Carb Backloading: Get Ripped, Get Bigger
Bulk and cut simultaneously While Eating what you want!
What is Carb Bakloading?
Carbohydrate backloading is a dieting method that was developed by John Kiefer, a highly regarded personal trainer and physisist, and is a method of day to day nutrition that I have recently gotten the pleasure of discovering. Traditionally, the bodybuilding world has nearly everyone convinced that creating a lean and muscular physique is best achieved by bulking and then cutting; the idea being that a caloric surplus is needed to gain mass while a caloric deficit is required to lose fat. However, through backloading our carbohydrates and effectively timing the consumption of our fats, proteins, and carbs, we are able to do both simultaneously which makes the diet such an effective tool in ones arsenal. The protocol is fairly simple to follow and will allow a bigger guy to get shredded while building muscle and strength and let a fairly leaner guy to put on some mass while AT THE SAME TIME reducing or keeping bodyfat levels stable. Because I know most of you, like myself, hate to read through thick bodies of text, I took the liberty of breaking the dieting procedure down for you so as to let you reap all of the benefits without all the hassle of getting confused. However, If you would like to see the original text as posted by Kiefer himself, I have posted all of his articles regarding this matter at the bottom of this post. So lets get right into it...
Why do Carb Backloading?
Carb backloading allows you to put on quality LEAN mass, or as you probably know it, muscle. Sure you could gain "muscle" much quicker on a traditional bulk where you eat like a pig all day, but with that, you will probably gain alot of fat as well. While carb backloading is slower in gaining muscle, ALL of the weight you gain, should you choose to do so, will be muscle. In short, you will build muscle and lose fat at the same time basicly making you jacked if done for extended periods of time. You can also basicly eat like shit to post workout and still make good progress. In fact, eating high glycemic carbs like pizza and poptarts is encouraged if timed right for reasons concerning insulin and other factors that you will read about if you read Johns original articles. Sound good? Alright moving on...
The Protocol: How It Is Done
For the sake of not losing you along the way, I have massively condensed the ENTIRE nutritional protocol below telling you exactly what you need to do for this to work. However, I have left out alot of the "why", so if your interested in the science behind it, I suggest you read the original articles by kiefer posted at the bottom of the page.
Anyway, there are three simple steps to this Nutritional plan:
Carbohydrate backloading is a dieting method that was developed by John Kiefer, a highly regarded personal trainer and physisist, and is a method of day to day nutrition that I have recently gotten the pleasure of discovering. Traditionally, the bodybuilding world has nearly everyone convinced that creating a lean and muscular physique is best achieved by bulking and then cutting; the idea being that a caloric surplus is needed to gain mass while a caloric deficit is required to lose fat. However, through backloading our carbohydrates and effectively timing the consumption of our fats, proteins, and carbs, we are able to do both simultaneously which makes the diet such an effective tool in ones arsenal. The protocol is fairly simple to follow and will allow a bigger guy to get shredded while building muscle and strength and let a fairly leaner guy to put on some mass while AT THE SAME TIME reducing or keeping bodyfat levels stable. Because I know most of you, like myself, hate to read through thick bodies of text, I took the liberty of breaking the dieting procedure down for you so as to let you reap all of the benefits without all the hassle of getting confused. However, If you would like to see the original text as posted by Kiefer himself, I have posted all of his articles regarding this matter at the bottom of this post. So lets get right into it...
Why do Carb Backloading?
Carb backloading allows you to put on quality LEAN mass, or as you probably know it, muscle. Sure you could gain "muscle" much quicker on a traditional bulk where you eat like a pig all day, but with that, you will probably gain alot of fat as well. While carb backloading is slower in gaining muscle, ALL of the weight you gain, should you choose to do so, will be muscle. In short, you will build muscle and lose fat at the same time basicly making you jacked if done for extended periods of time. You can also basicly eat like shit to post workout and still make good progress. In fact, eating high glycemic carbs like pizza and poptarts is encouraged if timed right for reasons concerning insulin and other factors that you will read about if you read Johns original articles. Sound good? Alright moving on...
The Protocol: How It Is Done
For the sake of not losing you along the way, I have massively condensed the ENTIRE nutritional protocol below telling you exactly what you need to do for this to work. However, I have left out alot of the "why", so if your interested in the science behind it, I suggest you read the original articles by kiefer posted at the bottom of the page.
