Thib Gets Ripped

Training
361

[quote]crod266 wrote:
hey CT, where do you think you lie on the gentics spectrum, do you think you have farely good genetics or just avg?[/quote]

I never really think about stuff like that. First of all because there is nothing I can do about it. Second because ‘‘genetics’’ is a very broad subject. It includes SO many variables that it’s almost impossible to narrow it down to ‘‘good genetics’’ and ‘‘bad genetics’’. Lastly, without genetic testing it’s almost impossible to know if the person I am now is dependent on my genetic makeup or previous life experience/habits.

But when it comes to building muscle, I think that I’m above average.

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But the thing with genetics is that it is hard to evaluate how good yours are until you have developped yourself, at least to some extent. Here’s a pic of Dorian Yates. Look at the one on the left, would you have said that this guy had the genetics to become a multiple Mr. Olympia winner?

Granted he used steroids and hGH… but hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of guys use them to and never reach that level. Heck, at the gym I work there are dozens of guys on steroids who don’t even look like they workout!!!

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makes alot of sense thanks alot Thib, I also had another question, do you choose to listen to music when you workout because I heard it overrides your cns.

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[quote]crod266 wrote:
makes alot of sense thanks alot thib, I also had another question, do you choose to listen to music when you workout because I heard it overrides your cns.[/quote]

No I don’t listen to music, but I seriously doubt that it ‘‘overrides’’ the cns. In fact, some studies have shown that music can actually enhance performance.

But seriously, this is such an insignificant detail that I didn’t even think someone would bother about it. Focus on the big things that will give you 95% of your results then eventually you may start to think about petty stuff like this.

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CT,

I saw earlier in this thread that the main reason your using glutamine is because you ran out of Surge. If you hadn’t of ran out of Surge would you of started off taking 1 scoop, like setup for novagreg? Would you still use any glutamine?

Thanks!
halflife

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[quote]halflife wrote:
CT,

I saw earlier in this thread that the main reason your using glutamine is because you ran out of Surge. If you hadn’t of ran out of Surge would you of started off taking 1 scoop, like setup for novagreg? Would you still use any glutamine?

Thanks!
halflife [/quote]

That’s not it AT ALL…

I was talking about SURGE WORKOUT FUEL … not SURGE RECOVERY. Surge Workout Fuel is not even sold yet.

When someone is on a ketogenic diet total carbs intake need to be below 50g/day. One serving of Surge Recovery has that much by itself. So when someone is on a ketogenic diet he cannot have carbs post-workout. In that case glutamine (which is a glucogenic amino acid) can be transformed into glucose and stored as glycogen in the muscle.

So you are basically using glutamine instead of carbs to partially refill muscle glycogen stores.

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CT,

I was wondering about one scoop not one serving - which would be 25g’s which would have you at about 45g/day, I believe. I know you said your so strict and cautious with diet you won’t dare get that high. Also I’m sure if you would prefer 1 scoop of Surge Recovery over 20g glutamine you would of brought that up in previous post.

So I’ll assume 20g of glutamine is the best way to go. Thanks a ton Thibs, you always respond to post so quickly and put your heart into every response your amazing!

Thanks!
halflife

368

[quote]halflife wrote:
CT,

I was wondering about one scoop not one serving - which would be 25g’s which would have you at about 45g/day, I believe. I know you said your so strict and cautious with diet you won’t dare get that high. Also I’m sure if you would prefer 1 scoop of Surge Recovery over 20g glutamine you would of brought that up in previous post. So I’ll assume 20g of glutamine is the best way to go. Thanks a ton Thibs, you always respond to post so quickly and put your heart into every response your amazing!

Thanks!
halflife[/quote]

Well, it’s not that I do not ‘‘dare’’ get up to 45g of carbs, in fact in several dieting phases I will go higher than that. It just depends on the type of diet I’m on at the moment.

Basically I follow 3 types of diets:

  1. Ketogenic diet: to get into a ketogenic state most people will need to stay below 50g of carbs per day AND avoid consuming more than 20g of those carbs in one sitting. Some actually need to stay below 30g to enter ketosis while others can handle as much as 70-80g and stay in ketosis.

  2. Low-carbs non-ketogenic diet: You do not have to be in a ketogenic state to burn fat optimally. You can be low-carbs without being in a ketogenic state and still burn fat as your primary fuel source.

HOWEVER if you are not in a ketogenic state AND are on a low-carbs diet, you WILL get more cravings for carbs because the brain can ONLY use carbs or ketones for fuel. If you are not in a ketogenic state, your brain can thus only use carbs for fuel and as soon as your blood sugar drops a bit you will get carbs cravings.

