See if this scenario sounds familiar:

Your figure or bikini coach has had you dieting pretty hard and nonstop for weeks.  You made some good progress at first, strength/performance in the gym was okay for a while, energy throughout the day wasn’t too terrible all things considered, and you still liked asparagus.  Then as the weeks passed, you noticed a decline in energy, strength, and mood.  You weren’t getting leaner anymore, and you were starting to notice a little water retention/bloating.  Appetite and cravings were through the roof.  Your ass may have even been sagging more than it was a few weeks prior when you were heavier.  You were several weeks out from your competition still and not sure if you could make it, let alone look good enough to be competitive.  Sound familiar?

If so, what you experienced was very common for anyone on a linear diet, especially one combined with intense training as with contest prep.  You were probably told by your figure or bikini coach to keep pushing through and that eventually the weight would start dropping again.  What you should have been told was that your hormones were all jacked up from over dieting and that you needed a refeed.

There are all sorts of variations of refeeds, ranging from fully retarded to very beneficial.  We’ll focus on the more common, tried and true version: the full day high carb/low fat refeed.  With this version, you basically eat a much higher than normal amount of non-fructosy (new word) carbs, moderate protein and low fat for a full day.  This helps to refill muscle glycogen, turn off catabolism (temporarily), upregulate certain hormones and in many cases shed excess extracellular/subcutaneous water (that stuff around your stomach).

Now before I go any further I want to point out that its questionable whether bikini competitors really need to be dieting hard enough to ever need a refeed.  Assuming they’re going into the pre-contest diet as lean as they ideally should be, the diet should be moderate enough that a refeed most likely won’t be necessary.  A better approach would be to just find that sweet spot with food intake/training so performance in the gym is still good but you’re getting leaner at the desired rate.  But nonetheless…if the symptoms in the first paragraph exist, a refeed is definitely something to consider, so I’ll continue.

So instead of rambling to the point where this turns into another 3 part series that takes me 6 months to finish, I’ll get right into how to set things up.  Here it is step by step:

Step 1: Calculate your refeed macros.  For a refeed to work properly, you need to set it up to be at or a little above what your normal, non-dieting maintenance calories would be.  Since you won’t likely put on any fat from just one day of high carbs, you’ll want to err on the side of more calories rather than less.  We’ll say 2500 calories to be safe.  The vast majority of this should be carbs.  Since carbs are protein sparing, protein won’t need to be as high as it is on your normal diet.  This will also help keep your stomach from blowing up, since protein takes longer to digest than most carbs.  Fat MUST be kept low or you just might manage to put on some bodyfat during the process.

So unless you’re REALLY depleted, you should only need about 4-5g of carbs per pound of lean body mass.  Since many of my readers have probably never done a proper refeed, we’ll start small and go with 4g/lb.  So a female with 100lbs of lean body mass would consume 400g of carbs during a full day refeed.  That’s 1600 calories of the 2500 we’re going for.  So we have 900 calories left to work with.  Fat we need to keep around 15% of our 2500 calories, so we’re looking at 375 of the remaining 900 calories coming from fat.  Fat is 9 calories per gram, so that works out to 42 grams of fat.  We now have 525 calories to get in from protein.  Protein is 4 calories per gram, so that’s about 130 grams.  This should be less protein than you’ve been consuming, but if you have circumstances that have required you go lower on the protein, you should keep refeed protein intake where it has been and just proportionately increase your carb intake to still hit the 2500 calorie target (or whatever your target happens to be).

I should also mention that when you’re eating 400+ grams of mostly starchy carbs, you’ll actually be getting a good amount of protein directly from those starches.  This DOES count towards your protein intake for the day, so you really won’t be eating much in the way of animal protein compared to what you were likely eating on the diet.  Be sure and use one of the many online databases to get all the macros from all your foods…tagalong fats, proteins and carbs can add up!

Step 2: Plan your meals and go shopping.  Meals should be spaced out about 2.5-3 hours apart.  This may be hard to do for those with full time jobs, so you may need to refeed on a day off from work.  So we’re looking at about 6 meals on refeed day.  Simply divide all your macros by 6 and now you have your per meal macros.  If you plan to do a depletion workout (see below) the morning of the refeed, you can slip in some very fun high GI carbs at your first refeed (post workout) meal.  You would probably get away with this even if you didn’t train, but its 100% guilt free if you did.

Protein sources will need to be very, very lean.  Egg whites, 99% lean ground turkey, white fish, skinless chicken breast with all visible fat cut off, fat free greek yogurt, etc.  Carbs will need to be primarily starches.  If you tend to bloat easily, lower fiber starches will be your best bet (white rice, rice cakes, etc) and you’ll want to watch the gluten.  Otherwise, the typical sweet potatoes, yams, brown rice, etc will work well (you should probably still peel the potatoes to bring fiber down a bit).  Most people do well with a mix, and some bagels here and there are fine too.

If you know you handle carbs fairly well, all you really have to do is make sure you keep fructose/sucrose/high fructose corn syrup to a minimum.  Otherwise you can have any starchy carbs you normally do well with.  Worst case if you choose the wrong starches you’ll just be a little puffier for a day or two longer, but you won’t gain bodyfat unless you overdo the fructose or fat.

There should be room for just a little healthy fat such as nuts, nut butters, olive oil, etc…but measure this out VERY carefully.  It doesn’t take being off by much with fats to put you over by enough to gain fat during your refeed.  Don’t let this scare you into cutting fat out completely though…your refeed will not work as well if you do this.

No veggies or fruits on refeed day.  Fiber will already be very high, so more will just bloat you and put you on the toilet all day.  You’ll want to drink extra water on refeed day…probably 50% more than normal, or about 6-8qts.  This will ensure that the glycogen gets stored as well as prevent any increase in sodium from leading to water retention.

One thing I strongly recommend is figuring out exactly how much of each carb source you need prior to shopping and buying ONLY that amount.  That way you’re not tempted the next day to keep carbing it up.

Step 3: Plan your pre and post refeed workouts.  If you really need a refeed, you’re likely already depleted enough that this step isn’t crucial.  But if its practical to do a 60-90 minute weight training session first thing in the morning it can help a little.  You’ll basically be depleting any remaining glycogen in each muscle group and increasing insulin sensitivity in your muscles, thereby causing them to take in more glycogen than they normally would (supercompensation).  So you get the full effect of the refeed.  Again…its optional…the refeed will still work fine if you can’t fit this in.

