Lose Weight Not Strength

I TRAIN AT 6 AM TO AROUND 7:30AM IN THE MORNING. SHOULD I EAT MY BIG MEALS THE DAY BEFORE OR THE DAY OF MY HEAVY LIFTING. THE DAY BEFORE WOULD GIVE ME ENERGY FOR THAT MORNING I WOULD THINK. BUT THE DAY OF THE LIFTING I WOULD PROBALY BE TOTALLY DRAINED IF I DIDN'T EAT BIG THAT DAY. THANKS

If you eat the day before, then it's already stored as fat by the time you workout. You probably want some simple carbs and protein pre-workout. That'll give you energy and the protein helps prevent muscle breakdown for energy.

Then the same for after your workout. You need carbs to replenish the glycogen stores in your muscles. You need protein to help muscle repair.

Elitefts sells a book "power eating". It's really good at breaking down when to eat things.

While all of this is helpful information, losing some strength while losing bodyfat and overall weight is inevitable. The body cannot solely access bodyfat for energy when one is on a diet and some muscle is lost even if the individual is using steroids. I do, however, agree that you can hold on to a substantial amount of muscle while dieting if you time your calories right as Justin suggests. The usual problem with crash dieting is that you become sluggish and weak from depleted glycogen storage during your workouts. This reduces the efficiency of your central nervous system and, thus, you appear very much weaker. My advice would be to Eat a large but easily digestible breakfast on the morning of heavy training days to provide energy and try adding a cup or two of coffee or caffeine supplement 45 minutes before your workout to improve central nervous system function. Don't become depressed if you end up losing some muscle and strength by the end of your weight loss. Remember, your muscles have great memory and it doesn't take that long for them to get you right back to your previous strength levels once you're done dieting.

hmmmmm

listen to random guy on powerliftingwatch on diet advice...

or listen to trop (aka justin harris)... who preps bb'ers for a living...

hmmmmm

How about we see Trops recommendatiosn regarding Androgens when it comes to his advice on no strenght loss when dieting.

Even if you lose all of the fat and no muscle, strength is about leverages as well as muscle.

If you take a big fat person, and diet them down, what happens with their bench?

does ROM increase with a belly decrease?

What about leverages for squatting? would andy bolton be quite the squatter without his fantastic base of visceral fat?

I hear being on 3 grams of anabolics each week does wonders for maintaining your strength while dieting.

As someone who preps bodybuilders, Justin Harris should know how much their strength levels decrease when they diet despite the gear they take.

Before I got into powerlifting I was one of those " personal trainers " I never had clients that lost strength while losing fat. I myself just a few months ago went form 197 to 180 and was much stronger when I hit my goal weight. I've always cycled my carbs very much like the way Justin Harris describes in his articles but just not as streamlined as his. it works...

Big gene could probably lose 20-30lbs

do you honestly think he would be benching the same at 308?

Because people have been following carb cycling setups just like Trops for years, but they still lose strength...

WWW.ATLARGENUTRITION.COM

I just finished an article which shows exactly the same thing (will be in an upcoming PLUSA). It chronicles Mike Wolfe's loss of 74 lbs and subsequent PR at the 07 Arnold. Mike is still losing, down to about 330 lbs and is stronger than ever. We hope to see him do some damage at Kenny Patterson's meet in a few weeks.

Chris

I'm glad someone brought up Mike Wolfe. Shawn Lattimer is another.

I got to agree with Zeisat. When you lose fat you will inevitably lose some muscle. You may minimize the loss but there will be some loss nonetheless.

This will not apply to beginners and maybe some freaks or people on roids, but for the masses that work out regularly for at least several years, some loss will happen. My observations tell me that it appears to come from the more difficult places to put the mass on.

Personally, I am long limbed and my chest is the first to go. I lost 20 lbs (mostly fat) the past 6 months doing all the right things mentioned above. My bench still went from 365 to 315. It was not mental and I have seen many others who do exactly the same thing.

i dont know why i waste my breath anymore, but i got stronger thru my whole diet until the final 4-5 weeks. just keep making excuses why u cant while somebody else goes and does it.

This is 10% Luck, 20% Skill, 15% Concentrated Power of Will... 5% Pleasure, 50% Pain, and 100% Reason to Remember the Name!

Of course if you lose weight you will lose some muscle, any real doctor can tell you that. The people who believe otherwise are the same people who believe the "experts" who tell you they can double your vertical jump in 3 months or increase your bench by 100 lbs. in 6 weeks.

NEWSFLASH: the "experts" are still trying to sell to you