So a low-carbs/non-ketogenic diet is still effective for fat loss BUT it’s harder psychologically and physiologically. However the benefit is that you can have a carbs spike post-workout which helps with recovery and muscle building. When using this type of diet I can go as high as 100-120g of carbs on workout days (50g being consumed post-workout and 20g during the workout) and I stay at around 50g on non-workout days.

  1. ‘‘Zone type diet’’ where I consumed around 40% of my calories from protein, 30% for fat and 30% from carbs. This is my favorite form of muscle-building diet. When doing this type of dietingI consume all three nutrients (in the mentionned ratio) at all meals, except for the post-workout meal which is protein + carbs only.

On this type of diet my nutrients intake is around:

  • 0.25g of protein/pound at each meal
  • 0.2g of carbs/pound at each meal (0.4g/pound in my post-workout shake)
  • 0.12g of fat/pound at each meal (0g post-workout)

I modulate my caloric intake (depending on how fast I want to gain weight and how much fat gain I’m willing to accept) by adding or removing meals; the amount of nutrients per meal is pretty stable.

So during a lean gaining phase I may consume 5 meals + 1 post-workout meal which would come up to around:

1.5g of protein/pound (around 330g)
1.4g of carbs/pound (around 300g)
0.60g of fat/pound (around 130g)

If I want to put on size faster and am willing to accept gaining some fat I will go up to 8 meals per day which will give me:

2g of protein/pound (around 440g)
1.6g of carbs/pound (around 350g)
0.8g of fat/pound (around 175g)

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Hi Thib. Hope you had a good weekend and aren’t missing the beach and sun TOO muoch. You said you are having one cheat meal a week on this diet. When do you have it and what kind of exercise do you do on that day? Train, energy systems work, day off? In the past, I have often had my carb-heavy cheat meal on my day off [I either train or get some type of energy systems work 6 days a week and take one completely off] in the evening. I suppose there is something to be said about dumping the extra calories into the body on a day when you’ve moved little and going to sleep soon after. But I’ve never noticed any impeded fat loss. What it does get me is an AWESOME night’s sleep and GREAT workout the next day. I typically lift very heavy when dieting but following a cheat meal like that I typically lift a lifter lighter but higher volume. I feel that it helps me maintain muscle and strength while dieting, which I am usually able to do pretty damn well. What do you think of this strategy? Thanks

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
matt_t2004 wrote:
Hey CT I was just curious as to why your current diet seems to be higher in protein compared what the traditional keto diet is. I may be wrong but the usual is around 60% fat 35% protein and 5% carbs right. I like your approach better becuase it is hard to consume that much fat from healthy soources, but easier to get more protein. If there is any difference in the 2 styles what is it. Thanks.

Right now my diet has changed somewhat according to a new system I designed. I will eventually write an article, or maybe even a book on it in the future. But I have to accumulate more practical evidence/experience with the system first. So far I have a lot of scientific data validating the system and the results appear to be amazing so far, but I must gain more experience with it first.[/quote]

What does the new diet look like? How is it different from the one you started on this thread? Thanks for the reply

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[quote]matt_t2004 wrote:

What does the new diet look like? How is it different from the one you started on this thread? Thanks for the reply
[/quote]

Have you missed this part?

‘’ I will eventually write an article, or maybe even a book on it in the future. But I have to accumulate more practical evidence/experience with the system first’’

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[quote]crod266 wrote:
makes alot of sense thanks alot Thib, I also had another question, do you choose to listen to music when you workout because I heard it overrides your cns.[/quote]

Overrides the CNS? While that sounds pretty goofy, it may distract you and decrease your focus. Does for me. But if you do fine with it, Thib is right. Focus on the big things.

373

[quote]jsbrooks wrote:
crod266 wrote:
makes alot of sense thanks alot Thib, I also had another question, do you choose to listen to music when you workout because I heard it overrides your cns.

Overrides the CNS? While that sounds pretty goofy, it may distract you and decrease your focus. Does for me. But if you do fine with it, Thib is right. Focus on the big things.[/quote]

Obviously it depends on your mindset. I know several powerlifters who go mental when they listen to some hard metal and as a result their training intensity goes through the roof. Others are distracted by music and lose focus.

I am personally more of an ‘‘inner motivation’’ guy, meaning that I prefer to increase my intensity by focusing rather than by relying on an external source.

Some of my friends are ‘yellers’’ … they almost scream at each other when working out! If you have seen ‘‘Blood and Guts’’ they are basically exactly like Yates’ partner!

Personally this bothers me more than anything.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
jsbrooks wrote:
crod266 wrote:
makes alot of sense thanks alot Thib, I also had another question, do you choose to listen to music when you workout because I heard it overrides your cns.

Overrides the CNS? While that sounds pretty goofy, it may distract you and decrease your focus. Does for me. But if you do fine with it, Thib is right. Focus on the big things.