Anyway, there are three simple steps to this Nutritional plan:
- skip Breakfast
- Backload Calories
- Backload Carbs
- When you wake up, you will skip your breakfast and instead have some coffee (decaff or regular, pick your poison) with a handful of nuts and about 20 grams of a slower digesting protein shake. The coffee speeds up fat loss, the protein provides a steady stream of amino acids to prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue and the small amount of fat provides some steady energy. Your first real meal will occur about noon.
- The first portion of your day is the "cutting" phase while all of the time from post workout to bed time is your "bulking" phase. Think of your day as a coin: there are two different sides to it, one being before you workout and the other being after you workout. To achieve this, the first portion of your day (from your first meal until after your workout) will consist of all of your calories coming from Fats, proteins, and green vegetables. During this time minimize fruit and carbohydrate intake (>25 grams), and if possible, eliminate them until post workout. Do not count green vegetables into your carb allowance.
- DURING your workout sip on some EAA's in order to prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue for fuel since you are going into the workout in a carb depleted state. This will also aid in a quick recovery and reduced soreness
- Workout at 3:00 or later. The later on in the day, the less receptive fat cells and muscle cells are to storing food and glucose for muscle or fat. HOWEVER, through resistance training, muscle cells are made EXTREEEEMEELY receptive to storing nearly anything eaten as muscle glycogen (sugar stored in muscles for energy) while fat receptors stay very unresponsive from the training and because it is later in the day.
- Post workout, drink some more EAA's and BCAA's along with about 25-30 grams of dextrose and 5 grams of creatine to kickstart protein synthesis, rebuild muscle tissue, restore depleted glycogen, and most importantly spike your insulin. DO NOT EAT REAL FOOD AT THIS TIME! DONT DO IT.
- About an hour after your post workout drink, consume a meal high in protein and carbohydrates. Preferably these carbs are quicker digesting in nature such as White breads, pastries, white rice etc. and contain little to NO fat.
- From the first meal an hour after you workout until bed time, continue to consume meals that combine lean protein and carbohydrates until you go to bed. If you are putting on size or simply trying to just maintain bodyfat levels, dont be afraid to eat junk such as a donut, cinnamon roll, cerial etc. just dont go overboard.
- Get 8+ hours of sleep a night....do it...
- Supplement with fish oil, green tea, creatine, and drink at least a gallon of water a day
- Here is a sample meal plan for a person looking to gain mass and drop bodyfat as created by John Kiefer.
Breakfast 9am: Skip. [Coffee, handful of nuts, 0 carb 0 sugar protein shake]
Meal 1, noon: Chicken, ham, cheese, tomatoes
Meal 2, 2pm: beef, broccoli with butter, almonds
Meal 3, 3pm: low-fat cottage cheese, almond butter, protein shake
*** NOTICE THE SHIFT FROM HIGH CARB RESTRICTED^^^ TO CARB HEAVY vvv***
Meal 4, 5pm: Post workout shake containing roughly 30 grams of protein and 40 grams of dextrose
Meal 5: 6pm: chicken, green beans, white rice, white bread
Meal 6: 9pm: shit load of non-wheat, low-fat carbs (sweet rice cakes, my personal recipe for non-fat mashed potatoes), protein shake
In A Nutshell
To recap, you will be skipping breakfast and in place of it eating a small ammount of nuts, along with a cup of pure coffee and preferably a 0 carb, 0 sugar protein shake. Wait until about noon for your first meal and eat only proteins, fats, and green vegetables from that point until your workout which should be about 4 (this is the cutting phase where fat is shed). After your workout, your day changes COMPLETELY (shifts to the bulking phase). Immediately post workout consume some EAA's and BCAA's or 30 grams of Hydrolized protein along with about 30-40 grams of dextrose. 1 hour later, consume your first meal consisting of lean protein, some veggies and quickly digesting carbs such as white bread/rice or pastries etc. From the point of your first meal AFTER your workout until bed time your day shifts from low carb to high carb and from high fat to low fat; load up on meals combining protein and carbs to repair muscle tissue without worrying about spillover into fat gain. There you have it, you have just begun gaining muscle while getting shredded at the same time.
