Anyone have experience gaining strength without weight gain on the Anabolic diet? I compete in CrossFit and I’m at my ideal weight for that, but lately the metcons have been interfering with strength/power gains. My lifting program for the next few months is much closer to an OLY template than a CrossFit one and I am strongly considering pairing it with AD.
I have been fairly low carb primal for almost 2 years so I’m pretty fat-adapted already, and I seem to do a lot better psychologically if I eat closer to maintenance on rest and workout days rather than have an extreme split. I’ve tried traditional carb-loading methods and seem to lose it and eat everything in sight about every other week. Also, extreme carb loading is damn near impossible without eating a boatload of grains so it always feels dirty even when it’s not. The refeeds on AD seem easily doable with primal-approved carbs, so it seems like a great fit for me.
However, 18x body weight seems like an awful lot of calories for personal maintenance…I have maintained BW over the last year or so averaging about 16x. I have more trouble losing weight than gaining (I’m a natural mesomorph with psychological issues mentioned above) and I’m already taking time away from conditioning. I fear that gaining weight will make my return to CrossFit more difficult.
Would it be a terrible idea to lower calories to 16x while still using the ratios outlined in the program? Obviously if I’m losing weight or my lifts aren’t going up I will adjust, but I’d rather wade in slowly rather than dive in and have to backtrack. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
[quote]jetstochina wrote:
Anyone have experience gaining strength without weight gain on the Anabolic diet? I compete in CrossFit and I’m at my ideal weight for that, but lately the metcons have been interfering with strength/power gains. My lifting program for the next few months is much closer to an OLY template than a CrossFit one and I am strongly considering pairing it with AD.
I have been fairly low carb primal for almost 2 years so I’m pretty fat-adapted already, and I seem to do a lot better psychologically if I eat closer to maintenance on rest and workout days rather than have an extreme split. I’ve tried traditional carb-loading methods and seem to lose it and eat everything in sight about every other week. Also, extreme carb loading is damn near impossible without eating a boatload of grains so it always feels dirty even when it’s not. The refeeds on AD seem easily doable with primal-approved carbs, so it seems like a great fit for me.
However, 18x body weight seems like an awful lot of calories for personal maintenance…I have maintained BW over the last year or so averaging about 16x. I have more trouble losing weight than gaining (I’m a natural mesomorph with psychological issues mentioned above) and I’m already taking time away from conditioning. I fear that gaining weight will make my return to CrossFit more difficult.
Would it be a terrible idea to lower calories to 16x while still using the ratios outlined in the program? Obviously if I’m losing weight or my lifts aren’t going up I will adjust, but I’d rather wade in slowly rather than dive in and have to backtrack. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.[/quote]
Post your questions about the AD on the AD 2.0 thread:D