Obviously it depends on your mindset. I know several powerlifters who go mental when they listen to some hard metal and as a result their training intensity goes through the roof. Others are distracted by music and lose focus.

I am personally more of an ‘‘inner motivation’’ guy, meaning that I prefer to increase my intensity by focusing rather than by relying on an external source.

Some of my frieds are ‘yellers’’ … they almost scream at each other when working out! If you have seen ‘‘Blood and Guts’’ they are basically exactly like Yates’ partner!

Personally this bothers me more than anything.[/quote]

Absolutely. I’ve have seen it. I’m much more on your wavelength. Like you, external forces tend to distract, or indeed, annoy me.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
jsbrooks wrote:
crod266 wrote:
makes alot of sense thanks alot Thib, I also had another question, do you choose to listen to music when you workout because I heard it overrides your cns.

Overrides the CNS? While that sounds pretty goofy, it may distract you and decrease your focus. Does for me. But if you do fine with it, Thib is right. Focus on the big things.

Obviously it depends on your mindset. I know several powerlifters who go mental when they listen to some hard metal and as a result their training intensity goes through the roof. Others are distracted by music and lose focus.

I am personally more of an ‘‘inner motivation’’ guy, meaning that I prefer to increase my intensity by focusing rather than by relying on an external source.

Some of my frieds are ‘yellers’’ … they almost scream at each other when working out! If you have seen ‘‘Blood and Guts’’ they are basically exactly like Yates’ partner!

Personally this bothers me more than anything.[/quote]

By the way, this is jsbrook [minus the S]. Something is wrong with my account so I had to sign up for a new one. My posts have stopped going through. Well, they go through maybe 3 days later buried in the middle of the thread. I posted a question before and know you don’t like reposts, but you probably will never see it. 5 pages will have gone by by the time it shows up. So, I’ll post it now.

You had said you were having one cheat meal a week on this diet. I was wondering what kind of exercise you do on that day. In the past, I’ve tended to have a carb-heavy cheat meal in the evening of my one day a week completely exercise free. I guess there’s something to be said for dumping a bunch of calories is on a day your not active, and judging by some posts to Neya in the physique clinic, I feel like you might not be a huge fan. But I always get an AWESOME night sleep that night and have a GREAT workout the next day. Typically, I lift quite heavy on a diet. But the day following a cheat, I lift a bit lighter but higher volume. I feel that this has worked great to maintain muscle and strength. Hasn’t seemed to impede fat loss before. What do you think?

376

CT- you mentioned that you like to use 0.4 g/lb carbs in your postworkout shake as part of your lean muscle gain diet. Do you consume all of this in the form of Surge, or do you add something to one serving of Surge? Because one serving of Surge is only 50 g carbs, so do you just take multiple servings, or do you add another carb such as a fruit or potato in the shake to make up the rest of the carbs?

Also, how long do you wait for your next meal after your shake?

Finally, what sort of supplement regime do you recommend for someone who works out first thing in the morning? (within an hour after waking). Would a scoop of whey and some BCAA’s be sufficient? Would adding a tablespoon of coconut oil or macadamia nut oil help for energy or is this unnecessary?

Thanks so much.

377

in his carb cycling article CT reccomended adding rice to fill up your postworkout carbs

90-120 mins for next meal

378

Hey CT,
Now we have an idea of what you eat, but what do you drink? Only water? Tea? Coffee? Or it doesn’t really matter?

379

[quote]cujoke31 wrote:
Hey CT,
Now we have an idea of what you eat, but what do you drink? Only water? Tea? Coffee? Or it doesn’t really matter?[/quote]

It does matter. I only drink water or flavored water.

On a diet you can’t drink anything containing calories.

I don’t like coffee or tea; but even if I did I would not drink any because the caffeine can lead to increases in cortisol and adrenal burnout over the long run…same thing applies for diet soft drinks which I don’t drink either.

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
cujoke31 wrote:
Hey CT,
Now we have an idea of what you eat, but what do you drink? Only water? Tea? Coffee? Or it doesn’t really matter?

It does matter. I only drink water or flavored water.

On a diet you can’t drink anything containing calories.

I don’t like coffee or tea; but even if I did I would not drink any because the caffeine can lead to increases in cortisol and adrenal burnout over the long run…same thing applies for diet soft drinks which I don’t drink either.[/quote]

I can understand about coffee and tea. I think cortisol elevation and adrenal burnout are legitimate concerns. But what I don’t understand is the role that stimulants like HRX play. I feel that they contribute at least as much as caffeine to these issues.

Unless you feel that they are ok [and a worthwhile tradeoff for the metabolic benefits and anti-catabolic properties] because they are used to aid fat loss in the short term for a period of weeks rather than being used longterm for years on end. Is this along the lines of how you think about it?