***If I did not explain it well enough, or if you want to know why it works, take the time to read John Kiefers original articles explaining this nutritional protocol posted directly below. If you have questions drop a comment below***
http://dangerouslyhardcore.com/291/return-from-vienna-fixing-the-damage-part-1/
http://dangerouslyhardcore.com/303/fixing-the-damage-part-2-backloading/ - When you wake up, you will skip your breakfast and instead have some coffee (decaff or regular, pick your poison) with a handful of nuts and about 20 grams of a slower digesting protein shake. The coffee speeds up fat loss, the protein provides a steady stream of amino acids to prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue and the small amount of fat provides some steady energy. Your first real meal will occur about noon.
Carrying & Pressing Heavy Shit!
Ditch the curls, Move heavy shit and get jacked (6/07/11)
It seems like these days the modern trainee is getting more and more pathetic. How can you blame them though? With nearly every gym filled with jackasses doing slow curls in the mirror and boasting about how much they do on the peck deck, it seems as if the true secrets to getting strong, jacked, and conditioned have been lost in time. These days these same gym rats that bench 250+ on a smith machine would die if they had to wrestle with someone for over 10 minutes, or pick up anything awkward that wasn't nicely set up on a barbell for them. This is NOT REAL WORLD PHYSICAL DOMINANCE! Sure their machines and shiny dumbbells will build some decent weekend warrior muscle and allow them to move a stack of weights up and down, but what happens when shit hits the fan and they have to carry an unconcious friend or pull a steel beam off of them in an earthquke? This type of training usually leads to the suprise of many when they come up short. Sorry, but isolation curls, running on a treadmill, and doing crunches aint gonna cut it if you wanna truly be a beast in any real life situation outside of the weight room.
Its a fairly simple, but by no means easy, fix however. CARRY HEAVY SHIT, PRESS HEAVY SHIT and PULL HEAVY SHIT. Simply put: PICK UP HEAVY SHIT AND MOVE IT AROUND!!! It is so simple, yet one of the most brutally effective training methods on the face of the earth to turn pansys into Hulks. Even if you don't have access to heavy dumbbells or special carrying implements like the guy on the left, try picking up a 100+ pound sandbag or anything big and awkward for that matter and walking with it for a couple hundred feet. If you have been training sitting down in a nice leather seat at Right stuff doing cable curls, this will seem like hell on earth the first time you try it. Your wrists will burn, your ribcage will feel swollen shut, your back will ache for mercy, and your legs will feel like spaghetti. There is nothing that carrying heavy shit does not work from head to toe. Here is why it is so effectiveVVV
So We Have Established that Carrying Heavy Shit turns pussies into Beasts, and is pretty much the king of movements! So below I have provided an example of how to put together a routine that will skyrocket conditioning and full body strength and not to mention, get you ripped. It is JUST an example though, you gotta do what works for you, so don't be afraid to get creative, nothing is set in stone.
Basicly lift heavy shit with some bodyweight stuff and freeweights for the workout and then for a finisher, carry heavy shit in various positions and distances.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
The Above is simply designed to get you on the right track, adjust it as you need. Moving heavy shit without dedication, guts and motivation wont do anything, but with hard work and alot of determination, you will be lightyears ahead of your competition and build a body that will handle anything you throw at it in the REAL world. But the take away points here are to get out of the weight room and throw some heavy and awkward shit around such as stones, sandbags, or logs. It doesn't have to be fancy to be brutally effective. This is the stuff that builds true monsters, not lat pulldowns. Start lifting in this fashion staying away from sissy curls and bosu ball crunches and watch your athleticism, strength, conditioning and physique take on a whole new animal as well as your mental toughness. EAT BIG, CARRY HEAVY SHIT, SLEEP HEAVY, DOMINATE!
Its a fairly simple, but by no means easy, fix however. CARRY HEAVY SHIT, PRESS HEAVY SHIT and PULL HEAVY SHIT. Simply put: PICK UP HEAVY SHIT AND MOVE IT AROUND!!! It is so simple, yet one of the most brutally effective training methods on the face of the earth to turn pansys into Hulks. Even if you don't have access to heavy dumbbells or special carrying implements like the guy on the left, try picking up a 100+ pound sandbag or anything big and awkward for that matter and walking with it for a couple hundred feet. If you have been training sitting down in a nice leather seat at Right stuff doing cable curls, this will seem like hell on earth the first time you try it. Your wrists will burn, your ribcage will feel swollen shut, your back will ache for mercy, and your legs will feel like spaghetti. There is nothing that carrying heavy shit does not work from head to toe. Here is why it is so effectiveVVV
- Carrying Heavy Shit Makes EVERYTHING Strong! It hits the back like a deadlift and a chinup from picking it up and keeping it up, builds a vice grip from holding on, requires insane trunk stability to keep you upright and from shaking, and absolutely fries the traps, wrists, lungs and triceps. It makes pansys into champs. This is the exact way your body is SUPPOSED to work. When shit hits the fan and your slamming an opponent onto the mat in a wrestling match, your not sitting a chair and isolating one bodypart with a cable are you? Hell No! Your using your ENTIRE body to pick that SOB up and knock him on his head. Train your body in the same fashion: AS A SINGLE UNIT! This is what builds REAL WORLD strength OUTSIDE of the weight room!
