Eating when you’re racing your heart out is so. fucking. difficult.
I almost cried during a race once when I dropped my food. I’m not joking. I was so sad…
Thanks for posting that info here though, I hadn’t thought of too many liquids causing that issue.
I understand Christian’s concern over diluting the rate of absorpt FINiBARs, Just for ONE of them in an effort to keep my carb intake somewhat constant (I’m pretty happy with the level it’s at for the moment), yet bring my overall intake down by about 100 cals/day. The original protocol Tim and Christian had us using, involved 2 bars and the SWF anyway, so while I will be keeping the entire 3 Scoops Anaconda and 2 Scoops MAG-10 during the workout, I will only be playing with what I ingest beforehand. As Paragon said, most people would just get rid of one bar, but that would leave a 280/290 cal drop, which would put me at an extreme danger of losing muscle by having my calories so low (hence my attempt to replace most, but not all, of them).
RIDETHECLICHE- I completely understand what you mean. I measure EVERYTHING now. Digital scale for my servings of Peanut Butter, measuring cups for my cashews… hell, last prep I was eating a very carefully measured out amount of cashews (which I love), and I dropped one on the floor. Two of my co-workers watched me steadily to see if I would eat one of my precious cashews after it had touched the less than clean floors of a city school building -lol. (Even my girlfriend knows better than to touch my food when I’m dieting!)
S
Yeah, my goals have always been to be as light as possible while maintaining strength on the bike. This is the first time I’ve tried to gain weight in 6 years, which is funny because most teenage guys want to look jacked. I’ve been enjoying it and since I’m doing my first bulk/gainer phase, I’m nowhere near that anal about anything.
I do have a question for you:
Have you found that keeping your nutrition around your workout relatively the same as when you’re gaining and trying to cut calories during other times of the day is more beneficial for your training than simply cutting equally overall?
As an aside, I might be joining the ranks of teachers. I got into Teach for America as a chem teacher in the San Fran area. I might hop over to the left coast if everything pans out for it.
I honestly believe that the best time to ingest the bulk of macros is around the time you plan on putting the most stress on it (peri-workout). Thus far, I have maintained the exact same protocol as I was when I wasn’t cutting. In trying to leave the macros unadjusted though, I ended up having to cut my food inatke throughout the rest of the day.
Obviously I feel the effects throughout the day, however, my training remains unaffected, and my strength hasn’t wavered even the smallest bit - In fact, it’s gone up (and this is after dieting for the past 8 weeks!)
Obviously you see my concern (expressed earlier) at having to cut a few cals from my peri-protocol, but right now, I don’t think I could limit my macros from anywhere else in the day without having it affect my day to day functioning (I get seriously cranky when hungry -lol). Everything I’ve read seems to concur that the last places you want to play around with your calories and carbs is the peri-workout window, and first thing in the morning.
Even on ‘low’ days, I’ll keep my morning oatmeal (I don’t do weight sessions on my low days, otherwise I would skip the oatmeal, and have a FINiBAR before training instead)
S
An alternative option that occured to me (again, I really scrutinize everything I do, and put my thoughts out here accordingly), is that I could always scale back the Anaconda/MAG-10 ratios. Presently I make use of 3:2 scoops which I drink at intervals before/during my training sessions. When I was out on Colorado last October, Tim and CT had me making use of only 2 scoops of the Anaconda while training, and then MAG-10 Post workout.
If I were to drop the 3:2 to a 2:1 (2 scoops Anaconda and 1 Scoop MAG-10) to be used before/during training, I would end up losing 120 calories,… but would still be able to stay at 3 FINiBARs, thus keeping the carbs high (at the current 200g), and not have to be concerned over additional liquid from the SWF in addition.
Obviously I think the higher ratio (3:2) has worked great as far as putting on size, but maybe all I need during a contest prep would be the 2:1 as a safeguard against muscle loss during a caloric deficit.
S
I’m now getting nightmares consisting of Stu in a stained lab-coat and large spectacles standing over a table full of random alchemical equipment and mixing funny-colored, smoking liquids (and liquefied finibars) together while laughing manically at every small explosion he causes.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote: Two of my co-workers watched me steadily to see if I would eat one of my precious cashews after it had touched the less than clean floors of a city school building
S
[/quote]
So did you? XD
Holy Crap stu.
No offense to your training partner but…
You make him look like a Dwarf. What’s your target weight?
I’m shooting for 175, just RIGHT AT the cut off limit for middleweights, but still 5 lbs up from last year’s contest weight. Mike’s aiming for 158 (I’m 187 he’s bout 170-173 in the pic). He’s also 2 inches shorter than I am. This is his first show, and it’s not readily apparent in that pic, but his back is already pretty detailed.
