Dr. Berardi is interested in the PARA workout protocol, but is electing a “wait and see” approach to see what the results are the last I read/heard about it from him.
"Personally, I think that the I, Bodybuilder Program has the makings to be pretty cool and pretty effective for a certain sub-set of trainee.
After all, the idea of loading nutrients, calories, and anaboli6c stimulators around a very intense workout period is a solid one. It takes the idea of nutrient timing to another level, for sure.
However, in all fairness, let’s all keep one thing in mind. THE PROGRAM HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET!
So any speculation about it’s efficacy or legitimacy (or lacktherof) should be reserved until we have something concrete to look at, no?
The T-Nation description of the insulin response phenomenon is too simple. My advice, wait till the full program comes out before toying with this type of thing. The calorie load, carb load, sugar load is pretty big for a natural lifter not using the perfect program.
I guess I have to say “what program?” They’ve only released a 1,000 ft high overview of what’s to come. It’s not specific or detailed enough to analyze as a system. So I think we should just chill out until we see what they have in mind.
The scientific principles they’ve outlined are quite simple - a) raise insulin around the workout while b) providing lots of calories and c) lots of amino acids. And this isn’t new at all.
In fact, my original post-workout articles (from 2000), followed by my pre-workout article (in 2001) covered all of this.
Post-Workout Insulin and Amino Acids
Pre-Workout Insulin and Amino Acids
The only thing they MAY BE doing differently (although I can’t say for sure because we’re all still speculating) is loading LOTS of calories. In other words, giving a massive calorie surplus around the training bout.
As far as the timing, which seems to be the thing that people are focusing on, it’s slightly different (again, based on what they might be recommending when the program is released). But the net result - whether you’re starting 1h before, 5 min before, etc, is a big surge of insulin, aminos, and calories around the training session.
Beyond that, it’s a mystery, isn’t it. For example, we don’t know what kind of workouts they’re going to be recommending. And we don’t even know what’s in Anaconda, do we?
So again, maybe we wait until these details are released before exhaustively discussing their methods or the limited overview they’ve provided to date.
I don’t really do well at playing coy…so I’m not holding anything back. Truly, I don’t really know what the full program will entail. Although I do have some ideas, based on casual conversations with the T-Nation guys.
However, I find it best, as a general rule, to avoid intensive discussion until something’s actually been said. I feel like, all over the internet, people are already “choosing sides” on this project before the guys at T-Nation even release it. That’s bad form.
As far as disappointment, etc, none at all. Tim Patterson has invited me to play a bigger role on all the big T-Nation “Super Programs”. And while it’s a honor to be asked, I’ve been far to busy with all the big things happening on the PN front."