CT - have anyone you trained improved (body composition/performance wise) more rapidly after substantially increasing carbohydrates?
I’ve kept a log on performance/pictures over the months and noticed a pattern where the more carbs I ate the more impressive I looked while doing the layer system. At equal calories, this trumped really high fat /low carb for me (lots of fatty meat, nuts, veggies, no grains). The difference was night/day.
I know your stance on diet and periworkout carbs but was curious if anyone else on the forum, or your trainees experience something similarly.
Athletes were always recommended to consume high carbohydrates (60-80%) so all this newage low carb, carb-timing stuff may cater only to sedentary folks or those who don’t train intensely (layer system). Appreciate your thoughts..
Yes definetly. First, myself! I used to be a low-carbs advocate but in retrospect I never actually gained any muscle when eating a low-carbs diet. Well, I might have been able to gain a few pounds (2 or 3) over an 18 months period but that’s about it. I also couldn’t train as hard and did look flat most of the times.
One of my friends is a former fat boy who trained mostly like a ‘‘powerbuilder’’. He has also prepped a lot of bodybuilding guys and he used a low-carbs diet with them. He himself was never able to get lean. A year or so ago he started training for Crossfit and cut his carbs (Zone diet). He lost a lot of fat, but was starting to bonk, lost strength, etc. I recommended a simple increase in carbs (from Surge Workout Fuel, which is a product he had good experience with in the past). I had him add 50-75g of carbs per day.
Within a week his strength went back up as well as his energy levels. However he was afraid that this would stop his fat loss… quite the contrary, after 10 days he found that he had lost weight and looked better; the added carbs allowed him to train harder, spiked his metabolism and made his muscles look fuller.
Another one of my Crossfit athlete started to have a significant improvement in performance when she stopped eating paleo.
Yet another one was about to bonk… she had no energy, was losing weight yet looking fatter. I basically saved her by ‘‘overdosing’’ her on PLAZMA and she was able to improve her placing at the Canada East regionals.
I could give you many more examples from my hockey players.
Low-carbs diet will work mostly if…
You are sedentary and trying to lose weight
You train, but have a very low caloric expenditure (e.g. someone who lifts, but use a low volume of training 3-4 times a week)
You already have a lot of muscle massand are only trying to lean out without adding any muscle mass or strength
You are a competitive bodybuilder using performance-enhancing drugs
You don’t care about gaining muscle and strengthm or feeling bad… you only want to get lean
And that is comming from someone who used to be a low-carbs advocate!
Now, I don’t necessarily recommend that everybody jacks his carbs intake way up. You have to gradually increase your carbs intake to find what level works best for you. But obviously, the more you train, the more carbs you need. And considering how excessive you can be it is normal that you looked your best when your carbs were higher (not to mention that Asians tend to respond better to carbs).
To add to this I have had the same experience. Carbs are essential to performance in my opinion. I think the best approach is like CT said, gradually increase them. Take a pill or two at a time, not the whole body. Too many people never track their results and learn what works for them they’re too busy jumping to the latest fad diet or program hopping. Your thyroid can slow down too from not getting enough calories or carbs. It’s the type of carb too, not all carbs are equal. I think they’re ESSENTIAL for the layer system.
The more natural the better. If God made it its good, if man made it there is a better option. I think it really comes down to listening to your body & seeing the results you get. A good diet program is a good diet program, but it’s the adjustments along the way by keeping track of your results & listening to your body that make it a master piece.
@ Coach Thibaudeau. What do you think of doing Paleo or Zone but during the peri-workout period add in performance carbs from either Plazma or Surge Workout Fuel. I read an article about Paleo diet for Athletes and this is what they recommended… Thanks
[quote]bradmacmillan wrote:
@ Coach Thibaudeau. What do you think of doing Paleo or Zone but during the peri-workout period add in performance carbs from either Plazma or Surge Workout Fuel. I read an article about Paleo diet for Athletes and this is what they recommended… Thanks[/quote]
Going paleo, with PLAZMA pre and during workout and MAG-10 pulsing twice after is a great way to get lean and muscular… as I always said, if cavemen had access to PLAZMA and MAG-10 they would have used it