Thib's Q&A

Training
4681

[quote]Sidari wrote:
Hello Coach Thibs,

I have a very beginner question.

What carbs are good for me to eat!! Let me explain. I am a retired Thai Boxer who, while fighting, could eat whatever I wanted and always stay relativley lean. I could make a couple of slight changes in diet and training as competition got closer to lose the weight I needed.
Now I am focused on weight training. I do a tonne of research yet everything and everybody tells you something different.

I am currently 6ft and 185lbs. BF would be in the range of 14%. And I like to eat very clean. I am used to looking alot leaner and would like to look that lean again without the work load (12-16 hours a week) it used to require to stay at 6-8% at 154- 160lbs. I eat 1 gram of protein for 1lb of body weight a day. I eat a tonne of greens and mixed nuts during the day, oatmeal in the morning etc. I do not know why this is such a hard thing for me to grasp. I know to keep my carb intake to my first 3-4 meals out of 6-8 meals a day. I am not trying to lose weight. I am actually trying to gain lean mass and lose fat.

Basically what I am asking for is…well, maybe a list of carbs you eat. This could be as extravagant or as basic as you would like.
Hope this all makes sense,
Thanks in Advance Coach,
Sid[/quote]

Well I’m not a good example because I always eat a low-carb diet. Depending on my goal I may go up to ‘‘moderate’’ levels which would still be considered low by most.

But here are what I consider the least bad carbs… It’s a new list updated from the one I used to promote.

FIRST CHOICE
Veggies (potatoes, corn and yams are not included)
Legumes - if you can digest them fine (baked beans, kidney beans, split peas, etc.)

SECOND CHOICE
High fiber fruits (apple, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apricots, pears, prunes, raisins, cherries)
Sugar-free/Fat free yogurt (not really a carb-only food though).

THIRD CHOICE
Potatoes, Yams, Sweet potatoes

FOURTH CHOICE
Rice, oatmeal (natural), Sprouted Grain Bread (Ezekiel bread for example)
Other fruits

FIFTH CHOICE
Whole wheat bread (not the commercial type, real whole grain bread, normally kept in the fridge), All-bran cereal (yeah, really), Mueslix

SIXTH CHOICE
Regular bread, flavored oatmeal

I recommend sticking to the first 2 categories most of the time with some occasional 3-4 thrown in.

4682

Thanks for the reply.

I am not that far out to lunch then from what your list provides. I guess you can become a “paralysis by analysis” victim. I believe I do not do well on alot of carb choices. I eat alot of fruit and veggies; but like you I am a low carb eater. I seem to feel better and not so draggy. However, you read about glycogen levels, your body using protein and lean muscle mass to feed the furnace, and so on. So I always feel like I should be eating grains, pastas, oatmeal, etc. What is your take on this? I always liked what Coach Poliquin said;(paraphrased) “If it doesn’t fly, run, swim, or if it is not green, I don’t eat it”. I kind of live by that to some extent.

Yet it seems to go against lean muscle development theories, does it not?? I am somewhat of a newbie in this area, yet I have been an athlete for most of my natural life. I am in an office job now where I find I really have to watch what I eat, yet I want to reach my best potential in the gym. I currently train 5-7 hours a week. And as an ex-competitive athlete I still push hard. I just want to make sure I am not missing something.
There were a couple of questions hidden in this rant. Your thoughts on this would be of extreme value.

Thanks,
Sid

4683

So, CT, for bulking purposes, are you saying it’s possible to get by with vegetables and fruit?

4684

[quote]G87 wrote:
So, CT, for bulking purposes, are you saying it’s possible to get by with vegetables and fruit?[/quote]

The next time I hear ‘‘bulking’’ I swear that I’m gonna throw my computer through the wall!!!

I much prefer ‘‘muscle growth phase’’. For some reason ‘‘bulking’’ has some very negative connotations in my brain.

But to answer your question; if your energy and nutrients requirements are met, sure you can get buy with eating mostly fruits as your carb source.

The only real advantage of the other types of carbs would be that they provide more energy per quantity. So if you have to consume a very large about of energy and don’t have much of an appetite then you might have to go with potatoes, yams, rice, etc.

But the only real planned ‘‘all out growth phase’’ that I did, and in which I went from 220 to 253 I was consuming 7000 calories per day with most of my carbs coming from fruits.

4685

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
The next time I hear ‘‘bulking’’ I swear that I’m gonna throw my computer through the wall!!!
[/quote]
I so now what you mean…
I never going over 9% body fat in my off sesoon…
and im growing preety good :slight_smile:

BULKING=an excuse to eat junk food!

