Anabolic Diet

[Guest guest]

About three weeks ago, I had a chance to discuss the " anabolic diet " and its

effects on training with a male PL who has used it now for 2 years.

His experience is that the first time he used it, it was effective - it " leaned "

and helped him " gain muscle " from his perception, although he didn't take an

opportunity to measure this objectively by a DEXA or other standard. (He is a

drug free athlete, so there was no AAS influence involved here to complicate the

results.)  It did not do much to improve his lifting performance on platform,

but his numbers did not drop - and his appearance was more pleasing to his wife

(a factor which was a measure of success to him!)

However, his most recent experience - he went off the diet for the holidays and

due to a break in his competition schedule for two months - the diet is less

helpful to him this time as he has had some severe energy deficits and he is

struggling to keep training through the diet and its phases.  He is now

concerned that continuing to try to do this diet will set back his lifting and

that for him is not acceptable.  He has gone off it and is doing research about

another one to try.... and his energy level returned once he stopped the diet

phase. His concern had even led him to see an MD and get a blood screening, but

that was normal.

So when we're looking at diet strategies to support gain of muscle and fat

reduction, even the ones where an individual has enjoyed success at least once,

may not be the best diet strategy in future.  Some can effectively repeat a

diet regimen, others find they cannot do it twice and even lose ground.

I have heard from one lifter who did the " ultimate diet " (lyle macdonald's) and

found he has similar problems - both diets have a very strict and hard phase at

the start, perhaps this extreme phase has much to do with either success or

failure in successive uses of the diet?

It takes a great deal of discipline in a world full of lovely food and

temptation to survive either of these diets, and I don't think most people are

up to the stricter lines of either of them generally.  A lot of people see the

" south beach " first two weeks as " impossibly strict " - and both diets listed

above are beyond that strictness.

I myself don't diet, I train harder and more intensely and this appears to be a

determining factor as to my leanness, end of program is when I'm at my best on

lean clearly.  Oddly though it's when I'm doing the fewest reps - with the most

weight.  The process though over the years of lifting heavy has gradually made

me leaner and larger in muscle overall. Perhaps people are not patient enough

without dieting? and the mere desire to have it all overnight leads to the

dissatisfaction and extreme dieting urges - rather than training over time?

The Phantom

aka Schaefer, CMT/LMT, competing powerlifter

Denver, Colorado, USA

Re: Possible to lose fat and gain muscle

simultaneously?

Randy Roach's recent Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors, vol 1 (1840s-1960s)

includes treatment of the evolution of bodybuilding diets; volume 2

(1970s to present) promises even more treatment since rapid

developments have occured in that time phase.

The notion of bulking up and cutting down in bodybuilding is, frankly,

rather passe - as is the use of intensive 'cardio' for the cutting

phase. There are a number of nutritional approaches - those of

Abel's cycle diet, Dr Mauro di Pasquali's anabolic diet, and others

which promote muscular hypertrophy while staying lean. Training

methods, at least in Abel's case, compliment diet - in his case with

his MET or Metabolic Enhancement Training. The July and August issues

of Iron Man Magazine carried my two part article on Abel's training

methods, excluding his cycle diet. As best I understand the latter,

it's a highly refined version of low caloric maintenance with cheat

days to manipulate leptin modulation. MET induces oxygen debts

resulting in elevated post workout metabolism for anywhere from 4 to

16 hours. He also stresses drug-free training while eschewing use of

supplements.

American Professor Ron , faculty at Newcastle University in

Australia, originator of the Matrix system of training in the 90s,

also argues for hypertrophy without fat gain - in fact, shredding.

So it would seem the days of Bruce Randall's bulking to 401 lbs, then

trimming to 185, going back up to 225 to win the 1959 NABBA Mr

Universe are gone.

My experience with MET type training is that it works very well for

not only fat loss but also the other bio-markers associated with

metabolic syndrome.

===============================