marcus300

Been ask for this a few times now so thought i would post it in a new thread, these are the basic idea's explained regarding primming.

You need to work off a basic diet one which your maintaining on, this is the diet what you prime from, its all about confusing the body, Ive found that carb cycling is the best way to prime, it also keeps hold of valuable muscle tissue if its done correctly,

The best way Ive found is 3-5 days low carb 40% less than your maintenance diet then followed by 1 day high carb 15% higher than the maintenance diet, you will have to adjust the low carb days to suit your body but don't go near 7 days low carbs, a common problem with reducing carbs is that over time the metabolic rate can and will begin to adapt, when carbs stays low for an extended period of time usually at the 7 day mark and up, fat cells attempt to hold on by resisting the release of fatty acids, levels of lipoprotien lipase tend to rise and thyroid levels drop, these both effect overall basal metabolism and are part of the starvation response which off sets reductions in energy intake and is very common to muscle wastage, so adjust to your body's response but in my opinion don't go 7 days or more,

The one high carb day should be introduced around 3-5 day mark of low carbs, the high carb day at around day 3-5 this interrupts the starvation response which restores thyroid levels back to normal while also suppressing the fat storing enzyme lipoprotein ( which rises after day 7 of a lower carb intake) which results in no muscle tissue wastage,

Also if you catch this right at when the glycogen levels drop which is around 3-5 day mark and you follow this by the high carb day with an increase of calories even higher than what the body had been use to previous to the reduction, the body responds by increasing thermogenesis which in turn helps the whole process,

Everybody is different but ive got alot of personally logs/reports which show muscle wastage on carb cycling at the 7 day mark and up, the body re-adjusts itself at this stage and holds onto the fat cells while using the precious muscle tissue as energy, which in turn the individual will lose more muscle tissue than stopping short this process at 3-5 day mark of the low carb,

The key is tricking the metabolism into losing fat instead of muscle tissue by rotating carbs but not letting the body trigger the starvation response, also Ive found that before any type of carb cycling you must of establish a basic diet which you have ran for a number of weeks in where the body isn't gaining or losing any size just maintaining what its got, this is very important because this established diet is what you work off so we get the body to respond the best by dropping bf and holding onto muscle tissue,

As you priming your body goes into a environment were muscle tissue can be built very fast, just look how much you put on after a contest, this whole process you take advantage of and put it together with a cycle and hit all comounds hard and fast, an increase in calories is needed everyday of the cycle, you must support the amount of AAS and growth the body wants to grow, as soon as you start the cycle your body is very anabolic so take advantage of this and hit it hard, growth comes on fast,


Dont set a target weight for the prime, the prime isnt really about weight loss its about priming the body for the intense cycle/training, do the prime as slow as possible the body reacts better if its done this way, make sure you carb cycle of the maintance diet what you have now, confuse the body dont do anything drastic slowly build the enviroment for growth, trust me do this part spot on and the gains are untrue, the body only grows in short bursts this is a natural thing from babys to teenagers, so go with the flow of the body just create the body ready for the growth and very intense training,

Make sure your on a low dose gh throughout the prime,

slowly confuse the body into burning fat as fuel then restore the gyl store with the 1 day high carb, but this 1 day wont full them up only restore abit so next time you low carb for 3-5 day even more fat will be burnt and the process of creating an anabolic enviroment is getting acheived.

when you start to reduce carbs by 40% for 3-5 days the glycogen stores start to deplete and when muscle glycogen stores are lower a metabolic shift occurs where additional fat is used for fuel which in turn promotes fat loss so after you return back to 1 day high carb intake the extra carbs simply re-store muscles with glycogen, so as long as there is room for more glucose from carbs the carbs must be stored as glycogen, but with only one day higher carbs the store are not fully full so the next time you do 3-5 day lower carbs the stores get even more depleted which even triggers more fat loss but the high day carb is enough to stop the starvation response of the body so no metabolic shift to slow it down,

This overall procedure puts your body into a very anabolic environment for muscle tissue to grow couple this with a cycle and growth is amazing, but i must stress the prime as to be done correctly to take full advantage.

marcus

Pscarb

getting bored of saying Nice Post Marcus

to be fair alot of what you have wrote can explain why many dieters get the benefits from carb cycling....

marcus300

Yes exactly, carb cycling is of great advantage for many reasons,

chris88

hmm ok...so a quick question in my case...6'1 at 112kgs, roughly 13-16% BF when i was bulking my daily intake was 350p 450-500c and 80-100f.

I have been getting used to the carb cycling/priming for about a month and this is my weekly breakdown: (in grams)
Low day=350p 60-80c and 100f
Med Day=350p 150-180c and 80f
High day=300p 450c 50f

(My week)
S=High
M=low
T=Med
W=low
T=Med
F=low
S=Med

My overall question; is this a decent carb cycling plan? i cant notice any strength loss or muscle loss, but im wondering if as i only have one high day am i risking catabolism? anything you find wrong or think i should change please go ahead as im open to any advise/criticism.

Cheers fellas

marcus300

If your not noticing any muscle loss or strength it must be working if the BF is coming down, i would say yes its decent because of what you have told me, results count.

You can adjust has you go along you dont have to stick to so many days low or high, you go with how your body feels and looks, the above post by me is an example of a prime before cycling, not carb cycling for a run up to a show, i always prefer doing it slowing and this preserves alot more muscle and if your in fine tune with your body it will hold onto most of it, if you adjust as you go along.

Pscarb

Chris no one can give you an exact answer to what is best as we do not know you personelly, as Marcus has pointed out if you are getting the results then the plan is working.
many people will have different opinions on changing things but why would you if you are dropping fat and not strength??

Aftershock

Marcus can you give us (just for illustration) a breakdown of the Protein, Fats and Carbs you might utilize on each day.

From what I understand you are recommending 3-5 days days back to back at 40% below maintenance carbs then a day at 15% above usual maintenance carbs.

This is differnt to the way I normaly carb cycle which might be a 6 day rotation of
High, Medium and Low Carb Days.

The approach you seem to be recommending seems to have a vague similarities to the cyclical ketogenic diet. Now dont shoot me I know you are not shooting for keotsis thats not what I mean, I am just noting that you are recommending several lower carb days back to back and then a higher one to replenish glycogen stores and prevent metabolic slowdown

I think some figures may give us a better understating of the approach you are recommending.

marcus300

AS, Its all down to the indivdual needs to maintain his size, its all worked off a maintenace diet and to trick your body into releasing Fat while holding onto muscle tissue, i give a wide range from 3 days to 5 days low carbs, i dont recommend going near 7 days before there are replenished, if you do you have a huge chance of a metabolism shift which will alter the whole process, its about fine tunning and prepare for an androgen assault into the growth window you have created.

Remember its a pre-cycle prime not a pre-comp carb cycle, it you are using carb cycling without any major muscle loss stick with it but attack it slowly and open the window,

I will post a thread on short burst cycling soon and we can discuss the whole process further indepth.

Aftershock

Yes I appreciate that but I would be interested to see if you are manipulating the other macros as well as the carbs, eg increasing the fats on the lower carb days?

Or are we saying that the protein and fats stay the same as maintenance diet and the carbs only are reduced by 40% to push you into a calorie deficit?

I don't want specific figures just interested to know how you personally do the prime.

marcus300

I go with how my body is looking, for me i am very in tune with my body and can adjust daily, normally i would adjust fats/pro to suit on low carb days if i feel i need this, normally i do and i would recommend everyone try this first time around and adjust slowly if the bf is not coming off, but usually it does after a few rotations of the cycle.