Cool man. I may model the next training phase like this. You been learning about DC? yeah, man that looks interesting. I tried to experiment with that, but didnt figure it completely out. I think I’ll try it again sometime. Going completely all out is hard to do. sounds good tho.
What do you to do train abs? Has anything really seemed to work? I’ve liked leg raises for a while and train lots of compound lifts, but I feel that my abs muscles cant be that big since they are so damned hard to see.
Nobody believes me but I hardly EVER train my abs 
I do some sit ups now and then maybe some leg raises. lol I do squat and deadlift really heavy and that stimulates the abs far greater than any situp/crunch.
DC I feel is for advanced lifters because you have to know the perfect form, your body, etc.
If you think going all out is hard just wait until you try that leg day giant set ;D
Gerdy
For me, (i currently have a hernia from neglecting abs and squatting) i never used to train my abs often because, like G, they were always really viewable and i had no need unless i was really trying to get in top form.
I am naturally lean, but what did it for me was making the abs grow to a size large enough to be viewable from under 14%BF!
I did that (inadvertently) by implementing weighted crunches. 3 sets of weighted crunches 3 times a week, hold a 25lb or 35lb plate to your chest, throw your calves over a bench and crunch as high as possible.
I find training the lower abs unless for posture and stability, pointless for most - as they will NEVER see them in their lifetime. You need to be around 8% before they come into sight, and i doubt most not competing trainees will drop to that level…
Joe
Hi doctasarge,
First I’d like to say congratulations for sticking to your goals and on the progress that you’ve achieved thus far.
Second, I completely agree with Gerdy that a carb cycling diet would most likely get you better results than a keto diet. Nothing wrong with keto diets, and they are good for losing weight. But, it’s really not weight that you should be focusing on losing, it’s body fat.
When I’ve got more time I’ll try to explain to you just why carb cycling diets are so effective for body transformation. But at the moment I simply don’t have the time to go into any detail.
Lastly, as far as bulking and cutting training regimes. Personally I don’t really think there needs to be any difference in how you train during both phases. What builds muscle best (bulking) is most likely also gonna maintain (or even build) muscle best as well (cutting).
Now, if you were talking about contest prep, than I’d admit that really close to contest time you would most likely need to modify your training some, simply due to your caloric intake and energy levels. But just a regular cutting phase most likely wouldn’t require that.
Great guys. Thanks for the advice. Sounds like I’ve got plenty to go over for the next few weeks. I am really excited to incorporate all the info you guys have shared to get where I want to be.
[quote]Joe Joseph wrote:
I find training the lower abs unless for posture and stability, pointless for most - as they will NEVER see them in their lifetime. You need to be around 8% before they come into sight, and i doubt most not competing trainees will drop to that level…
Joe[/quote]
Who said I don’t want to go below 8?lol I’m just kidding, but that would be pretty damn cool…
So here is Friday before I head out:
I got some real cheap fresh caught salmon lox, so I ate lots of that today. Delicious and nutritious!
Breakfast:
-3 O3 eggs
-3 oz salmon lox
-broccoli
Lunch:
-5 oz lox
-.25 cup nuts
-broccoli
-lettuce
20 minutes HIIT “400 calories”
5.30:
-6 oz lox
-tbsp coconut oil
-broccoli
-lettuce
-cucumber
8.30
-6 oz lox
-.5 tbsp EVOO
-broccoli
-about 1/8 cup of nuts
Then when I get home I will have some Cottage Cheese and splenda before bed
Macros:
2200 cals
120 g fat
205 g protein
54 g carbs
I read some of Tom Venuto’s book today. I think I will follow his carb cycling protocol for endomorphs instead of CTs unless you guys think otherwise. I just uses slightly lower protein and slightly more fat basically. Also, according to Venuto, I should really be eating more like 2500 cals per day.
I think I may be under-eating, but I don’t know. I do want to maximize fat loss for these two months, but I don’t want to lose much muscle either. I think I may also follow something like his training guidelines tied in with what Gerdy said when I switch to carb cycling next week.
I will be going to my mom’s for mother’s day on saturday and Sunday after my workout tomorrow, so I may not be able to get to the computer. I will still be eating a similar diet though and will get all my workouts and cardio sessions in. So it shouldnt get in the way of that.
Hope you guys enjoy your week end.
[quote]doctasarge wrote:
So here is Friday before I head out:
I got some real cheap fresh caught salmon lox, so I ate lots of that today. Delicious and nutritious!
