Bulking with Leangains IF?

has anyone tried the “lean gains” IF schedule to bulk and keep fat gain at a minimum? technically as long as you eat more calories than you burn you will gain right?

i have been reading up on it and im thinking about doing it but due to my schedule i wont be able to stick to one meal protocol and it will have to vary so it will not be 16/8 fast/feast schedule consecutively.

I think the question we have to ask here is

What for?

It’s essentially carb/calorie cycling. Eat maintenance and lower carbs on “off” days, and on training days, eat above maintenance (start with +10 to 20 %), with the majority of calories / carbs taken in within your training window within 2 hours?

to minimize fat gain while gaining.

Sorry, that shouldn’t have ended in a question mark. That’s my recommendation. Start with that. Keep about 60 percent of your calories for pre/post workout and eat maintanence on off days to minimize fat gain.

ds1973 have you done the lean gains eating schedule before? what did you use his recommended bcaas? would MAG-10 be a better alternative?

[quote]talon2nr7588 wrote:
has anyone tried the “lean gains” IF schedule to bulk and keep fat gain at a minimum? technically as long as you eat more calories than you burn you will gain right?

i have been reading up on it and im thinking about doing it but due to my schedule i wont be able to stick to one meal protocol and it will have to vary so it will not be 16/8 fast/feast schedule consecutively.

[/quote]
you do the 1 meal protocol? shit! Id definately go for more meals if you are trying to gain. I eat 2-4 meals to lose fat with a 16/8 schedule. I dont think its going to hurt you to add an hour or two to your feeding window if it means you can more easily fit another meal or more calories in.

While I havent bulked on IF leangains strictly I have bulked without eating breakfast and breaking my fast at 10am as opposed to 7:30 (when I wake up) and definately found my gains were “leaner” than when eating breakfast.

no i didnt mean just eating one meal. i meant the meal protocols(methods) of eating and training on the lean gains website. he has 4 of them. i work midnights some nights so it throws it off a lttle bit.

I’m “bulking” while “restricting fat gain”… i’m up ~6lbs, lowest BF% i’ve been at in about a year… creatine supplementation is helping a lot. Comes down to eating the right foods at the right time. <—see what i did there, didnt really answer your question :slight_smile: just proclaiming it can be done.

regarding the leangains workout method he recommends 10g or bcaa when working out fasted, would this provide the same effect as Surge Workout Fuel and one scoop MAG-10 before and during a workout?

same effect? no not at all. BCAAs will help maintain the muscles mass you’ve already got, it will not have the same “building” effects as either of those supplements.

so would i be better off with the surge and MAG-10 then? im trying to gain.

would this method of working out fasted be counter productive?:
2 scoops SWF + 1 scoop MAG-10 + 5g creatine- pre and during workout
2 scoops surge recovery+ 5g creatine- post workout
1 hour after surge recovery 15g BCAA
followed by 15g BCAA every two hours until the 18 hour fast is up?

i only plan on using this method once or twice a week because of my schedule, all the other days i will have the time to workout later in the day and eat food after surge recovery

[quote]talon2nr7588 wrote:
so would i be better off with the surge and MAG-10 then? im trying to gain.

would this method of working out fasted be counter productive?:
2 scoops SWF + 1 scoop MAG-10 + 5g creatine- pre and during workout
2 scoops surge recovery+ 5g creatine- post workout
1 hour after surge recovery 15g BCAA
followed by 15g BCAA every two hours until the 18 hour fast is up?

i only plan on using this method once or twice a week because of my schedule, all the other days i will have the time to workout later in the day and eat food after surge recovery[/quote]

It looks like you are working out during the fasted period, following the morning training scheme on Leangains. If so then this is very counter-productive as you are consuming 2 SWF +3 Surge Recovery = 775 cals during your FASTED period.

You could follow this plan if training during the feeding window, but would probably not need the 2nd serving of Surge Recovery.

its 668 cals total, 280 from SWF, 58 from MAG-10, and 330 from Surge. the reason i came up with this was because my training is somewhat heavy. its either legs,push,or pull with 3 compounds and 2 auxillary six times per week.

the fasted training(with BCAA only) will keep fat gain at a minimum better wont it? is this what you mean by counter productive?

