How to Make the Most of Your Training Program - LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

Secrets To Mastering Carbs

The Smarter Eating Plan For Building Lean, Rock Hard Muscle Now! By Mike Lackner

In this day and age there are loads of fad diets that will come around promising you the world. As a bodybuilder, you need to stay educated to make sure that you don’t end up following some ill thought out plan that will take your bodybuilding success down a path of destruction. Any type of diet that shows extremes with either increasing or drastically reducing any of the three macronutrients will not take your bodybuilding goals in the right direction. One such fad diet is the ketogenic diet. This diet’s base is to drastically limit carbohydrates while increasing your fat intake.

Don’t Believe The Low-Carb Hype!

Ok listen up here, I am going to set the record straight. Low carb diets are not the right plan for bodybuilders to attain their maximum fat burning and muscle building goals. They may look great in some infomercial or the latest supermarket tabloid but they are not the ideal diet plan for any athlete, let alone a bodybuilder. Keep reading to find out why.

In the absence of adequate carbohydrates, your body has difficulty metabolising fat. The process of fat breakdown requires the presence of both fat and carbohydrates. Without carbohydrates being present, the process cannot be completed and you end up with incompletely metabolised fat molecules in your system. These by-products are known as “ketone bodies”, and when this happens you enter a state called “ketosis”. All very low carb diets for weight loss promote ketosis, so don’t let anyone fool you into thinking this is not so.

The “Kingo?” of low carb diets today allows you to consume no more than 20 grams of carbohydrates a day. Does this sound like something that peak performance athletes can maintain? This so called “nutrition miracle” suggests that you eat such atrocious foods as pork crackling, sausages and bacon, fried meats, and any other heart-clogger you can get your hands on. Oh yeah, that sounds like a bodybuilding ticket to success… These keto diets are way too high in unhealthy saturated fats, which are directly linked to cardiovascular disease and cancer, amongst other ailments, that you will suffer from later in life.

The Downside To Ketosis

Some of the side effects of extended ketosis (consuming only 20-40 grams of carbs PER DAY for extended period of time) include:

1. Decreased metabolic rate - if you understand this properly it means you will burn fewer calories, in turn making it harder for you to lose fat. This is exactly what bodybuilders want… Not!

2. Irritability- something that the friends and family of some competitive bodybuilders already have to deal with, so there is no use adding more fuel to the fire.

3. Lack of energy - a major downfall to keto diets. This means that you will have a hard time getting your workouts done with the same intensity, and over time your strength will also be thrown out the window.

4. Bone loss due to calcium leaching - a major concern, especially for women who may decide to go on a keto diet. For those that have osteoporosis or have it run in their family this should be avoided at all costs,

5. Light-headedness - another bonus… Nothing like being beneath 500 pounds in the bottom of the squat when all of a sudden the room starts spinning like you are on a “Tilt-a-Who?irl” ride at the carnival. Not a good idea for any lifter.

6. Reduced muscle mitochondria - mitochondria are the “power plants” of the muscle where all the energy production for muscular contractions takes place. If you want to have abundant supplies of energy for those intense MET workouts so you can build a championship physique, then you need to keep the muscle cells saturated with mitochondria.

7. Brain fog and lethargy - oh yeah, this is just what you want to happen when you have an exam coming up or are getting ready for a major presentation in front of your CEO on new market trends. Nothing like a foggy head that makes you sound like you have the IQ of an eight-year-old. Bodybuilders have enough stereotypes to deal with without adding this to the mix. When following the MET Maximum Efficiency Fat Loss Diet your ability to concentrate and maintain focus will actually improve! If that isn’t motivation enough then just keep in mind that losing concentration while handling weight that can crush you is not a good way to stay out of harms way.

8. Decreased Sex Drive - now just because you may think that this one won’t affect your training you are wrong. The reason why you are not feeling as randy as you should is because of the drop in testosterone that your body is now facing. This is a major complaint of many men that go on the keto diets and is not something that you want to deal with on a continual basis.

Another thing that we need to also remember with these low carb plans is that this kind of diet leaves way too much room for fatty meats and dairy. What about your vegetables, fruits and nuts, which are loaded with essential nutrients your body needs for real and lasting health. There are numerous clinical studieo?s that show that fibre, including whole grains, fruits and vegetables, is extremely beneficial for our health. They have numerous benefits, which include fighting cardiovascular disease and cancer. These extremely low carb diets leave little room for dietary fibre and this can cause numerous health ailments.

