Coach,
I have just read your article Carb Cycling Codex and it got me thinking about how I want to proceed with my diet to work with my goals. I am 28 years old, 6’0’', 208lbs. Although I had experimented with weight lifting in high school and on and off since, I really only consider the last year or two to be serious training. I am for the most part, happy with my physique but do manage to hang on to some fat around my mid-section especially the love handles. My primary goal is increasing strength on the overhead press, squat, bench press and deadlift so I have been utilizing a 4-day 5/3/1 training split but splitting so that I never have more than one rest day as I have seen you suggest in the past. I have also added in accessory work to compliment the primary lifts to address weaknesses and hypertrophy as well as mobility/stability and conditioning work. So all of this has led me to the next factor that has been limiting my success which is my diet.
Bottom-line is I wake up at 0400 and begin training at 0430. It is not always ideal but it is all I have right now with my work schedule and I have gotten used to it over the last year+. The reason I bring up my training time is because I have looked into things like the leangains IF diet and 5/2 for lifters and I have only just now stumbled upon the article I mentioned above. Given that I train so early, I was wondering if it is more advantageous to consume most of my carbs at night or still upon waking pre-workout. Basically I am just looking to maximize strategies that are consistent with my goals but limit excess fat gain. I appreciate any insight you may have
