Ironball

Has anyone heard of or tried the zig-zag eating plan? It is whenyou eat more than your usual amount for three days then eat less than your total daily energy expenditure(TDEE) amount for 3 days and so on. eg. usual amount for adding mass 3500 cals, 3 days eat 3800, 3 days eat 3000 or something similar. This is supposed to keep fat gain down. Anyone had experiences with this style?

Stompy

i think my mate tryed this, ill ask him get back to you tommorrow!

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hackskii

Anabolic Burst Cycling Program is similar where you bulk for 12 days then cut for 12 days.
The thought was you go anabolic and gain muscle and fat when bulking (blood test levels peak at about 10 days or so) so you gain muscle here.

Then you cut and go mildly catabolic but lose more bodyfat than muscle.

Workout is modified to accomidate higher cals and lower cals.

Other than that, never heard of the zig zag diet.

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Scott


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hackskii

Copy and paste:

The Zigzag Diet Plan
Okay. Let me hit you right between the eyes up front. The answer is so simple, yet I’ve NEVER in all my years of being in this business, hearn ANYONE utter it. I claim it. Here it is:

· You can’t lose fat unless you’re on a negative calorie balance diet
· You can’t gain muscle tissue unless you’re on a positive calorie blaance diet
· You can’t lose fat and gain muscle unless you alternate periods of negative calorie balance with periods of positive calorie balance.
· It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to lose total body weight, stay at the same total body weight or gain total body weight. The zigzag rule applies to everyone. All the time.

The process if zigzagging is actually integrated into a more comprehensive plan which accounts for the factors noted earlier regarding personalizing and integrating your training efforts. There are five rules to the process, and they apply to everryone on Mother Earth, from cradle to grave:

Rule One: Always eat at least 5 meals a day (preferably 6 or 7). Two or three meals simply isn't often enough. Your blood sugar levels will be controlled (and thus your cravings), you'll get protein in small amounts throughout the day to support growth and recovery, and (most important) the enzymes that store fat will be produced in far smaller amounts, making your body far less capable of storing fat! Simply, by providing your body with a consistent and frequent supply of calories -- life-giving energy -- its need to store fat is significantly reduced. Conversely, when you eat infrequently, your body recognizes a “famine” situation, and the enzymes are produced in large quantities to “swoop down” on every calorie you consume in order to store it as fat in preparation for the “famine” to come.

Rule Two: Remember the 1-2-3 rule. In each of your 5 meals, approximately 1 part of the calories should come from fats, 2 parts from protein and 3 parts from carbohydrates. This is a guideline, not a hard-and-fast law. Just keep the fat intake down to a low level (do not eliminate fat, as some fat is essential for maintaining good health), consume enough protein to support growth and recovery, and carbohydrates commensurable to your energy output (carbos are your body’s preferred energy fuel source). Remember that protein and carbohydrates both have 4 calories per gram, while fat has 9 calories per gram.

Rule Three: When you sit down to eat, ask yourself, "What am I going to be doing for the next three hours of my life?" Then, if you're taking a nap, eat less than the average amount of carbos; if you're planning on being active, eat more than the average amount of carbos. For average between-meal activities, eat an average sized meal. Always keeep your protein intake up to an appropriate level. This simple system ensures that you'll never put fat on from eating excess calories, or cannibalize your muscles from eating too little.

Rule Four: Another thing to remember whether you're trying to lose fat or adding lean muscle is to "zigzag" your caloric intake. For example, if you want to lose fat, reduce your calories during the week, but "pig out" on Friday night and Saturday. This will 1) readjust your BMR upwards, 2) support lean tissue building, and 3) give you a psychological "lift." Remember, in Rule One you learned that your fat storing enzymes were no longer a threat, so you CAN pig out once in awhile! In fact, if you want to put on lean muscle, you MUST! There is no way you can maximize lean muscle mass while on a calorie-restricted diet.

