Thib's Q&A

Training
4701

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[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)?

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.[/quote]

and here I am worrying about the banana I eat on carb up days. I knew fruits were definitely higher in nutritional value but I’m surprised they’re lower in glycemic index. How are bananas relative to those fruits you mentioned and the complex carbs listed? I eat more bananas by far than any other fruit.

Thinking about it it just seems like the “sugar” would be so much worse for you (as far as body composition goes) than say oatmeal or especially yams but I guess not. Your the one who stays at or under 8% all year though so there you go lol.

4702

Hey Thibs,

Is there a certain blood glucose level that athletes preform best at? Lets just say it is a 60 minute session of weight lifting.

Thanks,
FA

4703

Were you training twice a day at 7000kcals?

4704

Coach,

Would you mind reminding me again how to use and cycle aceytl-l-carnitine propionate please?

Thanks.

4705

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
and here I am worrying about the banana I eat on carb up days. I knew fruits were definitely higher in nutritional value but I’m surprised they’re lower in glycemic index. How are bananas relative to those fruits you mentioned and the complex carbs listed? I eat more bananas by far than any other fruit.

Thinking about it it just seems like the “sugar” would be so much worse for you (as far as body composition goes) than say oatmeal or especially yams but I guess not. Your the one who stays at or under 8% all year though so there you go lol. [/quote]

pumped340, Thib actually has bananas listed as a Fourth Choice, which would fall under “Other Fruits”, with Rice, Oatmeal (natural), Sprouted Grain Bread. Thib actually has Potatoes, Yams, Sweet potatoes as a Third Choice.

4706

Thib, in your updated list of the least bad carb choices, there was quite a few changes from your old list of:

  1. non-green veggies, but no starch (yams, potatoes)
  2. berries
  3. fruits with a low glycemic index
  4. other fruits
  5. yams or potatoes, but only post-workout
  6. legumes and beans in moderation
  7. grains (the most ‘‘natural’’ ones)
  8. other grains (if you have no choice)
  9. pasta
  10. sugar/junk

Most notibly, you:

  • moved legumes up to a First Choice along with veggies.

  • completely eliminated pasta, and sugar/junk.

  • combined berries with fruits with a low glycemic index, and added Sugar-free/Fat free yogurt.

  • moved Potatoes, Yams, Sweet potatoes (and not only post workout now, unless you just didn’t specify) one spot ahead of Other Fruits on the list.

Not that I need an explaination from you, because you are the expert. Some of the changes are totally different from you older version, and I find it really interesting.

I was just wondering why you made these changes? Also, would you recommend the Third and Fourth Choices, primarliy for the post-workout meal rather than throughout the day?

Thanks Thib

4707

Thib,

As a coach who has worked with more than his fair share of hockey players, you seem like the go-to guy for the following EST questions related to hockey.

In terms of off-season training, how specific does EST need to be? Is general training mimicking the work to rest ratios encountered during a game sufficient and possibly preferable to prevent overloading the skating pattern?

Or would general-specific methods involving things like slideboards and rollerblades be preferable? Or would you suggest going a step further and being on ice (possibly even with puck handling involved) if an athlete has regular access to ice time?

Essentially I am curious as to the importance (or lack thereof) of specificity when training for this sport.

Along these same lines, would 100 meter sprints or 400 meters be a better choice? The latter is closer to the duration of a shift, but the former is somewhat more in line with the periodic and brief bursts that occur in a game.

And I’d be interested in whether or not goalies EST would treated similarly to other players or differently, but this is already longer than I had hoped.

Even the most basic guidelines for optimizing hockey EST would be appreciated.

4708

Hi CT,

thanks for making the ‘Get Jacked fast Pgm’ available so cheaply.
The only issue I have is the exercise coupling (eg A1 & A2 back & forth) because I use a commercial gym, so depending on the time I train it’s not always possible. Sometimes I’ll have to complete A1 before moving to A2 & I’d hate to think im limiting my results because of this. Should I not worry about this or maybe reduce the rest times between sets if this happens.
Also, do you have an alternative to the ‘mountain climber’?