Breakfast:
-3 O3 eggs
-3 oz salmon lox
-broccoli
Lunch:
-5 oz lox
-.25 cup nuts
-broccoli
-lettuce
20 minutes HIIT “400 calories”
5.30:
-6 oz lox
-tbsp coconut oil
-broccoli
-lettuce
-cucumber
8.30
-6 oz lox
-.5 tbsp EVOO
-broccoli
-about 1/8 cup of nuts
Then when I get home I will have some Cottage Cheese and splenda before bed
Macros:
2200 cals
120 g fat
205 g protein
54 g carbs
[/quote]
Looks good.
I haven’t actually read Venuto’s book, so I can’t comment on his approach. But, as far as him saying that you should be eating (insert arbitrary number of calories) you need to realize that no person can predict exactly how many calories your body needs without actually working with you.
Even successful nutrition coaches (Berardi, Harris, Skip from IM, etc…) can’t do that. Even they often have to adjust caloric intake depending on the individual. So far you have actually been getting results from the diet you are using, don’t change what you have found to actually work calorie wise based simply on some formula or generalized number you read in an article/book.
If you want to maximize fat loss, then you want to make sure that your metabolism is high. If you feel cold at any point during a diet, then your metabolism has slowed down and you need to kick start it again. What you need then is a high carb day (and a caloric excess). If at the end of the day you are sweating when you go to bed, you’ve successfully re-elevated your metabolism. If not, then do it for another day. Keep fats low on this/these days though.
The way that the carb cycling diets that I know of work is that on your most intense training days (legs and back in a body part split, ME days on WS, etc…) you eat a high carb, low fat and protein (relatively), and hypercaloric (excess calories) diet. This gives you the energy to get the most out of your workout, speeds up your metabolism, and may even allow you to build muscle (something many people don’t believe is possible when cutting).
On your less intense training days you eat a moderate amount of carbs, fats and proteins. This still gives you some energy to fuel your workouts, and starts to deplete your glycogen stores. These are also hypocaloric (caloric deficit) days.
On your off days you eat a low carb, high protein and fat diet (generally it’s suggested that you not go below 50g of carbs as the brain needs at least that many carbs to function, and if not then your body will go into ketosis). This allows you to deplete your glycogen stores and makes you more insulin sensitive (adding Omega 3 fatty acids to your diet on these days can help to further increase the insulin sensitivity), which is very helpful for building muscle. These days are also hypocaloric.
This cycling of carbs basically allows you to get the best of both worlds. You should have enough energy to really push it in the gym, you prevent fat gain by both keeping fats and carbs inversely proportionate in the diet (when one is high the other is low) and you cycle your carb intake to increase insulin sensitivity, prevent fat gain due to excess carbs (the body only has a limited capacity to store carbs as glycogen), and maintain insulin sensitivity. And since generally people tend to like eating carbs you’ll be less likely to cheat (not implying that you haven’t been doing a good job of this so far).
Have a good holiday.
Hey Sentoguy thanks for all the info! Great stuff. I like your ideas on the carb cycling. Hope you dont mind if I ask a couple more questions…
-Do you have suggestions for macro percentages for the high, mod, low carb days?
-What type of training do you suggest? Bodybuilding split w/ slightly lower volume and higher weights is what I was thinking w/ some supersets like Gerdy suggested? Or something else?
Or should I just stick with what I’ve been doing even though I feel I could be doing something better? (I’ve only recently gotten into the idea of more bodybuilding type prorgams like CT’s or DC or higher volume body part splits rather than the TBT I’ve been doing. I do want to be a bodybuilder not an athlete. But I know different things work for different people.)
-Do you think with the large weight loss this last 2 weeks (about 12-13 pounds, prob with some water/glycogen) that I should adjust my cals? I know you say to use what works for me, but I don’t want to lose too much muscle or go into starvation mode.
I hope you dont mind these additional questions. There’s no rush for an answer since I won’t change my diet til at least monday anyway. I thank you in advance.
I know I sound really newbie-ish with these questions, but don’t get me wrong. I’ve been training for almost 5 years now and have been progressing, I just feel that I still have a lot to learn, I could be doing it better, and haven’t really had many advanced people to ask questions like yourselves. So thanks again guys.
We are all learning at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years. get to 31 years training and you’ll know it all though… 
Lol!
Joe
That’s exactly how I feel Joe. In ten and twenty years I will still be asking questions. 31? Ok, I’ll take your word for it. lol
I’m making some delicious and EXTREMELY healthy bread right now. Smells sooo good. Can’t wait for the morning!
I don’t know if I should go full boar into carbs next week though. The first day should be fine since I would be filling up my depleted glycogen stores. But after that I may have a few “lower” carb days just to get started. Then go into the real carb cycling.
[quote]Joe Joseph wrote:
We are all learning at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years. get to 31 years training and you’ll know it all though…
Lol!
Joe[/quote]
31 Years…Another note that goes in the book! lol
Gerdy
lol@you two!
