Here is some FANTASTIC info I discovered that supports Zig Zag Bulking and how temporaraily reducing calories will not only help you lose excess fat but also accelerate MUSCLE GROWTH!
- Cycle in a Low-Carb Day
“A second strategy to promote primary muscle gain over bulking is to cycle in a low-carb day into the mix. Low carb is for dieting right? At first the surplus in calories will promote growth, but after about the 10-14 day mark, your body tends to adapt and where at first it was mostly muscle gain, it will become more a 50/50 muscle/fat gain. Just like in dieting for fat-loss where you have a cheat day or re-feed to prevent leptin drops and a slow down in fat-loss. The opposite can be true, by having a constant high intake of calories and carbohydrates, your muscles can become insensitive to the constant surges in insulin and your fed-state from leptin will become less sensitive, making it harder to be hungry enough to keep eating to grow. So cycling in a low-carb day, where the bulk of your carbs will only be consumed post-workout, can be used. Even better, is scheduling this day on your rest day, and just eating carbohydrates for breakfast for energy for the day. What this does, is give your body a break from high insulin, start to deplete your glycogen stores and if any excess carbs are starting to be converted and stored as body fat, that process is halted. You?ll also be more primed to your hunger signals with Leptin manipulation. This doesn?t mean to cut your calories for the day. Though it will be a lower calorie day with your carbs going from 400g down to less then 200g for the typical lifter, they will be made up with healthy, calorie dense fats and protein can be boosted to 1.5-2.0g per lb of bodyweight for the day. This primes your muscles to soak up the next day of high calorie and carbs, and starting the anabolic environment again. The low-carb and lower calorie day, gives you a day to also do some light cardio and burn a little extra fat that you may have gained so far, since insulin is low for the whole day. How often should this happen??? Well it depends on how easy you tend to put on fat, so the slower metabolisms, this can be done about every 4 days, or 1-2 times a week, which usually will fall into the off/rest days of most mass building workouts. For the leaner hard-gainer, once a week or 1-2 low-carb days every 12 days to finish out an eating to grow 2 week period.”
2.“The most important factors determining your muscle/fat gain are the length of the overfeeding cycle, as well as the number of excess calories. One important factor in this regard is insulin insensitivity, which we must realize is a very selective property. During overfeeding, it will first affect the fat cell[adipocyte], which is a positive thing since it will force energy substrates [glucose, fatty acids, and, indirectly, amino acids] into the muscle cell instead of the fat cell. This is called nutrient repartitioning and is what bodybuilding is really all about. Eventually, insulin sensitivity of the muscle cell drops, which leads to decreased inflow of nutrients to the muscle and hence inhibits muscle growth. To compensate, the body will make more insulin and more glucose transporters [GLUT-4] in fat cells and voil?–the number of fat cells increases.”
- “Leptin is by far the most interesting hormone for fat loss. Unfortunately, we develop resistance to this hormone very easily when it is present at chronically [long term] elevated levels. However, this will not happen with my system. The high-calorie phase “primes” the effects of leptin, so it’s very effective during the fat-loss/ dieting phase. There is also an increase in T3 [the “active” form of thyroid hormone], adrenaline, and noradrenaline?all help with fat loss.
Going back and forth between low- and high-calorie diets is a fantastic way to keep your anabolic hormones and your lipolytic [fat-burning] hormones and enzymes, as well as receptors primed at all times.”
My Summary:
Research suggests that you will acheive better muscle growth results by actually dieting(reducing carbs) for a few days to reprime you muscles to be sensitive to the anabolic effects of insulin.
Recommendations:
Eat eat a high carb high calorie diet 5 days a week and a low carb lower calorie diet 2 days(consecutive) a week for AWESOME RESULTS!