Hi,
This is my first post here. I am female 35 years old (yikes) I feel old around here. Well, I am not new to weight training, have been seriously since I was 19. I made it to The Canadian Nationals and gave up since I decided that I didnt want the same hormonal profile as my husband. My question is that I have been following John Berardis diet/exercise recommendations with good results. I am already pretty lean, abs all of the time, not sure of BF%, I am 5"5",130 lbs. I find that when I do my training after my P+F meal that I have little energy. The thought of doing any cardio afterwards is daunting. Now I do have two children 5 years and 3 years of age, so they definetly are an energy drain. The only supplements I use are fish oil capsules, flax seed oil and GNC protein powder that I add corn syrup to increase the carbs and drink half of it during my workout and the other half following. I would love to use Biotest supplements but with the money exchange rate, it gets pretty pricey. GNC sells a little of it but the price is crazy, Grow and Surge both sell for $89.99, $71.99 with a gold card. Sorry to ramble, my daughter is having a slight tantrum at the moment and it is a little distracting. So back to the question, do any of you that follow JB diet recommendations find that during your workouts you feel energyless and that you are running out of gas? First meal of the day is P+F and then my workout usually follows 60-90 min. after. Thanks in advance for any input.
Lita I always have lots of energy following JB’s advice, but then I have always had a lot of energy. Too many carbs at the wrong time will make me feel a little groggy, but that’s about it. SNDcanada.com sells Surge and Grow for $50 (no taxes)each. If you are in Ontario will likely get your order within 24hrs. On the east coast try heavyweights.com, they are in Nfld. and have the same pricing. GNC is a total rip off. Throw that gold card away. $90 with 20% off unbelievable! GNC SUCKS!!
Okay this might sound real lamo as you sound like you’ve been in the iron game a while, but one of the things I’ve had to do recently was to workout at different times during the day, and chart my progress at each time. My main problem, is that no matter what I’m eating (either P+F or P+C), I have times during the day where my body shuts down and I feel incredibly lethargic. Caffeine slightly helps, but I still feel it. So I plotted these times and gradually discovered when the best time(s) during the day are (for me) to workout. I know that P+F meals do help me before lifting. Is there any other time during the day you have a chance to lift? (I know it’s tough with the rug rats…hehee)…
just my 2 cents.
Hi,
Thanks “Shit disturber” LOL, I am in Ontario, Ill check out that site. eyuzwa, I have tried different times of training. The only reason I have noticed the lack of energy is I normally have tons of energy. I just feel like I am dragging my ass compared to training with carbs. I guess I will have to play with it. I just wondered if anyone else out there felt less energy from their workouts with P+F meals. I once about 9 years ago, did Dr. Mario D'Pasquale's high fat diet,this was before his book. He had me doing all different phases, like having us eat marshmellows, pop tarts during and after our workouts. He definetly was ahead of his time, one interesting man. Thanks again for your input, Ill have to experiment a little.
Hey Lita. From a muscle glycogen point of view, training after one P+F meal is like training very first thing in the morning – you’ll still be quite glycogen depleted from your overnight fast. Try getting one or two P+C meals in in the morning before training. I think that should help.
Zev,
That would be my first plan, but then it would not fit into JB 6 hr rule. No carb meals 60-90 min before training and adding carbs in the 6 hours after training.
Hey. Just a thought, but here goes. I personally have never had any particular energy problems with a P&F meal before training (or with P&C for that matter), but I did notice a bit of an energy drain when I turned about 36-37.
Sorry, I know that’s probably not what you wanted to hear. But you may just be experiencing an age adjustment. Try cutting back a bit if the others’ advice doesn’t work for you. Oh, and there are plenty of people here who are older than you - just ask Avoids Roids!
Lita: JB has written that his no-carbs-60-to-90 -minutes-before-training rule doesn’t apply when training in the morning (for the glycogen-related reason I stated in my last post); in fact, he’s written (don’t remember exactly where) that if you’re training first thing in the morning you should consume a quickly-assimilated high-carb drink like Surge on your way to the gym. Since you’re not training VERY first thing in the morning, the rationale behind consuming carbs stands but in a slightly modified fashion: you’ll want to comsume lower GI carbs than Surge to avoid the insulin spike. This isn’t counter to JB’s writings at all – hell, JB’s written that he even mixes fats and carbs in some meals (gasp!) as long as the carbs are super low-GI (beans, oatmeal, etc.). If you want to go breakfasty, I’d suggest trying oatmeal with some protein powder mixed in.
Hi,
I am going to try JB’s stagger method of eating P+C alternating with P+F, I am sure that I will feel much better. Thanks, did try the protein pwdr added to oatmeal. I have been researching testosterone for answers and the forum also. I`ll post my response to the staggering method. P.S. I am having a mini break from training, husband working 3, 12 hr shifts in a row and stuck home with a 5 and 3 year old. Thanks everyone for your advice.