T Nation

A Complex Question

Beginners
#1

8mo months ago I had a big increase in my strength after adopting the Massive Eating and Dirty Bulk philosophy.

I used to eat 4 servings of oats a day + alot of other carbs.

Now Im on a low carb diet with practically zero carbs over my day except in the 2 hours before my workout when I eat some complex carbs and right before leaving some high GI carbs such as Maltodex.

Even though I have gained size all over (e.g. 2in on biceps) my Bench press load has decreased 80lbs as did other big lifts.

Is this all because of the carbs?

#2

Sounds like it’s because of not eating enough. Post your entire diet.

#3

[quote]FKStd wrote:
my Bench press load has decreased 80lbs as did other big lifts.

[/quote]

How long did it take for you to lose this much strength?

I assume, being in the beginners forum, your not dieting for a show, so I would suggest eating again, because that is a lot of muscle to lose man.

#4

What the hell did you just stop lifting?

#5

By that time I was 75kg (165lbs) bf%15 and ate really big no restrictions. Now Im 94kg (207lb) bf%17 I have more muscle size but I eat no carbs except before workout Ive also cut the oats.

That is why I cant figure it out. Anyone who sees my progress in terms of size thinks Im much stronger but Im weaker.

My supplements remain the same. Bcaa+whey. My protein Intake is alot greater than it was. The only difference are the carbs.

#6

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
so I would suggest eating again, because that is a lot of muscle to lose man.
[/quote]

I did not lose muscle. In fact have more muscle now than I had then. My strength is what decreased.

#7

[quote]FKStd wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
so I would suggest eating again, because that is a lot of muscle to lose man.

I did not lose muscle. In fact have more muscle now than I had then. My strength is what decreased.[/quote]

That makes zero sense in my mind. How can your muscles get bigger as you get weaker?

#8

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
FKStd wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
so I would suggest eating again, because that is a lot of muscle to lose man.

I did not lose muscle. In fact have more muscle now than I had then. My strength is what decreased.

That makes zero sense in my mind. How can your muscles get bigger as you get weaker?[/quote]

x2
Unless you have some strange disease, this doesn’t make sense…
So when you were doing bench press were you actually lowering the load each week?

#9

the only other thing i would guess is a plateau. ive never heard of anyone dropping 80 pounds on theb ench but ive dropped around 30 from a plateau

#10

[quote]BeastKing wrote:
the only other thing i would guess is a plateau. ive never heard of anyone dropping 80 pounds on theb ench but ive dropped around 30 from a plateau[/quote]

You did this under your own volition as a “reset” or “deload” correct, to work back up to where you were stuck prior in the hopes of surpassing it?

I mean if I was consistently losing strength like that workout to workout, I would have figured out something was fucked up well before I lost 80lbs on my lifts. (Unless I was starving myself and staying up all night, then I would understand why it was happening, but wouldn’t expect growth either.)

#11

It’s obvious what’s going on here. You have AIDS.

#12

[quote]artw wrote:
It’s obvious what’s going on here. You have AIDS.[/quote]

Maybe I’m a bastard but I laughed. I think the OP knows it but won’t tell us…look at his name closely…

#13

Haha I get the irony with my name… but I assure you I like the way it flows with the condom… specially when it has cherry smell.

Since I have an elevated bf% now Im not eating carbs thats the only explanation I came with. And I dont know why it greatly affects my bench while not so much some other lifts.

I stopped working out for 3 months and gave up on the eating. And now my BP has dropped 50% and wont go up since I have no energy and get tired fast from avoiding the carbs. My BP load oscillates from session to session. Since that time I never had any constant increase even though Im getting bigger in size with no problem.

Im not hiding anything because its not of my interest to continue having a poor performance. Its not even smart to consider that possibility.

And I did not lowered my loads each week, that was the complete opposite of what I was doing.

#14

[quote]FKStd wrote:
Haha I get the irony with my name… but I assure you I like the way it flows with the condom… specially when it has cherry smell.

Since I have an elevated bf% now Im not eating carbs thats the only explanation I came with. And I dont know why it greatly affects my bench while not so much some other lifts.

I stopped working out for 3 months and gave up on the eating. And now my BP has dropped 50% and wont go up since I have no energy and get tired fast from avoiding the carbs. My BP load oscillates from session to session. Since that time I never had any constant increase even though Im getting bigger in size with no problem.

Im not hiding anything because its not of my interest to continue having a poor performance. Its not even smart to consider that possibility.

And I did not lowered my loads each week, that was the complete opposite of what I was doing.
[/quote]

What do you eat for carbs before training?
You just said so yourself that you have no energy at the gym…no wonder you can’t lift shit. I suspect all that bulking has made you carbophobic. Now you’ve adopted the exact opposite diet.
NO ONE can make strength gains on a zero carb diet…

#15

[quote]Nyral wrote:
FKStd wrote:
Haha I get the irony with my name… but I assure you I like the way it flows with the condom… specially when it has cherry smell.

Since I have an elevated bf% now Im not eating carbs thats the only explanation I came with. And I dont know why it greatly affects my bench while not so much some other lifts.

I stopped working out for 3 months and gave up on the eating. And now my BP has dropped 50% and wont go up since I have no energy and get tired fast from avoiding the carbs. My BP load oscillates from session to session. Since that time I never had any constant increase even though Im getting bigger in size with no problem.

Im not hiding anything because its not of my interest to continue having a poor performance. Its not even smart to consider that possibility.

And I did not lowered my loads each week, that was the complete opposite of what I was doing.

What do you eat for carbs before training?
You just said so yourself that you have no energy at the gym…no wonder you can’t lift shit. I suspect all that bulking has made you carbophobic. Now you’ve adopted the exact opposite diet.
NO ONE can make strength gains on a zero carb diet…
[/quote]

The only time of the day I eat carbs is in the 1hour before my workout. But I think thats not enough, is it?

100g of some complex carbs -1h 50g of high GI carbs -15min (rice, pasta + maltodextrine)

#16

[quote]FKStd wrote:
Nyral wrote:
FKStd wrote:
Haha I get the irony with my name… but I assure you I like the way it flows with the condom… specially when it has cherry smell.

Since I have an elevated bf% now Im not eating carbs thats the only explanation I came with. And I dont know why it greatly affects my bench while not so much some other lifts.

I stopped working out for 3 months and gave up on the eating. And now my BP has dropped 50% and wont go up since I have no energy and get tired fast from avoiding the carbs. My BP load oscillates from session to session. Since that time I never had any constant increase even though Im getting bigger in size with no problem.

Im not hiding anything because its not of my interest to continue having a poor performance. Its not even smart to consider that possibility.

And I did not lowered my loads each week, that was the complete opposite of what I was doing.

What do you eat for carbs before training?
You just said so yourself that you have no energy at the gym…no wonder you can’t lift shit. I suspect all that bulking has made you carbophobic. Now you’ve adopted the exact opposite diet.
NO ONE can make strength gains on a zero carb diet…

The only time of the day I eat carbs is in the 1hour before my workout. But I think thats not enough, is it?

100g of some complex carbs -1h 50g of high GI carbs -15min (rice, pasta + maltodextrine)[/quote]

I would guess so…then again I doubt you can digest 100g pasta/rice in just an hour, maybe try to play around with the time frame?

#17

Do you think the carb is responsible for all that? Im dont know, but Im sure it contributes.

Can you give an example of a proper pre workout meal that does not include any kind of fancy supps?