Good Program?- Chris

To: CHRIS SCHUGART, OR ANYONE ELSE…
I’ve just completed Ian King’s “limping” series with great results in strength gains, unfortunately when I started the program I was too heavy and have since packed on more fat by indescriminate eating.Bottom line…I am starting the T-Dawg diet July 01. I’m a male 40 years old, 6’0" 215 and a whopping 21.3% bodyfat. Goal 12 weeks of T-dawg, full body workout(circut style) 3 x per wk. 20 min. of Hi intensity cardio following workouts and 3 x per week of low intensity cardio, riding my mountain bike 30-45 min.Supplements are Androsol,Tribex, MD6, Methoxy7,ZMA,Surge,Advanced Protein, ALA. Folic Acid, Flax and fish oil capsules, multivitamin, metamucil and a hell of a lot of water. My goal is to cut my bodyfat in half in 12 weeks while maintaining current lean body mass. Sound achievable, and is my plan sound???

Your program sounds good to me and it sounds like you know exactly what you want to accomplish and how you plan on accomplishing it. The only question I have is how do you plan to cycle your supplements…particularly the androsol?

It’s difficult to say that Person A will lose X amount of fat in Y amount of time. There are just way to many factors involved to put specific numbers on. But I think you can make great progress if you keep a food log and stick with the program. (See my “Missing Ingredient” article in the current issue of T-mag for food log info.)

Roughly, you need to lose almost 2 pounds a week, which is pushing it a little in terms of keeping muscle. But, given the supplements you’ll be taking and where you’re starting at, this is possible. Just keep in mind that you’ll drop some water weight too.

Adding T2 would help a lot (maybe add it in the last 4 weeks), but first we need to look at how you’re using the other stuff. How are you planning on using Androsol since you shouldn’t use it (at full dosage at least) for 12 weeks straight? Actually, you may not even need all the supplements you listed. Give us some details about how you plan to use them and we’ll look over your plan.

As for training, my philosophy on training for fat loss is simple. I don’t think it matters all that much what type of weight training you do while losing fat, as long as you’re doing something. So if you like circuits and cardio, great. I’m not sure both are necessary though assuming you’ll be taking short rests in your circuits. Usually, a good diet takes care of the fat and the training is secondary.

I doubt you’ll lose any muscle provided 1) You don’t get in a hurry and drop calories too low 2) you get enough protein and 3) you use the supplements you listed (or at least some of them).

Lastly, since TC and I wrote that diet, I’ve gotten a little more “carb friendly”. You may not have to drop as low as 30/70. You could do 50/100 and get the same results I’m guessing, and that’s not even counting Surge, which does not hamper fat loss at all in my experience, even on a lower carb diet.

Get back to us with that supp info and we’ll tweak this puppy so you can get started.

Thanks for the quick and helpful response.My supplement strategy is as follows:
Weeks 1 and 2- Androsol 70 sprays 2x daily


Weeks 3-6 Tribex 4 capsules 2 x daily,
Methoxy 7 1 serving 2x daily,
ZMA 3 capsules at bedtime


Other Supplements:MD6 2 capsules 3xdaily,
Surge-After circuit training
Protein Powder, Flax, fish oil daily to meet macronutrient ratio parameters.Roughly 170g protein,70-100g carbs and 238g fat daily on workout days,30-50 g of carbs on non workout days.

I’ll back off the total calories 250 after week one. Starting at 3110. Taking ALA only on Saturdays. Only going to have one “cheat” meal on Sat. to start with and see how it goes…Repeat above supplement cycle for second 6 weeks. Whadda ya think???

Looks like a plan to me, Paul. Couple of minor points: You can take ZMA all the time, no need to cycle it. I’d still suggest adding T2 the last four weeks. The rest looks good; I follow a similiar approach i.e. “bridging” prohormone usage with a Tribex/Methoxy stack.

Keep us updated and don’t be afraid to play with those numbers as you go along. Good luck.

Thanks Chris,
I appreciate you taking the time to evaluate my plan and the additional info. I’ll order the T2 and add it in the last 4 weeks of my cycle and take ZMA all 12 weeks. I’ll update you of my progress.I’m keeping a food and training journal so maybe we can “tweak” this program along the way. I’m having my bodyfat % monitored weekly, so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks a million.