Fixing what it's not broken...

OK, sadly enough I am being pushed to change my cutting program (against my will) due to new severe schedule restrictions...

My current program is so fine-tuned I can tell on Monday how much (very little error margin) I will weight next friday and with what BF% (no kidding, I do this every week, this is how I set my weekly goals).

Anyway, changes are: I will no longer have 2+ hours available for training everyday. Only 1 hour will be available.

Thinking creatively, the steps I am taking are (and here is where I would like some imput):

1. Leave the diet as it is (already low enough). Only change is that I will only have a PWO shake the days I lift (see below) and increase the food the other days to compensate for the lack of PWO.

2. Change from a 4 days split to a 3 days split (MON-WED-FRI), that will look like this:

MON:
Legs, Calves, Abs

WED:
Triceps, Biceps, Forearms, Shoulders, Abs

FRI:
Chest, Back, Traps, Abs

I have to scale down from 12 sets/body part to 6~9 (need to time this to figure it out). Also, I will be supersetting these reps and throwing stripped sets in-between each set. Resting will be 1 minute.

Diet wise, I have a couple of doubts:

1. My meal timing is:

7:00 am (home)
10:00 am (office)
1:00 pm (office)
4:00 pm (office)
7:00 pm (home)
TRAINING BEGINS AT 9:00 pm for 1 hour
11:00 pm (last meal, when lifting only PWO, for cardio days something like a chicken breast, or steak or fish together with some flax)

According to this schedule, should I just eat that food after cardio or shoudl I ditch the food and get a shake? (can't never figure out what is the best to eat after a cardio only session this close to bed time)

Also, on lifting days, I will be taking flax BEFORE lifting, together with proteins (no carbs) . This comes fromt he 7:00 pm meal. Is there a problem with this? By the time I hit the gym that food will be 2 hours in the process

As a final tweak to my diet, I have decided to go ahead with only one carb-up day per week (Sundays). We will see how that goes.

CARDIO:

Intead of 6 days a week for 45 min, I will have to scale down to 4 days a week.

I am not sure yet if I want to do these 4 days for 60 mins (to compensate) or go ahead with 45 min just the same... my worry is that when I plateau I will not have alternatives, other than going HIIT... So I guess I will give it a shot for 45 min 4 days a week and if it sucks big time I will go 60 mins... any ideas on this?

As you can see already, there is no resting day in the week. I will be in the gym 7 days a week doing something...

Well, this is it... sucks big time to have to do this, but it is the only chance to try and keep my cutting in order. Will report back after 2 weeks on how it is going... today is my firs Cardio only day...

Man...

Since you've helped so many others on this forum, you deserve some advice as well.

My thoughts:

11:00 pm (last meal, when lifting only PWO, for cardio days something like a chicken breast, or steak or fish together with some flax)

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I don't think it would be wise to make your PWO shake your last meal. The whey and simple sugars will be absorbed too quickly leaving you catabolic during the night. Plus, you'll probably wake up starving for food (don't you find you get hungry soon after you finish drinking your PWO shake). Is it not possible to adjust your previous meals so you can add a slow absorbing pro/carb meal an hour later before you go to bed?

(EDIT) Not to forget, the itching sensation will drive you crazy in bed (/EDIT)

According to this schedule, should I just eat that food after cardio or shoudl I ditch the food and get a shake? (can't never figure out what is the best to eat after a cardio only session this close to bed time)

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I would eat whole food after cardio, especially if it is your last meal. Maybe a pro/fat or pro/carb combination ?

Also, on lifting days, I will be taking flax BEFORE lifting, together with proteins (no carbs) . This comes fromt he 7:00 pm meal. Is there a problem with this? By the time I hit the gym that food will be 2 hours in the process

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As long as you have some carbs in your 4.00 pm meal, I think it should be fine. Carbs fuel your workout. Flax pre-workout will slow the absorption of protein to make it last for your entire workout. Try it and see how it goes.

I am not sure yet if I want to do these 4 days for 60 mins (to compensate) or go ahead with 45 min just the same... my worry is that when I plateau I will not have alternatives, other than going HIIT... So I guess I will give it a shot for 45 min 4 days a week and if it sucks big time I will go 60 mins... any ideas on this?

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I think that is the best idea. Try four days of cardio for 45 mins and see how you go for a week. Then you can adjust your workout accordingly (i.e. increase cardio duration, type, etc)

As far as cardio goes, I why don't you do 2 days of 45min and 2 days of HIIT? Or some other combination.

Last meal after cardio, I would choose food. The above is correct - the WHey shake will go so quick through you. Plus, as you have mentioned, REAL food is so much better for you.

If you are eating 2 hours before lifting, I would add carbs in that meal - the 7pm meal. If you are doing cardio, I wouldn't add the carbs. You want to eat to fuel the upcoming events.

There is no way you can do first AM cardio?