It’s funny to notice that different bodyparts come in at different times in individuals. My back, and to a lesser degree my arms and delts look pretty tight even when weighing 209, but the hold out is going to be quads. Sure, 7 weeks is a good amount of time, but I usually feel like I’m behind the 8 ball,… which certainly keeps me on my game.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m really fighting the fearful urge to drop carbs, or really restrict calories, and just allow time to play it’s role in the prep process. Gonna be snapping pics later tonight,… been weighing 186.4 - 186.8 for the last couple of days, so still moving in the right direction (plus I just this week moved my baseline caloric intake from 2600 to 2500).
Gonna see how we’'re doing next week. The trick I’ve found is to make ONE change at a time, either in diet, or cardio. You never want to blow your load all at once, always keeping other options/alterations in reserve. Sure if I come down to the wire, I may have to just throw it all to the wind (which I did last year the for the last 2 weeks of the diet), and most likely sacrifice a bit of muscle in the process, but I’m really trying to avoid that if I can this time.
Looking at the pics so far though, I do honestly believe I can grow into a decent light-heavyweight competitor in a year’s time, with specific focus on training and supplementation, but right now I think the smarter choice is to be much more competitive at the middleweight class, yet still present improvements from last contest.
oh, and No, I did not eat the cashew off the floor,… but a single tear ran down my cheek as I watched it bounce in slow motion a few times.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I’m shooting for 175, just RIGHT AT the cut off limit for middleweights, but still 5 lbs up from last year’s contest weight. Mike’s aiming for 158 (I’m 187 he’s bout 170-173 in the pic). He’s also 2 inches shorter than I am. This is his first show, and it’s not readily apparent in that pic, but his back is already pretty detailed. It’s funny to notice that different bodyparts come in at different times in individuals. My back, and to a lesser degree my arms and delts look pretty tight even when weighing 209, but the hold out is going to be quads. Sure, 7 weeks is a good amount of time, but I usually feel like I’m behind the 8 ball,… which certainly keeps me on my game.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m really fighting the fearful urge to drop carbs, or really restrict calories, and just allow time to play it’s role in the prep process. Gonna be snapping pics later tonight,… been weighing 186.4 - 186.8 for the last couple of days, so still moving in the right direction (plus I just this week moved my baseline caloric intake from 2600 to 2500). Gonna see how we’'re doing next week. The trick I’ve found is to make ONE change at a time, either in diet, or cardio. You never want to blow your load all at once, always keeping other options/alterations in reserve. Sure if I come down to the wire, I may have to just throw it all to the wind (which I did last year the for the last 2 weeks of the diet), and most likely sacrifice a bit of muscle in the process, but I’m really trying to avoid that if I can this time. Looking at the pics so far though, I do honestly believe I can grow into a decent light-heavyweight competitor in a year’s time, with specific focus on training and supplementation, but right now I think the smarter choice is to be much more competitive at the middleweight class, yet still present improvements from last contest.
oh, and No, I did not eat the cashew off the floor,… but a single tear ran down my cheek as I watched it bounce in slow motion a few times.
S[/quote]
I totally would have eaten that cashew. Not out of some OCD urge to keep my calories spot on, but simply because I would die a little inside at the loss of one (as you can tell I like cashews just a little bit too).
Anyway on to something slightly more relevant. During your dieting periods do you ever notice days where you wake up significantly lighter or heavier than the day before? I ask because Ive been dieting down, and Ill have random days where my weight will shoot down 2-4 pounds, but then will rebound back to a more reasonable total the next day. I assume its a water weight thing, but the days my weight drops dont even always correspond with low-carb days or days where I may deviate slightly from my diet.
I actually do notice the fluctuating drop as it were. About a week ago, I was 187 and change for two days, then back up to 188, then 186.2, then back up to 186.8 this morning. It’s almost as if the body is hesitant to drop each lb. Still, even when I’m not dieting, I fluctuate as much as 4 lbs throughout the day simply from salt and water levels, as well as glycogen, so I try not to freak out, and just focus on the fact that going by the numbers, it’s impossible to NOT continue to lose weight… and yes, it doesn’t always correspond with high or low carb days.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
oh, and No, I did not eat the cashew off the floor,… but a single tear ran down my cheek as I watched it bounce in slow motion a few times.
S[/quote]
LOL, too funny.
Stu, if I may pick your brain for a sec: I am dropping weight right now too, and I am also calorie cycling (high, low, medium). I’m curious as to how your week plays out in terms of calories and WO days. IOW, what’s your split, and which days are H-L-M days?
I understand high calories peri-WO (I’m doing that too), but I’d like to know how it plays out specifically, day to day. I apologize if you’ve already answered this somewhere, but I couldn’t seem to find it in this thread.
Shots from tonight (not all the best, my usual training partners weren’t around, had to grab a local kid to work the camera).
