Leangains

Questions & Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Quite busy lately, therefore the lack of posts. But I'm still alive and here comes some more questions & answers.

---

The window of opportunity

Q: Understanding that a caloric surplus is required for muscle building, is there a window post workout where nutrient partitioning is greater towards muscle building? I would think that the nutrient partitioning "curve" would ultimately swing back to muscle maintenance or fat gain in the absence of muscle stimulus, but the question is how long after that stimulus?

A: Have a pre-workout meal, train, go home and fix yourself a big meal. No need to count minutes or stress about this stuff. The 1-3 hours figure is for fasted-state training and not applicable to how most people go about their diet and training*. The 'window of opportunity' for nutrient partitioning post workout is much longer than a mere 3 hours.**

And since this question usually comes up in this context, never train completely fasted. Have some BCAAs/whey beforehand.

* Protein synthesis peaks acutely 1-3 hours post-workout and it is advantageous to have amino acids circulating in your blood stream during this period. Studies show that participants ingesting protein during this time frame gain more muscle - but these studies are performed on completely fasted individuals. For someone ingesting protein through a pre-workout meal or other source of protein pre-workout, those amino acids would be used for protein synthesis (making it less essential to stress about the post-workout shake).

** Protein synthesis is elevated above baseline for at least 24-36 hours after weight training.

Late night hunger

Q: It seems like lately, I have been getting a case of the late night (around 9pm or so) munchies. I usually eat dinner around 5:30 everyday, but I always seem to get hungry around the same time. I have always heard that you shouldn't have carbs within a few hours of bedtime, is there any merit to this?

A: One of my biggest downfalls before coming up with the 16-8 system/IF was late night hunger. The best solution was the simplest one, which meant eating a lot more before bedtime. Irrational fear of fat gain, much a consequence of the don't-eat-carbs-after-x pm-bullshit-myth, held me back from doing it in the past. I did my reading, figured out there wasn't much to it, and decided to try a different approach. Finally got lean as hell eating big in the evening, sometimes way past midnight. Lesson learned. Hope that answered your question (hint: a big fat no).

Catabolic cardio?

Q: Is there any way to perform cardio in a way that limits its catabolic effects? Is their any benefit to doing submaximal intervals vs. steady state?

A: The type of cardio that has the least impact on your recovery capabilities/gym performance will be the least "catabolic". If your conditioning is not adequate, don't play around too much with HIIT. Go with low impact cardio performed for duration rather than intensity if you want to play it safe, and if metabolic conditioning is of a lesser priority than fat loss.

Sodium and weight loss

Q: When I used to have to cut weight for wrestling I would eliminate sodium content about 3 days prior and see a nice drop. Also, drinking about a gallon of distilled water always makes me eliminate a lot of water retention(yes more than just chugging tap water)... purely anecdotal I realize and of course that might just be for the lack of sodium in distilled water. Any truth to this?

A: Yes, cutting sodium, or rather reducing it compared to your daily baseline intake, will cause you to shed water. Reduce sodium for a day and odds are you'll wake up a little lighter - but you'll bounce back on day 3, since this only works in the very short term. The hormones regulating water balance adapts rapidly (and you need to reduce sodium further to drop more water). And you're right on the other claim, as tap water usually contains (very) small amounts of sodium.

Fat loading

Q: Basically, we all know about carb-loading. This author promotes fat loading of 12-24 hrs, saying it will jack up the enzymes involved with burning fat. Drop the dietary fat back down low, and the enzymes will remain high for several days, helping to increase the rate at which body fat is burned. Thoughts?

A: Let's see

1) IMTG stores are extremely small vs glycogen stores
2) dietary fat has much less of an impact on leptin vs carbs
3) excess dietary fat gets stored efficently as adipose tissue vs carbs

Yeah, sounds like a great concept. Like carb loading, without any of the benefits.

Lyle McDonald chimed in:

Everything I"ve seen shows that the increase in fat use for fuel has everything to do with reducing carbs and nothing to do with increasing dietary fat per se.
Consider that the body will shift to using fat for fuel under the following conditions

1. lowcarb/ketogenic diet
2. protein sparing modified fast
3. complete starvation

What's the commonality? The lack of carbs. NOT the presence of dietary fat.

The bottom line is this, ingestion of dietary fat has very little impact on the body's use of fat for fuel and this has been shown endlessly.

EFA and growth hormone

Q: I was arguing with my friend regarding this issue. He stated that EFA (Essential Fatty Acids) slowed down the release of GH (Growth Hormone), however, i disagreed with him. We had this bet over it and i was wondering whats the truth behind this?

A: Eating anything affects basal levels of GH. Starve and you'll have high basal GH all the time. However, diet does not interfere with the nocturnal and the two daily pulses (though they are augmented with fasting). I am unaware of anything specifically related to EFA* and it's probably bullshit, as I have looked into this quite a bit.

* I would expect EFAs to affect GH no differentely than any other fatty acid, which is by lowering it.

Questions & Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:49:00 +0000

This is the first in a series of posts with the most useful replies I made in the íntermittent fasting thread on www.bodybuilding.com. Answers have been edited/updated when needed.

---

Calorie Restriction (CR) vs Intermittent Fasting

Q: I think CR in general is probably more healthy for some people than "fasting".

A: Depends on how you define "healthy". The whole premise of CR for life extension may sound great on paper, but it's not much fun to chronically restrict calories for rest of your life in order to live a few years more. Especially if the price you pay is hunger and weakness.

Studies hint that IF may have life extension benefits on it's own, some of them are unique to IF and not seen with CR: disease prevention, protection against brain disorders (i.e Alzheimers), immune system support and improved pulmonary function, even on higher calorie intakes.

IF at energy balance > CR.

So perhaps we can get all the benefits of CR, and then some, without having to restrict intake as harshly. Here's an example of some of the exclusive benefits of IF vs CR;

"...Nevertheless, intermittent fasting resulted in beneficial effects that met or exceeded those of caloric restriction including reduced serum glucose and insulin levels and increased resistance of neurons in the brain to excitotoxic stress. Intermittent fasting therefore has beneficial effects on glucose regulation and neuronal resistance to injury in these mice that are independent of caloric intake. "

From "Intermittent fasting dissociates beneficial effects of dietary restriction on glucose metabolism and neuronal resistance to injury from calorie intake" by Anson et al.