One thing about doing a keto plan is the fact that you will lose weight right away so you believe that it is really working. You will lose a significant amount of body weight within the first several weeks. Your appetite does tend to diminish as well. The reason why this happens is because you have just changed the biochemistry of your body on an extremely low-carb diet. But in reality what is really happening is that because the typical high-protein foods chosen in this kind of diet contain a lot of fat, you end up with more calories than your body needs. Then, if you are taking in too many calories for what you need then not all the weight you are dropping is fat. As you deplete your glycogen muscle stores you begin to dehydrate and lose a lot of water that is inside the muscle cell. Also, when carbohydrates are in insufficient supply, your body will try to use protein as a fuel. This causes your protein to get diverted from its more important and biologically correct roles. Restricting your system of carbohydrates forces your body to use protein when carbohydrates should be used, and your muscle gains are sacrificed. So a lot of the weight that you are actually losing is water and muscle weight not fat weight, which is what you want to lose. This process will then cause your appetite to decrease because of the presence of fatty ketone bodies in the bloodstream, owing to the body’s inability to completely metabolise fat without the presence of carbohydrates. This leaves you with lowered energy levels, a poor appetite, decreased sex drive, poor muscle pumps, dizziness o?and a whole slew of other side effects. So now with all this information available to you do you still think that keto diets are the most efficient plan for the bodybuilder to attain their goals? Of course not!

“Vision is the ability to see what is not yet, so you can create what never was.” Doug Firebaugh.

Don’t Forget The Importance of Muscle Glycogen

Now for all those that have been in the bodybuilding scene and understand the science behind the little tricks that we do come competition time, you will know that muscle glycogen is a very important tool. We have all seen bodybuilders in clothes that seem to look small only to take them off to look 50 pounds bigger with bulging muscle all ripped to shreds. As you know, bodybuilding is also partly illusion. The creation of something that really isn’t what you think. One example is how a muscle may look. The entire size of a muscle isn’t just the tissue itself. Another component is water, and muscle glycogen. For those of you who don’t know what muscle glycogen is, it is the stored form of carbohydrates that can be called upon for energy for muscle contractions. The right consumption of both carbohydrates and water can make a night and day difference in how the muscle appears in size and definition. Just think of the last bodybuilding show where you saw an inexperienced bodybuilder on stage who hadn’t carb loaded properly and ended up looking flat and small with smoothed out definition, yet the same guy after eating will look ten pounds heavier with full muscle bellies and awesome cuts everywhere. This is the power of glycogen and proper water manipulation. A trained muscle can store more muscle glycogen than an untrained muscle. For every gram of glycogen stored in the muscle it will also store another 2.7 grams of water. This will cause the muscle to swell dramatically and increase in size making the o?muscle appear to be much bigger than the exact same muscle that is flat.

Carb Commonsense

The main thing to remember is that carbohydrates are not the enemy. Just as I have taught you that totally leaving carbs out of your diet plan is not good we also must look at not over eating them as well. The two main things to remember is the quality of the carb source and the total volume that you are consuming. Your sources should be low glycemic index (GI), complex carb choices like oatmeal, brown rice and sweet potato. Volume is another area that must be addressed as well. If you are taking in more carbs then you are burning they will convert to fat. Let’s take a brief look at what happens to carbs when you eat them.

Once carbohydrates are consumed they enter the stomach and then the small intestine. It is here that the majority of the digestion occurs. Here, the major types of enzymes that break down carbohydrates into simple sugars are the amylases. These simple sugars are then absorbed through the lining of the small intestine and are transported to the liver through the portal vein. In the liver, all the different simple sugars are then converted into glucose. This is important since glucose is the only usable form of simple sugar in the human body. At this stage in digestion, the liver releases glucose into the bloodstream to raise blood sugar levels to the appropriate level. If your blood sugar level gets too high, which is the case when you wolf down a candy bar or two (you know who you are), the excess glucose must be eliminated from your bloodstream. It is the pancreas that is responsible for the hormone insulin. This powerful hormone is released to transport the excess glucose to body tissue when the blood sugar level gets too high. The first place insulin carries glucose to is muscle tissue. Insulin activates receptor sites on muscle cello?s to allow glucose uptake to replenish depleted muscle glycogen. When glucose has entered the muscle cell, it can now be used for two things. It can be used for energy, or the excess can be converted to glycogen to form a stored source of energy for working muscles. Your muscles can store approximately 325 grams of glycogen. Since glucose can only be absorbed by muscle cells at a gradual rate, any excess glucose in your bloodstream will be stored in the liver. The liver uptakes glucose at a gradual rate as well. The liver has the ability to store approximately 110 grams of glycogen. Liver glycogen is mainly used for brain function and endurance aerobic exercise.

