aj_rock

You (and a lot of other people) give insulin a lot more credit than it deserves sometimes. Its actions on fatty acids is INDIRECT at best. It shuttles glucose out of the blood stream and into tissues. It has many secondary effects, most of which have more to do with glucose being transported than anything else. I.E. glucose in the muscles draws in brotein and works together to add to lean mass. The SOLE reason fatty acids tend to get stored in the presence of insulin is because insulin inhibits glucagon release. Glucagon is used to draw fatty acids from cells into the blood stream. So glucagon is high, insulin low, the body is pulling fatty acids from storage. When insulin is high, glucagon goes low, and no more fatty acids are drawn into the blood stream. Fatty acid storage is pretty much mandated solely by fatty acid usage in the blood stream. It either gets used within some set amount of time after digesting (sorry can't be bothered to look up the time frame) or it gets nabbed by some fatty acid hungry fat cells. And when glucose levels are stable, then pretty much you get whatever you eat = used up during the day. After enough time following a meal, insulin levels drop and glucagon starts poking its head out. For people who aren't IR or diabetic already though, the effects you described won't be overpowering, regardless of time of day. We're talking average glucose readings being 6.9 in the morning or something and 7.1 in the evening. I know I probably just confused the matter, but... the more you know! One last note: tGLUT DOES become more active in the face of resistance training, but it's more a direct response to glycogen/glucose depletion within the muscles themselves. They can actually become OVER sensitive to insulin, and end up storing MORE glycogen following the training session than they did immediately before. Which is the principle behind many carb-cycling programs: you work hard, then eat a large amount of carbs and some protein: the carbs get shuttled into the muscles at an increased rate, and if you keep up the over-feeding for a couple days, you can pull off GREAT numbers in the gym.

Depends on type of carbs, where they are going, and total consumption. Also the female body is funny.

In my experience, teams that stay scrappy through the last few games of the season into playoffs do VERY well, unlike my team, losing TWICE to the friggin giants in the 'bowl... Green Bay has a good chance to come through this year for sure.

Can confirm Packers win. Lot of self-shots to the foot from the Lions helped though.

YUS someone else zpelling their curlz with a z! It'll only be so long before we hold a NF meetup and waldo spends the entire time doing backflips and sticking his toes in people's faces doing the dragon flag

Probably has a lot more to do with fat mobilization. While I wouldn't link it directly to your benching prowess, it's likely just an area of your body with a high density of lipo-receptive... receptors... I know, sounds dumb, but I can't bother to remember the receptor names. Regardless... the easier a given area sees a change UP in fat, the easier it is to get it OFF... generally speaking

Hey, life gets busy sometimes. Just do what you can, and when the time frees up, make use of it!

No pig? No pork? No BACON??? You are a stronger man than I in such regards. Could not give up pig.

The changes in pre-workout nutrition should be felt a lot sooner than that, methinks. Concentrate on how you feel a) stepping in the door of the gym and stepping out the door

Well the problem with doing a straight up 10% is that you lose more on your bulking days than the cutting days, which is kinda the opposite of what you want. If you want a more involved method, tally up the total number of rest days vs exercise days (let's assume 3/week) and divide by 7 for average intake. That puts you at (2100*4+3100*3)/7= 2528. That number should go down 10%, so it becomes 2275. Now I'm gonna do some behind the scenes linear algebra for you and figure out that the new numbers are 2900 on exercise days and 1800 on rest days. Ok, you got me. Lower by 200-300 per day instead Or else if I had your exercise day # wrong

Commenting because I can't believe I haven't already subbed this

Sorry to double post, but you're also right, things change depending on goals, but I don't think that applies in this situation. Think about it: if you're just plain cutting, then your carb intake should be centered around exercise, so the point is moot. If you're bulking, then your body is extremely likely to have a decent level of insulin always, because you're stuffing your face. It's also pretty common to hear that when bulking, meal-timing becomes a lot less important than just eating enough of the right things. Point again becomes moot. So then there's your proposed situation, in which you assume an LG style micro-cycle. In which case I believe the above cases apply as written, EXCEPT for the case of fasted morning training, and you can't plan your intake around the workout; it MUST come some hours after going to the gym. In THAT SOLE case, I agree that you MAY derive some small benefit from getting insulin levels down to low as quickly as possible. After all, you are trying to spend a maximal number of hours fasted outside the usual 8 as you can, so maybe some effects can be seen.

General rule of thumb for adjusting ANY diet, courtest of Lyle McD himself: Once you're a couple weeks in, evaluate yourself based on where you are, where you're heading, and where you want to be If the goal is fat loss: Not losing weight fast enough? Lower calorie intake by 10%. (BTW, that's off both days for LG) Losing weight at the right pace? Cool, keep it that way! Losing weight too fast and losing a lot of muscle? Bring that stuff up by 10% Other way around for gaining. Gaining too fast? Lower by 10%. Gaining too slow? Up by ten% Thing is, this works for a re-comp as well. If you're gaining fat, then you're caloric intake is too high, period. For you, I'd say drop to 2000/3000 and see how things go.