If you can fit it in, you’ll want to do a full body workout with 1-2 exercises for each major muscle group.  Go with mostly machine training, and choose the ones you seem to “feel” the most in the targeted muscles.  Do 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps with no more than 60 seconds rest between sets.  Squeeze and make it burn as much as possible…that’s your gauge as to how well you’re depleting.  This will be a very tough workout if you’re already depleted enough that you need a refeed.

Even if you can’t fit a pre-refeed depletion workout in, you should DEFINITELY do a post refeed heavy/power workout to take advantage of your topped off glycogen stores.  This can be another full body workout, but choose big, compound lifts, starting with your top-priority areas first.  Go lower to moderate rep (6-10) and take enough time between sets that you can go heavy each time.  This will be done the day after the refeed…no training DURING the refeed as this will interfere with the replenishment process.

If your training is a little more set in stone, just sandwich the refeed in between two normally scheduled workouts.  It would be good if you can plan to refeed the day before your weakest bodypart/workout, but if you REALLY need to refeed asap, or only have one day where you can eat every 2.5-3 hours, then just get it done.  Again…it will work fine regardless of training setup.

Step 4: Refeed and assess the results.  You will almost certainly weigh more the next morning, even if you already look leaner/tighter.  This is normal and necessary, and just water/glycogen.  You CANNOT put on a measurable amount of fat overnight, so don’t stress over the scale.  It will go back down over the next few days as you burn off the newly stored glycogen during training and everyday tasks.

Take a good look at your body in the mirror.  Are your muscles fuller and tighter?  If not, you may not have gone high enough with the carbs, or you may have had too much fructose.  If you’re bloated, fiber and/or gluten may have been too high (gluten can be an issue with refeeds even if you’re not intolerant, since you can ingest so much of it in this scenario).  Wait for the bloating to go down and look in the mirror again.

If within a couple days post-refeed you look tighter and fuller, and you don’t have a competition coming up very soon, you may want to ease up on the diet a bit and at least put some more carbs around training sessions.  This is really what most bikini competitors should be doing anyway, rather than being so aggressive that they hit the wall and need a big refeed.

A warning about crappy supplements aka “insulin sensitizers”:  There are a number of supplements on the market touted to improve insulin sensitivity, thereby causing more of your ingested carbs to be stored in the muscles as glycogen, thereby increasing fat oxidation (burning).  A very popular one, ALA or R-ALA is commonly recommended as a complement to refeeds.  While this sounds very good, its not that simple.  To gain any sort of advantage with increased insulin sensitivity, we need for insulin sensitivity to be increased ONLY in the muscles and not in the fat cells.  ALA, R-ALA and all “insulin sensitizers” affect both the muscles and the fat cells, so yes, more of your carbs may go to the muscles, but more may go to fat cells as well, which is not what we want.

If getting technical doesn’t convince you, lets go with common sense:  Do you really think the guy at the local supplement shop has the miracle pill we’ve all been waiting for and hardly anyone knows about it?  We don’t even have a drug that can do what these supplements claim to do!  Save your money.  The only thing that increases insulin sensitivity in the muscles without also increasing it in fat cells is training…so train, and then eat

Joe Lenihan is the owner and Head Coach of Next Level Personal Training.  He has been training and prepping athletes and competitors full time for over 16 years.  For more information on how Next Level Personal Training can help you with your upcoming competition, or to schedule a free fitness evaluation, click here.  We offer both local and online training and prep.

When I say bikini competition glutes…I mean the kind that deserve to win, not the loose, jiggly ones I see scoring trophies at amateur level competitions these days.  Do you want glutes that look tight while you’re walking onstage or do you want to jiggle around up there until you’re fully flexed?  Because I’m still seeing a lot of leg- dominant lower body training being done with typical “accepted” bikini competition prep approaches, and consequentially  a lot of sloppy glutes (and cellulite) at the competitions.

Sorry to be blunt, but its true.  The glutes can be made to look great in photos, since most of the shots we see online are with the competitors fully into their poses and with their legs strategically crossed to hide the cellulite, but it’s a completely different story when you’re at the competition watching live…with movement.

Here are some key things I think most amateur level bikini competitors need to focus more on in and out of the gym to get those soft yet still firm glutes the pro’s and top amateurs have:

1) Focus on HEAVY glute training instead of light weight, unstable training.  Why on earth would anyone train what is supposed to be the largest, strongest muscle group in the body with light weights and in an unstable position (bosu ball)?  A little high rep iso-lateral glute work is fine at the end of a good workout or at home between workouts, but the emphasis needs to be on exercises where the body is in a stable environment so you can maximize loading of the targeted muscles.

We’ll work on your tightrope walking skills/stabilization later…for now we need to make you look good.  Ditch the bosu ball, cut back on the butt blaster machine/cable work and load a bar with at least 115lbs for some weighted hip thrusts and glute bridges.  Add some weight to your leg presses, and go deeper if you can.  Limit glute isolation work that isn’t heavy to about 3 sets per lower body workout, and focus the rest of the session on heavier training with both legs working together, in a stable position.

2) Squat and Squat DEEP!  But with good form.  I’m seeing a lot of fear of the squat rack with bikini competitors.  I haven’t quite figured this one out, considering how important glutes are for these girls and how great a proper deep squat is for developing the glutes.  I mostly see endless walking lunges, step up variations, combination exercises/metabolic work and tons of cardio.

This can work fine for those genetically blessed and already 90% ready to hit the stage (aka most high level bikini competitors even before they hire a coach), but most girls I see can benefit from taking the time to master the squat.  That said, there is no irreplaceable exercise for someone not looking to reach their genetic potential of muscularity (aka bikini competitors), so I do in some cases opt for machines or split squats/lunges if the client isn’t close to being proficient at squatting deep.

So what I’m seeing with deep squats is (among other things) a loss of pelvic stabilization at the bottom of the lift.  In other words, the pelvis tucks under (posterior tilt), which rounds the lower back and takes the load off the glutes and hamstrings.  This also puts a lot of strain on the lower back and puts more load on the quads.

The image on the left is incorrect stabilization...see how the pelvis tucks under? Very little glute involvement here.

Next time you squat, have someone get video of you and take a look at your pelvis/lower back at the bottom position.  It should stay slightly arched throughout the entire movement.  If not, try squatting with just your bodyweight standing beside a mirror.  See if you can squat deep with no added weight without losing pelvic stabilization.

