Originally Posted by
GearHeaded
ok so just for informational purposes for all you guys following along , I'll explain a bit of whats going on and what we are doing here.
its 'peak weak' so theres lots of adjustments to make and timing of things. but I generally start making peak weak adjustments about 2 weeks out. what we did is lower his carbs to only 100g and post workout only (and kept total cals low). this was to deplete him slightly , pull off some extra fat, and help provide a super compensation effect of muscle glycogen that will cause him to rebound once we carb load for the show. sometimes we go zero carbs for this depletion phase , but I did not want charger to end up getting too depleted and end up going flat and looking stringy , as we want to bring a bigger fuller package on stage.
during this depletion phase we also then began salt loading (just increased salt intake) and electrolyte loading (drinking Pedialyte). this will help keep the muscles still somewhat full and hydrated as the glycogen is depleting. Also the increase in salt is going to help keep his Aldosterone levels down.
ok so now this week, more changes were made (which answers some of the changes going on right now). He has been on T3 at 50mcg and Clen at 60mcg.. I cut the T3 down to 25mcg this week (which is just a replacement dosage and what most people naturally produce), then dropped the Clen to 20mcg which is nearly nothing but enough to keep from rebounding.
the reason I drop these dosages down so low during peak weak is because you can NOT properly carb load with T3 and clen when they are at fat burning dosages. T3 at 50mcg is revving your metabolism so fast, and in calorie deficit your body has no reason to store (so glycogen loading is limited), and Clen raises Glucagon (which basically pulls glucose out of cells rather then into cells) which prevents glycogen loading .
So now comes whats happening with Chargers body right now. with Aldosterone levels low, with his body flood with electrolytes, with the T3 and Clen dose lowered, with Glucagon levels lowered and Glut 4 levels elevated .. his body is now soaking up every little bit of carbs that he is taking in. The glucose is getting stored as muscle glycogen, and with all those nutrients and electrolytes in his blood stream , and fluid available , this is all getting forced into the muscle cells and stored as muscle fullness (this is how I'm having him come in 5+ pounds fuller on stage compered to last show) ,, AND even though he's been training 2 a days, doing cardio, in a calorie deficit, etc ... his body (his muscle) is just soaking everything up.
this is also why he is going Hypo right now . with Glucagon levels dropped after dropping down Clen and T3 , but Glut 4 levels high ,, his muscle is rapidly soaking up all the glucose from his blood stream and causing him to go hypo .
this is all a good thing and what I expect to be happening right now and things are going as planned . We have not even began the full water depletion process and the carb up yet ,, but his body is taking in the little bit of carbs he does have extremely well.
couple other notes -- with the salt loading and electrolyte loading process, along with the 100g carbs, his body is super hydrated and aldosterone levels are down and his body has no reason to hold onto water right now.
this is part of the water manipulation process.
But this is just to prevent putting on extra water for right now ,, we still have to go through the process of drying out and getting super hard.
this is the tentative plan-
Weds we begin to carb front load. probably take in 300g of carbs from rice and potato. at this point we begin to cut the salt in half (the salt loading phase is done).
see how he looks Thurs morning. and access how many carbs to take in that day . then assess Thursday afternoon (and cut salt down even more) to see if we will need to use a mild diuretic . at this stage we would only use Aldaactone (no Dyazide or Lasix , too early for that).
see how he looks Friday morning.. Salt is cut off completely, but electrolytes and water intake are still up. may need one more small dose of Aldactone Friday morning.
Likely add some fats back into his diet on Friday along with the carb load just to help fill out any intercellular triglycerides. plus the fats will help put him in a slight calorie surplus (you can't fully glycogen load if your in a calorie deficit).
Friday night water gets pulled. but carb intake goes up for those last two meals .. by pulling out drinking water at this stage , yet consuming carbs that require water, your body is forced to provide those carbs with its last bit of stored water under the skin.. this will then get pulled into the muscle cells and away from the skin and provide that hard fully striated look.
see how he looks before going to bed Friday night . IF we have to its at this point we may take a diuretic like Dyazide . the reason I don't suggest dayside or lasix up front and I'd rather start with Aldactone, is that Dyazide and Lasix can strip your body of ALL water, including all the water we just spent the weeks trying to load up into the muscle cells. if that happens then you'll go flat and lose your muscle fullness. so gotta be careful here (of course I have a back up protocol for in case this happens) .
anyhow theres just a little bit of details and insight for you guys that are interested . of course everything I mention is subject to change and we may need to make adjustments on the fly. don't always stick to the plan, but at least have a plan to start
Reply With Quote
