Protein Cycling: Madness or Genius?

Carb Cycling. We have all heard this nutrition plan a thousand times, if not more. However, there’s another nutrition plan which I happened to stumble upon through a friend of mine: Protein Cycling.

This guy is apparently thinking about beginning a program called Optimum Anabolics. Wondering what it is, I looked at the ebook. It is THE most horribly, inconceivably awfully laid out weight lifting ebook I’ve ever seen (Rather resembling a 2nd graders doodling on Microsoft Word).

Getting past the shitty layout, there were pages of classic advice that everyone can find free on the web (muscle magazines suck, you need rest, concentric should be explosive eccentric controlled blablabla) and a royally retarded workout as if designed to defy every principle mentioned beforehand (a 5 day split with everything pre-exhaustion and a 50-50 isolation/compound ratio, 12 supersets per workout of 8-12 reps taken to positive failure. Speak of how muscle magazines suck!).

Anyway, on to the main point, getting past the first facepalms, there was something radical in the program. Its nutrition section was based on something called “Protein Cycling”. Long story short, you cycle between high (1.14 grams/lbs of bodyweight. No, seriously, 1 point fucking 14) and low (30 grams a day) protein phases. In a 24 week cycle, it’s 6 high 3 low 6 high 3 low 6 high).

The idea behind this is roughly the same as how when you enter a very low fat diet, your body rebounds by clinging onto its fat sources and getting even fatter as a result, though there are some more technical details outlined. To quote the book:

â??Thatâ??s rightâ?¦you can actually GROW massive amounts of muscle
WITHOUT all the mountains of protein youâ??ve been brainwashed into
thinking you need!
As a matter of fact, during short periods of extreme protein
restriction, increases in growth hormone ALONE have been known
to rise up to 1000% above their normal levels!
No, thatâ??s NOT a typoâ?¦â?¦â?¦â?¦up to ONE THOUSAND PERCENT!â??
(Anderson, 20 (I seriously fucking did this on a forum))

The genius/madman/cretin behind this idea is Jeff “Muscle Nerd” Anderson. I seriously think that this advice can lead to devastating physiological effects, but we’ve all been heard of the adaptive nature of humankind, yet I doubt that I’d be an eager guinea pig of this experiment.

What do you think of this?

Christian Thibaudeau has been discussing this lately. From what I saw, he was advocating a single low protein day each week though (and then six days of standard protein intake). Thibs mentioned that it is a good tool for natty lifters. I’ve started to play around with one low protein day each week, but I haven’t seen any huge changes yet.

BBB- is it just not a worthwhile addition to the ‘assisted’ lifter’s diet? Thibs specified that it’s beneficial for natty lifters, but is it unnecessary (or even detrimental) for those who are incorporating drugs into their plans?

Came across this: All Articles - T NATION

You’re probably thinking that none of this sounds too great so far. Well, here’s one major benefit that will get your attention. During these periods of decreased protein consumption the body’s growth hormone production can increase to TEN TIMES THE NORMAL LEVEL! That’s not a misprint. Ten times the normal level of GH! Do I have your attention yet? This level remains elevated for greater than a month after the readdition of protein to the diet. In some cases GH can remain at levels 100% above normal levels twenty-five days after increasing protein consumption.4

I have no idea who Marcus Jones is, but the fact that he has this article published on T-Nation shows merit.

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau has been discussing this lately. From what I saw, he was advocating a single low protein day each week though (and then six days of standard protein intake). Thibs mentioned that it is a good tool for natty lifters. I’ve started to play around with one low protein day each week, but I haven’t seen any huge changes yet.

BBB- is it just not a worthwhile addition to the ‘assisted’ lifter’s diet? Thibs specified that it’s beneficial for natty lifters, but is it unnecessary (or even detrimental) for those who are incorporating drugs into their plans?[/quote]

From the same article: “Natural and assisted (a euphemism for “juiced to the hilt”) bodybuilders will benefit immensely from cycling protein because of all the physiologic adaptations that can be achieved by “tricking” the body in the manner I am about to outline”

I’ve introduced low protein days recently (once a week, only protein is whatever I have during training in the form of MAG-10, plus pre-meal leucine) and dropped my protein intake on regular days a little bit (from roughly 300g to 250g or so).

It’s been about a month and I haven’t found it to be the least bit detrimental. I have definitely made some pretty good strength gains in that period.

Even if it doesn’t have any additional positive effects, it does leave a little bit more money in my pocket.

Note that I am roughly 175-180lbs, so I have no way of telling how this would affect a heavier trainee. I am also focusing on strength/explosiveness right now, so I am not trying to gain maximum mass. So I can’t say if it’s detrimental to muscle gain, or on the contrary.

B.

Interesting. Carb backloading is said to promote GH release too. I’m not even going to try and bother posting the links, but google “carb” and “kiefer”.

The article by Marcus Jones does advocate replacing protein with carbs. Perhaps the GH elevation is due to the addition of carbs, rather than the elimination of protein.

Fasting is also known to elevate GH.

I like the concept and have used it from time to time.

[quote]Lakkhamu wrote:
Came across this: All Articles - T NATION

You’re probably thinking that none of this sounds too great so far. Well, here’s one major benefit that will get your attention. During these periods of decreased protein consumption the body’s growth hormone production can increase to TEN TIMES THE NORMAL LEVEL! That’s not a misprint. Ten times the normal level of GH! Do I have your attention yet? This level remains elevated for greater than a month after the readdition of protein to the diet. In some cases GH can remain at levels 100% above normal levels twenty-five days after increasing protein consumption.4

I have no idea who Marcus Jones is, but the fact that he has this article published on T-Nation shows merit.[/quote]

This is very interesting. There is another article that is a Q&A with Dr. Jones after the original article. Thoughts?

When I read Lakkhamu’s post and noticed the ‘4’ and thought it may be a reference. Checked it out, shook my head and walked away.

That article was terrible from physiological standpoint.