I've been getting hit with a rash of PM's from memebers here, and from the OCB site (even though I rarely post there anymore ) regarding plateaus with precontest weight/fat loss, and the accompanying supplement strategy to help speed up the entire process.

As with the people I advise and/or train, I can only offer my opinions based on my own personal contest experiences, as well as the results achieved with other's I may have counseled.

I will say up front though, that I am no guru, and I truly appreciate all the confidence people put upon me. When I think of guru's, there are only a scant few... C.Poliquin, Dr. Joe, Roger Reidinger, C Waterbury, and of coarse Vince G.
Heck, we even have Dr. Joe Jr. here. Cytrainer, who has developed into quite a guru himself. One of these days I will graduate from Rocket Surgery school and get to understand his SHIIT training system. Ha

Carb Cycling - If you're not dropping the weight/fat, you gotta reduce your CALORIES. Even if you believe your calories are already very low... you're still eating TOO MUCH, or you carb/sugar intake is doing a number on your insulin control.

I like the HI LO NO approach. Let's say your alloted caloric intake is for 1400kl per day. Try something like this instead:
SUN: HI 1800kl 160gr Carb
MON: LO 1600kl 120gr Carb
TUE: NO 1200kl 60gr Carb
WED: NO 1000kl 60gr Carb
THU: HI 1900kl 180gr Carb
FRI: LO 1300kl 100gr Carb
SAT: NO 1000kl 50gr Carb

Never have two HI days back to back and try to cycle it where your HI days fall under training days.

Supplement useage is individual specific, and instead of giving a cookie cutter answer regarding them, I try to tailor it to the competitor's needs, and where they currently are in their prep. So in effect, I also like to stagger and manipulate doseages almost on a weekly basis leading into peak week. I believe Beverly supps are the best, and are mostly what I suggest for people to use.

Hope this answered some general questions and I'll continue to do what I can with everyone who gets in touch with me. Thanks again

Hey Aram,(why no OCB boards?)
I believe its all about the calories and the other thing to add to this is that you must be precise when trying to get donw to a specific weight esepcially for a show, eyeing it will not do! All must be accounted for in all food aspects and yes if protein is too high and your body can not use that, this will also slow down the fat burning process. Just because its protein doesn't mean its ok, there are limits to each individual! Also when carbs are kept to too long the the body will also begin to slow down the metabolic rate! Carbs have to be at your own highest level for you to where your are still losing bodyfat, but still retaining muscle! Carbs are the greatest muscle sparing nutrient out there! Cals must be sacrificed to the point wehre the weight is coming off for you, but not losing muscle in the long run! And cals should not be kept high to where you try and compensate with extra cardio just to keep the the cals up! And you know what, you will feel hungry, its just part of the process and if you really think about it where are your cals below maintenance levels which mean your total cals are not high enough to not feel hungry! Precision diet, hard work, and will power will be main 3 things that will get you that fat loss you need, not extra cals with tons and tons of cardio, otherwise kiss your muscle goodbye! If they say hit 150 g ofprtein hit it, and thats goes for carbs(I include all carbs and yes that includes Veggies) as well as fats!

Also don't forget if you use Mass Aminos thats 1.25 g of protein per 4 tabs and for Ultra 40's Liver tabs its 2 g's of protein for one tab! It all adds up!

Arams and Craigs opinions are more than just that - they are advice that is based on real life achievements and results that either they have seen themselves or in others.

Aram is a man of few words - Craig a man of many but they both know their stuff and are passionate about the benefits of natural BBing and a healthy lifestyle.

These guys are both shining examples of BBing Ambassadors and I have personally benefited from taking their advice in the past.

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and love for the sport with others Aram and Craig! You are both examples to try to emulate.

Gosh - I think that I have a tear in my eye now - oh...it was just a loose eyelash.

quote:

If you're not dropping the weight/fat, you gotta reduce your CALORIES. Even if you believe your calories are already very low... you're still eating TOO MUCH, or you carb/sugar intake is doing a number on your insulin control.

I'm a new poster (but have been lurking and reading for awhile, and have been a Beverly user for years) and wanted to respond to this. My experience is that you most definitely CAN drop calories too low. Several times while dieting for shows I have found myself at a too-low calorie level that halted progress. I finally learned that, when I reach that point, if I carefully add calories back, my metabolism kicks up and I start dropping fat again. Example: My last show was in November. I started my diet 16 weeks prior at about 2800 Kcals, and as progress stalled, I'd drop a couple hundred calories, alternating each drop between fat calories and carb calories. I made a drop at around 6 weeks out that left me at 1800 Kcals and nothing happened. So I added about 400 Kcals a day (mostly from fat, believe it or not) and I immediately resumed leaning out.The metabolic shift at that point was quite dramatic, with my physique visibly much leaner within a few days.

As a side note, I am ENVIOUS of you guys who can get contest-ready with no cardio. That's impossible for me, no matter how perfect my eating plan is. I seem to require a minimum of a half-hour, 6 days a week. Last year I ended up doing 2 one-hour sessions daily, and while I did lose some muscle (partly on purpose, because I wanted to drop down to the new Welterweight class) my conditioning was the best it's ever been.

Steve,
I agree with you. Calories can definitely drop too low, and when this happens for a period of time, adaptation takes place and progress comes to a halt. This is why I recommend the HI LO NO approach to contest dieting. This method prevents any metabolic shutdown which is highly possible on a low calorie diet where caloric levels are constant day in and day out without any shift in the balance, especially with the macronutrients. By staggering the caloric and carb intake, the body does not fall into the homeostatic state which can stagnate the metabolism.