If you can’t…and you actually tried hard, you have a mobility/stability issue that will probably take more work to correct than its worth (or than you have time for) considering your job as a bikini competitor is not specifically to squat.  Move on to split squats/lunges and machine based training (but still go deep), unless you don’t mind hiring a coach who REALLY knows how to get you squatting correctly.

If you can squat properly with no added weight, try your next set with weight, but less than you were lifting when you shot the video.  Keep adjusting the weight until you find the right amount where you’re being challenged but are still able to keep your pelvis neutral.  Keep an eye on your form during future squatting sessions and don’t be afraid to reduce weight as needed…this will not only help your glutes but it will also keep you from getting those over-developed quads you DON’T need for bikini competition.

Frequent glute training.  If you’re not overdoing things already with excessive high intensity work (HIIT, Plyos, etc), you should be able to work your glutes 3 times a week.  I usually go with twice a week on lower body days and then as competition time nears I’ll often up it to three times a week, with one of them being a glute only workout (with some inevitable hamstring involvement).

I’ll often do this along with interval work such as sprints or stairs so there is no overlap in lower body breakdown/recovery.  All we need here is one or two really good glute exercises, just a few sets total.  It shouldn’t take much if you’re going heavy like you should be.

Don’t overdo cardio!!  Cardio can be helpful in getting that last bit of stubborn bodyfat off, but you don’t really need or want to be that lean for bikini to begin with.  So the marathon cardio sessions won’t really be necessary or helpful.  And they can actually make things worse by causing your body to adapt muscle fibers for endurance rather than strength/muscle gain.

So you can actually lose muscle if you overdo cardio.  It also depletes glycogen from your muscles which you need for your training, and to keep the glutes and other muscles looking full and tight.  You need to offset that depletion with more food or you won’t be doing very will with your training.  Remember, this is not a contest on who can get the skinniest…you need to eat to train to look good.  Over dieting and overdoing cardio can both put a damper on this goal.

EAT CARBS!!  Yes, you actually do need to eat some carbs if you want full, tight glutes.  Remember, this is supposed to be the largest, most powerful muscle group in the entire body.  It has a LOT of room to store glycogen and water.  If you deplete carbs too much, your glutes will be flat and soft, making you think you need more cardio/less food, which will just compound the problem.

Sure, you can always fill them out later with a carb refeed/load, but since we’re talking about developing an area, I’m going to write in the context of NOT being in a dieting/immediate pre-contest phase.  You should be routinely eating enough carbs to keep the muscles “fed”, but not so many calories (yes, calories still matter…they help determine how you utilize protein/carbs/fat…aka storage vs burning) that you put on too much bodyfat.

I’d give a ballpark number to shoot for, but it really depends on so many variables that there is no way I could get it right without having all the info I need.  I’ll just say that most novice competitors I’ve consulted with think 150g a day is high carb.  Its not.

These are just a few of the more important things to consider doing differently if you’re following the current en-vogue methods of bikini competition prep and glute training.  Every competitor is different and there are certainly some I would keep far away from a squat rack, give extra cardio, and go easy on the carbs with, etc.  That’s the minority though…most people who think they fall into that category just need more prep time and more consistency with their diet and training.  To see where you fit in with all of this and how Next Level Personal Training can help you, sign up for your free fitness evaluation.  Click here to sign up.

In this final installment, I’m going to take you through the steps of setting up a carb cycle for figure or bikini competition.  As mentioned in Part 2, I don’t really see the point in carb cycling much sooner than about 6 weeks or so out from a contest, although I have occasionally used it further out under very specific/unusual circumstances.  Having said that, I don’t think we need to get into determining ideal calories/macros for you, since if you’re at a point where you should be cycling carbs, you already know where your calories should be set in terms of weekly average.  I will however use an example that shouldn’t be too far off where I’d envision the average 120 lb 6 weeks out bikini/figure competitor.  That doesn’t mean you should use these figures if you’re 120 lbs and competing in bikini…its just an example.

As I mentioned in part 2, the only real legitimate benefits of carb cycling are improved nutrient partitioning and (hopefully) improved performance in the gym.  So that said, all you really need to do differently on training days is insert more protein and carbs in the meals immediately surrounding your more intense training (weights and possibly intervals).  So rather than get into all these compex formulas, we’ll just assess the pre/post workout protein/carbs needs and “borrow” those calories from your non-weight training days, where you won’t need them as much.  Assuming you’re already putting a decent amount of protein/carbs around training, we don’t really need to add much on top of that.  For the average 120-130lb competitor, I’d say an additional 20g carbs pre-workout and another 20 post-workout should be fine.

So if you’re currently on a linear diet of 1400 calories, 160g protein, 100g carbs and 40g fat, and you lift weights (or do typical bikini prep “pump and tone” work) 4x/week, here is what your carb cycle plan would look like:

High Days:

160g protein, 140g carbs, 40g fat.  The additional 40g carbs would be split in half, with each half being added to the pre and post workout meals.  No need to up protein in this scenario because its high enough already and you need it to be up even on off/lower intensity days.  You COULD lower fat by up to 10g if you want to save some for your low days, but that’s up to you.  We don’t have carbs up so high that you need to bring fat down, and 40g isn’t really very high to begin with.

Low Days:

160g protein, 47g carbs, 40g fat. Put about half of this day’s carbs post cardio, if you do cardio on these days.  Other than that, just spread it all around.  Carbs at night won’t be an issue.

So lets back up and look at how we arrived at these numbers, and how you can determine your carb cycle based on your (pre-determined) calories and macros.  Since we kept protein and fat the same, we don’t need to do any math there.  For carbs, I multiplied the weekly average of 100g by 7 (as in 7 days per week) to get the total of 700g of carbs per week.  So we need to structure the carb cycle so weekly carbs add up to this number.  We know that we need a little more carbs around training (40g more is plenty), so we just upped carbs by 40g each of the 4 weight training days.  So 140g carbs x 4 days=560g of our weekly carbs being added to our weight training days.  This leaves us with 140g to spread around the 3 remaining days.  140 divided by 3 is 47…pretty simple.  And 47 is enough that you can have a little something around any cardio or lighter work you might do on these low carb days.  We even managed to keep low day calories right around the 1200 area that most experts agree to be the minimum for anyone regardless of how little/much they weigh (some exceptions aside).

