carb cycling while bulking

[Tron3219]

ive been on a quest for serious mass the past 13 weeks, and have had pretty good results WITH an extremely low carb diet. i do this because my body doesnt respond well to carbs over the long haul. i gain fat, go hypoglycemic, etc etc etc, so i cut them out. ive never actually carb cycles, so im curious as to how it works with me. since im on such a low carb diet as it is, i guess technically i would just be adding in a refeed. not really sure how/if a carb cycling approach could be implimented with bulking. has anyone tried this? i imagine not since im sure a majority of people bulk with large amounts of carbs.

[gbrice75]

ive been on a quest for serious mass the past 13 weeks, and have had pretty good results WITH an extremely low carb diet. i do this because my body doesnt respond well to carbs over the long haul. i gain fat, go hypoglycemic, etc etc etc, so i cut them out. ive never actually carb cycles, so im curious as to how it works with me. since im on such a low carb diet as it is, i guess technically i would just be adding in a refeed. not really sure how/if a carb cycling approach could be implimented with bulking. has anyone tried this? i imagine not since im sure a majority of people bulk with large amounts of carbs.

Carb cycling can *definitely* be applied to 'bulking'. I've used it with pretty good success. I'll help you if you'd like, but I must say you have good timing; word on the street is there's a new dieting 101 write-up / sticky in progress .... wonder what the topic is?!

[Tron3219]

word on the street huh? haha

id definately like to hear what you have to say about it. if i do it, i would probably reorginize my workout plan to incorperate 2 days off, with "high" days being the day before my days off (legs/back)

something like this was what i was thinking

mon-low(shoulders)
tues-mod (arms, abs)
weds-high (legs)
thursday-zero (off)
friday-mod (chest)
sat-high (back)
sun-zero (off)

this was just kinda off the top of my head, most definately open for suggestions

[gbrice75]

word on the street huh? haha

id definately like to hear what you have to say about it. if i do it, i would probably reorginize my workout plan to incorperate 2 days off, with "high" days being the day before my days off (legs/back)

something like this was what i was thinking

mon-low(shoulders)
tues-mod (arms, abs)
weds-high (legs)
thursday-zero (off)
friday-mod (chest)
sat-high (back)
sun-zero (off)

this was just kinda off the top of my head, most definately open for suggestions

I usually build the diet/cycle around training. Post up how you *want* to train (if different from this) and we'll go from there.

[Tron3219]

lets go with a split like this

[gbrice75]

lets go with a split like this

Cool. I'll work with this tomorrow.

[Tron3219]

Cool. I'll work with this tomorrow.

'preciate it
i know how a cutting carb cycle works, just unsure of how a bulking carb cycle would work. i ASSUME the no carb days would be at maintenance cals?

[gearbox]

'preciate it
i know how a cutting carb cycle works, just unsure of how a bulking carb cycle would work. i ASSUME the no carb days would be at maintenance cals?

Yes try for maintenance calories even on a low or no carb

[951thompson]

Eat most of your carbs around training time, that's when your body uses them, when your resting your body uses fat for energy. So lower your carbs and up your fats on your days off.

[gbrice75]

'preciate it
i know how a cutting carb cycle works, just unsure of how a bulking carb cycle would work. i ASSUME the no carb days would be at maintenance cals?

I only had a single no carb day during my 'bulk', and yes, it was around maintenance, maybe even a bit under.

Eat most of your carbs around training time, that's when your body uses them, when your resting your body uses fat for energy. So lower your carbs and up your fats on your days off.

It won't really matter when throughout the day carbs are consumed (with every meal except bedtime on my plan). With the amount of carbs you'll be taking in on training days (if you run my style) to facilitate gains, you'll still have plenty of stored glycogen and moderate levels of circulating insulin, so fat loss (on those days) doesn't factor in. That's what non-training days are for.