S
Tightening and tightening, surely next time I’m gonna follow your “one change at a time” tip. Sick shoulders and tris on that quarter turn to the left shot, two slabs of muscle.
[quote]doubleh wrote:
LOL, too funny.
Stu, if I may pick your brain for a sec: I am dropping weight right now too, and I am also calorie cycling (high, low, medium). I’m curious as to how your week plays out in terms of calories and WO days. IOW, what’s your split, and which days are H-L-M days?
I understand high calories peri-WO (I’m doing that too), but I’d like to know how it plays out specifically, day to day. I apologize if you’ve already answered this somewhere, but I couldn’t seem to find it in this thread.[/quote]
I don’t have specific days of the week for each bodypart, I have a 6 day rotation which looks like this:
Chest/Calves - High day
Back/Bis - Baseline
Abs N’ Intervals - LOW
Delts/Traps/Tris - Baseline
Legs - Baseline
Abs N’ INtervals - LOW
I usually have feedings around 6am, 9am, 11am, 2:30pm, FINiBARs around 4:15/4:30, ANACONDA/MAG-10 around training session 5-6:45 or so, eat at 7:30, and last feeding at about 9-9:30. Interspersed with that, I carry a jug filled with MAG-10 which I take swigs of throughout the day (usually about 15 mins before a feeding).
Hope that explains a bit
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]doubleh wrote:
LOL, too funny.
Stu, if I may pick your brain for a sec: I am dropping weight right now too, and I am also calorie cycling (high, low, medium). I’m curious as to how your week plays out in terms of calories and WO days. IOW, what’s your split, and which days are H-L-M days?
I understand high calories peri-WO (I’m doing that too), but I’d like to know how it plays out specifically, day to day. I apologize if you’ve already answered this somewhere, but I couldn’t seem to find it in this thread.[/quote]
I don’t have specific days of the week for each bodypart, I have a 6 day rotation which looks like this:
Chest/Calves - High day
Back/Bis - Baseline
Abs N’ Intervals - LOW
Delts/Traps/Tris - Baseline
Legs - Baseline
Abs N’ INtervals - LOW
I usually have feedings around 6am, 9am, 11am, 2:30pm, FINiBARs around 4:15/4:30, ANACONDA/MAG-10 around training session 5-6:45 or so, eat at 7:30, and last feeding at about 9-9:30. Interspersed with that, I carry a jug filled with MAG-10 which I take swigs of throughout the day (usually about 15 mins before a feeding).
Hope that explains a bit
S
[/quote]
So is day 7 an off day? And what is that kcal-wise (H-L-baseline)?
Thanks for the info, very helpful.
Sorry if I missed it but what’s your cardio like now (I see you mentioned intervals above, but I thought you stated in the past some other lower intensity stuff as well)
Also, do you still do any cardio in the off season? If so, what kind, and if not, why not?
Thanks
[quote]doubleh wrote:
So is day 7 an off day? And what is that kcal-wise (H-L-baseline)?
Thanks for the info, very helpful.[/quote]
I don’t take ‘off’ days when prepping. When I’m bulking, I do, usually twice a week, but now, the off days have essentially turned to cardio days in an effort to keep my cardio and weight training separate.
Initially, my numbers started out (15 weeks out) at
Low: 2400 cals, 100g carbs
Baseline: 2800 cals, 250g carbs
High: 3000 cals, 300-350g carbs
There have been small drops along the way… as of last week the numbers were:
Low: 2000 cals, <75g carbs
Baseline: 2600 cals, 225g carbs
HIgh: 3000 cals, 300g carbs
This week, I decided to drop yet again (hopefully the last time, banking on cardio to slowly tighten me up, and time to work its magic):
Low: 2000 cals, <75g carbs
Baseline: 2500 cals, 200g carbs
High: 3000 cals, 275 - 300g carbs
S
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Sorry if I missed it but what’s your cardio like now (I see you mentioned intervals above, but I thought you stated in the past some other lower intensity stuff as well)
Also, do you still do any cardio in the off season? If so, what kind, and if not, why not?
Thanks[/quote]
Currently doing Intervals twice every 6 days (on my low cal/low carb days). In addition, a couple of week back, I added some steady state incline treadmill walking each morning (empty stomach, bout 20 mins), just to hopefully tighten a bit, while allowing me to keep my numbers higher than they were last time (trying things a little differently in an attempt to come in larger).
I don’t really schedule cardio in the off season. Sure I ride my mountain bike around a lot when the weather permits, and I do spend a lot of time walking around Manhattan with my girlfriend, but my thinking has always been of the school that says that ‘real’ cardio will be more of a shock to your body if it’s not used to it. Yes, I know there are benefits to doing cardio of some sort year round, but I’d much rather actually ‘do something’ instead of peddling on a recumbent bike at the gym.
S