Then again, it may be wishful thinking. Main support for the hypothesis comes from animal research, human research is still sparse. However, there are some recent studies that lends support for the hypothesis to be valid for humans as well, for example:

"...These findings demonstrate rapid and sustained beneficial effects of ADCR on the underlying disease process in subjects with asthma, suggesting a novel approach for therapeutic intervention in this disorder. " (the authors conclude that alternate day fasting > CR)

From "Alternate Day Calorie Restriction Improves Clinical Findings and Reduces Markers of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Overweight Adults with Moderate Asthma" by Johnson et al.

The mechanism by which fasting protects the heart is not known, but may involve an enhanced ability of cells to cope with oxidative and metabolic stress. Wan et al speculated that...

"A recent study showed that alternate-day caloric restriction can reduce systemic markers of inflammation and oxidative stress and can reduce symptoms in subjects with asthma" (Here they are referring to the human trial by Johnson et al)

Because...

"Intermittent Fasting imposes a mild beneficial stress on cells."

And affects adiponectin:

"Adiponectin concentration was twofold greater in the plasma of rats that had been maintained for 3 months on the IF diet"

Conluding that Adiponectin may possibly explain some of the beneficial effects:

"Adiponectin has previously been shown to have cardioprotective and anti-inflammatory actions. "

Yet finishing with some reservations, as the research is still scarce on this topic:

"IF results in changes in levels of several circulating factors including decreased levels of insulin, leptin and cholesterol, and increased levels of testosterone [27]*. It will therefore be important to elucidate the roles for, and interactions, of these different factors in cardiovascular responses to IF. "

* The effects on testosterone seems unique to rodents so far (personal conslusion based on my review of the topic).

The above is from "Cardioprotective effect of intermittent fasting is associated with an elevation of adiponectin levels in rats" by Wan et al. A recent paper discussed the cardioprotective benefits with regards to humans:

"Short-term modified alternate-day fasting: a novel dietary strategy for weight loss and cardioprotection in obese adults" by Varady et al.

----

I wrote the above almost two years ago (added some recent studies for the sake of context). Since then, there's been some additional findings, though nothing groundbreaking. There's a lot on this topic, but I'm gonna cut it short here. Have written plenty on this in the book. To summarize my response to the question: intermittent fasting may or may not have exclusive benefits which cannot be obtained with a traditional, calorie restricted diet. However, due to the scarcity of research on humans, and due to many confounders present in the available research (i.e some of the studies on IF/ADF does not use a CR control group), it's hard to say anything for certain yet.

Intermittent Fasting and PPOS

Q: The Life Extension Foundation is big on the idea that big meals = elevated post prandial oxidative stress (PPOS) which is obviously a negative. Any opinion on this seemingly negative effect of IF/Big Meals?

A: Studies* show oxidative stress is less on intermittent fasting compared to regular calorie restriction. Yes, even when comparing the same calorie intake with varying meal splits (i.e 3 big meals vs 6-9 small meals). The neuroprotective effects of the fast yields the net effect of PPOS being lesser on IF - despite larger meals.

* in ref to Anson et al.

Catabolism during the fast

Q: So, how long does it take for significant muscular catabolism to start? Over 24 hrs?

A: That's context dependent, but consider that blood glucose is maintained within range mostly by gluconeogenesis beyond the 16 hr mark*. That answer might not make a lot of sense, but eat sufficient amounts of slow releasing protein before going to bed and it shouldn't be an issue even if you go for longer than 16 hrs.**

They key factor in whether you'll lose muscle or not is the severity of calorie deficit, not meal time intervals within a non-retarded range.

* note that the studies looking at this contained nutrional regimens very different from what we are doing (i.e Cahill et all fed test subjects 100 g cho before bed time, no protein, and then had them fast for several days to gauge the rate by which liver glycogen vs gluconeogenesis contributes to maintain blood glucose).

** hell there's even a study out there suggesting proteolytic gene expression does not become turned on until the 40 hr mark or so.

A more recent question on the same topic -

Q: Hey guys, got a question about fasting length. I'm currently IF'ing by doing two 24 hour fasts per week (two days with complete fasting) My question is, could I do both fasts consecutively and do one large 48 hour fast? What is the longest amount of time that it is safe to fast before LBM loss/metabolic downregulation?

A: Safest? Well, consider that de novo gluconeogenesis escalates beyond 16 hrs. 16 hrs is the tipping point - your glucose demands after this point is met primarily (more than 50%) by conversion of stored amino acids into blood glucose. Liver will support the brunt of glucose needs before that point. Theoretically, proteolysis will occur to the greatest extent 24-48 hrs into the fast. Of course, there are numerous confounders here to take into account (i.e a casein heavy meal before the fast will delay proteolysis further).

Metabolic downregulation? Up to 72 hrs according to most studies.

Some pics

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:53:00 +0000

It's been a while now, so here's a few recent ones. This is more or less the condition I maintain at all times of the year. Weight is approximately 195-200 lbs. I'm not sure of the exact number, since my scale is broke.

Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:48:00 +0000

I get these e-mails from time to time and it's always a pleasure to read them.

--------

"Martin,

after all the knowledge I have gathered through your site, and from your articles I decided to give this a go when i started a mini-cut.

After 5 weeks of mini-cutting I went from 167.5 lbs to 160.7lbs, Most of the loss would be fat throughout the entire process. Following the IF principles was cake, after day 1-2 the hunger cravings were non-existant, and everything was smooth sailing.

Eating big, and letting the body recover while keeping workouts simple and to the point were nothing but a walk in the park. Intensity was high and energy was beyond belief.

I really cannot exaggerate how easy of a lifestyle this is to a college student who spends countless hours in the library, studying, and working to support the needs to complete a college career and get a job. After 5 weeks of attempting this on my own I am sold on your research, your lifestyle, and the way at which people have been doing this for years.

