[quote]thomasdwdalton wrote:
you’re recovery may be slow due to low glyc. may I ask why your diet doesn’t include any carbs?[/quote]
Ah yeah, low carb is necessary for losing fat. Which is the OP’s goal.
[quote]Steez wrote:
[quote]thomasdwdalton wrote:
you’re recovery may be slow due to low glyc. may I ask why your diet doesn’t include any carbs?[/quote]
Ah yeah, low carb is a popular method for losing fat. Which is the OP’s goal. [/quote]
Fixed.
Low carb is popular, not “necessary”. Moderate to higher carb diets can absolutely work for fat loss, if everything else (other macros, training, etc.) is dialed in.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]Steez wrote:
[quote]thomasdwdalton wrote:
you’re recovery may be slow due to low glyc. may I ask why your diet doesn’t include any carbs?[/quote]
Ah yeah, low carb is a popular method for losing fat. Which is the OP’s goal. [/quote]
Fixed.
Low carb is popular, not “necessary”. Moderate to higher carb diets can absolutely work for fat loss, if everything else (other macros, training, etc.) is dialed in.[/quote]
Yep. I’ve dieted both with low carb (less than 100g a day every day) and I did a full diet with moderate carbs (200-250g) on all 5 lifting days then less than 100g carbs on the 2 off days. Both worked, neither is “necessary”.
[quote]staystrong wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]Steez wrote:
[quote]thomasdwdalton wrote:
you’re recovery may be slow due to low glyc. may I ask why your diet doesn’t include any carbs?[/quote]
Ah yeah, low carb is a popular method for losing fat. Which is the OP’s goal. [/quote]
Fixed.
Low carb is popular, not “necessary”. Moderate to higher carb diets can absolutely work for fat loss, if everything else (other macros, training, etc.) is dialed in.[/quote]
Yep. I’ve dieted both with low carb (less than 100g a day every day) and I did a full diet with moderate carbs (200-250g) on all 5 lifting days then less than 100g carbs on the 2 off days. Both worked, neither is “necessary”.[/quote]
Noted gents. Thanks for clarifying. Perhaps I should be a little more careful with my wording to avoid confusion.
I’ve tried both, low carb is a faster way of lowering bodyfat.
I came to realize that I would not need to eliminate as much fat in the diet as I supposed, because I am at the same time increasing workload, so I will add more liver meals, but not as many as I had initially planned to earlier.
Chris Colucci mentioned that he did not say something, and he quoted it, but I was not referring only to his comments, his comments along with several others suggested to me the idea that I came to. The others were far stronger in their expression than he was.
I spoke with a contest prep coach over the weekend about what weight he thought was ideal for me. I am very skeptical of the quality of pictures I was able to post on here.
I do not intend to hire anyone for my prep.
However the number he said was 188 + or - 2 lbs. I’m going to talk to some more people at my workshop this weekend to see if that number is relatively accurate.
I wanted to post an update with a few questions. I just finished the first bottle of Indigo today.
I upped the frequency to where I am hitting the entire body once in 6 days, there was a lag after the funeral where I let the diet go a little looser during the 6 hour period after taking Indigo for a few days. There was also a reunion and and Anniversary/Birthday party at the same time. Letting the diet go loose like that this far away from the competition doesn’t bother me, even though I have a fair amount of fat to lose, because I believe that my metabolism will be at a higher rate longer term.
Now to what has happened. On Tues I stepped on the scale for the first time in six days, I weighed 226.2 on the shoulder workout day. This was 2 days after a B leg day, where I hit abs roughly an A day and calves as well, as a C day, C days exist in my offseason training. Since I knew I had been eating a bit more I felt I could handle it.
Notes: All of my isolation exercises gained in strength from my previous bests, so Hamstrong Curls were up like 5 reps and I did 600 lbs on the calf raises for 25 reps, 2 better than my previous best. Recalling these numbers from memory so the Ham # might not be perfectly accurate. All of my Compound exercises were down significantly: My Squat is normally 465 for 7, tried 465 got nothing, dropped to 425 and got 4. In fact I did not even feel I was capable of being powerful like I prefer. This reinforces my belief that my CNS is the part the does not recover fast enough.
The next day my Legs were enormous, so were my calves and abs. I also note that my water retention and bloating were up significantly, I was really concerned I was getting fatter. This was the 226.2 day.
That day I went in for a B shoulders workout, and an A Biceps workout. Same result for my isolation numbers (personal bests), and with regards to my compound movements (crushing defeat!).
The next day my shoulders and biceps were huge and my legs were still very large, the leg thing is not a good thing really since my legs already dominate my physique. I also gained a full pound despite strictly following the diet (227.2). This day I did not workout, I played some hockey and did a little cardio (cut the grass!).
The following day (today) I weighed 225.6. I went in for Chest (B) and Rear Delts. Same story, personal bests on isolation moves, gaining about 4 reps and getting crushed on the compound moves.
I notice the water retention is still there, as well as the bloating. However some areas are more defined, such as the Sartorius especially, but also the quads and the Hammies. But less so in the abs.
Tomorrow is a day off, because I’m playing hockey again, and I’ll be doing Back on Saturday.
Questions: Is part of the reason my isolation moves, which are also higher reps. are up because those rep ranges tend to rely on more glycogen, and my body is using it more efficiently?
Is the water retention and bloating caused by the same issue? Or can that be more appropriately blamed on the increase in carbs?
Edit: shoulder day was 1 day after leg day.
