I figured this would be best put in the nutrition section but, then I figured I really need to hear specifically from other powerlifter.
In November I competing at the SPF Record Breakers and am looking at totaling about 1500 if all goes well. I am currently weighing in at 220 in the morning but really want ot lean out and get down close enough to make 198 comfortably. I just can not lose any strength during this cut I can afford it.
SO what is probably going to be the most effective wqay for me to go about this? I have only really dieted extremely hard core and awesome for losing body fat I lost a insane amount of strength as well. Just to be honest if you have not seen before I am running 1000mg Test and 500mg Tren right now as well so I def have assistance with holding on to the strength but don’t want to compromise it going stupid on the diet.
I really think JM is spot on with his ideas on peri / intra workout nutrition. I noticed a large difference in muscle soreness and recovery while dieting when I started to follow his advice. Strong recovery = better intensity inside the gym = maintaining more strength.
How important are carbs to you? If you feel as though you can still perform with less, then do so. Also, throwing in some fasted cardio wouldn’t hurt, either. Tim Henriques has a great walking program on this website that you can look up. Each part of the program is about 9 weeks long and it goes 4 days a week, getting progressively more difficult each week. Hope this helps.
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
How important are carbs to you? If you feel as though you can still perform with less, then do so. Also, throwing in some fasted cardio wouldn’t hurt, either. Tim Henriques has a great walking program on this website that you can look up. Each part of the program is about 9 weeks long and it goes 4 days a week, getting progressively more difficult each week. Hope this helps.
CS[/quote]
I am not 100% sure I know when it comes to dropping carbs I lose a rediculus amount of water quickly as its the main way I cut weight for a comp. How ever going on a long term lower carb I have never experimented with. But I was thinking something along the lines of dropping carbs other than right after waking and after training would probably be the way I would go maybe do something along these lines critique me if I am just way off base here
Breakfast
4 Jumbo Eggs Omelete with Low Fat Cheese, 1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt with 1 cup Blue Berries and 1/2 cup sliced Strawberries.
Probably seems pretty low to most but, I have always had a very hard time keeping excess fat and water off even when I bulk I hardly go over 3000 kcals daily. I used to be extremely overweight as in 250+lbs at 5’2" with a 52in waist line ( Now 220lbs 5’7" with a 36in waist ). Ever since losing it all I just get fat easily if I keep calories as high as most suggest.
Just monitor your food intake and adjust. It really is amazing how easily this can work, as long as you track your macronutrients with reasonable accuracy.
If you decide to limit carbs, try to keep them immediately before and during as opposed to after training (branched-chain cyclic dextrin and Vitargo are very easy to digest if you have problems with feeling sick etc., and are much more effective than other carbohydrate sources during training as they can be used as fuel or stored as glycogen more quickly).
Also, if dropping weight is affecting your lifts, try glycerol to pull more water into the muscles (10-20g to start; once before training, and once before each lift for competition - of course you will want to drop this before the weigh-in, as it will increase your weight a bit).
[quote]halcj wrote:
Just monitor your food intake and adjust. It really is amazing how easily this can work, as long as you track your macronutrients with reasonable accuracy.
If you decide to limit carbs, try to keep them immediately before and during as opposed to after training (branched-chain cyclic dextrin and Vitargo are very easy to digest if you have problems with feeling sick etc., and are much more effective than other carbohydrate sources during training as they can be used as fuel or stored as glycogen more quickly).
Also, if dropping weight is affecting your lifts, try glycerol to pull more water into the muscles (10-20g to start; once before training, and once before each lift for competition - of course you will want to drop this before the weigh-in, as it will increase your weight a bit).[/quote]
Thanks man will begin researching these immediately.
Given your calories are so low and you are using AAS, you might benefit from adding protein in place of some fat (given that the problem of low fat intake reducing testosterone is not relevant).
If you have 24 hour weigh-ins you can probably lose quite a bit in water as well, without too much strength loss.
Just some thoughts… Good luck!
I know it’s a little controversial around here, but I’ve personally had good luck using anabolic diet (AD). I just don’t know if you have enough time to implement the diet, and then allow your strength to level out. When I’ve used it in the past, I’ve had a 3 week drop in strength that seems to bounce back to normal. The benefits that I found(enjoyed) were not having to cut any calories, just mess with macros.
Thought I’d bring it up because it seems like your diet already leans this way, and it might be something you’ve already played with in the past. The AD run to the letter is great for dropping weight(fat) and maintaining strength, might be something to try in the future when you have more time. Goodluck
Probably seems pretty low to most but, I have always had a very hard time keeping excess fat and water off even when I bulk I hardly go over 3000 kcals daily. I used to be extremely overweight as in 250+lbs at 5’2" with a 52in waist line ( Now 220lbs 5’7" with a 36in waist ). Ever since losing it all I just get fat easily if I keep calories as high as most suggest.[/quote]
Vitrually the same diet took me from 221 (a little overloaded by 4-7 pounds) to 192 (pretty depleted) in 9 weeks. Then brought cals up by about 600 per day for 5 weeks, and about 200-300 grams carbs, and came back up to 196-198 and at that point I was at the same strength level as when I started.
I think it would be important to get UNDER 198 within 8-10 weeks by 5-6 pounds and then have at least a couple to come back up. Even if you have lost a lot, if you train heavy while you add back the 5-6 pounds you can get a quick shot of strength back.
Now I personally never feel weak training on low carbs. I also did not take carbs post workout except for week 5 out of 9, and then starting at week 10 after I had dropped to 192. So I probably averaged more like 90 grams of carbs a day for 4 weeks, 250 in week 5, 90 in weeks 6-9, and 250 from week 10 on.
[quote]Reed wrote:
I figured this would be best put in the nutrition section but, then I figured I really need to hear specifically from other powerlifter.
In November I competing at the SPF Record Breakers and am looking at totaling about 1500 if all goes well. I am currently weighing in at 220 in the morning but really want ot lean out and get down close enough to make 198 comfortably. I just can not lose any strength during this cut I can afford it.
SO what is probably going to be the most effective wqay for me to go about this? I have only really dieted extremely hard core and awesome for losing body fat I lost a insane amount of strength as well. Just to be honest if you have not seen before I am running 1000mg Test and 500mg Tren right now as well so I def have assistance with holding on to the strength but don’t want to compromise it going stupid on the diet.[/quote]
LOL. With that much gear you won’t have any trouble keeping strength up as long as you don’t freaking starve yourself. Most of the “strength” you lose will be loss of water stored in/around the muscles which helps with lifting strength (glycogen) but that should be minimized with the AAS. Not saying you were wrong about the last time you dieted, just saying given current circumstances you’re pretty good.
I would expect a small amount of strength lost due to bodyweight/water/glycogen loss during diet. This is unavoidable, but doesn’t and shouldn’t be a lot. and by the time november runs around you should be ok anyways.
Easiest way to do this is to hammer nutrients and carbs around the workout time (such as Meadows and CT do), but cut calories and carbs for the rest of the day. This will preserve more of your energy for training while still allowing you to cut some. IMO the very very last thing that should be cut when dieting is the training nutrition. Load that shit up.
Don’t remember when you train but I think I recall it was afternoons? If so, easiest time to cut calories from is the evening meals, particularly the last meal of the day. Keep breakfast the same, pre-training the same, cut down on post training calories and carbs but keep the protein. Then last meal is small (time this so you are not hungry when going to bed, cuz I can’t sleep when I’m starving). Sort of a reverse pyramid thing.
The walking program is a great idea as well. If you can drop about 8-10 lbs of water you should be good to go, so you only need to drop about 12-15 lbs.