After reading your testimonials, responses, and following an individual on bodybuilding.com who was a client of yours I always wanted to give this a shot, and did not know if I could change from the whole 6 meals a day thing, I have always had thoughts and wanted to just eat a massive meal 2-3 times a day and call it quits. Well reality sunk in, I gave in, and it is something that has happened to work very well for me.

Here is a link to my workout journal, and I took two videos. One of Before, and One of after (from 9-14-09 to 10-19-09 (Today)) Showing the changes my body experienced while utilizing IF on a cutting diet. Calories never dropped below 2500 on workout days while off days were a touch lower with lower carbs (i know you advocate that). Based off what everyone has said about this lifestyle it came true for me.

I wanted to e-mail and tell you this, that if I do decide to do a contest in the future, I will need your assistance with dialing in my body for the final weeks and work my way towards placing in a bodybuilding show (a dream of mine).

Thank you for all of your advice on the bodybuilding.com forums. It is GREATLY appreciated, because half of the people on there dont know jack shit.

Best Wishes Always,

- Bob Kupniewski

The Link and the transformation videos after a 5 week IF experiment:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpost.php?p=399364911&postcount=7383

I hope you get some good feedback from this, and understand what you are doing is working, and the more you promote the greater of an individual you will become. Keep up the hard work."

--------

By the way, I'm planning a "Best Of" post based on the long running intermittent fasting thread on bodybuilding.com. It will contain expanded and updated answers to questions posted there, and should be a good complement to Questions and Answers on this blog.

The Champ

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:45:00 +0000

I'm happy to announce that Andreaz Engström won the -70 kg class at the Nordic Bodybuilding Championships in Trondheim, Norway, today. The competition pits competitors from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania against each other.

Third time's a charm, as the saying goes, and this has been an exciting journey for us both. Drawing upon experiences from his first two competitions, I managed to nail the final two weeks perfectly this time around. In combination with his flawless compliance, victory was achieved.

Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:57:00 +0000

Mission Statement: all reviews will be my honest assessment of the material in question. My opinion will never be influenced by personal bias or my opinion of the author.

The Paleo Cookbook

"These are the results my clients have experienced and that i have experienced as well - that's why I'm a huge advocate for the paleo diet and I believe you too can experience how amazing it is to suddenly be able to go through your days with more energy, while seeing a happier, healthier body in the mirror."

– Nikki Young

Who is this book for?

It’s for someone looking to adopt a healthy diet and maybe lose a few pounds in the process. The book may also be for someone with a special preference for paleo dieting or a person looking for some new meal ideas to add to their daily menu.

What will I learn from it?

You'll learn to cook and prepare a variety of paleo meals for different occasions.

Strong points

* It features a very extensive list of recipes. Seven books all in all; two main books, and five theme-based books (i.e chocolate and capsicum sandwiches). So in addition to meals that would make good diet staples, there are also paleo-based dessert recipes and snacks.

* Excellent layout with high-quality pictures for every recipe.

* Clear instructions on how to prepare the meals.

* Contains creative solutions to make paleo friendly versions of modern foods such as noodles and sandwiches.

Weak points

* I couldn't find any major flaws with this product. It delivers exactly what it promises. One drawback is that nutritional information is not listed for each meal, but that's not hard to look up yourself either. The book also contains some recipes with "forbidden" foods that might anger some of the purists but these did not bother me.

Overall

One of my clients swears by this cookbook, which was the main reason I wanted to read and review it. I don’t typically consider recipe books but I was pleasantly surprised by Young’s. It delivers what it promises and does so in a stylish way. The collection of recipes may be used whether one is dieting, bulking or just maintaining their physique.

I've tried about a dozen recipes so far, and they've all turned out well. My personal favorites are coconut chicken curry, white fish with almond and tomato sauce, and "kids" meatloaf (no idea how Young came up with that name). The coconut sorbet dessert was awesome. There's also a coconut chocolate cake I’d really like to try but I'll have to ask someone to make that for me. Baking is just too much for a simpleton like me. But I'll report back once I can bribe someone into baking it.

This book holds even greater value if you're following the paleo diet to a T, which I don't (nor does the author, according to an interview). Want a quick paleo snack? It’s here. Want’s a filling paleo meal that requires little prep time? It’s here. Want to impress someone with an elaborate paleo dinner? It’s here too. But regardless of your diet habits, the recipes in this book will keep you occupied for a long time, adding variety and flavor to your meals.

If anyone already has this book, or buys it, feel free to post your personal favorites in the comments section.

A quick note about paleo diets in general

There’s now research that supports the health benefits of a paleo diet. A recent study* showed participants’ health markers improved when they switched to a paleo diet for ten days. Most people will see benefits in these markers simply by making an effort to eat healthier, in which case the cause would be reducing calorie intake and the resultant weight loss.

This study was of particular note because calorie and macronutrient intake was controlled and set to maintain the weight of participants. The benefits seen – such as lower fasting insulin, improvements in insulin sensitivity and blood lipids – resulted from manipulating quality, not quantity, of foods in the participants’ diet.

Also these results were recorded after merely ten days of following the paleo diet, so they were seen without the confounding factor of weight loss. When it comes to health, the paradigm of "a calorie is a calorie" doesn't ring true. However, it isn't wrong to assume that similar results would have been obtained by following a regular "clean" diet despite what some of the hardcore paleo proponents may tell you.

* Frassetto, et al. Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb 11.

Best Comment So Far

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:43:00 +0000

This comment deserves a post of it's own. From comments in Randomness.

Mamaelvis -

"Maybe you know all of the following, but just in case it helps you. (It helped me)

Making a tiny insignificant commitment to writing for even 2 focused minutes everyday almost always leads to writing a hell of alot more at a sitting just out of momentum.

Keeping a visible calendar with your successful commitment's to those days reinforces that you are following through on your writing.

