Thib's Q&A - Up to the End of May

Training
61

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Pickles wrote:
Hey Coach,
Another para-workout nutrition question.

Could combining the BCAA’s with the pre-workout shake (workout fuel) cause any issues?

I’m struggling a bit with the logistics of splitting it up 4 ways.

Thanks
Pickles

I have not seen any problems. A client of mine takes his BCAAs 60 minutes before the workout, Workout fuel 20 minutes before, Anaconda during (yeah, I got him some) and Surge Recovery afterwards.

He is progressing extremely fast since starting this protocol.[/quote]

Thanks CT,

So Workout fuel & BCAA’s 1/2hr before, Whey Hydrolysate (until anaconda) during and Surge Recovery after it is then.

62

Coach, you getting my emails? I’ve been trying to reach you.

63

hey coach i was wondering what your favorite exercises for increasing size in biceps and foreams, i just read your post about triceps and the jm presses are a nice change

64

Thib, aside from whole food choices, what type of protein or blend of protein supplements do you recommend as the best choice to be taken throughout the day?
(Micellar Casein? Calcium Caseinate? Or even Milk Protein Isolate which is said to be 20% whey/80% casein)

Thanks Thib! With all the discussion about your new para-workout protocol, I was just curious about your protein recommendation as the ideal choice for during the day.

65

Ok for some odd reason my original post still had a ton of questions and when I reduced it/summarized it, it didn’t save.

CT, please ignore the other post! I have 2 main ones:

I’m an ectomorph, 20, 5’4, 123 lbs, somewhere between 12-15% BF,and I’m looking to add muscle without adding to the fat I already have on my stomach (about 20mm), and if possible, get rid of it.

  1. My fats are calculated at about 172g with about 60 for 3 meals, does that seem like an excessive amount for someone of my size/goals or will this approach help me to gain muscle and add on minimal fat, and if so, even reduce existing body fat? I’ve been getting heart pains randomly (nothing bad but annoying) the last few days, is it because of this increased fat intake?

High days: 185g P, 232g C, 172g F
Moderate, 185g P, 185g C, and 172g F
Low: 185g P, 132g C, and 172g F

  1. For my P/WO carbs, can some be taken during my workout as opposed to taking all 100g of wazy maize starch in a shake?

Thanks in advance!

66

Hi Coach,

I read the measures of the Knee & Medial calf indicate growth hormone production (so the quality of sleep too).
Please, Can you explain me the relation between calf fat storage and GH production?
Does High calf skinfold mean low hormone levels?

Generally speaking, Is this valuation applicable to children too?

thanks

67

How high would you raise carbs if one were to take a week off from dieting with a CKD approach of no carbs 6 days a week and 350g of carbs once a week?

Also if I were to deload with half the volume but the same intensity with 2-3 workouts should I keep my 2 metabolic workouts of the week I’ve been doing followed by 30min. walking or should I just do that once while having the rest of the days off?

68

Thib,

For the bench press, can it be helpful to practice the set-up with just a bar every day or almost every day of the week to really perfect set-up and groove technique?

When it comes to benching and breathing, do you advise any specific pattern for heavier work and any particular one for lighter work, or would you advise to avoid over-thinking it and breath on “auto-pilot” so to speak?

And at the risk of asking too much at once, I was wondering about the technique you once spoke of in your old “Bulk Up, Cut Up series” of either pulling apart the bar for more triceps or pushing in for more of a pecs/delts emphasis. Would pushing in even on a more triceps-style bench press increase its potential for pec development? Should pushing in like this be saved for secondary work in slightly higher rep brackets?

69

Hey Coach,

I was just re-reading your DENSITY TRAINING article and had a question:

  1. The added BEACH work and SECONDARY/AUXILLARY movements, reps can be kept higher and waved accordingly?

For eg. Leg Extensions - Accumulation phase: 10-12 reps
Intensification: 8-10 reps
Peak: 6-8 reps

Or so?

Thanks

GJ

70

[quote]ThetfordMiner wrote:
Thib,

For the bench press, can it be helpful to practice the set-up with just a bar every day or almost every day of the week to really perfect set-up and groove technique?[/quote]

Yes, any skill learning is best accomplished through a high frequency of perfect practice.

[quote]ThetfordMiner wrote:
When it comes to benching and breathing, do you advise any specific pattern for heavier work and any particular one for lighter work, or would you advise to avoid over-thinking it and breath on “auto-pilot” so to speak?[/quote]

The later… you personally seem to be always an inch away from paralysis by analysis.

[quote]ThetfordMiner wrote:

And at the risk of asking too much at once, I was wondering about the technique you once spoke of in your old “Bulk Up, Cut Up series” of either pulling apart the bar for more triceps or pushing in for more of a pecs/delts emphasis. Would pushing in even on a more triceps-style bench press increase its potential for pec development? Should pushing in like this be saved for secondary work in slightly higher rep brackets?
[/quote]

Yes it will increase pec activation even during exercises where the triceps is in a mechanically advantageous position. HOWEVER it will also greatly decrease triceps activation, which is kinda dumb thing to do on an exercise where you are trying to focus on the triceps.

71

Anyone who actually does watch bodybuilding (not that im sure to many do)

CT’s student will be on here:

http://www.ifbblive.tv/

Should be a good show, some good Europeans in it.

72

The fat cycling made me think of protein cycling, have you experimented with it and if so what were your results?

73

[quote]tinman15 wrote:
The fat cycling made me think of protein cycling, have you experimented with it and if so what were your results?
[/quote]

Actually I have more experience with protein cycling than fat cycling. Long-story short, I believe that short periods of low protein intake can lead to an increase in protein synthesis muscle growth.

