Hi, Im about to give Meltdown Training a shot. I just have a few basic questions which maybe some of you could possibly help me with…1. Im trying to drop fat ASAP, so Im planning on using the Fat Fast Diet in conjunction with the training. Do you feel that this is too extreme? If so, why, and what could the potential negative impacts be? 2. I dont think I will be able to get the 10 reps on all 3 sets of the Chin-ups. Im sure my reps will just decrease as I go along, and I dont have a spotter. Would it be ok to use the gravitron, or should I use the supinated grip on the lat pulldown machine? 3. Like i said, Im trying to drop fat ASAP, so I thought that maybe instead of waiting until week 3 to start the jump rope/row machine, that I could possibly start that out right away. Do any of you see that as a problem? I would really appreciate some feedback. Thank you all.
bumpin it up!
nobody can help me out here?
#1 - Yes, fat fast and meltdown don’t mix unless you are willing to fork out a lot of money for glutamine and BCAA’s to take the place of carbs. I posted something a while back regarding a theory I had on training right for the diet you are choosing. I’ll bump it up if you ask or you could search for a post “Can Meltdown Work on Low/No Carb Diets?”…#2 Use chins if you can. If you can’t, use the gravitron or a lat pulldown. I don’t think it matters much…#3 Go ahead and add the rope work immediately.
If you’re on Mag 10 then you shouldn’t be too worried, I didn’t lose any muscle while on it. I only did it for 2 weeks though and went straight to a heavy lifting program. 2 weeks later i’m doing a really cool routine TC posted in issue 34. Basically he modified Charles Poliquins “Manly Fat loss” routine. Check it out here Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
Thanks a lot Jason, I appreciate the help. I found your thread, but there didnt seem to be any sort of “resolution” to the question at hand. Would the glutamine and BCAA’s be enough to prevent any potential problems? Im really not familiar with either of these supplements, could you give me a daily recommended dosage for each? I have no idea how much to take. Also, some recommended brands would help as well…Since its apparent that you dont like the Fat Fast/Meltdown combo (im guessing youre not really a “fan” of it even with the supplements)…Which do you think would be better for me to do on its own, the Fat Fast or the Meltdown training? Im at around 15-16% bf, looking to get down to 10-12$ ASAP. Obviously, preserving muscle mass is imperative. Thanks again Jason.
Oooh, i almost forgot to mention…I dont know if this was implied or not, but I am taking androsol throughout this.
Unfortunately, I don’t have too much experience with using BCAA’s and glutamine in place of carbs. Kelly Baggett would be a better source of information on that topic. I’m not sure if they posted his email over at intensity when he wrote some articles for them, but you might check it out. As for my recommendation, go with the Fat Fast. Half calories protein, 1/4 calories flax oil and 1/4 calories MCT’s. Use the flax in the mean time until you get your hands on some MCT’s. Supplement with 10g creatine a day. 5g in morning dissolved in green tea dn 5g later in the day in tea or in one of your shakes. Train M,W,F using 2-3 big movements for 3 sets of 3 with your only goal to preserve strength and muscle mass by stimulating the muscles with heavy weights. Aside from the lifting, do a fair amount of low intensity cardio at well below anaerobic threshold. Around 30-45 minutes a day at 120-130 beats per minutes should be good. How long do you have to lose this weight? I would suggest 70 sprays of androsol in the am and 3 caps of Tribex in the pm to maximize the hormonal environment. Good luck and let me know if I can be of any help.
“Kelly Baggett would be a better source of information on that topic. I’m not sure if they posted his email over at intensity when he wrote some articles for them, but you might check it out.”
Ok, you lost me there bro. Kelly is a guy? What “email”? What’s “intensity”? Sorry for the total ignorance on my part, but i dont venture over to this side of the forum too often…Ok, I will make the appropriate adjustments to my plan of attack. Im a little dissapointed though, I did my first day of Meltdown Training this morning, and while it was quite difficult, I friggin LOVED it!! Very challenging, and the burn I get from it is very different than the typical burn i get from my traditional exercise regimen…I have no set “date” to reach my goal. I just wanna get it done, QUICKLY. Im trying to get my body fat down so I can embark on a bulking cycle.
Kelly is a guy who posts here quite often and is one of the smartest guys I’ve seen on this forum. He wrote a couple of articles on BCAA’s and glutamine at intensity magazine and his email is at the end of the articles he wrote around Dec/Jan. Just go over there and check the archives out and get his email.
If you really like Meltdown and want to try it with BCAA’s and glutamine, I’m sure Kelly could give you some advice. You should be able to link to intensity through Coach Davies’ renegadetraining.com site.
Thanks Jason, ill be sure to look him up.
So do you believe that if someone went on the fat fast diet and meltdown training theyll lose muscle along with the fat. Im planning on using MD6, Androsol, Flax, and Low Carb Grow when I go on the diet and training. I know you said it wouldnt work but wouldnt the protein and Androsol preserve the muslce? Thanks.
I’m not saying that Fat Fast and Meltdown can’t work, but I don’t think that Meltdown is the best program for low carb diets unless you really know how to manipulate BCAA and glutamine. Meltdown primarily works through the anaerobic glycolytic energy pathways. This requires glucose to function at top levels. Sure you can create glucose from amino acids or glycerol, but I think that ingesting carbs is the easiest and most efficient way of creating glucose. Also, Don Alessi proposes that Meltdown creates high levels of lactic acid and this lactic acid environment helps to release growth hormone. I’m not sure about this suggestion first of all, but you are not going to be able to create a lot of lactic acid unless you have glucose to burn and you won’t have glucose to burn if you don’t eat carbs. Secondly, meltdown works by burning calories. If exercise intensity or duration has to fall because you don’t have the energy to do the exercise, you won’t burn very many calories. On paper, I think that Alessi’s claims about Meltdown training are better suited to a higher carbohydrate diet. Alessi recommends a low carb diet for this training program, but based on what personal trainers from his company have written on the forum, they are having their clients take big doses of BCAA’s and glutamine during and after training (I don’t remember the exact numbers). These products are ingested so as to take the place of carbohydrates, but are much more expensive than carbs. If you are not ingesting proper amounts of BCAA’s, glutamine or carbs, I think that you will use both stored body fat and muscle to create the glucose necessary to complete the exercise. Sorry for the long response. Hope this answers your question.
Jason, can you recommend some inexpensive BCAA’s and glutamine. Also what would be the better form to get these in, powder or pills. Your time and knowledge is much appreciated man.
Try protein factory for BCAA’s and glutamine. To get enough of these compounds to be effective, you are going to need to use powders. Pills would be way too inconvenient. You could also check out protein creations. I have to admit though that this area is not my speciality, so I don’t have any recommendations for quantities of these substances. Aside from contacting Kelly B., you could search through all the Iron Dog columns (I saw one where Alessi mentions these compounds and approximate quantitites to take) and you could do a forum author search under “jman” because I know that he works for Alessi and has commented on what they do for their clients