The other trick is saying to yourself that this is "only a rough draft" if you are stalling out of wanting that "definitive book" to fall out of you. It usually won't & even if it did nobody needs perfection.

Huge books about diet filled with theory & studies are usually summed up in less then 20 pages.

I think that your strength is that you were not a lean teenage person & you learned how to put yourself into a exceptional condition.

From what I can see from the whole of the internet, right now... you are doing this more successfully then anyone. (On a consistent basis with photo testimonials)

So from my point of view I hope your book will at least touch on the following (like your blog):

Emphasis on your decision not to become psycho about eating.

Your personal story as on the leangains.com with photos of when you were chubby.

Variances in approach with different clients & why.

Documentation & photos from clients plans.

I could give a shit about studies to tell the truth.

The fact that you were fat & leaned out to the level you are now & doing the same helping your clients is amazing. I mean look at how many people fail at getting in shape & you are transforming people on a consistent basis.

What more do you need to write about? Possibly mental techniques for people who can't comply well?

Maybe stuff to build your own reputation to further your professional goals.

Put the book out! In the time you have started talking about intermittent fasting, so many people have jumped on the bandwagon & they really don't have the results you have already documented here.

Swedes are waaaaay to modest & perfectionistic.

C'mon kick some ass. You have an embarrassment of riches already compared to other fitness 'experts'"

My reply -

Mamaelvis,

Thanks for taking the time to write this. Personally, I think this is the best comment on my blog so far.

Some very useful advice in here that I needed to be reminded of. You're right on all accounts regarding book writing and getting it done. I could have had the book out a long time ago if I wasn't so focused on some trivial aspects no one really cares that much about (with regards to studies on the topic). I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this, and it's certainly a double-edged sword in this business. Your post got me thinking. Thanks again.

Magazine Article

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:01:00 +0000

No doubt, the six-meal-a-day-approach so prevalent among fitness professionals and recreational trainees alike can interfere with social life and work. It's sad considering it doesn't have to be that way. Indeed we ourselves are the creators of all of our troubles and compulsions. But it certainly doesn't help when we are constantly showered with messages concerning the dire consequences of not eating every two to three hours. Nonsense and make believe.

But there is hope. I'm working with an ever increasing amount of competitors who are fed up with the old dogma and time-consuming behavior that tends to come with the territory. It's good to see and experience that more people in this industry are starting to open up their eyes. Role models are needed to create change on a greater scale.

Here's an article about one of my clients. I've translated some parts of it.

"...this summer I adopted an intermittent fasting regimen. It entails two large meals a day, and the approach fits me like hand in glove. As a bonus, I've gradually leaned out as well."

Note that Andreaz is eating two meals most days, while the default approach includes three meals. There are no set rules regarding meal frequency within the 8 hour feeding phase, but other clients tend to prefer three meals (as do I).

"As I received excellent coaching from Martin Berkhan during the pre-contest prep, I was very pleased with my conditioning at the day of the competition."

One thing I do differently with competitors is the pre-contest prep. Specifically the last two weeks, where I think most coaches make things more difficult and painful than what's necessary or optimal.

Andreaz is competing on Saturday, and is going up against guys a lot heavier than him (they cancelled his weight class). Let's hope they judge symmetry and conditioning fairly. That is where he really shines. I've helped Andreaz once before, where he took second place in his class (-70 kg) at the Sweden GP. He would no doubt have taken first, if it weren't for a Dutch (!) wildcard that appeared in the last second.

Here's a sneak peek on his current condition, one week out.

I should also mention that Andreaz is completely natural - and please believe that I wouldn't be telling you that if he wasn't.

Let's all wish Andreaz good luck on Saturday. You can follow his progress on his blog.

By the way, "Making High Frequency Training Work: Part Two" will be up on Monday, at the earliest. That will allow me to evaluate some relevant progress reports/client data being sent to me this weekend.

Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:13:00 +0000

I rarely have time to keep up with forums and the ongoing discussions these days, but occasionally I'll take an hour or two and lazily browse around for a bit. Just found this post from a client on bb.com and thought it might be worth sharing.

---

"I just wanted to check into the IF thread and offer a few comments.

I am still on Leangains and working with Martin. I am glad to be down to the 178-180 range now. Started in March at 230+ and my pics start at 196 pounds and my recent profile pic is at 180. I will diet down to about 167-170 or a full six pack/ripped and then start a very slow bulk.

Over the past 7 months, I have had a fantastic experience with this lifestyle and method of eating. I do workout fasted (take caffeine and Xtend on lifting days) and have kept most strength. I have lost a little strength in bench, but when you drop 50 pounds, you cannot expect to keep everything and I am sure I will get it back when I slow bulk. My Deadlifts have gotten better and squats are about the same, too. Of course, bodyweight stuff like chinups are vastly improved as I can now do about 15 or so at bodyweight and 6 with an added 50 pounds, vs. doing maybe 2-3 at bodyweight when I started.

I need to get a substantial amount of protein with this method of eating, and I really enjoy eating lean steak, chicken breast and eggs (mostly whites) on a daily basis. I have stopped taking protein supplements completely and really endorse the whole foods approach, as it helps to satiate me quite a bit more than a protein shake. Fitday.com has been a great help for tracking. I am pretty lazy with carb quality on lifting days and enjoy Cocoa Pebbles with skim milk after many a workout. It doesn't seem to matter much as long as the calories work out.

One really cool thing is that I have not needed to adjust my calories since starting. Granted my weight loss has slowed as I get closer to goal, but compliance is easy and my metabolism is still great. I feel lucky to have found this. Anyone that is interested should give it a shot for a week. At this point, I cannot see myself going away from this method of eating...ever. "

---

I hate to speculate without anything but anecdotes and personal experience to back me up, but the lean mass retention that I've observed with intermittent fasting really stands out. Others, non-clients that have read my material and applied it, also experience this to a much greater degree than with conventional dieting. People are keeping, or even gaining, strength, while dropping significant amounts of fat. I have my theories as to why this might be, but I'll save that for the book.