So one more time in case I lost you:

1) Multiply your daily carbs (of your current diet) by 7.  This is your weekly carb total (you need this for step 3).

2) Add 40g carbs to each of your days where you have your most intense training (weights/intense intervals).

3) Add up carbs from all of your high carb days and subtract this from your weekly carb total (see step 1).  The number you’re left with is what you get to spread around your low carb days.

4) Evenly distribute the number you were left with in step 3 (high carb days total minus weekly carb total) between your low days.

5) Optional: Borrow some fat from your high days to put on your low days so you’re not too miserable.  Just be sure to leave yourself with at least 25-30g of fat on high days so you can still get all your essential fats.  Put the extra 40g of carbs on high days in the meals immediately surrounding your intense training (20g before, 20g after).  This should be ON TOP OF the carbs you’re already getting in these meals.  Or you can just sip on a protein/carb drink during training if you prefer…just make sure the extra 40 is around training.

That’s it!  All the technical talk in parts 1 and 2 were just to tell you there isn’t really all that much to it.  Its just putting carbs where we need them most at the stage in our diets where we don’t have a lot of them to go around, and shifting a little further into fat burning mode on low days.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this 6 month article series.  Feel free to leave a comment or question.

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I’m very proud to announce our latest Next Level success story!  Jennifer Bock was just crowned Miss Swimsuit USA International, beating out 55 other high level contestants from all over the world!  We’re working on an interview which we hope to have up this week, but I thought I’d post a few photos from her contest in the meantime.  Congratulations Jennifer!

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Okay I think I’m probably about 2-3 weeks late writing part 2 of Carb Cycling for Bikini Competitors, but I re-checked and google still has little to offer on the subject.  Not that its google’s fault.  I love google.

So I realized after re-reading part 1 that I never really bothered to explain what Carb Cycling is, or what most people think it is at least.  Apparently its not common knowledge (who knew?).  So I’m going to back up a little and get that out of the way.

Then I’ll get into what I think its uses are, why I like it, and how/when I like to use it.  And of course I’ll teach you how I think a carb cycle should be set up.

What carb cycling claims to be: So carb cycling has basically been pitched as a method of ensuring that the body has the fuel it needs to support training on training days, and enough of a deficit to cause a net fat loss on non-training (or cardio only) days.  This I agree with.

Some have gone a step further and claimed that its superior to linear dieting (aka same calories/macros each day) in allowing one to efficiently burn fat and gain muscle at the same time.

And some have gone further yet in claiming that the high carb days are enough to “boost the metabolism” by upregulating certain key hormones that affect thyroid output.  I touched on this a little in part 1, so I won’t go into why that’s probably not true.  I’ll just say that if you value your hormones/metabolism, you might not want to look at carb cycling as something that lets you get away with a more extreme caloric deficit/more training than a linear diet.

Okay, back to typical approaches.  Most common carb cycling approaches implement 2-4 high carb days per week, with a large percentage of the carbs being ingested around the weight training workouts.  The rest are either all low carb days or a combination of low carb and medium carb days (medium days usually falling on upper body lifting days, since they’re at least marginally less depleting than lower body days).

Every approach I’ve seen has kept protein the same (usually 1.5-2 grams per pound of bodyweight) each day.  Most of them have fat fairly low on low carb days, and extremely low on high carb days.

So a typical High/Medium/Low carb cycle schedule might look something like this:

This setup is basically fine, although as I mentioned in part 1, most of the formulas I found for calculating macros for each day were severely flawed.  But the way most approaches have you coordinate high/low (and medium if applicable) days with training days is basically fine.

There are dozens of different routes you could go with this, and as long as it averages out to the proper deficit/macros over the course of the week, and supplies adequate protein and carbs around the more intense workouts, it should work well.

Actual Benefits of Carb Cycling

So basically, the areas where I disagree with most carb cycling approaches are rationale, aka what it does that linear dieting doesn’t, and general setup/calculation of calories and macros.  I touched on all of that already, so now I’m going to tell you what I think carb cycling does, why I like it and how/when I use it.

High days support training intensity while dieting: You’ve probably heard/read that you need a good amount of protein and carbs around at least your more intense and/or glycogen depleting workouts…this is no secret.

However, when fat loss becomes more of a priority as your bikini competition date approaches, there is generally a shift of priorities from muscle gain (or at least recovery from the previous pre-contest dieting period) while minimizing fat gain, over to fat loss while minimizing muscle loss.

To do this, training intensity (aka weight on the bar) needs to be maintained, but fuel needs to be cut to create the appropriate caloric deficit.   Anyone who has tried training hard while dieting can attest to how difficult this is.

By cycling carbs, you can maintain training intensity by putting more carbs around your intense workouts, and still average out to a deficit (and low carbs) by keeping carbs and calories low on non training or cardio only days.

Now this doesn’t mean that carb cycling is the answer for those who want to optimize both muscle gain and fat loss (simultaneously), because there is a tradeoff with carb cycling while in a deficit:  You don’t get the carbs and calories you need on off days to prevent/minimize catabolism (muscle breakdown) or refill muscle glycogen, among other things.

So its ideal for those needing to go pretty low calorie and low carb towards the end of their bikini competition prep, but not ideal or necessary for those between competitions who need to either build muscle or let their bodies/metabolisms recover from the dieting they did during their last contest prep.

If I use carb cycling at all, its not until the last 6 weeks or so before competition, and I still implement structured refeeds as I normally would, depending on how a given client responds to dieting.

High days promote improved nutrient partitioning by putting more carbs/calories where they will be best utilized rather than stored: Nutrient partitioning refers to what the body does with incoming calories, aka whether they get stored or oxidized.  Intense training improves nutrient partitioning by temporarily making the muscles more sensitive to the hormone insulin.

So when carbs are ingested after an intense workout, more of the glucose they’re broken down to is shuttled into the muscles to refill muscle glycogen.  This is part of the “post-workout window” so many refer to.

But did you know that the muscles maintain this heightened insulin sensitivity beyond the immediate post-workout period?  This is where the high days can be beneficial.  On an iso-caloric (meaning same amount of calories) linear diet where you’d be averaging the same amount of carbs per week as your cyclical diet, the amount of carbs you take in on training days may not be enough to take full advantage of this heightened insulin sensitivity.  So muscle glycogen may not be re-filled to the extent it could be.

