used to have a mental block on 3 days splits for years but now I am a believer.

Instead of blasting each body part once a week, split the volume and do each body part 3 times per week. Maybe do cardio the other 3 days.

You shouldn’t have to “convince” yourself to hit the gym, you should be excited and fired up. All those people who view it as a chore end up burned out and quitting. They never make a real transformation.

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Can you suggest a good full body routine?

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ESP, I did, if you scroll up you’ll see them. All great programs, pick the one that seems the best fit for you and go for it!

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oh wow, didnt even notice. sorry man.

even the first one? just seems something youd do on a bulking diet and its the program that appeals the most to me.

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Dan John’s program is awesome, but I was on a caloric surplus while doing it, so I can’t speak for that program specifically on how it would go in a deficit. However, I have been doing a full body program for the past 3 months, Leroy Colbert’s program from the second article, “Full Body Workouts of Legends.” It’s a lot of volume, about 42 sets total, but I can handle it and push hard with Plazma and maintenance calories on a training day, (3x per week.) If I move through it with purpose and don’t BS around talking to people, I can finish it in about 75 minutes, 90 max.

I started this program originally out of necessity when my schedule became busier and I only had 3x per week to train, but the high volume of this plan appealed to me. I really love the workouts, and because of the high volume, there’s some room for variety throughout the week with varying exercises if you want to. I’ve successfully been able to increase strength, while losing fat and cutting, I’ve lost a total of about 15lbs since I started it 3 months ago. It was my “summer cut” plan and has worked nicely! On a cut, the priority is to maintain (or build) as much LBM as possible. So, a slow and steady approach is best. As my strength has been increasing while my waist has been decreasing, I’m confident I’m not losing any LBM whatsoever. I also feel that confidence because of my nutrition plan that supports my training plan and goals.

Just speaking from my personal experience, I firmly believe, and know, it is possible to train 3x per week utilizing a full body plan and increase strength while losing fat (if that is your goal.) The KEY, and I cannot stress this enough, is having a nutrition plan designed to support your goals, and sticking to it with relentless consistency. If you’re not prepared to do that, you won’t get there.

Regarding your fear of “off days being lazy,” I think if you change your mindset to a more logical approach, you’ll feel better about it. The point of training hard is to RECOVER from training hard, so you can grow and get stronger. So, if you have a great full body training session that gets your CNS going, huge pumps all over your body for 75-90 minutes, you will WANT and NEED those recovery days. With my current plan, when my buddies ask, “will you be here this weekend?” I smile and say, “NOPE, I’ll be recovering,” knowing it’s what I need.