Diet/Training

[GynoRhino]

Want your opinions on this:

I'm 5'10", 210lbs. 19yrs old, about 16% bodyfat. I like my weight (for now), but I don't like that extra fat around my gut and pec area. I want to lose the fat, and keep the muscle. Now, I could just get on a good cycle and cut, and keep that muscle mass, but my money is really really tight right now. I'm wondering about a more zig-zag approach. Kind of like the old Hatfield approach. I'm going to try and stay at 210 pounds. With my BF%, I have about 175lbs. of lean body mass. I would like to bring my lean body mass to 190lbs. while remaining at 210lbs. That would give me a bodyfat perecentage of about 9-10%, which is fine. I know it's extremely hard to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. This is why I will take a sort of zig-zag approach. Time is NOT AN ISSUE here! I'm willing to spend alot of time with this program if it will work to get to my goals! I would like to have about 200lbs. of LBM before I start juicing (which will take a few years). Here's my program:

Monday (4000 Cal / 35%Pro / 45%Carbs / 20%Fat)
LEGS (3 x Squats / 4 x Leg Ext / 4 x Leg Curls / 2 x Seated Calves / 2 x Standing Calves / Abs that night)

Tuesday (4000 Cal / 35%Pro / 45%Carbs / 20%Fat)
CHEST/BIS (3 x DB Bench / 3 x Inc. BB Bench / 2 x DB Flyes / 3 x EZBar Curls / 2 x Alt. DB Curls / Grip work)

Wednesday (2500 Cal / 40%Pro / 30%Carbs / 30%Fat)
No training, maybe aerobics? What you all think?

Thursday (4000 Cal / 35%Pro / 45%Carbs / 20%Fat)
SHOULDERS (3 x DB Shoulder Press / 3 x Upright Rows / 2 x Lateral Raises / 2 x BB Shrugs / 2 x Bent Laterals / Abs that night)

Friday (4000 Cal / 35%Pro / 45%Carbs / 20%Fat)
BACK/TRIS (3 x Chins / 3 x BB Rows / 2 x OneArm DB Rows / 3 x Lying Tri Exts / 2 x Tri Pressdowns / Grip work)

Saturday (2500 Cal / 40%Pro / 30%Carbs / 30%Fat)
No training, maybe aerobics? What you all think?

Sunday (2500 Cal / 40%Pro / 30%Carbs / 30%Fat)
No training, maybe aerobics? What you all think?

I of course drink a Gallon of water everyday, supplement with Creatine, multi, B-complex, ZMA. Now, I can stick to this perfectly. Do you think that my goals are realistic? I need feedback here.

 

[GynoRhino]

bumpin'

 

[Vageta]

Explain your reasons for alternating your caloric intake. Obviously on workout days you are shooting over maintenance to achieve muscle gain. However are you eating low calories on off days in attempt to burn off fat or do you consider 2500 calories your maintenance?

Trying to build mass and lose fat in the short span of a day or two is difficult. The problem is protein synthesis after a workout doesn't magically stop at a specific time. If you worked out Monday morning then the next morning your muscles still aren't fully recovered so switching to a diet phase will cut out some of your growth opportunity. Some argue that most of the growth occurs in the first 24 hours so by cutting if off after that won't mean much loss. This may well be true but I think it all depends on the person. Some of us may have faster muscle recovery and growth than others so it's kind of an experimentation thing.

Personally in your situation I would do more of an alternating weekly cycle. Instead of trying to guesstimate calorie intake on a daily basis, do it every other week. Try to gain muscle for a week, then diet for a week, and repeat. This way you know for a fact that your muscles are in the best situation for growth and then the next week you are in the best situation for fat loss. None of this in between guessing and hoping. The trick is to not try to gain too much or lose too much in either week. Don't try to gain or lose more than 1 pound either way. Losing fat much faster than that will most likely burn off any muscle you managed to gain in the previous week. And alternately, gaining more than a pound a week will most likely add enough fat that you won't be able to lose it in the following week. I'd shoot for no more than 500 extra calories a day during the bulk week(don't forget to consider calories burned in the workout) and only shoot for a 300 calorie deficit in the cutting week along with your workouts and some cardio.

If you alternated this cycle correctly for a few months I think you'd see some definite growth and fat loss. And over the span of this time you are essentially doing both. This is just an idea, but you could do it more scientifically if you really wanted. You could take skinfold and circumfrence measurements to track any growth or loss. It may take awhile to nail down proper caloric intake for each phase and thus a week at a time may not get you very far. So if you aimed to meet certain goals in each phase and were open about the length you could eventually nail it down. For instance take a skinfold measurement on your abdomen and plan to bulk until it raises 1mm. It may take 2 weeks, 1 week or 3 days. Based on how long it takes would tell you how much to adjust your setup. If it took 2 weeks then you should add a bit more calories to shorten it to 1 week. For dieting phase you could diet until you lost than extra 1mm(for keeping fat % the same), or shoot to lose 2mm(for slowly losing fat %). If you chose the latter route I'd say it's probably safer to diet longer than bulk or else you're risking muscle loss as you won't be able to lose 2mm in a weeks time.

This doesn't have to be a perfect weekly deal either. You could bulk for 5 days and diet for 10. It doesn't matter so long as you alternate your phases. This has great hormonal advantages too. By keeping diet phases short you lessen the chance of your body adapting and thus fat loss will be easier. And by keeping bulking phases short you should be able to keep fat gain down. I find that when I take a week off of diet and training I don't really gain much fat. It's as if my body is so confused it is trying to burn off all the extra calories it's not used to. However if I extended it any longer than a week I feel it would eventually catch on and start storing fat. My BMR is about 3000 and last week I was averaging an easy 4000 a day in junk food with absolutely zero exercise and I didn't walk away with any extra weight amazingly enough. I have a mediocre metabolism at best as well so I contribute it to the fact that my body didn't have time to adjust to the new situation.

At any rate that is how I am going to bulk this winter. I had considered doing it now but I really want to get bodyfat down as low as possible first for a cruise I have coming up. Plus bulking at lower bodyfat makes it easier to keep your bodyfat in check. You don't sound like you're in a big rush so I think alternating cycles is perfect for you.

 

[GynoRhino]

Thanks for the reply! That sounds like an excellent idea. Week by week would work well. What kind of macronutrient ratios do you suggest for the cutting weeks? Do you think low-carb is the way to go or just a 33/33/33 kind of calorie intake?? My maintenance is about 3400 or so.

 

[Vageta]

I'd suggest a "lower" carb diet on the cutting weeks but not necessarily keto. In fact doing a keto diet every other work may be a bit tough as your body never really adjusts fully. It usually takes a couple weeks of keto before the body truly adapts to it and by alternating it with a normal diet week I'm not sure it would be easy on your energy levels. You could always try though.

I'd suggest a 50/30/20 ratio of pro/carbs/fat during the cutting phase. Keeping protein high and carbs moderate is a good choice. You could do a complete iso-caloric diet but I wouldn't want to see either fat or carbs go above 33%.

For bulking definately keep your fat low. Carbs are needed to gain muscle efficiently so don't try to shoot so low. I think 45/40/15 or 40/40/20 would be great. Just make sure the small amount of fat you do get is in the form of EFAs. Just make sure you keep protein high during both phases to promote maximum muscle gain and minimal muscle loss.

I'd say almost anything would work so long as you get enough protein and EFAs, but what I've outlined above is a good start.