The significance of this probably depends on how low your weekly average is for calories and carbs however.  If calories/carbs (weekly average) aren’t set all that low to begin with, I don’t think glycogen replenishment would be much of an issue, and a linear diet would work just fine.  If calories/carbs (weekly average) are set low, and you plan to exercise quite a bit, you might want to consider carb cycling.

Low days create a deficit and increase catecholamine release to help burn stubborn bodyfat: Low days provide carb cyclers with the same benefits of low carb dieting: big caloric deficits and good fatty acid mobilization via catecholamine release/blunted insulin.

If you’re lean enough to be using carb cycling when I think it should be used (pre-contest), then you’re likely lean enough that you’re down to just “stubborn” bodyfat.  I won’t go into detail as to how the process works, but basically to get stubborn fat out of the fat cell (so it can be burned), we need insulin levels to be very low and catecholamine levels to be high.  This is exactly what happens when one trains fasted first thing in the morning, but it also happens (albeit to a lesser degree) when eating low  calorie and low carb.

The tradeoff is that you’re putting yourself into a highly catabolic (muscle breakdown) state, which is why I wait until just the last few weeks pre-contest to cycle carbs.  And I think being well fed on high/training days so that training can be more productive more than makes up for this tradeoff.

I should add that protein needs on low days tend to be higher than on high days…another thing I see other approaches getting wrong.  Generally, as carb/calories decrease, protein needs increase in order to maintain a positive nitrogen balance.  Ever heard that carbs are “protein sparing”?  This is what that phrase refers to.  I’ll get more into this in Part 3 (yes, you have to wait even longer before I tell you what to do). 

Psychological/Adherence Benefits: Any way you look at it, your carbs are never going to be as high as you would like them to be when dieting.  Whether you’re taking a linear or a cyclical approach to dieting, protein needs are going to be so high that carbs will have to be low in order to stay in a caloric deficit and still have room for your essential fats.  So you WILL crave carbs.

But with carb cycling, many people find they can suffer through the low days knowing that a high day is right around the corner.  Granted, these high days probably won’t afford them the KINDS of carbs they’re craving, but they’ll be a welcome relief nonetheless.

So cyclical dieting is probably the ONLY diet for competitors that actually addresses the psychological challenges of dieting.  That might actually be the most important benefit, if you ask me.  Coming from a coach who looks at food logs/reads client emails all day…competitors slip up too.  A diet that improves compliance needs not have a single additional benefit over other equally sound diets.

Okay, so I’ve rambled on enough in Part 2 that I’ve given myself even more homework, and forced you to wait even longer to learn how to actually put carb cycling into play.  I have other blog posts I’m itching to get to, so I might actually come through this time with my promise to have the next (and final) installment posted next week.  Well that and my clients apparently all call each other and plan their vacations on the same weeks…so I have no excuse not to get it done.  See you in a few days.

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Click here to read Carb Cycling for Bikini Competitors Part 1

Okay, looks like I’m finally fired up enough about something that I may have to write my first blog post in 5 months.  Every once in a while I like to pretend I’m a bikini competitor (this isn’t going where you think it is…get your head out of the gutter) looking for relevant contest prep info, and I google all the things I think a bikini competitor would want to know about.

I then go back to being Joe the coach and read/analyze what I find on the first couple pages of results.  If I don’t find what I consider quality information on the topic(s), I get mad and tell myself I’m going to write my own article on said topic(s).  Then I get busy training clients and never get around to doing it.

Well not this time!  Most of the information I found using the term “Carb Cycling” was so bad that there was no way I was going to procrastinate.  One popular site said to keep total fat intake to no more than 20% of total calories, but never bothered to explain how to determine total calories.

Another VERY popular bodybuilding site said eat as much protein, fat and carbs as you want on high carb days, yet low day was still as high as 1g of carbs per pound of total bodyweight!

The worst one I found used a formula where no matter what bodyweight you plugged in, the high carb days had literally zero grams of fat!  How do you eat 150g of protein and zero fat???  And why would you want to?

The rationale for carb cycling, when to use it, and how to adjust the diet are also areas where I’m finding WAY too much misinformation, and basically, guessing.  So I’m going to tell you what I think about carb cycling for fat loss and how I think it should be done.  Or at least how I tend to do it most of the time.

I’ll keep explaining why I don’t like other common views on the topic throughout this article by the way…in case you were thinking I was going to switch 100% over to the more positive “here’s what to do” mode.  I need to help some of you unlearn some things, so I have to stay negative a while longer.  Sorry

Lets start with Carb Cycling myths!

Carb Cycling Myth #1: “Carb cycling keeps your metabolic rate up higher than linear (aka calories/macros the same each day) dieting by upregulating the hormone Leptin”. This one bugs me the most out of all of them because its giving competitors/dieters a false sense of security, making them think its okay to go with a larger than normal caloric deficit because “carb cycling revs the metabolism”.

The idea of short term high carbohydrate overfeeds boosting metabolic rate has been thrown around a lot over the years.  While it is true that Leptin levels rise a little after a single high carb day, it doesn’t affect metabolic rate.  This is because there is a significant delay between leptin rising and thyroid output/metabolic rate rising.  I think this is yet another example of the body being very efficient at maintaining bodyfat levels to avoid starvation.

Regardless, you have to be in a caloric surplus for any of this to begin to facilitate, and most of the carb cycling for fat loss approaches I’ve seen don’t have the high days high enough to put you in a surplus.  The truth is, the only way to boost your basal metabolic rate while dieting (thyroid injections aside) is to stop dieting for at least a week or two, and make sure you eat a reasonable amount of carbs and fat.  Not exactly an option for someone nearing a bikini competition.

Carb Cycling Myth #2: “You can eat all the protein you want while carb cycling”. This may be true on low carb days, assuming you’re still in a deficit (I’d still want to know how much I’m eating so I can know how to adjust later).  But eat more protein than you need on high carb days, and your body will begin a process called gluconeogenesis, whereby it begins oxidizing excess protein for fuel.

Guess what happens when you overfeed carbs and allow protein to become a fuel source?  Your body burns off less of those carbs, which can lead to fat storage.  So your overly high protein intake is now sparing your carbs instead of the other way around.  Not what we want.

