If you do nothing else all day from a supplement or nutritional standpoint make sure you at least follow your workouts with a whey isolate and carbohydrate drink mix. (My favorite mix is AST Sports Science VP2 Whey Isolate, Micronized Creatine, GL3 L-Glutamine and a liquid carbohydrate like DGC.)
The post workout time period is the most important time of the day to supply vital muscle building nutrients to your system. Your body is in a state created by your intense workout where nutrient uptake capabilities are at there greatest. It is well documented that a post workout drink with VP2 Whey Isolate and a carbohydrate mix will “flip the anabolic switch” and accelerate muscle recovery.
Make sure not to skimp on your protein choice either. To ensure you get a quality protein it is worth the extra investment. Cheap/lower quality protein supplements simply will not give you the best results. After busting your butt in the gym why settle for a cheap/low quality protein? There is no question in my mind that VP2 Whey Isolate is the best one out there and has been the corner stone of my nutrition for the past 11 years.
To help support this point I have a great example. In our documentary “I Want to Look Like That Guy” there are two different phases of Stuart’s transformation. In the first phase we simply focus on Max-OT and Max-OT cardio with not much attention to nutrition. The idea was to get Stu acclimated to the training methods to encourage some initial strength and muscle gains before we really hammered the diet. The only real nutritional practice I had him implement was making sure he bracketed his workouts (before and after) with VP2 Whey Isolate/Micronized Creatine/GL3 L-Glutamine and DGC.
The simple combination of Max-OT training, Max-OT cardio and bracketing his workouts enabled him to show an increase in lean muscle mass and a decrease in body fat over a period of about 18 weeks. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me but his progress is detailed in the film by carefully administered bod pod measurements.
Granted, Stu’s physical transformation was no where near what it ended up like after phase 2 of the film where we added strict attention to diet for 6 months, however, it does show that smart training with the Max-OT principles and this simple supplementation strategy can help you improve your body even if you don’t pay much attention to anything else.
Believe. Achieve.
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Jeff are you saying that you take those for supplements both before and after workout? If so are they all mixed together or just taken at the same time?
Hey Jeff, in terms of contest preperation does they're come a point when we stop reducing calories or do we just keep on going? Always found that question tough.
I think if you can afford it in your budget it is a good idea to take a pre and post workout drink. If you can only afford it once a day then make it after your workout. Yes, you can mix them all together.
Good question about calorie reduction and I am not sure that there is one solid answer. I think it depends on where you are starting from a calorie standpiont and where you are at condition wise in relation to the show date.
The earlier you start being meticulous with your nutrition, the more slowly you can skim away calories over a long period of time.
Jeff im wanting to start Creatine Cycling next week and i was unsure if i should still take Creatine HSC before and after my max-ot workouts on the 4 day rest period? We dont get DGC here in Australia and i was also wondering what i can drink during my training? Thanks
If you are cycling off creatine then you would not want to take Creatine HSC during that off period.
You could choose any high GI liquid carb like a fruit juice for example.
Jeff for ultimate pre-contest muscularity do you suggest recumbant bike only or a variety of exercises for inefficiency. Preparing for my second national qualifier Max-Ot Style. Went from 10th to 3rd using Max-OT.
I know there is merit to changing mode of cardio, however, I kept with the recumbant bike pretty much 100%. I preferred this and thought I worked the hardest on it. I continued to push myself to beat distances. This helped to make sure I was always working out of my comfort zone.
That is a great jump in placings. Good for you!
Jeff after watching the dvd with stuart, I believe you on the cardio.. he got shredded. But to help us understand why the other way is wrong can you tell me why it works better? If I listen to the standard cardio info it says to stay in a the fat burning zone of heart rate for a long stretch.. I had been staying in that zone for 45 minutes…so how does that length of time in full fat burning heart rate zone not work as good as 16 minute totally outside that heart rate zone.. cause at the effort you would be way up in the cardio heart rate zone…. also why 16 minutes?
Short duration/high intensity cardio is more effective because it has a greater elevation effect to your metabolism and it keeps it elevated for a longer period of time after your session.
In addition to the greater metabolic elevation effects, it has less of any negative impact on the muscle building process.
got it… so the difference is that the short duration cardio keeps the metabolism going for a longer period of time and it doesn't catabolize the muscles as much as the longer duration cardio….
hey jeff, got a quick question
i have the skinny fat syndrome and i dont know if i should build muscle first or burn fat. im 17 years old, 5'8", 145 pounds and have 13% body fat. i want to burn fat until im around 6% body fat because i want my abs to show without me flexing them and want to look very lean, but i also want to build muscle becuase i hate not having no muscle mass and being the smallest guy in the gym. if I decide to build muscle will the muscle i build burn off the excess body fat or would i just gain more fat because of the excess calories i will need for building muscle and will have to go on a cutting phase later. thanks a lot.
You definately want to work to build muscle while targetting fat. This can be achieved by a smart workout plan and intelligent nutrition.
Building muscle will not encourage fat gain, it will encourage fat loss because every ounce of muscle you build you will increase your resting metabolic rate.
I recommend the Max-OT principles for your training approach. Cardio and a smart diet will target the body fat.