Coach,
due to injuries, my roommate unfortunately can’t weight train for up to 6 months. Is there any way that he could retain some muscle mass by supplementing with L-leucine at 20-30g a day? Would BCAA’s be a better protocol? Or, is all hope pretty much lost?
[quote]dreads989 wrote:
Coach,
due to injuries, my roommate unfortunately can’t weight train for up to 6 months. Is there any way that he could retain some muscle mass by supplementing with L-leucine at 20-30g a day? Would BCAA’s be a better protocol? Or, is all hope pretty much lost?[/quote]
He will lose muscle regardless of what he does, there is no way around it. Nutrition and supplementation can increase protein synthesis, which is the process from which muscle is being built AFTER THE BODY RECEIVED THE STIMULUS TO DO SO.
But without the proper stimulus, even if protein synthesis is very high, you will not build muscle.
Furthermore, understand that the body REALLY DOESN’T WANT TO CARRY EXCESS MUSCLE. Muscle tissue is metabolically costly to maintain; if the added muscle is not seen as an absolute necessity by the body then it will not hold on to it.
Your body is built for survival, not to look good on the beach. And as far as survival is concerned, having a lot of ‘unecessary’ muscle (unecessary relative to the amount of physical work you must do) is not a good thing.
So to add or retain muscle tissue, your body must see it as more dangerous for survival to not have the muscle than to have it.
If your friend can’t train it means that his body will not work hard physically so his body will not ‘feel’ that it needs a lot of muscle and it will work its way down, maintaining only what it needs for proper functioning.
If the layoff is short term, this isn’t a big problem… and in that case, the proper nutritional/supplements approach can reduce losses. But over a 6 months period of detraining there isn’t much to do… he should still eat plenty of protein, BCAAs would help a bit… but there is no way around it, a lot of muscle will be lost.
However due to the plasticity of muscular adaptations, the lost size/strength will be quickly regained.
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Coach you mention a 12 skinfold caliper test being valuable, is measuring 3 skinfold sites worth much of anything? My gym uses 3 measurements at the pec, suprailiac, and subscap[/quote]
No it’s not very accurate at all. You need at least a 6-7 folds formula to have any form of reliability.
[quote]Viets wrote:
MY NEW QUESTION NOW IS;
The glycine dosing you called out for in the article is (.1) x BW and I am 170lbs so for me it’s 17g. No problem there, a 1000g tub was $40. That should last about a month. But the 400mg of Phosphatidylserine post wo and pre bed would be (8) 100mg caps per day. 240 caps would run me $80/month. I can only afford $40/month.
When is the best time to take the 400mg Phosphat since I’m on a budget? Post workout or pre bed? Or do I split it into two, 200mg doses, post wo & pre bed? If you say it’s 400mg twice a day or nothing, I will find a way to make budget cuts and suck it up.
Thank you Coach for your time.
Sincerely,
Viets[/quote]
It depends …
If you train in the evening it’s better to take the PPS post-workout.
If you train in the AM it’s better to take it before going to bed.
If your sleep is generally not deep and you have trouble ‘‘getting started’’ in the morning, it’s better to take it before going to bed.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
dreads989 wrote:
Coach,
due to injuries, my roommate unfortunately can’t weight train for up to 6 months. Is there any way that he could retain some muscle mass by supplementing with L-leucine at 20-30g a day? Would BCAA’s be a better protocol? Or, is all hope pretty much lost?
He will lose muscle regardless of what he does, there is no way around it. Nutrition and supplementation can increase protein synthesis, which is the process from which muscle is being built AFTER THE BODY RECEIVED THE STIMULUS TO DO SO.
But without the proper stimulus, even if protein synthesis is very high, you will not build muscle.
Furthermore, understand that the body REALLY DOESN’T WANT TO CARRY EXCESS MUSCLE. Muscle tissue is metabolically costly to maintain; if the added muscle is not seen as an absolute necessity by the body then it will not hold on to it.
Your body is built for survival, not to look good on the beach. And as far as survival is concerned, having a lot of ‘unecessary’ muscle (unecessary relative to the amount of physical work you must do) is not a good thing.