Carb Cycling Myth #3: “Fat intake needs to be kept extremely low on high carb days because eating high carbs and fat at the same time makes you store fat”. If we were talking about a large, more concentrated refeed after a few days or more of going very low carb, I would agree that fat should be kept relatively low.  But no properly set up carb cycle for fat loss (“for fat loss” meaning it all averages out to a deficit) is going to have you eating such massive amounts of carbs that you would need to keep fat intake to the ridiculously low 20g/day I see advised on some of these sites I’ve been examining.  And if you go too low with fat intake, your body starts what’s called de novo lipogenesis, whereby it starts converting carbohydrates directly to bodyfat.

How do you even go this low fat with some of the ultra high protein intakes being advised?  Do you live off of egg whites and whey protein all day?  Don’t answer that.  I will say that going too high on fat post workout would be a mistake, so do make sure to keep fat low in that meal.  But otherwise, a moderate intake is fine.

Carb Cycling Myth #4: “Carb Cycling prevents muscle loss while dieting”. I don’t necessarily consider this as much a myth as I do a HUGE assumption to make, especially considering how much harder it is to precisely adjust a cyclical diet (since water weight is usually up and down, making it harder to gauge fat loss).  I’d say carb cycling for sure does a better job maintaining muscle while dieting than a steady low carb diet.  But those low carb/calorie days on a cyclical diet are not keeping you anywhere near an anabolic state, yet your body is still trying to recover from previous workouts.    It is still those recovery periods where gains are made or lost…that hasn’t changed with the advent of the internet to my knowledge.

Okay, so we’ve more or less examined most of the flawed approaches and misconceptions regarding carb cycling for fat loss.  In part 2 (coming in a few days), I’ll get into what I actually like about carb cycling, and how I think you should set up a carb cycle.

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Click here to read Carb Cycling for Bikini Competitors Part 2

I should really name this post “How to break typical bikini competition dieting rules and win first place”, but I’ll keep the focus on my client instead.  Well, that and our collective awesomeness.

The latest success story is Dr. Val Eckard, a 41 year old radiologist who came to me already in very good shape.  She was pretty sure she wanted to do bikini competitions, but only under certain specific conditions:

1) The look had to be sustainable year round (which meant the approach had to be sustainable).

2) It had to be a healthy approach, and one that fit into her hectic work (and vacation) schedule.

3) There couldn’t be any big bulking phase where she wouldn’t be happy with how she looked (San Diego has a beach if you haven’t heard)

4) I had to know more about sports nutrition (namely contest prep) than the nutritionists she’d previously been to.  You know…the ones who are pedaling useless products, still prescribing the RDA for protein, and making people’s lives revolve around food (aka latest breed of eating disorder)?

I said, “No problem, how about we do all of that and you get a tootsie roll per day, the occasional binge drinking day, a 5 oz. glass of dry red wine up to 4 times per week and the option of going out to eat somewhat routinely?  Oh, and we’ll significantly reduce your cardio as well”.

We began training the following Monday.

Now before I go any further into the approach we took (you’d exit my site if I told you right now), I want you to see the transformation.  This is what working hard, consistently nailing down the fundamental principles and not hyper-focusing on typical contest prep minutia can do for you:

Front View:

6 months out (Click on Photo for Larger View)

Overall Winner at First Competition- Age 41!

Rear View:

6 months out (Click on Photo for Larger View)

Overall Winner at First Competition Age 41!

…and the whole progression (click for larger images):

6 months out

10 weeks out

8 days out

Duh, winning!

6 months out

10 weeks out

8 days out

Overall Winner!

Oh, let’s not forget about numeric, performance and health improvements…while dieting.  After 6 months of light to moderate caloric deficit dieting (re-comp), Val dropped from 129 lbs @ 19% bodyfat (via DEXA and my 14 years experience using skinfold calipers) to 118lbs @ 12% bodyfat!

Mind you, this is without doing any sort of pre-contest depletion (low-carb, sodium/water manipulation, diuretics, etc), so if the numbers don’t sound like much for 6 months…its because none of the weight lost was water/glycogen/muscle.  In fact, I’d guess her muscles hold more water and glycogen now than they did when we started…they’re definitely stronger.

Performance Improvements: After 3 months of training, Val did her first ever unassisted chin up.  Now at 6 months, she’s consistently doing 5 (did 6 the other day!) on her first set and around 3-4 on the few sets following!  Her strength has improved overall, enough that I estimate a net muscle gain, again…while dieting and getting very lean.

Health improvements: After just a few months, Val’s resting heart rate dropped from 74 beats per minute to 50!  She had her HDLs tested which have always been high (a good thing), but are now through the roof!  Her knees stopped clicking for the first time in her life, and no longer hurt after training.   And due to some intelligent mobility/stability training both pre workout and on her own between workouts, her scapular winging/posture is slightly improved.

So what was our dietary approach? The same one I always use: Whichever one meets the fundamental requirements from a physiological standpoint, and is the most practical for the client, so that she can adhere to it 99% of the time. That one works better than the “perfect” one that only the most obsessive compulsive (or unemployed with lots of time to cook/eat) dieters can follow.  Basically, we fit the diet to the person rather than the person to the diet.

This time, it was a Leangains.com based intermittent fasting approach using the same calories and macros I would have prescribed with a more traditional approach.  I’ll admit, this is not one I had used before and I wouldn’t necessarily propose the idea of using it unless the situation absolutely called for it.  This one did (and she asked about it a couple weeks into the more traditional diet we originally started with).

Val and her husband work from a home office well into the middle of the night.  They get up the same time I do: Late.  So they have just enough time to workout and run errands before everything closes.

Trying to eat like most bikini competitors eat during this time of the day would have been very impractical…and she was adamant about the approach/results being sustainable right from the start.  She also likes to go out to eat prior to starting her shift, and we all know how easy it is to go over on your daily calorie and macro targets when your last meal of the night is at a restaurant.

So we went with a 14 hour fast (with BCAAs before and after morning workouts) starting shortly before bedtime, and ending at about 4pm the next day.  This 14 hours includes 8 hours of sleeping mind you, so its not as bad as it sounds.  Its roughly the equivalent of skipping breakfast and not eating until lunch.  This leaves a 10 hour feeding window where she was free to fit all of her carefully measured food, and estimated portions while eating out.

We used the same calorie and macro intakes as we would have for a more traditional approach, but they were just consumed over a 10 hour period vs. the 14-16 hour period most people eat in.  In Val’s case, this meant more food when she had the most time to eat and actually enjoy her food, and none during the time of day where she didn’t.

