[quote]wutan wrote:
Coach,
Just purchased your Get Jacked program and would like to start right away. However, I have taken about 3 weeks off since last training. Would you advise I can start with week 1 or should I work into it?
Thanks for a great looking program![/quote]
Get a good week of work, then get into the program. I don’t want anybody dying from my program!!!
Hi coach
I’m on a CKD programme involving a carb up every 14 days. I train early on this day also, following a clean carb breakfast. My goal is to take full advantage of possible supercompensation effect on this day by incorporating a full-body hypertrophy workout - which I try to make as brutal as possible given the extra energy I have compared to normal.
Could you advise whether this is a useful tactic given I am on a quite a restricted calorie/carb programme for the other 13 days? And if so, is there anything workout-wise I should be incorporating on this day?
Many thanks for your time in advance coach.
JB
The last solid meal prior to the workout should be around 90 minutes prior to taking Surge Workout Fuel and it should be an easy-to-digest meal (e.g egg whites omelett with a small amount of fruits). Afterwards, the ideal situation would be to get a second shake 90 minutes after the first one. The shake would be similar in composition to the original post-workout shake (lower in carbs if you are trying to lose fat).
How long after that would you wait to eat? And what would the next meal be?
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
m00z wrote:
Thibs,
I have been dieting down gradually since Jan, and have lost about 27 lbs. I am guessing I am around 10%bf, and according to your Get Shredded in 6 days article, spot on as a Level-2. I was thinking of starting that 6 day shred, and my question is, since I am currently at about 50-60 carbs / day (mostly POW), will that program still have a dramatic effect, considering my carbs won’t really drop that much?
Thanks!
You know, that’s a very good question. And the answer would be ‘‘No, this loading strategy will not be optimal’’.
From experience, while a short term low carbs approach improves your capacity to supercompensate glycogen stores; when you are on such a diet over the long run the ‘carb deplete/carb load strategy’ stops working, or doesn’t work as good. Mostly because the ‘deplete’ is not seen as a deplete anymore and thus the body doesn’r get into surcompensation mode.
With low-carbs dieters who had to peak I had the best results with the following approach:
(assuming that you want to peak on Saturday)
Monday - Thursday = as low carbs as possible (under 50g), drink as much water as humanly tolerable, on the last 3 days use an herbal diuretic 3 times a day.
Friday: Add around 15g of carbs from fruits (blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, etc.) with each of your first 4 meals (breakfast, AM snack, lunch, PM snack). Besides the fruit, these meals stay the same as during your diet.
On your evening meals (dinner and nightly snack) have a bit more carbs (30-40g per meal) in the form of starches like potatoes, rice, etc. I find that sushi works really well here.
Stop drinking at 4PM.
The rest of the ‘Shredded in 6 days’ plan applies.[/quote]
I really appreciate the advice…I will follow this and document my results. Like I mentioned, I have been gradually losing fat fo a while, and it is about time to take a break. Any advice on easing back to a normal diet? Here is a typical days meal (image attached)
Hey Coach, I just now finishing up your get jacked fast program. I’m on week 12 and was planning to focus on strength afterwords while slowing adding back in carbs/calories. However I just relocated to the west coast and have about 3-5 weeks before I start work. I’m tempted to break open a stockpiled bottle of MAG-10 and go on a gaining phase. I’m concerned about the rapid jump in calories would cause a fat rebound effect. Do you think it’s worth the risk or better to wait till later before going on a hypertrophy phase?
Coach, I’ve spent most of the last year trying to sharpen my senses to my body cues, the way certain foods, hormones, training methods, etc. FEEL.
I recently went through your Destroying Fat training plan, lactate sessions and all. Those lactate-inducing workouts are exactly what I want to ask you about.
In any gym I’ve been to, there have been recumbent cycles, the current ones I’m dealing with are PreCor, I believe. If you’ve used these machines, you’re aware of their various modes, including one explicitly called “Weight Loss”. This mode essentially throws you into a 28 minute ride, divided into seven 4-min intervals. You start at a comfortable cycling pace, and after 4 minutes, the next interval begins, which kicks the resistance up VERY high for 4 minutes. This pattern continues for the duration.
Now, when I first saw this, my thought was “This doesn’t look very much like HIIT, it’s too long!” The ‘work intervals’ didn’t feel so much like cycling as they did 4 horrible minutes of very difficult, endless reps of step-ups/leg extensions. However, add some time and experience, and I observed that the feeling I got from those 4-minute all-out cycles from hell felt a bit like those lactate-inducing sessions, the very same concept heralded for fat loss by Coach Poliquin and yourself…
My question is the following:
Are those long intervals of intense work trying to elicit a lactate response?