Now here is the part every bodybuilder does not want to hear. Yes, you and I alike wish this wasn’t true, but it is…. When muscle and liver glycogen stores are saturated, and there is still an excess amount of glucose in the bloodstream, it will be carried off and stored as fat in adipose cells. These cells are not muscle cells but fat cells. To make this even worse, adipose cells absorb this excess glucose at a rapid rate ­ that’s really fair. Our muscle cells can upload glucose at a slow and gradual rate, while good old “Mr. Fat Cell” sucks up glucose like it was going out of style. Simple sugars and carbohydrates that are low in dietary fibre are taken up into the blood stream very quickly. This is in direct relation with the GI, which I will explain shortly. When simple sugars and high GI carbs are consumed, the pancreas reacts by releasing an abundance of insulin. The amount of insulin released is more pronounced than when lower GI or high fibre foods are consumed. Now that we know that muscle and liver tissues up load blood glucose at a slow and gradual rate, the excess will bypass both of them. The glucose will now be quickly stored in our adipose or fat cells. Another down side of this insulin war is the effect io?t will have on how you feel. Since the massive surge of insulin will eliminate glucose from the blood stream within 30 minutes, your blood sugar level will fall below the needed level. This will result in low blood sugar levels or what is known as hypoglycaemia. This condition will play havoc on not only your brain function but also your performance. You will feel lazy and sleepy. This is the last thing an athlete wants to feel right before a heavy set of squats.

Now successful bodybuilders on the up and up already know to stay clear of simple carbohydrates but even taking in too many complex carbs can also get you in hot water. When you over eat carbs it will cause your body to store them as fat. This is not a real problem with Venice Beach athletes in the off-season trying to pack on freaky mass because they know how to stay in their target zone. The main thing to remember is that you have to find out how much carbs you should consume per meal in relation to your protein and fat intake without causing an increase in fat gain. This will take a little calculating to map out where your ideal carb volume intake is (see MET Lessons titled “Diet, Nutrition and Change” for the exact calculation sheet at www.bodyfitness-uk.com), but once you do you will be able to build muscle and drop fat while still eating carbs. This is like having your cake and eating it too.

A diet filled with high glycemic horrors like cereals, breads, white rice, rice cakes, potatoes, juices and deserts will only hurt the body, boost insulin and cause the body to store unwanted fat.
Remember one irrefutable MET truth: Insulin Release = Stored Body Fat!

Now to recap, what I was trying to teach you above is that carbs are not the enemy that is going to turn your chio?selled body into an obese blob. The key here is not to avoid carbs completely like all the keto fans proclaim but to properly incorporate the right kinds with your meals at the right times. Of course, the variables that control this include your lean body mass, your daily energy expenditure, the thermogenic effect of food, your level of insulin sensitivity and incorporating nutrition partitioning agents in your plan. For the athlete to consume several small meals containing low GI complex carbs with an optimal protein source is the ideal method to supply the body with enough glycogen to get you through those hardcore MET training sessions yet not store fat at the same time. But for a sedentary individual that is over eating the wrong types of carbs and doesn’t participate in an activity where they can be burned off or where their muscle glycogen can be depleted, then the body will convert the excess glucose into a nice roll of flab around your waistline.

Permanent Fat-Loss Secret... the Glycemic Index

The purpose of the GI chart was to rank different sources of carbohydrates and the effect that they have on blood sugar levels. It is based on carbohydrates since foods high in protein and fat don’t have that much of an effect on your blood sugar levels.

High glycemic foods cause a sharp rise and fall in blood glucose, which ultimately deprives our brain and nervous system of consistent fuel. Choosing mainly low glycemic foods is a basic rule in the Venice Beach/MET Diet System.

Eating lower GI foods will help you maintain a more stable blood sugar level. Nothing will shoot down your performance like a bout of hypoglycaemia. The GI can be used as a powerful weapon to help increase our performance, maintain o? our blood sugar levels, increase our endurance, build muscle, burn fat and increase recovery. It can also help prevent the onset of diseases including Type II diabetes. Now do you think it has a role in the bodybuilder’s meal plan? The GI chart will help you choose what types of foods to eat at what time, and understand the metabolic effect it will have on your body. I have outlined a GI ranking of several different foods in Chart 1A to help you.