In case you needed a reminder that it WORKED!

So what about all the dieting rules this approach breaks?

The “don’t skip breakfast, and eat every 3 hours or you’ll go into starvation mode”?

Or…

“your body can only utilize so much _______ at once, and the rest gets stored as fat…so you have to eat small, frequent meals”?

Or…

“you need carbs and protein before you train so you remain in an anabolic state”?

…”and after you train so you maximize glycogen replenishment, halt protein breakdown and resume protein synthesis”?

Well, most of this is irrelevant at least within the context of a properly set up calorie controlled diet (endurance/extreme sport diet programs excluded), as long as there is sufficient energy/strength for the workouts…which there clearly was.  But I’ll briefly address these items one by one:

1) The starvation mode stuff is a bunch of nonsense. It takes several days of fasting to even begin to slow the metabolism…I don’t think we would have survived as a species had we been as sensitive as many of us like to think we are.  The starvation mode/frequent meal myth sells protein powder and meal replacements extremely well…that’s why its a myth that won’t go away.

2) The “you can only utilize so much of a nutrient at once” talk: We have these things called stomachs.  They store food until its fully digested and absorbed.  A larger meal just sits in the stomach longer than a smaller one but it doesn’t get converted to bodyfat unless you’re eating in a caloric surplus for the day.  And those large meals were offset by the fasting period where she was in the post-absorptive state (ie burning vs storing).  Checks and balances…just like any calorie controlled diet.

3) We took care of the pre-workout protein part of the equation via BCAA supplementation. Pre-workout carbs were not necessary because we were not doing any particularly glycogen depleting workouts, and we kept her carbs up all throughout her prep.  She had plenty of stored glycogen for the kind of workouts we did.

4) Post workout protein/carbs: Again, the workouts were not particularly glycogen depleting, since the idea was to train with heavy weights while dieting in order to maintain and possibly build muscle, so no need to replenish.  Carbs post workout do help to halt protein breakdown, so we may add some at some point, but so far she’s still successfully getting stronger (even 1 week out from her show!) and building muscle, so no need.  Post workout protein was taken care of via BCAA supplementation, which seems to be fueling enough protein synthesis to keep her in a net anabolic state.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

So what does all of this prove?  To me it proves two things: 1) Bikini Competition is not such an extreme sport that you need to have your life revolve around getting your next meal in, or develop an eating disorder to do well.  And 2) If you work as consistently hard as Val did and your program meets the fundamental requirements, the minor details will be irrelevant, and you’ll do awesome!

Thanks for making it so easy Val!  Now lets get ready for the NPC Tournament of Champions!

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So the guy who was just blogging about how silly/cliche all the before and afters/testimonials have become…and how actual substance seems to take a backseat to marketing is going to break his own rule.  But instead of just throwing up a testimonial and letting you wonder if the client really exists, or if they were paid for their words, I’m just going to do all the bragging myself.  I don’t really mind…its not me doing all the work.  I just give the client the tools and they decide whether or not to use them.

The client I’m about to brag about used all of them and made extremely good progress in just 3 weeks time!  Her name is Kayla Kowalski and she just entered her first bikini competition a couple weekends ago.    We began working together just 3 weeks prior and the results have been outstanding!

So here is Kayla 6 weeks out from her first ever bikini competition:

And 6 weeks later, after about 3 weeks of training with me…just like magic (or hard work and sticking to your plan):

Kayla took 5th place at her first ever bikini competition, which happened to be an NPC National Qualifier with 20 girls in her class!  She’s now training hard for the USA’s in Las Vegas this July.  Great job Kayla…now lets see what we can do with 20 weeks prep time!

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Q: I just switched to lifting heavier weights a few days ago. Why am I a pound heavier?

A:This is a question many figure and bikini competitors have asked after beginning a traditional strength training (i.e. lift a relatively heavy weight for several reps, rest 60 seconds, repeat until muscle group is toast) program either for the first time ever, after a significant layoff, or after having previously “confused” their muscles into doing absolutely nothing via a trendy P90X type program.

I typically use my official short answer: “It’s just intramuscular water (a good thing) which will soon be offset by fat loss”, and I then instruct the client to not use the scale for the first month or so. Ok, so this advice is lost on most Type A personalities (physique competitors).  Guess I got some ‘splainin to do.

Being the easy going, patient trainer I am, my next step is to bombard the client with so much technical information on why they gained a pound or two that they’ll never want to ask me another question of this sort again. That usually holds me over for the few weeks it takes for the scale to drop back down via fat loss, so its worth it.

What I thought I would do with this post is present all of the mechanisms for this short term weight gain, and explain why its a necessary part of developing those nice, feminine muscles that look so good on stage. Here are the 5 main things that are happening during those first few weeks:

Increased Muscle Glycogen Stores. Traditional strength training generally is not as glycogen depleting as a more “endurance” style P90X/Crossfit program (or cardio). Couple this with the fact that your trainer has (hopefully) addressed glycogen replenishment via adequate carbohydrate intake, and not created a counter-productive caloric (and glycogen) “sink” by prescribing excessive cardio, and you have a situation where your muscle glycogen stores are likely higher than they were with your previous program.

Why does this matter? Because water accompanies glycogen at roughly a 3:1 ratio (on average).  More muscle glycogen=more water=short term net weight gain.  Again, this is intracellular (more specifically intramuscular) water, which is a necessary part of building muscle. This is not to be confused with extracellular water, which is what gives you the dreaded “bloated” look. Intramuscular water actually produces a nice, full feminine look in the muscles, and is actually something savvy figure and bikini competitors look to increase just prior to stepping on stage.

Short-term muscle/water gain is outpacing fat loss. Another factor is the small amount of muscle a “newbie” is capable of building within the first few weeks of a good strength training program. While the additional muscle itself is not likely to amount to anything measurable, the increased glycogen and water that comes with it could be.

This is more likely to be an explanation for weight gained after the first few weeks than it is the for the first few days, but it is a piece of the puzzle nonetheless. If it happens at a faster rate than fat loss (which is likely if training in a caloric surplus or even a slight deficit for beginners), the scale moves in the “wrong” direction for a while and you get mad at your trainer for no reason.

It is important not to let this discourage you, as the rate of muscle gain will quickly slow and fat loss will “catch up”. This is especially true for women, as they don’t have near the potential for muscle gain as men do.