So to add or retain muscle tissue, your body must see it as more dangerous for survival to not have the muscle than to have it.
If your friend can’t train it means that his body will not work hard physically so his body will not ‘feel’ that it needs a lot of muscle and it will work its way down, maintaining only what it needs for proper functioning.
If the layoff is short term, this isn’t a big problem… and in that case, the proper nutritional/supplements approach can reduce losses. But over a 6 months period of detraining there isn’t much to do… he should still eat plenty of protein, BCAAs would help a bit… but there is no way around it, a lot of muscle will be lost.
However due to the plasticity of muscular adaptations, the lost size/strength will be quickly regained.[/quote]
Thanks for the reply coach!
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Viets wrote:
MY NEW QUESTION NOW IS;
The glycine dosing you called out for in the article is (.1) x BW and I am 170lbs so for me it’s 17g. No problem there, a 1000g tub was $40. That should last about a month. But the 400mg of Phosphatidylserine post wo and pre bed would be (8) 100mg caps per day. 240 caps would run me $80/month. I can only afford $40/month.
When is the best time to take the 400mg Phosphat since I’m on a budget? Post workout or pre bed? Or do I split it into two, 200mg doses, post wo & pre bed? If you say it’s 400mg twice a day or nothing, I will find a way to make budget cuts and suck it up.
Thank you Coach for your time.
Sincerely,
Viets
It depends …
If you train in the evening it’s better to take the PPS post-workout.
If you train in the AM it’s better to take it before going to bed.
If your sleep is generally not deep and you have trouble ‘‘getting started’’ in the morning, it’s better to take it before going to bed.
[/quote]
Sorry I failed to mention my new training schedule in my previous post. After reading the article I switched my training to the a.m., 5am to be exact. I also make it a point to be in bed by 8pm now, sleeping by 9pm, for at least 7 hours of sleep. My sleep is 50/50 as far as it being “deep”, and it takes 5-10 minutes to “get started” in the morning. I will take the 400mg of PPS and 17g of Glycine before going to bed.
Again, thank you for your time & advice Coach. I am really looking forward to seeing what this can do (over time of course) combined with the a.m. training, more sleep, and your carb recommendations. 4 days into the program and I’m feeling fantastic…
Sincerely,
Viets
Hey CT,
Have a question , once one reached their desired BF digit and are happy to stay that way what’s the best way to mentain that ‘permanent’ look without any more bulks/cuts in early future. I know that keeping calories low for a long period of time is not what you recomend however increasing them could lead to weight gain? What’s a good approach for maintaining extremely low body fat for a long period of time ?
Thanks loads.
[quote]teuszmire wrote:
Hey CT,
Have a question , once one reached their desired BF digit and are happy to stay that way what’s the best way to mentain that ‘permanent’ look without any more bulks/cuts in early future. I know that keeping calories low for a long period of time is not what you recomend however increasing them could lead to weight gain? What’s a good approach for maintaining extremely low body fat for a long period of time ?
Thanks loads.
[/quote]
First you gotta define ‘extremelly low’. One cannot maintain extreme leaness (contest shape or near it) without suffering some ill-effects unless you are someone who is naturally near contest shape lean without efforts.
Take me for example, I can maintain 8% year round and feel good. At 6% I start to have ups and downs if I stay there for too long. At 4% I feel like every cell of my body is about to collapse.
Now, how do I stay lean year round? Once you finish a ‘cut’. The trick to avoid a fat gain rebound is to GRADUALLY increase carbs intake.
Start by following the same diet but adding an extra 50g of carbs POST-WORKOUT. Maintain this for 2 weeks after which you evaluate how your body reacted.
If you didn’t gain fat, you can add another 25g, at BREAKFAST. Maintain this for 2 weeks and re-evaluate.
If you didn’t gain any fat you can add another 25g to your BREAKFAST.
You continue to do so until you find a point where you’re starting to gain fat, then lower your carbs intake a bit and cruise from there.
Coach,
Between Poliquin’s Uber Nutrients, and Multi Intense, which do you prefer? Thanks.
Whats up Thib!