A couple of key rules from the MET Diet System that would be helpful to incorporate in your plan:

1. Limit all high glycemic foods.

2. On cheat day, which is one meal each week, don’t eat a high glycemic food by itself. Also, be sure to have a few mouthfuls of a protein food like eggs, salmon or chicken before diving into your once a week cheat meal to reduce the glycemic spike of the overall meal. As well, it is very valuable to always take two or three capsules of Fats Out Rx and Carbs Out Rx from Venice Beach prior to each once-a-week cheat meal. This will safely and naturally minimize the fat-storing affect of the meal. Keep it handy as well for those special occasions such as holidays, birthdays and anniversary parties where you know you will likely be partaking in foods that could otherwise throw your efforts completely off the rails. Given that I keep it just for these occasions, one bottle lasts me a long time, and it’s inexpensive to begin with but it’s also HIGHLY EFFECTIVE! For more information on this product go to www.olympus-sport.com or www.bodyfitness-uk.com.

Remember though, with your free meal, if eating a high glycemic food, combine it with a low glycemic high fibre food and a protein source. Protein helps support stable blood sugar levels, ano?d fibre can help lower the GI rating as well.

Chart 1A

Glycemic Index Food

Fast Acting Carbohydrates: GI 70+

Rating

115 - Non-dairy Tofu Frozen Deserts

103 - Dates

100 - Glucose

98 - White Potato

97 - Parsnips

95 - Gluten Free Bread

90 - Instant White Rice

87 - Honey

87 - Hamburger Buns

82 - Rice Krispies

81 - Pretzels

80 - Corn Flakes

80 - Jelly Beans

76 - Waffles

76 - Doughnuts

74 - Corn Chips

72 - White Rice

Moderate Acting Carbohydrates: GI 49-69

Rating

69 - White Bread

67 - Cake

67 - Croissant

62 - Banana

57 - Wild Rice

55 - Oat Bran

55 - Brown Rice

51 - Bran

51 - Sweet Potao?toes

42 - All Bran

49 - Rolled Oats

Slow Acting Carbohydrates: GI 10-40

Rating

39 - Plums

38 - Apples

38 - Pears

36 - Yoghurt

29 - Lentils

26 - Grapefruit

33 - Chickpeas

29 - Kidney Beans, boiled

29 - Green Lentils, boiled

22 - Dried Peas

16 - Soya Beans, boiled

15 - Artichoke

15 - Asparagus

15 - Broccoli

15 - Cauliflower

15 - Celery

15 - Cucumber

15 - Aubergine

15 - Green Beans

15 - Lettuce, all varieties

15 - Peppers, all varieties

15 - Mange Tout

14 - Spinach

15 - Young Squash

15 - Tomatoes

15 - Courgette

For those of you who carry their “love handles” around their waistline it is impo?erative that you eliminate the higher GI carbs and simple sugars from your plan. When you consume these high GI carbs and sugars, insulin will block your ability to burn fat and this is the last thing that you want to happen.

If you want to eliminate the excess fat around the waist and hips you have to allow the body to access the fat as a fuel source. In order to do that, choose your foods that are at 50 or less on the glycemic index and eat sparingly those foods between 51 and 60. Of course, you’ll need to eliminate foods that are 61 and above ­ except for the once a week cheat meals when you’ll be consuming Carbs Out Rx and Fats Out Rx in advance.

If you decide to indulge in these tasty high GI foods regularly then the body fat you are targeting is not going to be eliminated. This is because the insulin spike created by the high glycemic goodies will create a lock that will ensure that the body fat stays right where it is!

“Do you want to be safe and good, or do you want to take a chance and be great?”
Jimmy Johnson

Your Ace In The Hole

Now if you are like me then you are always looking for that little extra edge to make things sail nice and easy. There is no use busting your arse day in and day out in the gym if you are not going to see the optimum results that you want. Plus, time is of the essence, so muscle recovery and growth in record time is of the greatest importance. One supplement that I use myself and have gotten great results with is AGF MAX. This formula stands for Advanced Glutamine Formula. This well thought out, absorption enhanced formula can make a stunning difference to your training and the results that take place. Let’s take a quick look at just a few of the many benefits that it has to offer on your quest for getting lean and mean.

