I would love to see a T-mag article on this too. I think the first three days(36 set workouts on zero carbs) would put me in a coma.
I have tried this type of thing, but only short time. I depleted myself in 7 days taking only about 5-10g carbs a day. (And boy was that pain! and difficult). Then I was one day completely without protein. nada. Then boom! Carbs and protein to the max!
Train like this for three weeks: 1.Lower body 2:Upper body 3:off 4:Lower body 5:Upper body 6:off - start over
Then week off and continue to eat like a madman. This should work for some.
For me It didn’t and I think it was due to fact that I didn’t eat enough cals. I lost 7 pounds in seven days and then gained 12 pounds in 14 days after I started loading on carbs.
Once again, the program needs to be followed EXACTLY for it to work. In the last post, doesn’t sound like the program was followed exactly…
I would also love to see a T-mag article on this diet!
Scarface, you said that breakfast on day 4 should be high fat and low carbs, does this mean you should do your workout before the carb up, or after the carb up? Thanks
J.man , it seems to me that you would have a high fat, low carb pre-workout meal in the morning, then after working out… go nuts on the carbs and pass out from the insulin spike!
I think only certain individuals would do well on this. Too fast a metabolism and you lose too much muscle on the no carb phase and cant gain enough muscle back on the high carb phase (sure you will gain weight -glycogen and water- but not much muscle). Too slow a metabolism and you wont lose enough fat on the low carb portion while gaining too much on the high fat portion. So if you are either very fast burning or very slow, dont try this. If somewhere in between, it might work. Charles is right in saying you will be dumb! You wont be able to think at all during the low carb and during the high carb you will be either wired or tired most of the day. The principle is the same as the old post-contest rebound. Or you can think of if as a shortened version of that old MM2K ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP diet. Deplete glycogen, eat no carbs, lose 10lbs of water and glycogen and maybe 2 of muscle and 2 of fat. Then gain back 12 lbs of water and glycogen 3 lbs of muscle and 2 lbs of fat. You end up 3 lbs heavier than you started in 1 weeks time. If your lifestyle allows you to do this diet, why not give it a shot? Nothing to lose that cant be corrected later on. And you will learn something. My skepticism though comes from the fact that after 30 whatever days, when you go back to normal eating, your glycogen and water will gradually go back to normal too and you will be no better off than when you started.
John, thanks for your input! You have a lot of vaid points and hey, what do we have to lose by trying it (other than the ability to concentrate…!)
J.Man–Jamie was correct. Eat the high fat, high protein, low carb diet like on days 1,2, and 3 before your morning workout and then carb up afterwards. Good luck.
Darn… so this routine really just pumps your muscles up with water and glycogen? No real muscle gain? Then why on earth did Poliquin tout it as a mass gaining routine??
Ok… I’m gonna try and answer my own question as to why anyone would want to do this routine if it doesn’t add any real permanent muscle. If your muscles are real pumped up with water and glycogen, that provides leverage (kinda like creatine works… I think) so that you can lift much heavier weights. So the fuller muscles make you lift heavier which in turn builds more muscle. How does this sound?
Another question… why is it that on day 5 only arms are trained? Does this mean that when upper body is trained, arms aren’t? Are they considered seperate?
Poliquin did not say it was all water weight. He stressed you will gain some alot of quality muscle too. The split should be lower body (day 1) upper body (day two) and off (day three) and then repeat. Never do just arms.
Hey Scarface, I was wondering what the total calorie intake would be for the low carb/high carb days. I saw that you posted the macronutrient profiles for each day, but not the total cals. Hopefully you still check on this post. Thanks.
dan-huge: apparently CP doesn’t like prescribing calories. Just get lots of em… wouldn’t like to work so hard and screw things up because of cals.
Ok another question: what kind of exersizes do you guys should feature in the two strength training days? Would you even work things like biceps?
Poliquin never discussed the total caloric intake. He just gave the ratios. Like Jagin said, he usually doesn’t prescribe a specific daily calorie level. Jagin-Poliquin said work everything but it can be indirectly like chin-ups for back and biceps. You can leave the small stuff out like rotater cuff and abs, but definitely work the majority of your body parts.
I just finished day 8 of this miserable program and I think I know why it won’t work for most people today. Creatine. This program basically does what creatine does only in a more torturous way. If you want your muscles to be full of glycogen and water, just take creatine, unless you’re a sadist. If you’re already on creatine and you do the program nothing happens. I’m very sure of this.
Hi I’m french and i’ve some question for you.
Could you tell me what means “use thermogenics” ?
@Jamie Haas: We really need creatine ?Because Janin say “If you’re already on creatine and you do the program nothing happens.”
And the last question for all is : Carb mean water and liquid ?
Please I know that the question look stupid but i would like receive a answer.
Byp0
I think John M. Barardi has a good point. When I go extremely low carb I feel like shit and gain an attitude (both bark and bite but mostly bark) within several days. Lata.
"MB Eric: Spendin' time among the vines since 1730."
-Eric
I actually accidently did a version of this type of workout. Once, when I was in undergrad, I decided to try the Anabolic Diet. I ate pork chops for every meal and drank vegetable oil (no lie!). I felt so sick and miserable after five days that I just gave up. I went back to my then idiot diet–high carbs, low fat. I just ballooned up like crazy when I was in the gym. I was hoisting weights like never before. I would guess that all my lifts went up about 10%. The problem was that it did not last. After two to three days, it was all gone. I did not feel that I was better off a week later. The gains were temporary and it was just too miserable to be worthwhile the effort. If it was permanent, it would be.
Mon français ce n’est pas trés bien mait jevais essayé. Premierement les “thermogenics” sont des supplements qui vous fait chaude, ils aident le metabolism. Baucoup de fois il y a le caffine et le ephedra dans les thermogenics. Deusiement, le conclusion de cette thead etait que la creatine fait le meme chose que cette program. Troisement les “carb” sont les “carbohydrates”, je n’est c’est pas que ce que c’est en français… Le sucre est une simple carbohydrate par example