4709

Hope you are well sir. I am on a lean muscle growth phase and increased carbs peri and postworkout for a total of 100 grams and 50 grams in the mornings for breakfast. I keep the carbs and fats separate so I make sure not to have a meal consisting of both. I mainly need to know for all of the other meals shall I keep it only fats and protein or shall I cut the fat out. I am just paranoid because I have been very low carbs for years and now I am consuming carbs in the mornings and peri/post workout and am afraid that I will gain weight if all of my other meals are protein/fat. Am i just being paranoid? Sorry for the long question. You have inspired me to achieve huge advancements in body composition by following your research and expertise throughout the years. Thank you.

4710

[quote]heckya911 wrote:
Hope you are well sir. I am on a lean muscle growth phase and increased carbs peri and postworkout for a total of 100 grams and 50 grams in the mornings for breakfast. I keep the carbs and fats separate so I make sure not to have a meal consisting of both. I mainly need to know for all of the other meals shall I keep it only fats and protein or shall I cut the fat out. I am just paranoid because I have been very low carbs for years and now I am consuming carbs in the mornings and peri/post workout and am afraid that I will gain weight if all of my other meals are protein/fat. Am i just being paranoid? Sorry for the long question. You have inspired me to achieve huge advancements in body composition by following your research and expertise throughout the years. Thank you. [/quote]

  1. You WILL gain weight… isn’t that the point of a growth phase? The thing is to minimize fat gain.

  2. If you want maximum muscle growth you will have to GRADUALLY increase your carbs/caloric intake. At 150g of carbs per day you might grow for a while because this amount is new to your body, but eventually it will not ‘‘work’’. When selecting the proper amount of nutrients to eat when trying to build muscle you will have to adjust up or down every 2-3 weeks.

  3. If you want MAXIMUM muscle growth, it is likely that you will add some fat too. The goal is to avoid gaining as little as possible a 3/1 ratio of muscle to fat is extremely good. But most will fall between a 2/1 to 2.5/1 ratio when doing things optimally. So if you put on 10lbs of muscle, expect to also add 3-5lbs of fat and 1-2lbs of water weight. More fat that that (2/1 to 2.5/1 muscle to fat) is not acceptable in my book. HOWEVER expecting to gain a lot of muscle with zero fat gain is somewhat unrealistic.

  4. You need your fat. Fat is necessary for the production of several hormones, most importantly testosterone. As well as to proper cell repair. Studies have shown lower levels of testosterone (so less muscle growth potential) when fat intake is too low.

4711

[quote]Gelfling wrote:
Hi CT,

thanks for making the ‘Get Jacked fast Pgm’ available so cheaply.
The only issue I have is the exercise coupling (eg A1 & A2 back & forth) because I use a commercial gym, so depending on the time I train it’s not always possible. Sometimes I’ll have to complete A1 before moving to A2 & I’d hate to think im limiting my results because of this. Should I not worry about this or maybe reduce the rest times between sets if this happens.
Also, do you have an alternative to the ‘mountain climber’?

[/quote]

  1. Every time you change a program you will obviously lose some of the benefits. If you have a A1 / A2 pairing of OPPOSING muscle groups, you can do the exercises alone (not going back and forth between each of them) but cut the rest slightly. It will not be as effective, but you will not lose that much either from it.

  2. Instead of mountain climber you can do high knees running in place

4712

Hey Coach i am trying to get the components for your suggested post workout shakes! Protein, Glutamine, Glycine.

Now the company i am buying them from have the choice of L-Glutamine or Glutamine peptides?? which is the better choice and would dosage change as the peptides are 4x the cost?

4713

[quote]Certified_nuttah wrote:
Hey Coach i am trying to get the components for your suggested post workout shakes! Protein, Glutamine, Glycine.