A lot of what I heard on that podcast doesn't make sense o_O High GI carbs after a workout = yes, assuming LG style: you want to shunt carbs back into your muscles after depleting them. However, insulin itself DECREASES proteolysis, AKA prevents breakdown of protein for energy. It also increases amino acid uptake by muscles. Sooo you kinda want an amount of insulin in your blood in order to prevent that breakdown. Hell, insulin isn't even released at a regular pace. When digesting food, levels OSCILLATE with a period of 3-6 minutes, coincidently very close to the half-life within the body. For a more in-depth look, go to the wiki page for insulin. But long and short, insulin should NOT be avoided when trying to build muscle. It has longer term positive effects than short. In general, you have some high GI food to get the quick 'burst', but then you have some low GI in ORDER to sustain that insulin release and prolong that anabolic window. Must go for a meeting now but will add more thoughts later.

Indeed! Just get back on track mate. A couple missed days does not negate a bunch of AWESOME days.

Quoted because I heard some interesting stuff stuffs from a friend on the up-and-up in kinesiology: recent research is showing potential to replace taking ALL BCAAs with just leucine. Not saying to ACT NOW but something that you may find popping up on LG within the next year or so

Oi mate! Lookin for some progress updates!

You can't chew gum and whistle at the same time and do a good job of both. Whistle on one day, chew gum the other. P.S. those are some really really old studies cat! A quick gander at the GH wiki page (it's well sourced surprisingly) shows that exercise, fasting, hypoglycemia, sleep, and a few substances, one of which is ghrelin So you're right in that GH is higher during low-insulin states, but it's NOT the insulin that affects it, it's overall glucose levels. At the same time, the only way glucose can directly inhibit GH secretion is HYPERglycemia, meaning that sugar dump Complex carbs will likely not cause enough of a rise in glucose levels to affect GH release, especially while sleeping. Seems to me like the body has plenty of mechanisms to promote GH despite the time of day. Regardless, the page also states that GH is not sufficient to promote muscle mass increases. So really in the end, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Fundamentals over details.

I think you over-estimated the insulin effect of complex carbs. I mean, you're correct in that a TON of insulin in the system impairs stuff... hell, that's half the problem type II diabetics run into, the other half being too much blood sugar. But insulin levels get dangerously high as well. What I'm trying to say is, your insulin spike of sugar will retard GH release. The insulin release and amounts in the bloodstream while digesting complex carbs and sleeping is not going to impact on GH release to any meaningful degree. In fact, if I remember correctly, you want the muscles refilling with glycogen while also repairing the tissue. Remember: cardinal rules are NOT overruled by minor details. The concept of net anabolic VS net catabolic still applies. You're either currently in one or teh other. The idea about pouring sugar down the hatch immediately after a workout is valid though. All the carbs get shunted into glycogen stores. But you really don't need that much.

1. The myth about processing so much protein an hour is just that, a myth. Everything stays in the stomach and is absorbed, barring some other uhhh gastro-intestinal event. For example, lactose intolerant people trying to consume casein (it has a larger lactose residue to it than whey) may not get 'full absorption' because their stomach hit the emercency evac. 2. LG should work with any beginner routine just fine. Some advanced routines are more questionable. 3. Yes, and it's not a stupid question at all: a lot of people have been tricked by this statement - "don't eat after 7 at night or you'll gain weight!" The truth is, that statement was dreamt up in order to limit post dinner snacking, which is in fact a huge source of extra calories consumed during the day. If you have your meals under control and don't snack, that rule doesn't apply.

I plan my diet around holidays. Those are what we call 'diet breaks'

Hey man, that means you have the chance to distinguish yourself and start climbing the ranks on your own team it's a good thing that your coach is trying to move you around really; it means he wants you ON the field, even if its not necessarily at your preferred position. Being from Canada though, my only experience with 'shires' is Lord of the Rings, so forgive me that I find the fact that you live in a shire somewhat amusing

Fat levels in general seem a bit low. Seeing as how you need dietary fat to transport and store fat-soluble vitamins, the general recommendation is around 50g minimum a day. At the same time, I think the protein level is a little overkill. I get my bodyweight in grams, which is like 30 less than you're getting. Especially on workout days, your protein requirement actually goes down slightly because you have more carbs available as fuel.

An hour of running and sprinting? That sounds more like it When does your coach list the line-up for the game? You can gauge how hard to work in your workouts depending on whether you'll be dressing or not for the game.

Alright mate, let's do this!