4686

coach, I saw where you recommended on a targeted carbs diet to lose fat either 1 or 1.25g carbs mostly pwo. my question is about the days where you dont workout is it less than 50g carbs or try to shoot even lower on non training days.

thanks

4687

Sprint Intervals
On the Get Jacked program are sprints or running stairs (similar to your destroying fat artilcle) ok in place of the elliptical as long as I stick to the time you prescribed.
It is tough to get to the gym on Wed.

although after the first thigh workout the best cardio i can do right now is just trying to get out of this chair and start walking or getting up from the “jon” thanks for the great program. 15lbs to go

4688

Hi Mr Thibs,

I wanted to get your advice on fat burners, especially those containing ephedrine and if they’re safe.

I am currently 182lbs 16%bf trying to lean down and maintain my muscle mass(ofcourse)lost about 2%bf in the last 5 weeks eating just over 2000 cal/day low carbs. I’m only using half the max dosage twice a week I found out it contains 40mg ephedrine under a “patented” name, helping me with some CV interval/circuit training.

You’ve mentioned people go overboard with them and they should be cycled. Should I stop taking them because of the health risks with ephedrine(is it actually that bad?) and just focus on diet, which has made the real difference OR cycle them maybe 3 weeks on 1 week off or something? Thanks in advance anything you can recommend would be great.

4689

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

I honestly prefer to train all types of grip work on the same day, at a lower volume and more frequently.

  • At the end of back workouts
  • At the end of biceps workouts
  • Between sets of leg work not including deadlifts

[/quote]

Thib,

When training the grip along these lines, do you rotate the order of exercises throughout the week so that different functions get stressed more via “priority” placement? Also, do you have any tips for when to cycle the rep range used? Would you generally suggest sticking to the 1-8 rep range to foster functional hypertrophy and strength unless a specific need for strength endurance was noted?

4690

CT,

I have a few questions for you, so I will pose the first 3 as yes or no questions.

  1. Do you feel that regular use of treadmills for running would alter optimal running mechanics?

  2. When training the split jerk, is it necessary to switch the “lead” leg from set to set?

  3. Can chronically high levels of mental stress (even when nutrient intake is high and training stress is low) be enough to jack cortisol levels high enough to significantly impact T levels in a negative way? If so, would using 400 mg of Phosphatidylserine around 5-6 p.m. and 400 mg 1 hour pre-bed help and possibly even lead to increased T levels once cortisol levels are better modulated?

  4. Can various split times from sprints covering a certain distance tell you various things about current abilities and potential areas that need improvement (i.e. 1st 10 meters and starting strength, 2nd 10 meters and power development, and other splits possibly having implications with respect to use of the SSC, etc.)?

Hope all is well these days and that your training and business are better than ever.

4691

Thib,

when you talk about “instant ketosis”, you said:

“And from 4 pm you only have protein and fat along with ingesting 5-10g of leucine every 2 hours (5 pm, 7 pm, 9 pm, 11 pm for example). The key is no carbs after 3-4 pm.
This will help you get into ketosis much faster and it will be both easier and more effective to diet down while in a low carb state.”

from what i understand, most of the low carb diet will not reach ketosis, unless it’s “ketogenic diet(<30g carb)”, other diets, like V-Diet. will not reach ketosis. so how useful is this method? is leucine using this way really help reach ketosis faster? will the protein ingested with it turn into glucose and reduce the effect on blood glucose leve?

also if i do the anabolic diet. will that makes me become ‘fat-adopted’ within 1/2 day, rather than the normal 2weeks adaptation time?

thanks for help.

4692

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Pickles wrote:
Hey CT,

I’m thinking of adding Glycine and/or Glutamine to my post workout shakes and 3g Taurine to my pre-workout shakes.

The first idea (glycine and glutamine) is good, the second one (taurine pre workout) is idiotic. Taurine is actually a neural RELAXANT. People assume that it’s a stimulant because it is a popular ingredient in energy drinks while the real reason why they are there is to give you a ‘‘low’’ after you had your ‘‘high’’ so that you’ll buy another energy drink!!! Ok ok… they also put it in there to prevent hyperexcitation of the nervous system (in other words so that you not get stimulated over control).

But the fact remains: it’s not a stimulant.

Pickles wrote:
It seems to me that Glycine 1. replenishes Glycogen (without effecting Ketosis) 2. reduces cortisol and 3. increases insulin sensitivity whilst Glutamine just does point 1.

You pretty much get it, with the addition of glutamine being able to improve the efficacy of the immune system.

Pickles wrote:
And if just taking Glycine how much would you recomend?

0.1g per pound post-workout. Work up gradually to that amount as some people do not tolerate it well.[/quote]

Brilliant, thanks CT.

I got the Taurine idea from your ‘Supplementation for Newbies’ article, I guess that’s well out of date now. I thought it’d be like super-charged Creatine with the cell volumisation and a stimulant effects all in one. Is there any value to it for cell volumisation or should I just stick to Creatine pre-workout?