If not, have I missed the goal? What constitutes them as a “Weight Loss” session?
Thanks for your generous contributions!
Coach,
I feel I have relied on stimulants a little too long and am looking to use Power Drive to help. What dosing protocol would you recommend to help fight adrenal fatigue?
As always, thanks for all the help.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
You know, that’s a very good question. And the answer would be ‘‘No, this loading strategy will not be optimal’’.
From experience, while a short term low carbs approach improves your capacity to supercompensate glycogen stores; when you are on such a diet over the long run the ‘carb deplete/carb load strategy’ stops working, or doesn’t work as good. Mostly because the ‘deplete’ is not seen as a deplete anymore and thus the body doesn’r get into surcompensation mode.
[/quote]
Is this why your recommendations for carb up days in your “refined physique” article are so low, because you think it’s just necessary to take in enough to partially refill glycogen stores and supercompensation won’t occur?
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Gymjunkie wrote:
Hey Coach,
When adding cinnamon and apple cider vinegar to my diet as a cheaper insulin protocol, you mentioned taking the cinnamon prior to each meal and the vinegar with each meal. Now, this may eb a stupid, over analytical question, but would having them both at the same time(say as a tea, because the cinnamon mixes better in hot water) be okay, either before or aftet?
Thanks,
GJ
It’s fine[/quote]
I’ve never heard of that before, is it effective enough usually to actually notice a significant difference?
Also I just found the amino acid profiles to the protein I use and it says there’s 8.8g of leucine per 100g of protein and 13.3g of glutamic acid (is that the same as glutamine because thats not listed). since I take about 50g PWO would that cover your recommendation of 5g of leucine PWO?
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
forbes wrote:
It depends on the daily volume and how the week is split up. I like to perform the regular strength workout, then finish with one metabolic pair.
However I’ve also used ‘‘whole metabolic days’’ which consisted of doing 3 metabolic pairs. Obviously in that later case you would only have one or two weekly sessions.
forbes wrote:
2) Whats the maximum you would allow someone to do them?
I actually had female clients do only metabolic sessions, three times per week. This is NOT optimal for someone interested in maximizing muscle mass, but it does bring fast fat loss results.
With men wanting to be muscular, not only lean, I would never allow the metabolic work to surpass strength work in importance. So the max amount of metabolic work you can do really depends on the amount of strength work you are doing.
A mistake people make is to be seduced by the fat loss effect of metabolic pairings and completely forget that strength work is super important for optimum body comp results.
forbes wrote:
3) How far away from failure should we remain?
I have no idea! Nowhere near failure that’s for sure. But the sets should be metabolically challenging. If you are not near death trying to catch your breath after each set (try that for poetry!) then you are not working hard enough.
[/quote]
and here I was about to do 3 a week. I was doing low intensity cardio for 30min. 3x a week until this week where I was going to switch that for 3 metabolic sessions with a walk after 1 of them.
I do 4 strength workouts a week and strength has been pretty good even while cutting. So would it be a good idea to do just 2 metabolic sessions and the 1 other day be something else? I’ve been hearing that just 30min. of low intensity cardio isn’t going to do much so what do you think is optimal for this 3rd day of ESW to lose fat and maintain muscle/strength?
I have been doing cardio sunday, tuesday, and friday. Would it be good to do the metabolic pairings sunday and tueday with 30min. low intensity steady state right after it and then have friday off? (
Thanks a lot coach!
Hey Coach, I just recently started the HSS 100 program and I was just wondering what you would recommend doing for arms. I read that doing the HSS 100 routine for both biceps and triceps would be too much so I really need some insight since my arms are the main body that is lagging. Sorry for such a broad question.
Thanks
CT,
I have a volume question for you. Lets say im training upper body twice per week hitting one exercise for each pattern (hor.pull, hor. push, vert. pull, vert push, bicep, tricep) so basically 6 exercises per session. During a muscle gaining phase what is the upper limit of total sets that should be done for each session keeping in mind that the reps will stay either in the functional hypertrophy range (6-8) or total hypertrophy range (8-12). Obviously this is a very broad question, but was just wondering if you have any quidelines for these types of workouts.
Thanks!
Hi Thib,
Two quick questions:
As you can see from my 12-site measurements, subscap is clearly elevated:
Subscap: 14
Mixaxillary: 8
Suprailiac: 8
Quad: 6
Hamstring: 6
Triceps: 6
Chest: 6
Cheek: 10
Chin: 8.5
Knee: 8
Umbilical: 8
Calf: 6
I know that you’re swamped, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
A.