- Carrying heavy shit works stabilizer muscles that pretty boy exercises miss. When your using a rowing machine and resting on the nice leather pads while you pull, you aren't required to support yourself...BIG MISTAKE!!! By doing so you neglect these small muscles (the ones you dont see in the mirror) that keep you stabilized during a lift or wrestling match and are a determining factor between Predator and Prey. If you have been neglecting these, you will know right away when carrying a sack of sand. You will start to round your back, loose control of your footing, and probably drop whatever heavy shit you are carrying and pant. Fix it! Carry Heavy shit!
- Carrying heavy shit makes you gain SIZE! When you go balls out moving anything heavy, you will grow bigger providing you are eating alot of quality protein and carbs. I don't see the guy above doing preacher curls do you? Does he look like a twig to you? Are you more Shredded than he is? Didn't Think So, Go carry a sandbag!
- Carrying Heavy Shit Builds your GRIP + Forearms! There's no handles on a bag of sand or a stone; you gotta find anywhere you can to squeeze that son of a bitch for dear life so that it wont drop AND KEEP it there while you walk with it. a Strong Grip and wrists are an absolute must if you want to manhandle the competition or simply be prepared to handle real world situations. Youll know what Im talking about when you try it.
- Carrying Heavy Shit is SUPERIOR for Fat Loss & Conditioning! Seriously, it is the swiss army knife of training and gets shit done fast and all at once. It requires full body effort and works everything at once which means it will shed more fat if done at a faster pace with less rest. It also creates never quit conditioning and iron lungs which means you wont be getting gassed during a match anymore. So it gets you jacked, sheds fat, makes you strong as an ox, builds conditioning and gets it all done in a short ammount of time? Why the hell would you not carry a heavy sandbag and lift it!!?!?!?
IF YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE TRAINING ITEM, MAKE IT A HEAVY SANDBAG OR KEGG!!
So We Have Established that Carrying Heavy Shit turns pussies into Beasts, and is pretty much the king of movements! So below I have provided an example of how to put together a routine that will skyrocket conditioning and full body strength and not to mention, get you ripped. It is JUST an example though, you gotta do what works for you, so don't be afraid to get creative, nothing is set in stone.
Basicly lift heavy shit with some bodyweight stuff and freeweights for the workout and then for a finisher, carry heavy shit in various positions and distances.
- Deadlift, 3 sets of 6 repetitions, rest 90 seconds
- Keg shouldering, 3 sets of 5 repetitions each side, rest 90 seconds
- Towel/rope chin-ups, 4 sets of 6 repetitions, rest 90 seconds
- Sandbag shoulder get-ups, 3 sets of 6 each side, rest 90 seconds
- Carrying medley, 1 set: sandbag bearhug carry 50 yards, sandbag headlock carry 50 yards, Sandbag overhead carry 50 yards (rest 60-90 sec between carries, GO HEAVY!)
CLOSING THOUGHTS
The Above is simply designed to get you on the right track, adjust it as you need. Moving heavy shit without dedication, guts and motivation wont do anything, but with hard work and alot of determination, you will be lightyears ahead of your competition and build a body that will handle anything you throw at it in the REAL world. But the take away points here are to get out of the weight room and throw some heavy and awkward shit around such as stones, sandbags, or logs. It doesn't have to be fancy to be brutally effective. This is the stuff that builds true monsters, not lat pulldowns. Start lifting in this fashion staying away from sissy curls and bosu ball crunches and watch your athleticism, strength, conditioning and physique take on a whole new animal as well as your mental toughness. EAT BIG, CARRY HEAVY SHIT, SLEEP HEAVY, DOMINATE!
