Trying to lean out/DC a good choice?

[sk*]

I train heavy year round, even when I'm cutting on low carbs. I actually gain strength during my last two cutting cycles by using a cyclical low carb nutritional approach (Anabolic Diet). If you take the low carb approach, you are basically training your body to use fat for fuel instead of sugar (carbs), so if you keep in enough EFAs, you shouldn't have a problem. But, you also get some hormonal benefits from a cyclical low carb diet - more so for men than women; in men, this type of diet has been shown to boost testosterone levels and GH levels. A couple other diets using this approach are the Beverly Nutrition diet (hardasnails is having excellent results on it), and the Natural Hormonal Enhancement (NHE) diet.

I'm using a form of the Dual-Factor Hypertrophy training; I tend to prefer training in the 3-5 rep range and neglect hypertrophy training, so this was a good approach for me to switch to. It forces me to do a little work in a slightly higher rep range (6-8 and 8-12), although my compound movements are still in the lower rep range.

I find if I train heavy and focus on compound movements, even when cutting, I retain my muscle mass more easily. Even on this long diet cycle (15 weeks), my arm/chest/shoulder measurements haven't decreased, and that's after I've dropped fat. And yes, I'm a nattie.

Usually I don't say this, but damn nice stomach in the avatar.

-sk

 

[JJFigure]

Low carb for me is <30 grams/day, spread out. I usually come in around 20 grams, and that's from stuff like veggies and eggs; I don't do the carbs post-workout thing; I honestly haven't seen non-biased studies proving that theory out. I will take in a fast-digesting whey isolate protein though. I eat ~180 grams of pro/day, and I weigh 138 lbs., so 250 grams for 170 lb. male is about right. Let's say you're shooting for 50% pro intake; if you use a simple cutting formula like 11xbodyweight, your daily kcals would be 1870 kcals (might be a little low for you, but this is just an example). That means 935 kcals from a pro source, or roughly 234 grams of protein. 340 grams of pro = 1360 kcals, which doesn't leave you many kcals for fat and carb sources.

The fat intake is dependent on how low you take your carbs; the lower carb intake, the higher fat intake. Keep in mind, you get some degree of fat from your lean meat sources, as well as from eggs. So, if you did 30% fat, kcals = 623, fat grams = 69 grams. Since 1T of fat = 120 kcals, if you were only using oil for your fat intake, that's 5T oil. I think you get the idea...

Thanks -sk.

 

[bilat]

Ok, thanks.

How does this look?

HIIT Day:

10:00 - 40g whey w/ water
10:30 - HIIT
1:00 - Chicken Breast, Brocolli
2:30 - 40g Whey w/ water + 3 tbsp Olive Oil
4:30 - 20g Whey w/ water + 2 tbsp Olive Oil
6:00 - Chicken Breast, Brocolli
8:00 - 20g whey w/ water
10:00 - 20g whey w/ water

Cals: 1979
Fat: 86
Carbs: 43
Protein: 261

Is getting that much protein from whey a bad thing?
It's a lot cheaper than eating meats, milk has too many carbs. Maybe I should add some eggs? They don't have much protein though.

I think I might try DHFT for the routine rather than DC, but I might do fascial stretching with it.

 

[bilat]

And do I need carb refeed days?