Thib,
This question will be asked using somewhat vague language, but hopefully it will still give you a base from which to propose an answer.
If you have a person who has excellent nutrition habits, a well-designed program that changes when needed in accordance with goals, and brings a lot of consistent effort to that training, how much of a difference would adding in the most optimal supplement protocols for his goals make over simply hard training and the use of whole foods?
I realize that many variable factor in and that an exact percentage is out of the question, but in your experience, is there a rough guess that can be made as to the “real-world” difference between the two situations?
In no way am I doubting the efficacy of optimal supplementation or its ability to enhance results, I’m simply curious as to how just how significant this impact can be. This is of interest to me because I’m always willing to save a few extra bucks for quality supplements, but I’m also interested in being the absolute best that I can personally be without feeling like I need to buy or have any supplements and knowing that both my visual results and performance don’t “rely” on spending X amount of additional dollars a month and can be re-produced under almost any circumstances.
Thank you, Thib!
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
saty83 wrote:
Hi Coach
Im currently following your low carb diet you outlined somewhere on the site. I’ve been doing well, into my 4th week and losing fat slowly but surely. Can you recommend any fat loss supplements that can help me further. I have been looking at L-carnitine, R-ALA, CLA etc
I’d appreciate your thoughts on this
Thanks
It depends on your problem area. If you have a tendency to store more fat in your love handle area something that improves insulin sensitivity is in order… a good fish oil like Flameout would be the first thing to add. 6 daily caps of Flameout or 12 daily caps of a regular fish oil would do.
Then you might look into Receptor-max which will improve insulin sensitivity and increase androgen receptor sensitivity, both of which will help you lose fat and maintain/muscle mass while dieting.
Then you can go into a pure fat burner, HOT-ROX Extreme is one of the good choices you can make.
But regardless of your choices 80-90% of your fat loss success will depend on your training and diet.[/quote]
Coach,
Suppose I was to go on an Insulin Protocol with Receptormax and the Flameout/Fishoil like the regimine you mentioned above. Would L-Leucine and/or BCAA's before or in between meals hinder the insulin protocol? In other words, would it be best to just take L-Leucine/BCAA's before and during workout if the ultimate goal was to improve insulin sensitivity?
Thanks
Hi Thib.
For those interested primarily in aesthetics, do you feel that constantly alternating back and forth between accumulation and intensification phases is optimal or would there be another route that would need to be taken at some point?
If these types of blocks are alternated on a regular basis, would the switch in and of itself be a de-load or would there come a time when a more involved de-load would be needed?
When it comes to de-loading, would it be better to make moderate program changes a bit too soon (clearly not training program ADD, but possibly leaving some strength and size gains from your current program parameters on the table) than when it is already a bit too late? This question is assuming the person does not yet have the expertise to distinguish when he’s hit the sweet spot where gains are just about tapped out and a change is best suited.
Coach
I got a career reflection question for you. I know you new your “stuff” before your transformation but what did you learn after you got in top shape all those years ago that really allowed you to keep yourself in that prime shape. You mentioned in the past you would get very lean but than gain most back over time until that career changing pic was taken and then you have really changed you physique for the long haul.
What I am getting at is I have been there and done that many times (even competed several times) so I am just curious what you really changed, if anything. It is really frustrating to get in prime shape only to start adding some carbs and calories to see my abs disappear. Besides my diet might obviously might suck after my dieting what are some things you have learned. I am learning more about my own body by reading your work that I hold almost all my fat in my stomach and scaps and low back so insulin is an issue along with cortisol but I am just curious what you have “really” learned.
Thanks for all you work
[quote]brmnstl wrote:
Coach
I got a career reflection question for you. I know you new your “stuff” before your transformation but what did you learn after you got in top shape all those years ago that really allowed you to keep yourself in that prime shape. You mentioned in the past you would get very lean but than gain most back over time until that career changing pic was taken and then you have really changed you physique for the long haul.
What I am getting at is I have been there and done that many times (even competed several times) so I am just curious what you really changed, if anything. It is really frustrating to get in prime shape only to start adding some carbs and calories to see my abs disappear. Besides my diet might obviously might suck after my dieting what are some things you have learned. I am learning more about my own body by reading your work that I hold almost all my fat in my stomach and scaps and low back so insulin is an issue along with cortisol but I am just curious what you have “really” learned.
