I have two cardio days. One is a boring old 30 minute jog where I play around a little with the tempo. I do this because two HIIT sessions interfere too much with my lifting, and simply because it’s easy to get done. The other day I do hill sprints of about 90 meters at app. a 30 degree angle. I’ve been adding one every week starting easy with six.
I have four lifting sessions on an upper-lower body split where I use a Norwegian cluster system called myo-reps. You start with a regular set, and lift until you have one or two reps left in you, take eight to ten deep breaths and tack on clusters with that interval until you have anywhere between nine and sixteen extra reps, depending on frequency, volume, ability to recover etc. You start with a priming phase designed to increase capilarisation. For the first two weeks you do 20-25+5+5+5, but with autoregulation, so it’s never an absolute. The for the next two weeks you move down to 15-20+4+4+4+4. Then you start the actual building phase, and go gradually lower until you’re doing six plus singles.
I’ve done it before on a bulk, and it is by far the most effective method I have tried.
I made the diet myself, but the ideas are partly based on myo-rep creator Borge Fagerli’s advice. He doesn’t advocate fasting for everyone, but it works for a lot of people. He says that you should listen to your body, and then decide. The idea that fasting this way might be smart comes from among other things this study, and a few other studies made on meal frequency and hypertrophy. I, however always eat prior to training to get enough energy to go balls to the wall:
Increased p70(s6k) phosphorylation during intake of a protein-carbohydrate drink following resistance exercise in the fasted state.
Deldicque L, De Bock K, Maris M, Ramaekers M, Nielens H, Francaux M, Hespel P.
Research Group in Muscle and Exercise Physiology, Institute of Neurosciences, UCLouvain, Place Pierre de Coubertin 1, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
The present study aimed at comparing the responses of myogenic regulatory factors and signaling pathways involved in muscle protein synthesis after a resistance training session performed in either the fasted or fed state. According to a randomized crossover study design, six young male subjects participated in two experimental sessions separated by 3 weeks. In each session, they performed a standardized resistance training. After the sessions, they received during a 4-h recovery period 6 ml/kg b.w. h of a solution containing carbohydrates (50 g/l), protein hydrolysate (33 g/l), and leucine (16.6 g/l). On one occasion, the resistance exercise session was performed after the intake of a carbohydrate-rich breakfast (B), whereas in the other session they remained fasted (F). Needle biopsies from m. vastus lateralis were obtained before (Rest), and 1 h (+1h) and 4 h (+4h) after exercise. Myogenin, MRF4, and MyoD1 mRNA contents were determined by RT-PCR. Phosphorylation of PKB (protein kinase B), GSK3, p70(s6k) (p70 ribosomal S6 kinase), eIF2B, eEF2 (eukaryotic elongation factor 2), ERK1/2, and p38 was measured via western blotting. Compared with F, the pre-exercise phosphorylation states of PKB and p70(s6k) were higher in B, whereas those of eIF2B and eEF2 were lower. During recovery, the phosphorylation state of p70(s6k) was lower in B than in F (p = 0.02). There were no differences in basal mRNA contents between B and F. However, compared with F at +1h, MyoD1 and MRF4 mRNA contents were lower in B (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that prior fasting may stimulate the intramyocellular anabolic response to ingestion of a carbohydrate/protein/leucine mixture following a heavy resistance training session.
The dude actually walks year round with about 5,5% in fatpercent and deadlifts 270kg which is quite good! He was a former fat boy, so being that lean didnt come automatic to him!