Just wondering should you take breaks from creatine or can you take it year round?
Thib,
While lifters past the beginner’s stage cannot gain large amounts of muscle while simultaneously losing fat, is the way that some are able to lose some fat while gaining some muscle by mixing periods of anabolism (usually post-workout) with periods of catabolism (focusing on trying to keep lipolysis up while minimizing muscle breakdown)?
I know many say it is possible to lose some fat and gain some muscle when training and diet are dialed in, but I was curious if it is because the body can be going anabolic and catabolic at different points in the day as opposed to some acting as if the body were either one or the other on any given day.
Coach,
It is a given that 90-100 percent compliance on a customized nutrition program and heavy weight training to maintain mass are necessary during a fat-loss phase.
But I was wondering what a list of some of your favorite methods for creating ESW sessions, metabolic-boosting sessions, etc. for enhancing a fat-loss phase as needed would look like.
Hi coach:
Do you have any new dosage parameter on glycerol as an aid for muscle fullness? I’m starting to take a fat burner so I decided not to use any other energizing supplement.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
teuszmire wrote:
Hey CT,
Have a question , once one reached their desired BF digit and are happy to stay that way what’s the best way to mentain that ‘permanent’ look without any more bulks/cuts in early future. I know that keeping calories low for a long period of time is not what you recomend however increasing them could lead to weight gain? What’s a good approach for maintaining extremely low body fat for a long period of time ?
Thanks loads.
First you gotta define ‘extremelly low’. One cannot maintain extreme leaness (contest shape or near it) without suffering some ill-effects unless you are someone who is naturally near contest shape lean without efforts.
Take me for example, I can maintain 8% year round and feel good. At 6% I start to have ups and downs if I stay there for too long. At 4% I feel like every cell of my body is about to collapse.
Now, how do I stay lean year round? Once you finish a ‘cut’. The trick to avoid a fat gain rebound is to GRADUALLY increase carbs intake.
Start by following the same diet but adding an extra 50g of carbs POST-WORKOUT. Maintain this for 2 weeks after which you evaluate how your body reacted.
If you didn’t gain fat, you can add another 25g, at BREAKFAST. Maintain this for 2 weeks and re-evaluate.
If you didn’t gain any fat you can add another 25g to your BREAKFAST.
You continue to do so until you find a point where you’re starting to gain fat, then lower your carbs intake a bit and cruise from there.[/quote]
Thanks loads. Btw 8% bf would be extremely low in most cases in todays society tbh 
Coach,
Is there any particular cocnut oil you would recommend? or anything thing to watch out for when buying it? In the supermarket they have it, but its in a solid state in a clear jar and it’s quite cheap compare to other places on the net, just want to be sure there’s nothing dodgey about it.
Thanks
Coach,
You suggested I go down to about 2600 kcl for maximum fat loss, go I’ve been doing that for the two heavy lifting days each week. How low can I go for resting days, and lactate training days?
I’m at least 20% bf, 213 lb. 6’1".
Thanks
[quote]McNulty wrote:
Coach,
You suggested I go down to about 2600 kcl for maximum fat loss, go I’ve been doing that for the two heavy lifting days each week. How low can I go for resting days, and lactate training days?
I’m at least 20% bf, 213 lb. 6’1".
Thanks[/quote]
Easy, for the resting days eat exactly like you would for training days minus the workout stuff.
For lactate days do the same, and post-workout use about half of what you use on training days.
hi Coach
With what can I replace or modify functional isometrucs in the beast complex?
my gym doesnt have two sets of safety pins
Ah, so same calories, but just different amounts of Surge post-workout (long as I’m always under 50g of carbs)?
So I’d be getting as much Surge as possible on HL days, half that on lactate days, and none on rest days.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Easy, for the resting days eat exactly like you would for training days minus the workout stuff.
For lactate days do the same, and post-workout use about half of what you use on training days.[/quote]
[quote]totti13 wrote:
hi Coach
With what can I replace or modify functional isometrucs in the beast complex?
my gym doesnt have two sets of safety pins[/quote]
There really isn’t any substitutes for functional isos