Thanks for all you work[/quote]
The biggest change has been diet consistency. I used to love crappy food (especially pastries, donuts, cookies, etc.) but had great discipline. So when I was dieting I would be able to avoid these things. But once the diet was over, I used to overindulge quite often and it was super hard to get on track. So my body fat would rebound up.
When I realized that what I looked like played a huge part in how I made my living, I decide to eat clean year round. I would give myself one cheat meal per week, no more. The rest was pretty much like contest dieting year round.
This way I was able to stay at 6-7% body fat year round. However adding muscle was next to impossible.
So now I’m still eating basically like pre-contest, but I add specific carbs at specific moments (para-workout).
But I have no secret.
[quote]ThetfordMiner wrote:
Hi Thib.
For those interested primarily in aesthetics, do you feel that constantly alternating back and forth between accumulation and intensification phases is optimal or would there be another route that would need to be taken at some point?
If these types of blocks are alternated on a regular basis, would the switch in and of itself be a de-load or would there come a time when a more involved de-load would be needed?
When it comes to de-loading, would it be better to make moderate program changes a bit too soon (clearly not training program ADD, but possibly leaving some strength and size gains from your current program parameters on the table) than when it is already a bit too late? This question is assuming the person does not yet have the expertise to distinguish when he’s hit the sweet spot where gains are just about tapped out and a change is best suited. [/quote]
It’s kinda hard to answer that question, because through much experimentation (years actually) I believe that I’ve come up with the best way to train strictly for gaining muscle and building an aesthetic physique. And it doesn’t revolve around accumulation or intensification phases and the deloading is actually included in the program design, although you never do a full deload.
So whether answer I could come up with would not be best as it would be based on what to do while using an inferior approach.
BTW, yes my approach will be presented in the future, but don’t ask about it right now.
[quote]tiddles wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
saty83 wrote:
Hi Coach
Im currently following your low carb diet you outlined somewhere on the site. I’ve been doing well, into my 4th week and losing fat slowly but surely. Can you recommend any fat loss supplements that can help me further. I have been looking at L-carnitine, R-ALA, CLA etc
I’d appreciate your thoughts on this
Thanks
It depends on your problem area. If you have a tendency to store more fat in your love handle area something that improves insulin sensitivity is in order… a good fish oil like Flameout would be the first thing to add. 6 daily caps of Flameout or 12 daily caps of a regular fish oil would do.
Then you might look into Receptor-max which will improve insulin sensitivity and increase androgen receptor sensitivity, both of which will help you lose fat and maintain/muscle mass while dieting.
Then you can go into a pure fat burner, HOT-ROX Extreme is one of the good choices you can make.
But regardless of your choices 80-90% of your fat loss success will depend on your training and diet.
Coach,
Suppose I was to go on an Insulin Protocol with Receptormax and the Flameout/Fishoil like the regimine you mentioned above. Would L-Leucine and/or BCAA's before or in between meals hinder the insulin protocol? In other words, would it be best to just take L-Leucine/BCAA's before and during workout if the ultimate goal was to improve insulin sensitivity?
Thanks
[/quote]
Leucine is actually one of the best supplement to take when using a low-carbs diet. It has been shown to stimulate muscle amino acid uptake without insulin. So in other words, leucine would help you avoid losing muscle (even gaining some) while on a low carbs diet.
[quote]alphawoman wrote:
Hi Thib,
Two quick questions:
As you can see from my 12-site measurements, subscap is clearly elevated:
Subscap: 14
Mixaxillary: 8
Suprailiac: 8
Quad: 6
Hamstring: 6
Triceps: 6
Chest: 6
Cheek: 10
Chin: 8.5
Knee: 8
Umbilical: 8
Calf: 6
[/quote]
HCL is not size-dependant… it depends on how much gastric acid you naturally produces. Charles described his HCL dosage protocol in an older article. Look for ‘‘HCL test’’ or something like that.
From experience the other supplements you mentionned are somewhat size dependant as bigger individuals have more insulin receptors. But the decrease in dose would be minimal. I’d start with 75% of what I used.
[quote]alphawoman wrote:
2. Have you had any experience using resveratrol with female trainees for estrogen regulation?
Thanks,
A. [/quote]
Yes, however estrogen is clearly not one of your problems. I KNOW that you may think to yourself ‘‘Even if my legs are not a problem area, using resveratrol will make them even leaner’’… this is not the case. If excess estrogen is not your problem, then working on this hormone will not lead to much results.
Biosignature is about balance. And from your results, estrogen doesn’t seem to be unbalanced.