The post is from the long running IF thread on bodybuilding.com. Can't quite recall if I ever linked it here before, and there is a good reason for that. I would really caution against reading it from the beginning. Trust me, there was a lot of trolling back in 07. But there is some good discussion somewhere in the middle that might make it worthwhile checking out. I think even Alan Aragon made a guest appearance.

Making High Frequency Training Work: Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:31:00 +0000

Updated: Oct 7th, see bottom.

As many of my readers know, I have favored low volume, high intensity training performed relatively sparingly.

At the extreme end of this spectrum is the type of routine I built my foundation on, such as the one I wrote about in The Minimalist. Here, I performed three different sessions over a 10-day cycle. The other regimen, one which I "refined" my foundation on, was built around Reverse Pyramid Training. Workout frequency was higher, typically three sessions over a 7 to 9 day cycle; still a low workout frequency, at least in comparison to some of the more traditional routines for strength and hypertrophy.

Such routines have worked tremendously well for me and my clients, but one should never feel constrained to one approach solely, nor claim the superiority of it, without having thoroughly explored alternatives.

With that in mind, I will focus on high frequency training in the next few posts, starting with this entry. Today I will discuss the reasons I developed a high frequency program, and the results I have seen with my clients and me. In the next part, which will be up in a few days, I will present the actual template in its most basic form and talk about some of the finer points that are the key to making it work.

Mastering Temperance

I am no stranger to higher frequencies of training for muscle hypertrophy and strength, and have had moderate success with them in the past.

For example, using a technique called synaptic facilitation while training for a one-arm chin many years ago, I increased my chin-ups from a measly 8 reps to 20 reps in a relatively short time span, and later, to 5-6 reps with an additional 100 lbs attached around my waist. The template, partially inspired by some of Pavel Tsatsouline's work , had me chinning 3 times per day, 5 times per week in addition to performing weighted chins on the two weight training sessions I did during the week.

However, such success was the exception rather than the norm. On other occasions, while weight training 4 to 6 times per week I would always end up overtrained sooner or later.

This was due to my foolish ignorance of one key factor that needs to be thoroughly controlled when training with high frequency: intensity. (A quick note: intensity is often defined as using heavy weights (85-100% of your one-rep max) but in this case I am referring to the perceived exertion of the set. You might catch me using the term interchangeably, which is why I wanted to make that clear.)

Being a student of Stuart McRobert's work(see this post for more, book recommendations at the bottom), I am inclined to exert maximal effort on every set. Almost every set I’ve performed in the gym in the past five years has been taken to failure. Only when convinced that another rep would be impossible to perform without failure, or by severely compromising form, would I rack the weight.

Such high intensity takes a toll on your muscles and central nervous system, which is why it is best used sparingly and in the context of low volume and frequency. Lifts and muscle groups are trained no more than once weekly. I have found this to be a very productive form of training, especially when considering the time invested versus the reward gained.

However, on my past excursions into higher frequencies of training, 4 times per week or more, I would often bring the same balls-to-the-wall-mentality with me. Needless to say, I didn't last long on such a strenuous regimen and I would scurry back to the comfort of my old training regimen. Ironically, I have created many high frequency routines, and successfully coached clients on them. I just never had much success with them in my training (I talked about the paradoxical nature of coaching others and coaching yourself in this post, #2. Being Impatient/doing stupid shit).

In order to make high frequency training work, I would need to master my temperance: the art of holding back. This has been a great challenge, but one I needed to attempt after coming to the realization that I hadn't broken any personal records in the last 18 months. Clearly, going into the gym with the attitude that I need to set a new PR every single workout wasn't working.

In those 18 months , the goals I had set for myself, such as deadlifting 650+ lbs, had gradually faded (I made decent progress up to spring 2008, which is why I'm counting 18, not 21, months). My lifts had reached total stagnation, and even regression, as I settled into lame acceptance and indifference, going to the gym every third or fourth day to do maintenance work.

However, simply embarking on a high frequency routine with the simple strategy of stopping with a few reps left in the tank wouldn't work. Using a much too vague plan contributed to my past failure. I needed to delve into the finer aspects and create a system that had clear guidelines with regards to progression, intensity, volume and other relevant variables. I reviewed both the scientific literature and successful real-world examples, arriving at what I considered to be a basic, workable template in theory. Luckily, it has worked in practice, as was confirmed by my clients’ results.

My clients’ success with this new high frequency template has contributed to reigniting the fire and passion I have for my own training. Most of these clients using the new template are in the same situation I find myself in: muscle and strength gains have decreased to an unbearably slow pace or stagnated completely. The new program has pushed them past their old strength plateaus with a minimal amount of body weight gained (for intermediates and advanced clients I use relative strength gain as a success indicator for lean mass gain – minimizing weight gain is a goal in itself in order to minimize fat gain).

The intermediates I work with have gained muscle and strength at what I consider an impressive rate. These clients start out with a more basic plan than advanced trainees (for example, training 4 times per week instead of 5 times per week).

My clients’ results convinced me to try the high frequency set-up. After barely four weeks, the routine feels great. "Feels great" is a rather vague term to use when evaluating a training template, but the cyclical nature of it is such that I don't expect to set new PRs in several months.

But what I mean by "feels great" is that despite being a 5 times per week setup:

* I am looking forward to each session, and I feel refreshed, pumped and in good spirits when I leave the gym. I almost feel like staying longer and doing more, but fighting that temptation is part of mastering temperance. This is the key to make this routine work. The ego needs to be kept in check and the desire for instant gratification whipped into submission.

* I have no trouble recovering from sessions, despite training muscle groups 2-3 three times weekly, sometimes back to back. For example, biceps are worked indirectly, but extensively, in back movements such as chins. Yet they can be trained directly (curls) on the next day without negative effect. This was impossible in the past, and following a hard chinning session I would need several days before I could curl without the lingering soreness affecting strength output.

(Random note: I never trained biceps for any greater amount of time, yet this muscle group stands out. I attribute that to chins. For biceps development, I am a stern advocate of beginners and intermediates not doing a lot of direct work; effort is much better invested in chins and its variations, such as close-grip chins, rope chins and towel chins.)