Increases rate of recovery from hard training

Increases cell voluminization

Cell voluminization is the key to muscle growth and recovery. If you can cause more nutrients like the branch chain amino acids and glutamine to enter your muscle cells this will cause an increase in protein synthesis. This leads to increased muscle growth, increased rate of glycogen storage and an improved rate of recovery. The key ingredients found in AGF MAX can dramatically help increase your rate of cell voluminization helping you to pack on more muscle in less time.

Prevents the catabolic state

This is another very important aspect that AGF MAX can help you with. If you want to continually increase your muscle mass or stay hard and ripped, you need to make sure that you never enter a catabolic state. For those of you that aren’t aware of what a catabolic state is: it is when the body enters a muscle-wasting state. This means that your body starts eating away at your lean muscle mass like it was at some all-you-can-eat buffet; the only problem here is that your biceps, pecs and delts are the main course. Proper dosage of AGF MAX, especially pre- and post-workout, can help prevent you from entering this catabolic nightmare so that your gains just keep coming without taking any steps backwards.

Helps burn fat

Different studies have shown that taking in and efficiently absorbing o? the right levels of BCAAs can actually help you decrease body fat levels. One theory about why BCAAs can cause this decrease in fat stores is since the body senses the increased flow of BCAAs in the bloodstream during training it believes that muscle is being broken down. This then causes the body to stop the breakdown and call upon its fat stores to be utilized as an energy source.

Helps suppress cortisol levels

Cortisol is one of those hormones that must be controlled if you want to make any serious gains in the gym. It is a stress hormone that is released due to the intense training load that you place upon your body when training hard. When it is over produced it will be the main culprit of entering you into a muscle-wasting state. To make matters even worse it will cause you to increase your fat stores even more. This will be more prevalent in the waistline due to the fact that men carry a large majority of their cortisol receptors in this area.

Reduces fatigue and increases endurance

One way this is accomplished is by blocking entry of fatigue-inducing tryptophan into the brain. AGF MAX can help you get through those gut-busting workout with a lot less strain then when not taking it. It can help you last longer in the gym so that you can get through your resistance training and your cardio without feeling like you just went to war.

Elevates growth hormone, insulin and testosterone levels.

Well, this reason alone makes AGF MAX an essential bodybuilding tool. These three hormones are the most important for you packing on mass and leaning out. We all know what a jacked-up testosterone level will do for you. It will help you pack on lean muscle and give you the sex drive of teenager. Insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the body. It can help shuttle nutrients directly into the muscle cells to heo?lp create the anabolic environment like no other hormone! Growth hormone is one of the best hormones around. BCAAs have been shown to help increase your natural production of GH. This means that your body will be able to release more of this powerful hormone and you get to build more muscle and burn more fat. Proper dosage of BCAAs can help increase the natural production of all three of these hormones.

Substantially cuts cravings for sugars and high GI carbs

Let’s face it, dieting is tough. If it were as easy as wolfing down some cheesecake then everyone would look buffed and brazen. So the fact remains you need that edge to control those cravings when your body goes into overdrive and is just dying for something sweet. AGF MAX by Venice Beach is just the ticket that you are looking for. Users report that they experienced a major decrease in cravings for sugary or high GI carbs when using AGF MAX. It was that little secret weapon that helped them overcome those hard times that is ultimately critical for your success. Check it out at the web site mentioned earlier. It is well worth taking a look at.

On a closing thought here, the main thing to remember is that carbs are not the evil macronutrient they are broadcast as in the mainstream media. Carbs are an essential nutrient not only for your bodybuilding success but also your health. You just have to be educated in this war on fat and know how to apply the right types of carbs to help you attain your goals. Eat the right kinds in the proper amounts for your individual needs (more on this next month) and you will gain muscle, burn fat and recover from your workout with ease. So until next month, train hard, eat clean, boost your results with AGF MAX, and with the exception of your once a week cheat or free meal, stay clear of those high GI physique killers. Just keep following the MET Blue Prints at www.bo?odyfitness-uk.com, which will inevitably lead you onwards to the greatest version of the highest vision ever you held for yourself. Don’t let smallness in any area of your life hold you back. Work to improve yourself daily. Conceive, Believe and Achieve like a CHAMPION.

“Learn something new. Try something different. Convince yourself that you have no limits.”
Brian Tracey