prime before bulking....help

[musclestack]

Looking for some advice from those who have primed before bulking. In February, I started a bulking diet and since, I have made some great gains (all natural besides creatine and whey). From Feb to June, I managed to put on roughly 22 pounds. Obviously, some of this was water and 2-3 pounds of fat (estimating). I also managed to put on about 65 pounds on all my major lifts, i.e. bench, squat, SLDL, and military press.

Problem is, since July, I have not managed to make any gains whatsoever. It's like I'm running in circles here. At the beginning of my bulk, I was consuming 3,700 cals and gains were great. Then, July rolled around and my gains haulted. I bumped up cals in August to about 4,200 but still nothing; I may even gained a bit more fat during that time.

So, basically, I'm trying to switch things up and trick my body into growing again. Starting about 2 1/2 weeks ago, I changed up my workout routine. I'm doing more exercises, more reps, shorter rests between sets. I used to limit my workouts to 3-4 exercises and take 3-4 minutes in between sets. Now, I'm at roughly 6 exercises with about 1-1/2 minutes in between sets. I like it actually. It feels like I'm working a lot more/harder. I also train each bodypart once a week.

Now, on to my main question: Starting 2 1/2 weeks ago, I've started a version of "the prime before cycling" without the cycle. For those who are not familiar with this, Marcus has a thread explaining how it works. I'm basically only eating about 150 grams of carbs per day Monday through Saturday all kept pre-workout, and then carbing up on Sunday, hitting about 400 grams. I'm just trying to trick my body/insulin so that my body will start growing again. I plan on continuing this for another 2 1/2 weeks before I bump cals back up to 4,000.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I taking the right approach? Is there anything you would change in my last 2 1/2 weeks?

I'll gladly give you more information on my workout routine and diet if you need it. I just don't want to bore you all with a page-long essay if you can give your advice from the above alone lol!

Thanks a lot for your time.
MS

[musclestack]

P.S. Currently eating at maintenance at 2,600 cals.

[musclestack]

bump........anyone?

[auslifta]

The prime is good, you mean this threrad right? http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...before-cycling..

[fabAB912]

read the book 'THE ANABOLIC DIET' by Dr. Mauro Di Pasqule.

[musclestack]

Yea, Auslifta, that's the one. Thanks! Are you saying you agree with my approach? Is there anything you would change in the last 2 weeks?

Do you think this will benefit me as far as gaining again?

[musclestack]

Thanks, fab. I'll check it out.

[marcus300]

Work the prime off your maintenance cals- 40% less carbs on your low carb days and 15% higher on your 1 high carb day. If your doing your own version of it thats your choice just monitor yourself adjust daily if need be.

[musclestack]

Work the prime off your maintenance cals- 40% less carbs on your low carb days and 15% higher on your 1 high carb day. If your doing your own version of it thats your choice just monitor yourself adjust daily if need be.

Thanks Marcus; I was hoping you'd chime in. I did the math with the numbers you listed above, and it turns out I'm basically doing it how you suggest. My maintenance cals for a 40/40/20 in a 2,600 cal diet consists of 260g carbs. 40% less than this would be 156g. So, turns out, I'm close to spot on there.

What exactly should I be monitoring? I've lost about 3 pounds so far (water weight, I presume), and lost just a couple reps on my major lifts. I'm also looking leaner due to the water loss. Is this what you mean when you say 'monitor'?

I will be following this prime for a total of 5 weeks. Do you think it should be longer? Do you think I made the right choice by following this approach to break through my plateau?

Thanks for all the help!

[marcus300]

You monitor yourself and adjust if you need to, if your losing to much and you feel tissue is being broken down you reduce the low carb days. You need to prime for at least 6-8wks and after two wks into the prime look at extending the low carb days but dont go near 6-7 days low carb days, keep it under 6 IMHO before a re-feed. Hitting a cycle straight after a prime will ensure maximum gains and is an excellent way to springboard yourself into the next level.

[musclestack]

You monitor yourself and adjust if you need to, if your losing to much and you feel tissue is being broken down you reduce the low carb days. You need to prime for at least 6-8wks and after two wks into the prime look at extending the low carb days but dont go near 6-7 days low carb days, keep it under 6 IMHO before a re-feed. Hitting a cycle straight after a prime will ensure maximum gains and is an excellent way to springboard yourself into the next level.

Ok, thanks. So far, I'm pretty comfortable with where I am. I don't think I've lost any muscle tissue actually. I'm 3 weeks in right now and was planning on stopping at week 5, but after reading your advice, I think I'll extend it to 6 or 7 weeks.

[musclestack]

Do you think that I can reap the benefits of this approach without actually following it with an AAS cycle? I'm just going to go straight into a bulking diet. Thoughts?

[auslifta]

Rather than follow specific plan with carb cycling, or priming, I up carbs when I "feel" I need to. I've become pretty intune with my body doing this. I lose fat when cutting pretty efficiently with very minimal muscle loss. You will expend energy very differently every day. I'm still natural, and I go onto 4-6 weeks bulking diet (which will increase t3-helps with cutting the next 2 weeks), then 2 weeks cutting. Overall I gain muscle without putting on fat. When I have something when I want to get ripped I will diet down (carb cycle) for about 8-10 weeks+ extra cardio sessions. I do find a rebound with higher calories after this as I increase carbs and calories. I could only imagine how good the rebound would be with aas as well.

[marcus300]

Do you think that I can reap the benefits of this approach without actually following it with an AAS cycle? I'm just going to go straight into a bulking diet. Thoughts?

Priming is what you do before implementing a cycle, thats why sometimes its called a pre-cycle prime. Its done to create an environment so you become very anabolic once the cycle starts. If your priming to lose body fat just follow a carb cycling programme but priming is done before a cycle to create this environment. If your not going to run a cycle after the prime all you will do is fill your gylcogen stores back up without using what you have created, unless reducing bf is your goal.