* Better conditioning and intra-set recovery. Having trained muscle groups almost exclusively with few sets, high intensity and long rest periods, I have high maximal and relative strength, but comparatively poor work capacity; I needed several minutes between sets to be ready, physically and mentally, for another set. But with the new set-up, I have noted rapid improvements in this area.

This ends part one of this series. As I wrote earlier, I’ll share the basic template for high frequency training in the second part as I am very interested in getting feedback from as many people as possible concerning its effectiveness.

Oct 7th: I'm going to give the template a solid 12 week run myself before putting part two up, rather than extrapolating solely from client data. There are many interesting aspects I want to delve into further, such as determining optimal rest for different lifts at various loads and volumes. I think I may have something great here, and I don't like to half-ass things or rush this. I doubt two parts will be enough to make this justice.

ETA part two: mid-December.

New post + deleted e-mails

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:56:00 +0000

I've been very busy the last two weeks, which is why I haven't found the time to post. I have an interesting post coming up soon though. Hopefully later this week.

On another note, I invariably end up deleting e-mails/consultation inquiries now and then, as some end up in my spam folder. I usually try to answer every e-mail, however briefly, so if you didn't get a reply then resend it and use "Leangains" as the headline.

Ghrelin and entrainment

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:45:00 +0000

"New" research on ghrelin

Apparently, scientists have now discovered ghrelin's role in meal initiation and it's entrainment to habitual meal patterns. Funny, because I've been talking about this since I started the blog. Judging from the quick look through my collection of ghrelin related research papers, it seems the earliest paper mentioning this effect of ghrelin in humans is from 2001. The entrainment of ghrelin is part of what makes the 16 hour fast so easy after a few days adaptation.

Though it's not mentioned in the link, ghrelin has other interesting effects as well, such as stimulating brain functions of spatial learning and memory development. From an evolutionary perspective this makes sense; the urge to find food may create more competitive skills to ensure survival.

In a similar vein, the metabolic increase (via incrased norepinephrine/epinephrine) that occurs during short term fasting is a function of the body telling you to not sit on your ass, but go out and find food - another mechanism selected for during evolution. Yes, you read that right, "starvation mode" is a bunch of hokum, unless we're talking long term fasting (>72 hrs).

Either way, the link might be worth a read if you're not familiar with ghrelin. Will at least provide you with some backup material when people ask you why you aren't starving during the fast.

And when someone asks you why they're constantly hungry on their six meal-a-day-foo-foo-meal-regimen, you can refer them to dr Silver -

"If you eat all the time, ghrelin secretion will not be well controlled,” said Silver, the paper’s lead author and the principal investigator of the study."

Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:31:00 +0000

* Some time ago, Super Human Radio featured Dr Mark McCarty, co-author of a study on fasting and exercise.

Exercise After Mini-Fast Burns Fat And Builds Muscle. Some good discussion here if you can stand the commercial breaks.

What I found impressive was the high adherance rate, as well as the effectiveness of the approach, compared to the usual standard seen in weight loss interventions - especially considering that participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted throughout the study (though low fat, low glycemic food choices were encouraged).

Here's a few excerpts from the full text version of the study -

"With respect to the long-term sustainability of this regimen, it may be noted that author M.F.M. has followed this regimen for 12 years and, at age 56, maintains a body fat under 5%, having lost approximately two-thirds of his initial body fat."

Damn, sounds like Dr McCarty is ripped.

"It stands to reason that, if daily exercise is conducted in a way that optimizes oxidation of stored fat, and if subsequent meals are low in fat so that this oxidized fat is not immediately replaced (but a satisfying repletion of glycogen stores is achieved), a daily negative fat balance can be achieved that will persist until a new equilibrium is reached at a much lower body fat content [1,2,7]."

This goes in line with some of my own thinking regarding the post-workout overfeedings.

"Clinically, meal skipping has been associated withreduced risk for colorectal cancer in several epidemiological studies [24–27], and serum lipid profiles and plasma levels of acutephase reactants tend to improve during the month of Ramadan
in observant Moslems [28–31]."

Good stuff.

Bahadori B, McCarty MF, Barroso-Aranda J, Gustin JC, Contreras F. A "mini-fast with exercise" protocol for fat loss. Med Hypotheses. 2009 Jul 2. PMID: 19577377.

Read the abstract here

* Andreaz Engstrom, competing bodybuilder and former client of mine, put together a video showcasing some of his progress made with intermittent fasting this summer.

I coached Andreaz for a competition back in April. Shortly after competing, Andreaz got sick with shingles, which prevented him from training for six weeks. As you can see, he made a swift comeback. You can see his before/afters leading up to the competition in this post.

* Alan Aragon on supplement marketing . Good article, but I suspect he may be preaching to the choir. Nonetheless, well worth reading.

Another Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:13:00 +0000

Here's a recent interview I did for a dutch site.

Other interviews and articles can be found here.

---

Martin, we can all read your bio on your blog, but what have you been up to in the last 6 months? Any news on a book for example?

I've been keeping very busy with clients, articles (for the swedish bodybuilding mag "Body") and book writing. More of the former, less of the latter, but I'm picking up the pace to get the book out fairly soon. I actually have a date set in my mind, but won't say anything more on that topic. It'll be done when it's done (and hopefully worth the wait).

Some people complain of headaches during the fast, any idea what causes this and better yet, how to solve it?

The most probable cause in this context is hypoglycemia and the headaches are likely to occur after low carb (rest) days. I rarely encounter this among my own clients, but I'd wager a bet that most people experiencing the headaches are eating very low carb/ketogenic on rest days, which is why hypoglycemia may occur early in the fast on the next day. If that is the case, I'd then suggest to up carb intake on rest days - 1 g cho/kg body weight is a good starting point. The goal is not to hit ketosis on rest days like some people seem to believe; if you do, then you're doing it wrong (and shifting in and out of ketosis isn't exactly ideal for mental performance either). Make sure protein and carbs are high enough to not go ketogenic on rest days if you're having problems with fasting headaches.