Now the company i am buying them from have the choice of L-Glutamine or Glutamine peptides?? which is the better choice and would dosage change as the peptides are 4x the cost?

[/quote]

peptides have a slightly better absorption, but the higher cost doesn’t necessarily justify the small benefit. Go with l-glutamine at 0.2g per pound of bodyweight.

4714

[quote]RustBeltGym wrote:
Thib,

As a coach who has worked with more than his fair share of hockey players, you seem like the go-to guy for the following EST questions related to hockey.

In terms of off-season training, how specific does EST need to be? Is general training mimicking the work to rest ratios encountered during a game sufficient and possibly preferable to prevent overloading the skating pattern?

Or would general-specific methods involving things like slideboards and rollerblades be preferable? Or would you suggest going a step further and being on ice (possibly even with puck handling involved) if an athlete has regular access to ice time?

Essentially I am curious as to the importance (or lack thereof) of specificity when training for this sport.

Along these same lines, would 100 meter sprints or 400 meters be a better choice? The latter is closer to the duration of a shift, but the former is somewhat more in line with the periodic and brief bursts that occur in a game.

And I’d be interested in whether or not goalies EST would treated similarly to other players or differently, but this is already longer than I had hoped.

Even the most basic guidelines for optimizing hockey EST would be appreciated.

[/quote]

  1. I hate slideboards

  2. ESW needs to target a specific energy system used in a game, moreso as you progress through the off-season period, but the selection of the means (exercise choice) should not be TOO specific as there might actually be a negative carryover to performance of the actual hockey skills.

  3. I hate slideboards and don’t care much for rollerblading

  4. Use lifting exercises to build mass and strength; use explosive lifts and plyo to build power; use general track work to build speed and condition; GPP work can also be used to build condition. Use ice training to improve skating skills and transfer the physical capacity gains to actual athletic performance.

  5. Early off-season build acceleration and speed. Most people start by building an endurance base… this is just plain dumb.

When off-season starts, the player has been doing endurance work on the ice for months (during the season), he doesn’t need (or cannot) improve that system at that time.

Furthermore, when it comes to sport, ‘‘endurance’’ refers more to the capacity to maintain a high level of performance (speed) for a relatively long period of time despite fatigue. In other words you have to maintain your speed. But how can you maintain speed IF YOU DON’T HAVE IT?!

Get fast, then train to maintain that speed. You CANNOT build speed from an endurance base. But you CAN develop the capacity to maintain the speed you have for a longer period of time.

  1. As the season progresses move more and more into the anaerobic lactic training zone (efforts lasting anywhere from 30 sec to 3 minutes).

  2. ‘‘Cardio’’ training (aerobic exercise) is always done but never trained. What does it mean? During the whole off-season you include some low-intensity aerobic work, but you never actually work hard on that capacity. It’s more for active recovery than anything.

YOU DO NOT NEED AEROBIC CAPACITY (capacity refers to the maximum amount of work you can do withinb an energy system) when you PLAY hockey. Most actions in hockey are either in the anaerobic alactic and anaerobic lactic energy systems… or anaerobic power plus anaerobic capacity. The aerobic system is used only WHEN RECOVERING BETWEEN SHIFTS.

4715

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

  1. If you want MAXIMUM muscle growth, it is likely that you will add some fat too. The goal is to avoid gaining as little as possible a 3/1 ratio of muscle to fat is extremely good. But most will fall between a 2/1 to 2.5/1 ratio when doing things optimally. So if you put on 10lbs of muscle, expect to also add 3-5lbs of fat and 1-2lbs of water weight. More fat that that (2/1 to 2.5/1 muscle to fat) is not acceptable in my book. HOWEVER expecting to gain a lot of muscle with zero fat gain is somewhat unrealistic.