Sarge… good for you. I know you like bread (me too) and i know how much this can be a bastard curse if you are of a certain carb loving bodytype, but you make your own - good stuff. Is it rye or pumpernickel or something?
(i cant get pumpernickel here for love nor money - fucking brits)
Side note… when i have been training 31 years i will be around 50, and i am intent on being in fucking tip top shape by then, the full monty. Maintaining a decent 10% would be good, and a good size with it. I am not sure how large i want to be yet, assuming i can be any size! I am going to see how 220 looks. But that will be in the next couple of years hopefully. I am 190 now and at 5’8" there is a hell of a lot more room for growth in my view. i mean, i can still touch my toes or walk through a doorway without turning sideways…
Joe
The bread is actually organic whole wheat, with oats and even some yams in it for good measure. Should be pretty good. Just about to put it in the oven. I will have to try to make some rye, that would be damn good. Maybe a could figure out a healthy Ruben sandwich! yeeeeaaaahhh, mmmmm. No pumpernickel eh? I will have to learn make some then when I get there!
[quote]Joe Joseph wrote:
lol@you two!
Sarge… good for you. I know you like bread (me too) and i know how much this can be a bastard curse if you are of a certain carb loving bodytype, but you make your own - good stuff. Is it rye or pumpernickel or something?
(i cant get pumpernickel here for love nor money - fucking brits)
Side note… when i have been training 31 years i will be around 50, and i am intent on being in fucking tip top shape by then, the full monty. Maintaining a decent 10% would be good, and a good size with it. I am not sure how large i want to be yet, assuming i can be any size! I am going to see how 220 looks. But that will be in the next couple of years hopefully. I am 190 now and at 5’8" there is a hell of a lot more room for growth in my view. i mean, i can still touch my toes or walk through a doorway without turning sideways…
Joe[/quote]
I got an MRI on my shoulder a few weeks ago and they had to readjust the machine because my shoulders wouldn’t fit in the machine 
It made me feel kind of good until I found out that there was a little girl who used the machine before me :S lol she was chunky tho so it’s not that bad…
Gerdy
Big shoulders rule!
Here was my first carb cycling day. I overshot a bit with the bread being just too damn delicious. I will reel it in tomorrow.
Breakfast:
-Yogurt
- whey
-cup of berries
-apple
-3 oz yam
-3 pieces of super healthy bread
Lunch:
-3 pieces of bread
-3 oz chicken breast
-cup of cottage cheese
BCAAs- 15 g
Workout:
10x4
Deadlift-335 (that was haaaard)
Decline sit up-85
Seat Calf-4x45 +25
20 min HIIT (pushing it) 400 cals
40 g Malto
25 g protein
later,
-Banana
-5 pieces of bread
-broccoli
-6 oz chicken breast
-organic ketchup
(not all together, eww)
Later still-
-10 oz chicken breast
-10 fish oil
Before bed:
-Cup of cottage cheese
-6 fish oil
Coming to:
45 g fat (16 from fish oil)
310 g carbs
221 g protein
2400 cals
And I will be going to the Pacific Northwest Regional Economics Conference and will be presenting in the student section (all sounds very impressive) on Wednesday and Thursday. It will be a great opportunity to network and the like. I’ll kind of have to eat what I get since I will be staying with 3 or 4 other guys and the head of our Economics school, but I plan to eat mostly food that I bring (fruit, bread, protein). I can’t really count calories while I go, but I will try to keep everything under raps. I can hopefully order intelligently at restaurants and eat the healthier food at the conference. Hope it doesnt get in the way. I was looking pretty damn good with the carbs pumping me up while still looking lean today if I do say so myself. I want to keep it up!!!
So I def looked the best yet this morning! Maybe I can finally handle carbs better (please, please, please) or maybe it was just that it was the first carb day.
I just got back from a good hour fasted cardio and had a clean breakfast. So I’m feeling pretty good. I will really have to try and be smart for this conference so I dont derail anything.
[quote]doctasarge wrote:
So I def looked the best yet this morning! Maybe I can finally handle carbs better (please, please, please) or maybe it was just that it was the first carb day.
I just got back from a good hour fasted cardio and had a clean breakfast. So I’m feeling pretty good. I will really have to try and be smart for this conference so I dont derail anything.[/quote]
Good luck with the conference.
The reason you probably looked better this morning is because the carbs have replenished your glycogen stores in your muscle causing you to look fuller but w/out fat gain. That is the reason bodybuilders carb load on a low fat/no water physique. you will wake up and continue to eat carbs and watch your body fill out throughout the day. lol
The Carb Cycle I believe was designed to give enough carbs to keep glycogen levels in the muscle high enough to prevent the burning of muscle but low enough to prevent fat gain and to burn fat as well.
Gerdy