Another factor that plays into this is the caloric surplus and deficit; if you're having headaches, make sure that the gap between training days and rest days isn't too steep in terms of calorie surplus/deficit. Large swings, i.e eating +50%--50% maintenance/ on training/rest, can also cause headaches and other mood disturbances during the fast.

Other possibilities not related to hypoglycemia include dehydration and caffeine withdrawal, both easily solved by drinking more and keeping your regular caffeine habits intact.

If all of the above can be ruled out as explanations to your headaches, studies show that there is a pretty strong genetic predisposition to migraines, which can be triggered by very small fluctuations in blood glucose - if that's the case, well, fasting simply isn't for you, and you may in fact be better off with more regular meals.

Do you recommend a different training approuch especially volume wise when following the IF guidelines?

Whatever works for you will work just as well on an IF regimen. That being said, I am biased towards a certain style of training; my own training methodology is inspired by the works of Stuart McRoberts and Arthur Jones, for example, and puts a heavy focus on training core movements with proper intensity and set structure. I also consider some of the 3-5 x 5-templates out there to be solid, success-proof, routines. So sure, given that I believe 90% of trainees out there are much better following the likes of these training routines than the stuff I see people doing in the gym, these are approaches I would recommend for most people doing IF as well; but again, there is no need for a special approach due the diet. However, for fasted state training, i.e if you're working out at the end of the fast (with only a small amount of BCAA, as I recommend as a pre-wo 'meal'), I would definitely recommend starting out doing shorter weight training sessions as a general rule for everyone.

A lot of questions are asked about recomp. Lots of powerbuilders (not bodybuilders) want to get leaner, but don't want to loose a lot of bw and especially no strength! Can you give us some guidelines about recomping (eg some people say +25% kcal on training days and -50% kcal on off days)?

That's what most people want, and it's not something easily covered in a few lines here. On the topic of the diet, I'll say this: if the +25%/-50%-approach is working for you, that's great. If it isn't, consider keeping a tighter caloric interval, especially if you're already lean. And what is absolutely crucial - make sure to get a lot of protein on rest days.

Is bulking up just a matter of upping the calories or do you have some special approuch for this as well?

Another topic that I won't try to cover in depth here, rest assured that special measures have to be taken if you want your gains to be lean. First of all, training wise, I do things differently. Aside from visual cues, I rate the quality of gain by relative strength. If anything, that is something people should take away from this interview. Look at your weight gain in relation to your strength gains. If you're losing reps in chins on your bulk, odds are you're getting fat. If you've gained 10 lbs on your bench in the last month, while similarily gaining 10 lbs of body weight, you're getting fat. You get the point. I have a system for that, sort of a minimum standard of relative strength I think people should gain in relationship to their weight. This is complex and dependent on training experience, body leverages and so forth. Needless to say, there are exceptions such as training a beginner or when introducing a new movement, the system cannot be applied.

Diet wise, it's a matter of finding the sweet spot when it comes to weight gain, calorie intake and macros; dependent on training experience and insulin sensitivty, among other things.

What do you think are average natural muscle gains in a month's time?

Hard to say, since there is such a tremendous variability here. However, assuming that a) you've already tapped into your newbie gains, b) you're not completely retarded when it comes to your diet or training regimen and c) you wan't to keep the gains lean, then we're looking at 1-1.5 lbs per month for most people.

Anything else you don't want my dutch readers to miss out on?

Nothing I can think of.

Questions & Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:07:00 +0000

Another Q&A. Click here to see all Q&A's.

Intermittent Fasting and Testosterone

First a question related to the effects of dieting on testosterone and libido/reproductive function in general -

Q: "My sex drive just winds down to nearly nothing when I'm running an intense caloric deficit. Is there some documented/anecdotal correlation on this, or is it random according to the individual?"

A: It's not random, it's a fact that weight loss/calorie restriction, even moderate in nature, causes a delayed response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). This neurohormone is secreted in a pulsatile manner from the hypothalamus, and upon binding to receptors in the pituitary gland, it activates synthesis of reproductive hormones, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone(FSH). This axis is partially under control by "master" hormones involved in sensing the general energy status of the body; leptin and insulin, for example.

An energy deficit lowers leptin, which in turn impacts the reproductive axis negatively. This makes complete evolutionary sense, when you consider that reproduction is such an energy costly process. Conversely, high body fat percentage also affects the reproductive axis negatively, through other mechanisms -insulin resistance being one major cause discussed in this context.

Looking at studies on this topic, the effect is proportional to the energy deficit. In one paper, they noted that the delayed response in GnRH pulsatility was "intermediate in extent" when comparing moderate weight loss (-1% body weight/week or some such) to that of anorectics or VLCD (400-800 kcal/day).

My personal experience is that a moderate deficit (i.e net deficit/week is moderate, say -3500 kcal) has no noticeable impact, while a high deficit (i.e -7000 kcal/week) has a negative impact. The latter is augmented on very low carb or straight ketogenic diets. Cyclical diets are superior in this regard.

And related to intermittent fasting -

Q: "I also have a question for you, regarding IF and testosterone. I found a study(done in rats,yeah) , which states that the IF mice had a much higher Testosterone to Estrogen ratio; one of the comments of the study "makers" was that in response to absence of food, males increase their testosterone in order to reproduce quickly as possible. Ok , it's very nice , but does this apply on humans? I mean are there any studies which concluded that IF raises testosterone in human males?"

A: Humans and rodents are not alike when it comes to the effects of fasting on the reproductive axis. For example, you'll see similar responses in female rodents becoming "hypermasculinized" when put on a 40% calorie restricted diet, which is obviously not the case with humans.

There's not a whole lot of studies that can be rightfully applied to the intermittent fasting protocol I am advocating, with 16 hrs of fasting and 8 hrs of feeding. The ones that come closest would be the Ramadan studies, which show a shift of the peak and nadir, but no reduction of the mean. Bascially, testosterone reaches it's peaks and low points at different times compared to a regular feeding schedule, but there is no impact on the average levels. Testosterone in blood plasma divided by 24 (hours) on Ramadan equals baseline (pre-study) levels.

