I’m planning on using a German Body Composition type program in my upcoming cutting cycle, and was wondering if anyone out there had had any success with this method as opposed to straight cardio? Cheers, Mark-AUS.
I’ve done it in conjunction with a cyclic ketogenic diet and small amts. of carbs post workout (via a mrp). Worked stunningly well…got me down to 4 percent, and my muscle endurance went through the roof, although my maximal strength was down a bit after the diet. Give it a shot.
I think GBC works well, there are a few tweaks I have done to the program to see further success. Lately I have found certain cardio protocols to work well in conjunction with weight training. Shoot me an email and list out the workouts you plan to do so I can offer some more specific advice
NOTE FROM MOD- E-MAIL ADDRESSES NOT ALLOWED
Oh yeah, sure Scott. And did you forgot to mention you charge $120 bucks for this “advice”? Stop pretending to be a helpful, concerned guy and then hitting people with a fee when they contact you. This is the worst kind of deceptive spam, Scott. Oh yeah, and then he tries to sell you the sorry supplements he pushes while slamming Biotest products. You reek of sleaze, Scott. Stay the fuck off this board, spammer.
i think its poliquins best program, works great everytime i do it i lean up, on my second week right now, extremely happy with the results
R U using the traditional GBC or some tweek. could you briefly discuss your approach, your results. Not nutrition, just the training side if you could please
Hey mate, well I can tell you what happened with my 3 weeks of GBC. First of all, be ready for hell. Done properly, this will exhaust the living hell out of you. My first week and first 3 workouts, wow was I ever sore, and I ended each workout breathless and drenched in sweat. I took my weight and measurements before, and after two weeks, there was no change in my bodyweight, it stayed exactly the same, except all my fat caliper measurements went down! From my body’s previous fat loss experience patterns, I would say I lost about 4lbs of fat in those 2 weeks, but also gained about 4lbs simultaneously! This is the only time I have ever lost fat and gained muscle at the same time, however the third week didn’t go as well as I just didn’t have any energy and didn’t work to near the level of intensity I did the first two weeks. Overtraining perhaps? Laziness? I’m not too sure to be honest, but I quit the GBC program after that and periodized into another program. All and all, I’d say it’s a go, but not for too long in my experience. Cheers, SBL.
I think it is good but takes so long, too much set up, and rushing between sets, machines etc. I gave up after the first workout. It is too complicated to enjoy what you are doing.
The key is to increase the density of the program. Gradually reduce rest. Those in better shape will need to start at a more challening level. It is hard for some people to use one minute rest periods while others get bored with that much time. I think the basic principles behind the GBC program are good.
sure, i do a program similar to the sample workouts tc gave in his bowl full of jelly article…i usually do 3 weeks of german body comp once every 3-4 months, usually the traditional program, except this time i added the 8 minute gpp warm-ups listed in coach davies article, plus a sprint workout on the rowing machine where i do 10 sets of 20 light strokes followed by 10-15 intense strokes(kind of like sprinting)…the cardio is done 3 times per week, and with it the program is working even better…anyway i highly reccommend the program with or without the cardio-good luck
Thanks for the info folks. I’m planning on a cutting phase of at least 6 weeks. The first two weeks are a keto-diet, second two up the carbs to about 25%, then the last two will be iso-caloric, i.e. a third each way. Training wise the first 3 weeks I’ll try GBC, and keep it up if it’s going well. It’s all a big experiment so I’ll just have to wait and see. Either way I’ll still shed a shite-load of fat! Cheers.
what is a iso-caloric diet?
An iso-caloric diet is one that divides your daily calorie intake equally 1/3 protein, 1/3 carbohydrate, and 1/3 fat. It was a dieting method espoused by Dan Duchaine.
thanks NG, i wasn’t around for the glory days of Dan Duchaine and muscle media, how effective is it and do u eat every meal in the 1/3 ratio or can u follow massive eating and end the day with 33% of each
Mark, personally, I wouldn’t recommend the GBC on a ketogenic diet, it’s just my opinion but workouts usually suffer on keto diets, well at least they definitely do for me. You just won’t have anywhere near the energy to do the GBC program properly, as there is no glyocgen in the muscles and aerobic performance suffers as well. Try sticking to a more basic lifting routine while on a ketogenic diet, me and me mates have found around 12-16 sets of lower rep works well to help keep the muscle, and not tire out completely after a few sets. Also, why 2 weeks of a keto diet? That doesn’t make much sense to me to do 2 weeks keto and then back to carbs again, it opposes the reasons people use a keto diet to begin with. If you are using it for muscle preserving purposes, studies have shown that the major adaptations to ketosis in regards to the protein sparing effects don’t occur until approximately the 3rd week into a keto diet. If using the keto diet to kill carb cravings, or because carb diets don’t work well for you or whatever, that would make sense, but it doesn’t add up if you’re only doing it for 2 weeks and then reverting back to a diet including carbs. Unless, of course, you just want to give it a try just to see what it’s like type of thing. Cheers, _B.
Hey _B - Unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of staying on a keto-diet for long periods with the line of work I’m in. I’ve never tried a keto-diet (properly) before, and as pilot I don’t want something strange to happen while I’m airborne on a single pilot operation… I also realise that you need to taper up to a regular macro-nutrient ratio after a keto-diet, so 6 weeks should be heaps of time with the plan I have. I don’t have that much fat to lose really, and regular carb diets have worked ok in the past, so… can’t remember where I was going with that thought. Anyway, thanks for the heads up.
I have to admit that I have no personal experience with the iso-caloric diet. It’s a fairly new concept to me as well. It sounds interesting but when it comes to the minute details, I’m in the dark myself. Irontank, perhaps you should post a new thread asking for personal experiences and opinions as well as details of the iso-caloric diet.
thanks for the idea NG, i will start a new thread
I am gonna assume that while on GBC,we have to lower our calorie intake right?
I am sure you have heard this at least hundred times so prepare to hear it 101 times… There are 3 ways to lose fat
- Eat less the maintenance level
- Increase your activity level so you are burning more calories then consuming
- Combine 1 and 2
So you can eat at maintenance level and follow GBC and shed a little fat and MAYBE add a modicum of muscle (assuming you have adequate post nutrition) or you can follow a sub-maintenance diet (I suggest T-dawg or delta 1250) and shed a lot of fat, but it all depends on your goal and your current BF%