From what you wrote above, my impression is that you are planning on training during the fasted period, then continuing fasting after training until the start of your feeding window, correct?

The large calorie intake during training and the shake an hour after mean that you are not fasting from when you start training.

If you want to use the Surge etc. then start your feeding window when you have your pre-workout drink.

i only plan on doing this maybe once per week not all days. i work afternoons part time so i cant break my fast aroung noon on those days if i have to workout that day.

i was trying to use his delayed fast method where he works out in the morning with BCAA and then takes some BCAA every other hour leading up until the time he breaks his fast. the reason i wanted to do this was to promote muscle growth and use the BCAA post to hold off catabolism until i can eat. i might just go with 15g BCAA and some creatine.

this would be no problem if i were to take it starting at the feed window right? in terms of being in a fasted stated(with only BCAA) that would burn more fat and make me more anabolic wouldnt it because of the fasted state?

The “beauty” of IF is the fasted training followed by a HUGE meal post-workout. I was against training fasted, but now, scoop some beta-alanine, into some BCAAs and my workouts are as good as they’ve ever been. The “gaining” you want to do can be done post workout by consuming large amounts of carbs (80g< ) and protein (shit ton).

[quote]eightohfive wrote:
The “beauty” of IF is the fasted training followed by a HUGE meal post-workout. I was against training fasted, but now, scoop some beta-alanine, into some BCAAs and my workouts are as good as they’ve ever been. The “gaining” you want to do can be done post workout by consuming large amounts of carbs (80g< ) and protein (shit ton). [/quote]

do you only do fasted workouts now? do you follow his 10g BCAA protocol? in regards to the SWF+MAG-10 and then Surge recovery peri workout i posted, if i intend to use that at the start of my 8 hour feeding time should i even include the recovery? i know when taking the anaconda protocol the SR is omitted, although im not using anaconda i am using the SWF and MAG-10.

have you ever used SWF or SR? if so have you noticed a difference in taking those peri-workout vs just using BCAAs in a fasted state in regards to recovery,fat loss,gaining?

I used IF to drop some fat over the summer, did the LeanGains 16/8, with one preworkout meal.

I’m back in a gaining phase, and kind (just naturally kind of), fast for roughly 13 hours everyday, which seems to be kind of the sweet spot for me. I’m not strict with it, and some days, I don’t even get to fast. I fast different then most, because after reading some posts from MODOK on here, and doing more research, I actually eat when I wake up, and stop eating at night, like around 9…

Honestly, however you want to eat, I don’t think it matters. The one thing I took from IF’ing was that, as long as my macros and caloric intake were in place, I got results, no matter how many meals I ate. So I think if you’re going to do a IF style, just do it. You shouldn’t be stressed that one day the fast is cut short, or extended, or whatever. It’s sweating the small stuff that’ll hurt progress more then anything.

for the past couple weeks, i’ve been having a meal ~2-3 hours before i workout. Been working 8 hours days, and cant make it to the gym til about 6 at night, so it’s fucked up my IF schedule. Anyhow, the meal is small, something like cottage cheese and broccoli, or avocado and a lean-beef burger patty, Something that’ll digest slowly, i would still consider it fasted training.

ANYHOW, yes i only train fasted, i do not do any pre-workout specific meals. I do follow 10g BCAAs (scivation Xtend) coupled with Beta-alanine(Now! foods), beta alanine is fantastic, it seems to give me a serious amount of stamina/energy. Honestly, the feeling of being “empty” during a workout is amazing, you get used to it, training on a full stomach sucks in my opinion and i doubt i’ll ever do it again. however I would consider myself more physique oriented rather than BB, but i still push decent #s @ 190lbs (squat 375x4, roman-dl 335x6, bench 275x2).

As for the SR, it would be a very useful tool for recovery/muscle building, i think it’s reputation is more than made, and would serve as an excellent source of fast acting carbs. As for SWF, i do have a tub, got halfway through it before i started IF. Fasted training is a big part of IF from what i’ve read, so i’m not sure if it would be recommended, however, if it is in your feeding window, i dont see why it would not work.

Been thinking about including SWF before my heavier days once i’ve reached my ideal BF%, cuz i do have half a tub left.