Rule Five: Your reduced intake of cazlories makes it almost impossible to get all of the nutrients your body needs to remain healthy and active. So, it's important to supplement your diet with vitamins, minerals and other carefully selected substances to ensure maximum progress toward your fitness, health and fat loss goals. Also, no matter how hard you try, no matter how good a cook you are, or where you buy your food:

· You can't always eat 5 or 6 times daily;
· There are many instances where your body either requires or can make good use of certain nutrients in greater amounts than what can be derived from Mother Nature alone;
· A perfectly balanced diet cannot be maintained during periods of contest preparation or periods where there is a purposeful caloric restriction imposed;
· Periods of high-stress training require supernormal intake of many nutrients without a commensurable increase in caloric need;
· Periods of high-stress training creates a situation in which various benefits can be derived from nutritional substances not normally found in food or biosynthesized in the body in sufficient or significant quantities but which are either man made or derived from botanical sources
· Soil depletion, toxins in the food chain, overprocessing, overcooking, free radical formation in the body, and a host of other (sometimes medically related) factors all interact to make food less than totally nutritious.
· Because man has been able to improve on Mother Nature's original work in many of life's arenas, there are some "superfoods" available which are plain and simply BETTER than the normal diet for serious fitness training.

So, you MUST use nutritional supplements!



Where Your Calories Come From:
- 1 gram of fat equals 9 calories.
- 1 gram of protein equals 4 calories.
- 1 gram of carbohydrates equals 4 calories.
- It's clear that you should reduce your consumption of fat in order to decrease your body fat level, because fat is a highly concentrated source of calories.
- It's also clear that in order to gain muscle weight, you must reduce your consumption of fat in favor of more protein, because 1) fat can't become muscle, and 2) only protein can.


Will Cutting Calories Result In Fat Loss?
There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat. That means that by reducing your food by 500 calories per day, you should lose one pound of fat per week, right?
WRONG!
Actually, much of the weight you'll lose will come from muscle tissue, NOT fat! Why? Because your body tends to use ("excess") muscle tissue for needed energy before it reclaims fat deposits.
The answer is to TAKE YOUR TIME with fat loss, and either preserve or build muscle tissue by integrating scientific weight training, mild aerobics, dietary manipulation, supplementation and other technologies into your lifestyle. Follow the rules above!
Here’s an example of an all-too-common weight reduction strategy.



200 200 pounds & 30% body fat

190

180

170 170 pounds & 30% body fat

160

150

140 140 pounds Lean body weight

130

120 119 pounds lean body weight

110

100

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

week one week two week three week four week five week six



This poor soul actually lost 21 pounds of muscle and only 9 pounds of fat! He’ll yo-yo back up to 200 in no time (within 1-2 years according to information compiled during the Congressional investigation into the fat loss industry). However, in doing so, he or she will be 35 percent body fat instead of their original 30 percent. Why? Theey never regained all of the lean tissue they lost as a result of their crash dieting earlier.


NEVER attempt to gain or lose "weight!"
Instead, you should always strive to
gain muscle and lose fat!




To Gain Muscular Weight:
- Add 2 calories per pound of body weight to your daily caloric intake.
- The added calories should be mostly protein and some complex carbohydrates (no added fat calories).
- Spread these added calories equally among 5 meals per day.
- For example, a 150 pound person should add 300 calories per day to their diet; over 5 meals, that equals about a 60 calorie increase per meal.
- The additional 300 calories will, with intense weight training, result in a gain of approximately 1 - 2 pounds of added muscle per month.
- Reduce your caloric intake two days per week by 2 calories per pound of body weight, to ensure that excess fat is being removed (called "zigzag dieting").


To Lose Fat Weight:
- Subtract 2 calories per pound of body weight from your daily caloric intake.
- The reduced calories should come mostly from fat calories, and NOT protein.
- This caloric reduction should be applied to all of your 5 meals; NEVER skip meals!
- For example, assuming that you weight 150 pounds, and you're eating 5 meals per day (highly recommended), you should reduce each meal by 60 calories (total of 300 calories reduction over a full day).
- By reducing your daily caloric intake by 300 calories, you can expect to lose about 2 1/2 pounds of fat per month, assuming you're weight training for muscle mass preservation or increase.
- Increase your caloric intake two days per week by 2 caories per pound of body weight, to ensure that you're getting enough calories to put on lean muscle, and that upward BMR adjustments are being made (called "zigzag dieting").


To Stay The Same Weight But Become More Muscular:
- Follow the rules listed above, with the exception that your intake of calories remain equal to your daily energy expenditure (see calorie table in preceding pages).
- Alter your ratio of nutrients so that protein is maximized and fat is minimized.
- Carefully control your calories on a meal-per-meal basis, ensuring that you consume only enough calories to get you to your next meal (no more and no less). You NEVER eat for what you just did, ONLY for what you're about to do.
- Over the course of 6 months or so, this sort of fastidiousness will pay off with big dividends in more muscle tissue and less fat -- you'll begin to look and feel great!