I also found that always consuming a super high protein intake eventually lead to stagnation in growth and even muscle loss.

74

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
tinman15 wrote:
The fat cycling made me think of protein cycling, have you experimented with it and if so what were your results?

Actually I have more experience with protein cycling than fat cycling. Long-story short, I believe that short periods of low protein intake can lead to an increase in protein synthesis muscle growth.

I also found that always consuming a super high protein intake eventually lead to stagnation in growth and even muscle loss.

[/quote]

So how do you go about lowering it and for how long and often?

75

[quote]Needmassquick wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
tinman15 wrote:
The fat cycling made me think of protein cycling, have you experimented with it and if so what were your results?

Actually I have more experience with protein cycling than fat cycling. Long-story short, I believe that short periods of low protein intake can lead to an increase in protein synthesis muscle growth.

I also found that always consuming a super high protein intake eventually lead to stagnation in growth and even muscle loss.

So how do you go about lowering it and for how long and often?
[/quote]

And what would you call a ‘super high’ protein intake, over 1.5g/lb, or over 50% of energy consumption?

Thanks

76

Mr. Thibaudeauuuuuuuu

All these recent posts about changing up nutrient intake leading to positive body comp changes leads me to my own question, and it may be real real dumb, but I’m gonna ask it anyway.

I’ve been on low carb for the past …year or so, beginning with training under you. Recently I started introducing starchy/simple carbs at planned parts of my day, and have noticed I am getting LEANER. The other parts of my diet have remained constant during this change.

Does this make any kind of sense?

77

Hello!

I’ve re-read your article about carb-cycling an I’ve already calculated the amount of fats, proteins and carbs for each day and meal. The quantities are done, the qualities not… unfortunately.

Do you have alternatives for meat with zero fat in the morning? You’ve mentioned oatmeal but this also has 7g fat / 100g. Is it really required to have absolutely no fat in the morning meal?
Or is it okay to consume only about 7g of fat in the morning?

Thank you!

78

[quote]Needmassquick wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
tinman15 wrote:
The fat cycling made me think of protein cycling, have you experimented with it and if so what were your results?

Actually I have more experience with protein cycling than fat cycling. Long-story short, I believe that short periods of low protein intake can lead to an increase in protein synthesis muscle growth.

I also found that always consuming a super high protein intake eventually lead to stagnation in growth and even muscle loss.

So how do you go about lowering it and for how long and often?
[/quote]

First I’ll give you more details about ‘why’ I see a need to cycle protein.

Two words: blackout and habituation

Habituation is the phenomenon where you get used to an external influence. When habituated, this influence stops being a stress and it no longer leads to a positive adaptation of the body.

It happens with pretty much everything that goes on in our body.

At first increasing protein intake will lead to an increase in protein synthesis (and protein breakdown as well, but ot a lesser extent) which tends to lead to an increase in muscle mass.

If you stay at that level for a while your body gets used to it and it will regulate itself in such a way that the new protein level stops leading to an increase in protein synthesis. The body does so by increasing protein oxydation and degradation.

At that point you’ll need to once again increase your proteinn intake , that will spark some new anabolism, but will shortly lead to havituation once again. And this new, even higher intake become enough to maintain only.

And it goes on and on until you need to ingest an idiotic amount or protein simply to avoid muscle breakdown.

A smarter approach is to periodically include low-protein days which will go a long way in preventing habituation, this way your body stay responsive to a high protein intake.

BLACKOUT means that if your body is constantly receiving a trickle of amino acids all day long (as does happen when you consume protein every 2 hours or so, especially from solid food) protein synthesis also decreases, for the same reason as stated above.

ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL NUTRITIONAL STRATEGY YOU CAN USE TO STIMULATE MUSCLE GROWTH IS GOING FROM TO A STATE OF AMINO ACID DEPLETION TO A SUDDEN SURGE IN BLOOD AMINO ACIDS.

In other words going from a state where there isn’t much amino acids in your blood to a state of hyperaminoacidemia will act as a direct signal to initiation protein synthesis/muscle building. And the faster you go from one another, the more powerful the impact will be.

Those peaks called hyperaminoacidemia are directly proportional to the spead of absorption of a protein. So casein hydrolysate is the most effective followed by whey hydrolysate and regular whey. You want as many of these peaks as possible, while tring to avoid having a constant flux of amino acids throughout most of the day.

79

[quote]NeelyDan wrote:
Mr. Thibaudeauuuuuuuu

All these recent posts about changing up nutrient intake leading to positive body comp changes leads me to my own question, and it may be real real dumb, but I’m gonna ask it anyway.

I’ve been on low carb for the past …year or so, beginning with training under you. Recently I started introducing starchy/simple carbs at planned parts of my day, and have noticed I am getting LEANER. The other parts of my diet have remained constant during this change.

Does this make any kind of sense?[/quote]

Over the short term, yes it does. Adaptation to the new kind of diet actually increases metabolic rate over the short term.

80

Hi, thanks for taking the time to do this, and I hope you don’t mind a beginner’s question.

I’m tentatively starting the Anabolic Diet; I’m on my third day. Is this a really stupid idea for someone in my shoes? (Female, started lifting this year, never really been on a diet before, looking to lose a small amount of fat and continue gaining strength.) I don’t want to take risks on safety, and I’ve heard about rough side effects.

Then again, I’m young and have no health problems, and I think I’d see some improvements by reducing my carbs significantly from my usual 50% of daily calories.