Yes, I am one who does no cardio, yet I employ other tactics, one of which is to triple or quadruple my carb intake on the day I train legs. This creates the metabolic shift you spoke of. However, for this method to be effective, you've got to be following a strict dietary formula for many weeks, before throwing the monkey wrench into the mix.

The day after such a re-feed, my bodyweight as well as bodyfat levels, DECREASE. I continue on with this plan right into my show, and actually fat load the final 3 days. The fat load works extremely well for the ecto/meso bodytpe, but I would be extremely careful if one is more endo. (Better to end with smaller amount of carbs, rather than fat)

The above method is a good protocol I've found, for people who do not respond to the 2x per week carb load at the end of the day. (High re-feed day)

Welcome to the discussion boards

Hi Aram:

(Welcome to the discussion boards Smile[/quote])

Thank you! I very much enjoy your posts, as well as those from others here who have so much knowledge and experience in the sport we're so passionate about. I look forward to conversing with you.

[quote]Yes, I am one who does no cardio, yet I employ other tactics, one of which is to triple or quadruple my carb intake on the day I train legs. This creates the metabolic shift you spoke of. However, for this method to be effective, you've got to be following a strict dietary formula for many weeks, before throwing the monkey wrench into the mix.

The day after such a re-feed, my bodyweight as well as bodyfat levels, DECREASE. I continue on with this plan right into my show, and actually fat load the final 3 days.
The above method is a good protocol I've found, for people who do not respond to the 2x per week carb load at the end of the day. (High re-feed day)


Extra carbs on leg day... I might try that this year if the 2X weekly carb load doesn't work. (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't) As far as the fat load the last 3 days.... I've always done a moderate carb-load the Wednesday night prior to the show, then on Thurs and Fri I eat six meals consisting of beef and grapefruit, plus the same meal Saturday morning. Is that the type of fat load you do?

Since you do no cardio, what else do you do diet/trainingwise to keep your metabolism humming along (I'm not asking you to write a book,just to sun up some of your methods. I want to improve on my conditioning this year and would prefer not to need 2 hours of daily cardio to do so!

Steve.

Welcome!

I too an an endomorph and cannot diet on really low calories - my metabolism slows to a snail's crawl. I just started dieting Jan 2nd on only 1350 calories, with 2 re-feed high carb days - I lost 5 lbs in the first five days (water from my pre-contest binge of eat it now 'cuz it's gone). Then, in 6.5 weeks, I only lost 2 lbs. My calories were way too low.

This past week I added in about 350 calories and went with one re-feed and in one week dropped -1/2" in my lower abs, -1/4" in my 1" in my chest. Things are working again! And, I might add, I have a really good energy level, where before I got to a point where I hit the wall - big time! this week I am going to do a carb rotation as Aram has outlined above.

Aram and VA are awesome sources of information. There's guys know their stuff . . and are true gentlemen that are always happy to help.

Best of luck!

quote:

Aram and VA are awesome sources of information. There's guys know their stuff . . and are true gentlemen that are always happy to help.

I inadvertantly left Craig (cytrainer913) off this list - sorry Craig

I heard that BC is running for office and that she is practicing her skills at not allienating any of the voters

VA,

You're not insinuating that there is a inherent connection between politics and bodybuilding now, are you?

Steve,

I like fat loading the final 3 days. I eat my usual 6 meals of beef and grapefruit, but being an ectomorph, I must also eat carbs on wednesday and thursday, otherwise I will flatten out horribly on Saturday. Friday is the only day I go exclusively with only beef and GF. I like using a fattier ground, more like 85%. I'll have 1 tbls natty PB and 1oz cashews with each meal on wed and thu, along with bananas, oatmeal (maybe 2 cups) and sweet potatoes. My last carb source is eaten at my 3rd meal on thursday. As for my secrets concerning no cardio, I have many trick up my sleeve, which have been developed over the years due to my strong hatred of cardio.Ha. They will work for the majority of people. PM me if interested. You may also wish to consider switching to 2 or 3 HIIT cardio sesions a day during the final weeks into a show.

Michele,

If you want to do the HI LO NO carb cycle, the example I gave up top is only that...an EXAMPLE.
For your bodytype I would suggest going lower than the carb amounts indicated. And thanks for you sweet words, but I cannot be mentioned in the same vain as VA or Craig. I am not deserving of those accolades, and you and I both know that for sure. I am just a bum from da Bronx

quote:

And thanks for you sweet words, but I cannot be mentioned in the same vain as VA or Craig. I am not deserving of those accolades, and you and I both know that for sure. I am just a bum from da Bronx

oh contrare . . mon frair . . . or something like that!

I am in complete agreement - I'm thinking my carbs will be something like:

175
125
90
90
50
25
25

watcha think?

Aram,
If you say HI/LO/NO, wouldn't that be like 3 days and repeat the process or thrwo in an extra no day here and there!

But if take BC's example for 7 days wouldn't it look like this:
175
90
25
25
175
90
25???

I know she has other carb days in there but I was just trying to use the best 3 days?

And Aram, you are from just a guy from the Bronx, you could help rewrite the labels on the Beverlt Supps !

BC,
You came close but it's not quite right. Check out how I structured it in my original post. Then compare it to CY's. He got it right.

On the 4th day you want to revert to HI again. With the example you gave, you're gradually going down from day 1 - 7.

Another example using a 2 week block:
HI - 150 (mon)
LO - 75 (tue)
NO - 25 (wed)
NO - 25 (thu)
HI - 150 (fri)
LO - 75 (sat)
NO - 25 (sun)
HI - 140 (mon)
LO - 60 (tue)
NO - 25 (wed)
NO - 25 (thu)
HI - 140 (fri)
LO - 60 (sat)
NO - 25 (sun)

Do you recognize the pattern now? All the #'s are for carb grams. Are you clear? Need more help? Let us know.

Thanks Pal!