The caloric expenditures listed in the table below are for people with about a 20 percent body fat level. The smaller your muscles are, the fewer calories you'll burn; the bigger your muscles are, the more calories you'll burn. But remember that strenuous exercises with weights (including, but not limited to, dumbbells and barbells, Nautilus-type machines, your own body weight, and other forms of resistance exercises) is the best way to increase your muscle size, thereby increasing your metabolic rate. This will result in far more calories being burned all day long -- even at night while you're sleeping.

ACTIVITIES AND THEIR
APPROXIMATE HOURLY CALORIC COST
FOR DIFFERENT BODY WEIGHTS

__________________________________________________ _________________________________



If you weigh... 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300

__________________________________________________ _________________________________



Light Aerobics 154 204 254 304 354 404 454 504

Walking 2.5 mph 154 204 204 304 354 404 454 504

Gardening 168 218 268 318 368 418 468 518

Golf 195 245 295 345 395 445 505 545

Lawn Mowing 195 245 295 345 395 445 505 545

Light Calisthenics 222 272 322 372 422 472 522 572



Light Weight Training 222 272 322 372 422 472 522 572



House Cleaning 222 272 322 372 422 472 522 572

Walking 3.75 mph 249 299 349 399 449 499 549 599

Swimming .25 mph 249 299 349 399 449 499 549 599

Medium Aerobics 290 340 390 440 490 540 590 640

Badminton 297 347 397 447 497 547 597 647

Wood Chopping 344 394 444 494 544 594 644 694



Medium WeightTraining 392 442 492 542 592 642 692 742



Slow Jogging 426 476 526 576 626 676 726 776

Heavy Calisthenics 494 544 594 644 694 744 794 844

Heavy Aerobics 494 544 594 644 694 744 794 844



Heavy Weight Training 562 612 662 712 762 812 862 912



Medium Jogging 562 612 662 712 762 812 862 912

Cycling 13 mph 610 660 710 760 810 860 910 960

Fast Jogging 630 680 730 780 830 880 910 960




The caloric expenditures listed are for people with about a 20 percent body fat level. The smaller your muscles are, the fewer calories you'll burn; the bigger your muscles are, the more calories you'll burn. But remember that strenuous exercises with weights (including, but not limited to, dumbbells and barbells, Nautilus-type machines, your own body weight, and other forms of resistance exercises) is the best way to increase your muscle size, thereby increasing your metabolic rate. This will result in far more calories being burned all day long -- even at night while you're sleeping.

Remember that all forms of exercise result in sweating. So, drink at least eight full glasses of water daily.


Aerobic Training For Fat Loss:
"Aerobic" means "with oxygen." So, aerobic dance, step aerobics, Stairmaster training, bicycle ergometer training and the host of other low impact, high heart rate methods of training are all geared to make your body use more oxygen.
Why would you want to use more oxygen? Simply, it's 1) good for the heart muscle, 2) it's the ONLY way your body can burn fat for energy, and 3) it's good for longevity.
Beware, however! Aerobic training doesn't build muscle to any significant degree. And, since only muscle burns calories, you want more muscle far more than you want an aerobic capacity which rivals that of an elite marathon runner. Remember, the fat control strategy of choice is ALWAYS going to be to maintain a reasonable level of muscle mass so you can burn calories (and fat) all day long -- not just during aerobic training.
Research clearly shows that in order to maintain a reasonable aerobic capacity, you should train at about 60-80 percent of your maximum heart rate for about 30 minutes three times weekly. More than that, and you're probably training aerobically more than you need to.

Weight Training For Fat Loss:
Weight training -- often referred to as "resistance training" -- has one key advantage which is present only minimally in other forms of exercise. It builds muscle. Weight training involves reversing the effects of the years of disuse your body has just undergone from inactivity. Even mild weight training will result in muscular growth. Bigger muscles burn more calories than smaller ones. They also look better.
Note that "reversing the effects of disuse" means just that. It does NOT necessarily mean becoming huge or looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger!
There are many excellent systems of weight training. Perhaps the best one for beginners interested in getting rid of unwanted fat and improving general tone and fitness is the "circuit training" system. The grreat thing about this system is that you needn't belong to a gym or club to do it! You can easily perform this system of resistance training in your home.
The main objective of circuit training is completing all of the "stations" in the circuit in decreased time. Each station consists of one weight training exercise per bodypart.
One complete circuit for a total-body workout may look like this:

Cross-Training:
Common misuse of the term "cross-training" has limited its definition to aerobic-type activities (e.g., triathlon competition, wherein swimming, cycling and running long distances comprise the "cross-training" event). This is NOT cross-training in the scientific sense of the term.
So, let's set the record straight once and for all. The definition of cross-training will, from now on, be expanded to incorporate any form(s) of training designed to take you through the ATP/CP pathway of muscular energetics, through the glycolytic pathway of muscular energetics, on into the aerobic (oxidative) pathway of muscular energetics.
ATP/CP training is explosive, short-duration types of movement such as powerlifting, throwing, sprinting or shot-putting.
Glycolytic training involves pushing your anaerobic threshold with such activities as running 400-800 meters for time, forcing those last four or five reps out of each set in weight training, or playing an extremely fast-paced game of racquetball.
And, aerobic training involves pushing your oxidative capacity to the limit through high intensity long-distance running, swimming or cycling.
Then you put 'em all together. THAT is cross-training!
For general fitness, it's great. It'll provide a good level of fitness across the anaerobic-aerobic continuum.
For elite athletes, well, stick to your sport's requirements and you'll do much better. Athletes must convert their bodies into highly specialized "machines" that are capable of performing their sport to the utmost limits of human tolerances. All serious athletes MUST specialize!

DESIRABLE BODY FAT LEVELS FOR DIFFERENT SPORTS

SPORT MEN WOMEN SPORT MEN WOMEN

__________________________________________________ _____________________



Basketball 7-12% 14-20% Tennis 8-13% 15-21%



Football Distance

Linemen 10-15% ---- Runners 5-10% 10-12%

Backs 7-12% ----

Track & Field

Gymnastics 4-8% 10-12% Jumpers 7-10% 10-13%

Throwers 8-12% 10-15%

Soccer 7-10% ---- Sprinters 4-8% 10-13%



Swimming 5-8% 10-15% *Wrestling 4-8% ----



*Weight- *Powerlifting 5-10% 10-15%

lifting 5-10% 10-15%

**Physique 4-8% 9-12%





* Athletes in the heavier weight divisions typically exceed these guidelines by 3 - 4 percentage points; to exceed them by more than this margin is pure and simple "slovenliness."

** Elite male bodybuilders are usually closer to the 8 percent level as opposed to the 4 percent level because (it's believed) they've put on extra "mass" via fat deposits in the muscles themselves. Their subcutaneous fat levels, however, remain extremely low in order to show "cuts" (muscular definition).

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"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." - George Carlin


Scott


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ChefX

This site gets funnier and funnier

you guys take the ****! LOL

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The Regimen X Bodybuilding System by The Family of X

In the great Greek poem by Constantine Cavafy titled "Ithaka,"
We are reminded that it is the voyage and the adventures on the way that count, not the arrival itself.

Tuna_boi

I've heard of this on BodyBuilding.com,. sounds a bit complicated for me..;)

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Winny is for horses-Insanity ( exactly that )

see it eat it and join a gym- Moray muscle
"you musat get stronger every week to grow fast" - Myseone ( Lmfao )

Ironball

What do you mean by this ChefX?:confused:

Thanks for that detailed post hackskii Very informative.

Stu

I've tried the anabolic burst program before. I didnt find it particularly effective to be honest

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ChefX

ironball, I just posted that the day before this was posted. Only a bit tweaked, that is why I find it funny.

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The Regimen X Bodybuilding System by The Family of X

In the great Greek poem by Constantine Cavafy titled "Ithaka,"
We are reminded that it is the voyage and the adventures on the way that count, not the arrival itself.

hackskii

I never saw the other post chef, sorry....
I never really heard of it before but it does look like that anabolic burst cycling program that Bill Phillips wrote about some 7 years ago or so.

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Scott


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ChefX

LOL think about this! Where did Phillips get the idea? (actually it was a Swede that wrote it and claimed it)

What is a cheat day but a zig zag?

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The Regimen X Bodybuilding System by The Family of X

In the great Greek poem by Constantine Cavafy titled "Ithaka,"
We are reminded that it is the voyage and the adventures on the way that count, not the arrival itself.

Pete

I might try a revised and more effective version called the zag zig!