As for weights, don't forget about drop sets - they are great if you have no spotter. What are your reps like? I assume, even thoug hyou are cutting, you want to maintain all muscle ....so I also assume the reps are about 8? If they are higher than that, since your workout is shorter, why not increase the weight and decrease the reps.

Daisy_Girl said:

If you are eating 2 hours before lifting, I would add carbs in that meal - the 7pm meal. If you are doing cardio, I wouldn't add the carbs. You want to eat to fuel the upcoming events.

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What is an ideal amount of time to wait between eating low GI carbs and your workout? At the moment I wait about an hour.

P.S. Nice assvatar

Daisy_Girl said:

There is no way you can do first AM cardio?

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My thoughts too. I personally sleep better when I don't do cardio before bed. Might just be me though. Always seems to take me to long to settle down. Anyway, I would go with the 3 day split also. You can always change it if it isn't working out. good luck bro. Your results have been fantastic so far.

Mucho Karma for Daisy, easy and DJ. Sadly enough I need to spread it around before giving it back to you (but I will, some lucky random people will get free karma today).

BTW, do you know how to increase karmic powers? It sucks only to be able to hit you with 2 karma points... guess it has to do with how much karma you spread...

Anyway, back to Business...

About the after cardio thing. Yep, I agree with you. I already made up my mind to eat real food aterwards, I just wanted to check if somebody had any experience with an ultra-slow absorption Casein-based shake... or something like that...

Daisy, as usual, you were right on... I switched today to 8 reps, instead of 12, and upped my weights by 10 kilos (I was doing arms and shoulders today)... do I hurt now... but it felt good. I will do that from now on... Thanks for the tip!!!

About the lifting days, I will reduce a bit of food on each meal to allow for chicken breast before bed (or just it, it's not going to kill me anyhow).

It is impossible for me to do AM cardio: my Gym opens only at 8:30 am, and by that time I am already at the office (I work 60 miles away from my home). The other alternative would be to buy some cardio equipment, but I like variety and don't want to end-up always doing the same, besides, space is a premium!!!

My cardio right now is a little HIIT already: I do 45 mins of intervals, each interval is 2 mins. During high interval I get to 85% MHR, during the rest interval I go down to 75%... I know that HIIT will imply 95%+ MHR but it will cut into my duration as well. Guess will need to give it a shot.

I will also add some carbs in my 7:00 pm meal when lifting (all this cutting and carb tapering has made me paranoid about carbs after 13:00)

Agains, thanks for the feedback.

Pintoca

late night meal: i would skip the carbs and follow the pro/fat advice.... or facilitate partitioning with a little rAla... er.. sorry, do you use any supplements? from the sounds of your training/diet commitment you are kicking some serious ass.. hows it going?

A couple of quickie training questions.... friday is obviously big compound muscle day for you.. do you work on saturday or sunday? why not utilize one of two of your weekdays as recovery and really have a festival on the weekends in terms of lifting?

Just wondering.

ChefWide said:

late night meal: i would skip the carbs and follow the pro/fat advice.... or facilitate partitioning with a little rAla... er.. sorry, do you use any supplements? from the sounds of your training/diet commitment you are kicking some serious ass.. hows it going?

A couple of quickie training questions.... friday is obviously big compound muscle day for you.. do you work on saturday or sunday? why not utilize one of two of your weekdays as recovery and really have a festival on the weekends in terms of lifting?

Just wondering.

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Hey Chef, good to see you back around here.

Thanks for the comments. About it:

I am all natural, no nothing besides Whey and Vitamins here.

I couldn't be any happier with my results, Ihave lost 53 pounds in a little bit over 5 months (49.7 lbs were fat, the rest is LBM), I am changing only because I have to.

The full story on that one is here:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375450 (this was my 5 months report, with graphs, pics and all...)

It is impossible for me train on weekends ( I will alredy use 1 hour Sat/Sun for cardio)... Problem is there is not much time available, so yep, I am bracing for Fridays the way I used to brace only for Mondays (Squats day).

Since I'm lifting Mon-Wed-Fri with cardio in between I thought that would be enough rest. If it doesn't work I will check how I can shuffle them. I basically have 1 hour per day and I want to keep the cardio to minimum 4 days/week.

Pintoca

|D_J^B_J| said:

What is an ideal amount of time to wait between eating low GI carbs and your workout? At the moment I wait about an hour.

P.S. Nice assvatar

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TY, haven't had an avi of me in awhile.

Post lifting - you need shake immediately. Then follow with real food about an hour later or so. Afterburn for weights if long - you need the shake to stave off any catabolism, plus, to refuel.

Post cardio - you know, I read different things. Some people say to wait 30-60min, to take advantage of the short "afterburn" cardio gives you. Personally, I think you should listen to your body. If you are starving post cardio, eat. If you aren't, then wait - but I wouldn't wait more than 60 min. When I do first AM cardio, I usually come home, shower, get ready for work - then eat.