223.0 today, separation in all four quads, more obvious veins, including the triceps. Still bloating and the abs are not as defined as at 222.0.
I went to the workshop on the weekend, the guy there putting on the event spoke to me and said I needed to lose 30lbs. I was at 222 at the time. Everyone who works with the organization had been a competitor at some time. That being said, I would rather risk being small than not being ripped so I will still aim for the 188 number.
Today I was at 221.0. Went in for a Leg workout, there were veins visible in my Hamstrings, mean to say they were popping out, not just visible.
My dieted numbers keep going up (strength and reps). Which is good, but my weight is not going down as quickly as I would like.
I think when I use this product again it will be before I begin my competition prep, not during it, since it is eating up a lot of time, where even on a low cal diet I am getting behind. I appreciate the muscle I am gaining, but also know that I only have a limited time. We shall see how the rest of my time goes.
I haven’t really talked about the overtraining that I have encountered at this point and I do not want to dwell on it so I will just list the symptoms:
- I can’t sleep as long as I normally can, normally this can occur when you get super lean, not there yet.
- Lack of energy, lethargy- even though I am actually stronger on Indigo than while dieting but before taking it, I do not have the same energy levels.
- Trouble staying hydrated- I’m drinking a ton of water, thinking over the day today I would be low-balling it if I said I drank a gallon.
- Lack of focus. Explains itself, I actually have trouble getting myself to read for very long, fortunately my exams are done for now.
[quote]tuttle wrote:
I think when I use this product again it will be before I begin my competition prep, not during it, since it is eating up a lot of time, where even on a low cal diet I am getting behind. I appreciate the muscle I am gaining, but also know that I only have a limited time. We shall see how the rest of my time goes.[/quote]
Are you suggesting that the Indigo is hindering fat loss? I find this very, very hard to believe.
Did not say that.
I said that the need to increase carbs and therefore overall calories is. I am getting more cut, but not at the rate I had been before it. My weight has stabilized.
Earlier I talked about low carbs being a better way to diet, this is one of the articles I was thinkig of at the time I said that: The Hidden Story About Calories and Weight Loss
I’ve just decided to do the show in early April that they have.
The show I was aiming for is about 10 weeks away and I have more than 30 lbs to lose so it’s just not ideal.
I weigh 217.4 at the moment.
Today again I met with a different Pro natural bodybuilder who trains at my gym, he’s a pro with the INFA or INPA whatever it is called, he’s training at the moment for the Natural Olympia in their org in early November at the moment. Since I have had so many different opinions on my weight in competition shape I asked him what he thought I should be aiming for and he said 185ish. A little closer to what was said on here than previous estimates. But whatever the case is I have time to cut and gain or at least maintain my weight but add muscle like I was before I started dieting harder.
For those interested in my non-diet training it looks very different from this and I’ll put it in my next post.
The workout scheme goes ABCBA, and it can be adapted for strong or lagging body parts.
So for example on shoulders or chest where I need to grow it could look like ABCBCBCBA. And on Legs where I do not need to grow it could go ABABABABCBA… or AAAAAABAAAAA. Or what I am planning on doing, splitting the Hamstrings and Quads into separate schemes with Quads getting more A’s and the Hams getting more C’s.
A workouts for Chest, biceps and Hamstrings are 10 sets of 10 reps not taken to failure.
A for Back, shoulders and quads are 8 sets of 12 reps not taken to failure.
A for triceps and Squats (which for whatever reason change the way that the quads and hams work together and so change the best reps range for this system) are 5 sets of 8 not to failure.
B workouts I have changed (unwittingly at the time, I thought he meant for sets to be taken to failure all the time) for Dr. Squats original program.
2 sets of 4-8 to failure
2 sets of 8-15 to failure
And one set that I aim for 8-15 but does not always land there, often lower, but I am okay with that because it generally rotates and means that I get a fairly even mis in there because of it.
C workouts are the ones that I get real excited about, and I believe are the effective mass builders in the program. for simplicity 5= 4-8 reps and 12= 8-15. This is a giant superset workout. All sets done with at most 15 second rest. I pick one exercise for the 4-8 rep range, one more for the 8-15 and one for the 20 rep range.
It goes like this: 5-12-5-12-5-20-5-12-5-20-5. All sets to failure except the sets of 20. For lagging bodyparts you can repeat after 10 minutes rest, but I am not sure that is as effective a strategy as increasing the frequency of C workouts. I generally find it is better to pick one isolation move for either the 12 or 5 rep range, otherwise the assisting muscles cannot keep up.
I ended up getting down to 182 back in April, and I was told that my competition weight would have to be 168 (I am 5’8) to have “shredded glutes”. We have a number of professional naturals at my gym, in the INBA, one of them I believe got 7th at their Mr. Olympia, though that number could be wrong. It was one of them that gave me that number, unfortunately, due to family issues I had to call off the show. I am back in school now so I plan to do a show next summer.
In the past I had written posts about not being able to recover as fast as others and feeling destroyed after hard workouts, I only learned recently that it was my fault for not adequately hydrating myself after my workouts.
I ate a little bit after calling off the show, now I am maintaining a weight below 200 lbs, but I think it is more accurate to say I am losing a little less than a pound a week right now.
I should mention I never did the full liver thing, it became apparent to me that there was not a chance in hell I could diet down in time for the Halloween show, so I should just pull back a little.
Is there anyone here who has used Micro-PA and can give me some feedback on it?