Many Thanks
Pickles

4693

[quote]kg wrote:
coach, I saw where you recommended on a targeted carbs diet to lose fat either 1 or 1.25g carbs mostly pwo. my question is about the days where you dont workout is it less than 50g carbs or try to shoot even lower on non training days.

thanks[/quote]

There is never any need to go much below 50g, ever.

On non-workout days, you don’t have a post-workout shake/meal. Since when you use a targeted carbs approach you only have carbs post-workout, it makes sense that you go low-carbs on off days, does it not?

4694

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

  1. There is ZERO correleation between leg pressing and squatting strength. Just because you can leg press a small car doesn’t mean that you will be good at squatting.
    [/quote]
    I was worried my legs (particularly the quads) wouldn’t get enough stimulation. But if there is zero correlation then that’s fine.

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
2. Taller individuals are not structurally built to be good squatters (most of them are better deadlifters though) and in those individuals squats are not the best way to build leg size.
[/quote]
That’s exactly true with me, i love deadlifts, and i can progress quite rapidly.

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
3. Taller individuals respond better to unilateral lower body work like lunges and step ups.
[/quote]
Because i’m following a strength routine (during my fat loss phase in order to retain muscle), i know i should be focusing on heavy movements, could lunges be done heavy in the 4-6 rep range?

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I’m not saying to completely drop squats from your routine, but focus on various types of unilateral lower body movements for while, you will find that you build more size and have healthier knees this way. And when you get back to focusing on squatting you will probably gain strength much faster too.
[/quote]
WIll give this a shot, will try lunges (if its okay to go heavyish with them).

Apprecaite the response.

Thanks.

4695

yep it makes perfect sense. Thank you sir!

4696

[quote]kaleel86 wrote:

WIll give this a shot, will try lunges (if its okay to go heavyish with them).

Apprecaite the response.

Thanks.

[/quote]

As long as form is good, there is no reason not to go heavy on lunges.

4697

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
G87 wrote:
So, CT, for bulking purposes, are you saying it’s possible to get by with vegetables and fruit?

The next time I hear ‘‘bulking’’ I swear that I’m gonna throw my computer through the wall!!!

I much prefer ‘‘muscle growth phase’’. For some reason ‘‘bulking’’ has some very negative connotations in my brain.

But to answer your question; if your energy and nutrients requirements are met, sure you can get buy with eating mostly fruits as your carb source.

The only real advantage of the other types of carbs would be that they provide more energy per quantity. So if you have to consume a very large about of energy and don’t have much of an appetite then you might have to go with potatoes, yams, rice, etc.

But the only real planned ‘‘all out growth phase’’ that I did, and in which I went from 220 to 253 I was consuming 7000 calories per day with most of my carbs coming from fruits.[/quote]

so if your getting 100+ grams of added carbs it wouldn’t matter that the majority of them are coming from simple sugars (and possible higher GI carbs? not sure about this one)?

4698

[[quote]pumped340 wrote:
so if your getting 100+ grams of added carbs it wouldn’t matter that the majority of them are coming from simple sugars (and possible higher GI carbs? not sure about this one)?

[/quote]

The type of ‘‘sugar’’ isn’t as important as the insulin response stimulated by the food in question. This, in part, depends on the glycemic index but also on the glycemic load.

Even if most of the carbs in fruit is from simple sugar, their glycemic index is fairly low.

There fruits are all considered to be ‘‘low’’ on the glycemic index:

Cherries
Grapefruit
Apricots
Apples
Pear
Plums
Peaches
Oranges
Grapes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Raspberries

And are much lower than stuff like potatoes, yams (both yams and sweet potatoes are fairly low glycemic though), spaghetti, macaroni, rice, oatmeal, bread, etc.

AND DON’T FORGET… people tend to only think in terms of macronutrients, insulin etc. But do not forget about nutritional value… vitamins, phytoelements, minerals, etc. Which are normally much higher in fruits than grains.

4699

Hey man my main goal right now is to LOSE WEIGHT!!! and i am trying out doing cardio in the morning before i eat breakfast and also doing HIIT 3 days a week. My diet probably isnt up to par but i was curious if this is a good program or staple to work with to maybe lose my gut? Just to point out i am only 17 yrs old so i cant be taking all these crazy pills (which i know you wouldnt recommend with your knowledge).

But if you have any suggestions for me and maybe a meal plan i can follow (of course that is if its not to much trouble) cause im the kinda guy who needs things spelled out and i need like exact stuff if you know what i mean.

Thanks man
Kopinski

4700

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I understand. Although full time results cannot take part-time commitment!!!

The problem with what you are asking is to design a whole new 12 weeks program to do instead of this one, but one that would fit your schedule… this pretty much sounds like online training which normally costs way more than 40$ ;)[/quote]

But so long as you go to the real deal, it’s money well spent :slight_smile: