Image courtesy: How to build muscles up
So in part 1 of our guide to carbs, we talked about the different kinds of carbs out there and how carbs can be used for different training purposes whether it may be gaining muscle mass of losing fat. In part 2, we will explore different diets out there and see how carbs are being manipulated in each diet
1. Atkins Diet
The Atkins diet shot up to fame in the early 2000s. It severely restricts your carb intake and in my opinion is a very hard diet to follow.
There are generally 4 phases to the Atkins diet:
(1) Induction phase – only 20 g of carbs
(2) Ongoing Weigh Loss phase – increase carbs by 5 g each week until you within 10 pounds of target weight
(3) Pre-maintanence phase – increase carbs by 10 g each week until you find out the maximum amount of carbs you can eat without gaining weight
(4) Maintanence phase – stick to the carb intake level you have figured out during the pre-maintanence phase for as long as possible
I have skimped through a lot of fine details (e.g. there are only certain foods that you are allowed to eat) so make sure to do your own research.
I’m not a big fan of the Atkins diet because it forces you to go into a state of ketosis where you burn muscle as well as fat! Don’t get the idea of “weight loss” into your head. Focus on “fat loss.” The whole point is to retain muscle and burn fat because the muscles provide for the shape of the bodypart.
Goal: To lose weight
Effectiveness: The diet is too hard! When it is that hard you will really be tempted to give up and rebound. It is probably useful for general weight loss, but for those who are serious about working out, the Atkins diet isn’t that best diet out there for sure.
Rating: 5/10
2. High carbs/High protein “bulk up” diet
Dorian Yates going through a off seaso, bulking mode; image courtesy: muscle.iuhu.org
Pick up any bodybuilding magazine and they will tell you that “to be big, you need to eat big.” It’s partly true: it takes a lot of quality amino acids to rebuild your muscles after a heavy workout and it takes a lot of carbohydrates to provide energy for that muscle building process. The other part is that you have to eat like a madman everyday:
6 – 8 meals everyday, 3x BW carbohydrates, 1.5x BW protein and 10% of your calories need to come from dietary fats.
This conventional approach is guaranteed to build mass, but the problem is that you will pack on a fair bit of fat at the same time! Obviously, this is the “quick” way out too; you throw on 30 – 40 lbs in a year and you would have hit or even surpassed your target weight, and all you need to do is to lean down. Here comes 2 problems:
a) if done incorrectly, it’s easy to lose muscle AND fat at the same time when you attempt to diet down
b) if you aren’t doing the right things in the gym you might be packing on more fat than muscle
To prevent part a) from happening, you don’t want to be packing on too much fat when you are bulking up. This means you have to be doing cardio (steady state or HIIT) on top of your workout sessions throughout the season.
Part b) is an easy fix too if you do the following:
-A LOT of carbs in the morning, pre workout and post workout; these are the most anabolic windows (breakfast is disputable – scroll down and check out 4. Carb Back Loading) and will prevent the body from storing carbs as fat. So if you are 150 lbs and you need to be eating 450 g of carbs per day, shoot for 75 in the morning, 75 pre workout and 100 post workout and spread the rest out.
-Stick to low GI carbs at other times during the day.
-Don’t forget about fibrous carbohydrates! If you are eating a lot of food you want to be eating a salad with every meal to speed up the digestion process.
Goal: To pack on an insane amount of muscle
Effectiveness: Fairly effective, provided you don’t pack on too much fat at the same time
Rating: 7/10
3. Carb Cycling
Carb cycling is a great way to build muscle and lost fat the same time (to a certain degree). Most bodybuilders/fitness models use carb cycling to get into contest shape/photoshoot shape as it allows you to u when you diet down.
The premise of carb cycling is simple. On low carb days (rest days), you promote fat burning; take the calories from stored fats and burn them to provide energy. On high carb days (training days), you promote muscle building. Put them together, and you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time. This is a great method to make lean gains, so don’t expect yourself to gain weight like in a bulk up program. This sort of diet also takes a lot of discipline because it relies on the exactness of the quantity and ratio of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats), so don’t dive head first into carb cycling if you are not willing to make the commitment to diet! Obviously you can still get around this by sticking to general guidelines:
* 1 to 1.5 g of protein per body weight in lb everyday
* 0.75x to 1x BW/lb of carbs on rest days (experiment with this amount; some people can go even lower, but never go below 70 – 90 g)
* 2.5x to 3.5x BW/lb of carbs on training days (again, experiment with this amount)
* 10% of calories from fats
The key is to micromanage. You control the amount of carbs you intake, so if you feel like you are behind progress, bump up the cardio on low carb days; if you feel like yo uare lacking fullness, bump up the carbs on high carb days.
Jay Cutler uses carb cycling during his competition prep to burn off fat and retain muscle mass at the same time; image courtesy: Muscle Base
Here’s what a 6-day carb cycling schedule might look like:
| Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
Day 6 |
| Low carbs |
Low carbs |
Low carbs |
High carbs |
High carbs |
High carbs |
On low days, you want to deplete yourself so it’s important to do higher reps/super sets training. Day 3 is gonna be tough – you are very depleted and low in energy and it’s very important that you don’t give up! On day 4, everything is going to turn around: this is your day to cheat! Yes, pizzas, burgers, ice cream, you name it. This is your only day of the cycle to cheat, so make it count (but don’t overshoot). On day 5 and 6, stick to clean carbs like rice and pasta. You should be a lot stronger during day 4, 5 and 6 so this is the time to do your usual training (8 – 10 reps heavy weights etc).
Don’t worry about the scale; you are going to move up and down in weight throughout the cycle. Instead, use the mirror to judge whether you are making progress.
Goal: To get ripped without losing muscle/to slowly gain muscle and lose fat at the same time (making lean gains)
Effectivness: Very effective. Every world class bodybuilders and models use carb cycling to get into phenomenal shape. by incorporating cheat days you can keep your sanity in tact!
Rating: 8/10
4. Carb Back Loading
Carb Back Loading is a relatively new way of dealing with carbs intake. I haven’t even heard of it until a recent article in FLEX magazine (March issue), and when I first looked at the premise of the diet I was literally blown out of my mind. Remember how we have always learned to eat a lot of carbs in the morning?
“Carb Back Loading – NO carbs in the morning”
Remember how you shouldn’t ingest carbs (starchy ones anyway) in the evening to stay lean?
“Carb Back Loading – Workout in the evening and jack up your carbs afterwards”
Brian Carroll, a world-renowned powerlifted uses CBL to help better his lifts; image courtesy: CrossFit Fort Lauderdale
It seems like carb back loading is breaking all the rules that we solemnly go by. Careful inspection of the science behind CBL shows the following:
*Since insulin sensitivity is at its highest in the morning, eating a lot of carbs will stimulate muscle growth AND fat growth!
*Not having carbs in your system before you train will not make you weaker: your nervous system will actually be at its most efficient; your nerves will fire more efficiently and this translates to higher strength levels!
Remember how we need to avoid high GI carbs? Not anymore! CBL recommends that you train during 3 – 7 pm and yes, you may indulge yourself in things like white rice, pasta and pastries after you workout. Ingesting carbs post-workout will not contribute to fat gain because fat cells cannot absorb glucose as effectively for fat storage as muscles do for muscle growth when you train in the evening.
A typical CBL day might look like this:
| 8 am |
Breakfast
2 veggie omelettes
4 egg whites
1 chicken breast
1 salad with spinach, broccoli and olive oil
|
| 12 pm |
Lunch
4 egg whites
2 chicken breasts
1 salad with spinach, broccoli and olive oil
|
| 4 pm |
Train |
| 5 30 pm |
Post-workout meal/Dinner
2 chicken breasts
2 bowls of white rice
2 slices of white bread
|
| 8 30 pm |
Greek yogurt
2 slices of white bread
1 bowl of steel cut oatmeal |
| 11 pm |
1 cup of whole fat milk
2 slices of brown bread |
Goal: Much like the carb cycling diet, CBL allows you to get ripped AND get stronger as you progress with your training
Effectiveness: Sound science; I am personally going to put this to the test and see how effective it is, but from what I’ve read, CBL can be the next big thing!
Rating: 8.5/10
Image courtesy: Easy Diet Programs
Carbs manipulation really is the make-or-break component of any diet. Once you master how to control carbs (and your insulin sensitivity) you are one giant step closer to reaching your fitness goals.
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