[/quote]

In the past I have often looked at my muscle:fat gain ratio. It seems that regardless of what I do diet and training wise it’s never better than about 1.5/1. This is using a 3-site caliper test however just by looking in the mirror and waistline it is apparent how fast the fat comes on. I don’t know what else to change because I can’t see making a change in my workout affecting fat gain that much so it makes me think diet but my diet has been fairly low carb in the past so I don’t know.

4716

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Certified_nuttah wrote:
Hey Coach i am trying to get the components for your suggested post workout shakes! Protein, Glutamine, Glycine.

Now the company i am buying them from have the choice of L-Glutamine or Glutamine peptides?? which is the better choice and would dosage change as the peptides are 4x the cost?

peptides have a slightly better absorption, but the higher cost doesn’t necessarily justify the small benefit. Go with l-glutamine at 0.2g per pound of bodyweight.[/quote]

Many thanks for your time!

4717

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
heckya911 wrote:
Hope you are well sir. I am on a lean muscle growth phase and increased carbs peri and postworkout for a total of 100 grams and 50 grams in the mornings for breakfast. I keep the carbs and fats separate so I make sure not to have a meal consisting of both. I mainly need to know for all of the other meals shall I keep it only fats and protein or shall I cut the fat out. I am just paranoid because I have been very low carbs for years and now I am consuming carbs in the mornings and peri/post workout and am afraid that I will gain weight if all of my other meals are protein/fat. Am i just being paranoid? Sorry for the long question. You have inspired me to achieve huge advancements in body composition by following your research and expertise throughout the years. Thank you.

  1. You WILL gain weight… isn’t that the point of a growth phase? The thing is to minimize fat gain.

  2. If you want maximum muscle growth you will have to GRADUALLY increase your carbs/caloric intake. At 150g of carbs per day you might grow for a while because this amount is new to your body, but eventually it will not ‘‘work’’. When selecting the proper amount of nutrients to eat when trying to build muscle you will have to adjust up or down every 2-3 weeks.

  3. If you want MAXIMUM muscle growth, it is likely that you will add some fat too. The goal is to avoid gaining as little as possible a 3/1 ratio of muscle to fat is extremely good. But most will fall between a 2/1 to 2.5/1 ratio when doing things optimally. So if you put on 10lbs of muscle, expect to also add 3-5lbs of fat and 1-2lbs of water weight. More fat that that (2/1 to 2.5/1 muscle to fat) is not acceptable in my book. HOWEVER expecting to gain a lot of muscle with zero fat gain is somewhat unrealistic.

  4. You need your fat. Fat is necessary for the production of several hormones, most importantly testosterone. As well as to proper cell repair. Studies have shown lower levels of testosterone (so less muscle growth potential) when fat intake is too low.[/quote]

Thank you very very much sir. Makes a lot of sense. I know you mention that 150 grams of carbs may work for a short period of time, how would you reccomend for me to increase the carbs in a way to maximize lean gains. Thanks again sir.

4718

Hey Thibs,

I understand you do not comment on programs. But, is there anything you would modify with the starting strength workouts? it’s been a long time since it was published, maybe there’s something new to change?

Any particular supplements you would use with it? Anything other than fish oil, whey, creatine, vitamin c, and beta alaine? I want to maintain size and perhaps shed a few pounds of flab for summer.

4719

[quote]Mondy wrote:
Hey Thibs,

I understand you do not comment on programs. But, is there anything you would modify with the starting strength workouts? it’s been a long time since it was published, maybe there’s something new to change?
[/quote]

Starting strength is my Mike R., I didn’t write the program. And while I may make modifications to my own programs as my knowledge and experience increases, I never try to modify the training methodologies of others.

4720

Hi CT,

Is it always convenient to consume PWO-shake? I guess what I mean is whether you train strength/mass/lactate/anaerobic or just plain endurance, do you still take the same drink? I got the picture that after training primarily for burning fat it isn’t that necessary, might be wrong though. Thanks again!