Increased presence of GLUT-4 proteins. Exercise has been consistently shown to increase the amount of GLUT-4 proteins, which are responsible for shuttling glucose into the cells. More GLUT4=more glycogen=more water.

Granted, this has generally been shown to be true with (strenuous) endurance activity more so than strength training, so it would not necessarily apply to someone who has moved to traditional strength training from a more endurance focused program.

It would however, apply to an untrained individual or someone who has switched over from an endurance focused program that is no longer a challenge (improved neuromuscular efficiency from familiar training=less caloric output/glycogen depletion, which is basically what “muscle confusion” attempts to avoid).

This is very often the case with women who have been convinced to make the leap to (relatively) heavier resistance training, so I feel its worth mentioning.

Typical moderate-high repetition ranges cause sarcoplasmic hypertrophy: Most women just beginning a traditional strength training program will likely (and hopefully) not begin with heavy weights and low repetitions right off the bat.

Even those who have moved on from a P90X/Crossfit type program using exercises similar to those in their new program will likely need to be retrained on technique, which has a tendency to slip a bit during the type of high volume/short rest period program they’ve graduated from.  This is best, and most safely done in a light-moderate weight, moderate-high repetition range.

So what’s the significance of this? Moderate/high repetition training leads mainly to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (as opposed to the myofibril hypertrophy associated with heavier/lower rep training). In English, this means that the fluid-containing sarcoplasm enlarges and…well…holds more fluid.

While this is much less significant than the previously mentioned increase in muscle glycogen/water, it can definitely contribute to that initial weight gain you’re no doubt sick of reading about by now (see, my plan to bombard clients with TMI works!).

This effect will generally subside once repetition range is decreased as weights are increased, although the capacity of the muscle’s sarcoplasm to hypertrophy scales with the myofibril hypertrophy triggered by heavy/low rep training. This is why varying repetition ranges is a good idea for competitors needing to either build or at least maintain muscle (which is virtually all of them).

Your Scale is Broken. Bring it to me and I will fix it.  With my sledgehammer.

These are just the 5 most likely causes of immediate weight gain from a traditional strength training program. Other factors such as exercise induced food reward (see Lyle McDonald’s research review on this…great read), cortisol release (if overtraining), and post-workout uptake of fluid by the muscles for repair can contribute as well. However, these are all either minor, or a result of a piss-poor approach to training/diet, which makes them completely irrelevant for anyone working under my supervision. Yeah, I’m cocky, so what.

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While I think most figure competitors and contest prep coaches have come a long way with regard to pre-contest depleting or “drying out” practices, there still seems to be a lot of confusion regarding sodium manipulation.

I’ve intentionally left bikini competition out of this post, since depleting is completely pointless, and actually a bad idea for bikini competitors…and I’m not far from feeling the same way about figure prep.

Now I understand the concern in bodybuilding about peaking too early. When your sport calls for you to diet down to unhealthy bodyfat levels…you kinda need to time everything right. It’s not like you can get down to single digit bodyfat on Monday and just hang out for 5 days.

But what’s wrong with a figure competitor planning to be ready a few days to a week early…and just staying the course for the remainder of the time?

The answer, in my opinion, is nothing. If you’ve been focusing on your diet and conditioning, there is absolutely no reason to use any last minute tricks, and you will do just fine keeping sodium intake up (but steady) throughout your prep.

If you haven’t prepared yourself, no amount of sodium loading/cutting, diuretics, (extreme) water depletion or any other last minute trick is going to save you. You’re going to have what optimists call a “learning experience”.

So why am I so big on sodium? Well, I have dozens of reasons, 5 of which I’ll share with you in this post. Some of the reasons relate more to offseason training/prep, and others pertain to peak weak and contest day. Here they are:

The idea of controlling where your water goes is a compelling one...but unfortunately not so simple.

Your body is smarter than you (and me). Your body is very good at regulating it’s sodium/potassium balance. You can try and trick it…and if you succeed, you may end up slightly harder than if you had kept things steady. If you fail…you’ll end up with some serious bloat during your show that you will NOT be able to do anything about. Don’t let anyone tell you they have the secret to sodium/potassium manipulation. Everyone responds differently, and the risk/reward is just not worth it.

You can get some serious cramps onstage, and they WILL prevent you from continuing. Cutting sodium (and water) can lead to an electrolyte imbalance that can very easily cause serious cramping. This is probably more of a concern to those who have gone low sodium consistently, and not so much for people who’ve kept it up and simply cut it on Friday…but it’s a big one. Many competitors have experienced some very embarrassing incidents of cramping onstage due to dehydration and low sodium levels. If you feel you must cut sodium, it is absolutely critical that you add it back in a couple hours prior to pre-judging. This will prevent cramping, and can often times lead to intramuscular water retention (the good kind).

Gremlins are bad. So is Ghrelin.

Cutting sodium releases the hormone Ghrelin, which is bad. Low sodium intake causes release of a very nasty hormone called Ghrelin. Ghrelin is considered the “hunger” hormone, as it causes a significant increase in appetite. Doesn’t sound so bad for those of you trying to add muscle during the offseason…right? Not that simple unfortunately, as it also slows your metabolism. Not a very nice hormone at all.

Sodium transports Amino Acids into the muscle cells. Some of the more important amino acids to physique competitors rely on sodium in order to be transported to the muscle cells. Like your glutamine and alanine, do you? Well they’re both sodium dependent.

Sodium regulates Acid/Alkaline balance. Sodium, along with potassium and chloride, regulates the body’s acid/alkaline balance. Competitors need to be very concerned with maintaining this balance, as their high protein diets can very easily put them in an acidic state. Problems associated with an acidic diet are weight gain, free radical damage, fatigue, mineral/bone loss, sore muscles and lactic acid buildup, stress, and cramps, to name a few. So if you’re already increasing your fruit and veggie intake, and limiting your intake of acidic foods, it would behoove you to keep your sodium intake up to ensure healthy ph levels.

You don't need to go to extremes to regulate acid/alkaline balance...but you do need sodium!

These are just a few of the most relevant benefits of sodium intake for figure competitors. I’ll likely come back to this subject in the near future with a post on pre-contest (namely peak week) depleting strategies that actually are a good idea for figure competition.  Feel free to leave me any comments below on topics you’d like me to cover.

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