Most studies in this context are carried out using prolonged fasting (48-72 hrs) and show a significant decline at the 36-48 hr mark. For example, one study fasted men for 56 hours, compared blood tests of the last 24 hrs and found lower levels compared to baseline. Other studies using similar setups found the same results (of note is that age plays a factor, and men 50 yrs+ seemed immune to these effects). Additionally, leptin replacement during prolonged fasting restores LH pulsatility and testosterone levels, which goes to show that plummeting leptin levels during prolonged fasting is responsible for the negative effect.

In summary, there is no evidence that short term fasting, which is what I recommend, impacts negatively on testosterone. Prolonged fasting has a negative impact, and this is related to the acute energy deficit and concomitant drop in leptin.

Here I go off on a tangent or two -

Speculatively, I suspect that the intermittent fasting protocol a la Leangains might alter the rhythm of testosterone and LH pulsatility in a similar manner as Ramadan, meaning your peaks would be different from that of the habitual breakfast eater. Ghrelin, which is also a key player in the reproductive axis, adapts to your habitual eating pattern and is altered compared to a more regular feeding schedule. High levels (such as in anticipation of a meal) inhibit GnRH secretion while low levels (such as after meals) stimulate it. Simply put, you may get hornier later in the day, although I've heard many anecdotal reports suggesting the opposite. Needless to say, there are many other, environmental factors that come into play here.

Also, recall that I always put the overfeeding phase post-workout. This will put your body in an acute positive energy balance and increase leptin; downstream effects of leptin will impact positvely on GnRH and testosterone, and provide a favorable hormonal environment for protein synthesis and anabolism. These effects would be especially welcome during a diet and perhaps one reason why intermittent fasting, according to my experiences, have shown such a remarkable effect on muscle and strength preservation during dieting. Admittingly, there are too many confounders here for me to make any definitive statements on the matter (is it the training, the diet etc).

Will aspartame kill me?

Q: "I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the use of artificial sweeteners (aspartame in particular). I love using them but have heard mixed advice regarding their safety. Some "experts" say they're fine in moderation, others say they can cause brain tumors and should be avoided like the plague. As in my eyes, you seem to be the one true "expert" on diet/training, your opinion would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks"

A: Aspartame was found to cause brain cancer in rodents, but no human trial has ever shown a link to cancer, or any other serious disease, for that matter. This has been examined extensively; for example, see this study with almost half a million subjects -

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/15/9/1654?ijkey=ac6c97b1ce31ada1c45888d3101fd0b9d5901fe7

And here's another one -

http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/18/1/40

I could go on, but the consenus is that aspartame is very safe for human consumption, and I have nothing against it.

Also, I should note that the rodent studies used such extreme dosages that it would be impossible for any human to ingest that amount save from walking around with an IV-drip of pure aspartame 24/7.

Transferring from dieting to maintenance

Q: This client had been dieting for several months and lost close to 25 lbs. It was time for transfering him to a maintenance protocol, which meant increased calorie intake. This is some of the advice I gave him.

A: As for your diet, I really recommend sticking to the same foods, or at least the same food types (lots of veggies, lean protein, no shakes etc) but in greater quantities for the first few weeks coming off the diet - trust me on this. Don't try adding in too much of anything funny like cheesecake or icecream or even cereal in your pwo meal. You WILL have a more lax attitude after this diet, and if you combine that with some really tempting foods, you'll risk a binge sooner or later. And that's a sure fire way to pack on the fat again after this long diet stint. You'll see I've changed the meal plans as well, simply added more of the old foods. Not that you need to use them either, but it's just to give you an idea.

He wrote back: "...make sense and I appreciate your advice to not deviate greatly from the food choices I made during the diet phase. It's good I enjoy those foods, so keeping them in my diet isn't an issue. With the added carbs, I'm going to take advantage and add more fruits and vegetables into my diet."

Furthering my point, I replied: Yes, that's perfect. More veggies and fruit. Changing food sources for novelty after a diet is one of the prime mistakes people make (but you don't hear people discussing this very much). It's a psych phenomenon, as deviating from their typical foods will put the majority in a more lax/liberal state of mind, esp after long bouts of dieting, which greatly increases the risk of going 'fuck this, this was so good that I'm gonna stop counting for today and just have a little bit more' and they then end up eating boxes of cereal and other high carb dense foods in the pwo meal.

Intermittent fasting and genotype

these questions comes up from time to time -

Q: "...would IF work for an endomorph?"

"Is there a particular genotype that seems especially suited to an IF eating pattern?"

A: The notion of people being born with a certain body type, somatotyping, has been around for ages. Though oversimplified, the idea holds some truth in that levels of hormones and neurochemistry are largely determined by genetics and gives a propensity for fatness, leanness and muscularity. The endomorph is basically a person that puts on body fat easily, also called the "thrifty" genotype, and the ectomorph, "spendthrift" genotype, is the person that seems to stay naturally thin and has a hard time gaining weight. Mesomorphs are muscular.

Part of the reason for endo/ectomorphism can be explained by the response to calorie intake. In short, ectomorphs match calorie expenditure to intake very well, and spontaneously; when overfed, they increase activity levels spontaneously (fidgeting, can't sit still etc) to burn off the excess calories, while this response is not seen in endomorphs. Overfeeding is also accompanied by an increase in resting energy expenditure in ectomorphs, while the effect is blunted in endomorphs. These are factors we cannot affect by dietary manipulation.

However, this is the interesting part.

Brain imaging reveals defects in the reward system of endomorphs, in that they have a poor concentration of dopamine (D2) receptors in an area of the brain that controls food intake. Dopamine is releases in response to pleasurable activities, such as eating, and is partly responsible for getting that satisifed feeling after a meal. If receptor density is low, more calories need to be ingested in order to reach that threshold - and endomorphs are screwed in this regard, in that they need larger meals than others to receive the same effect. The D2 dysfunction is one of the key genetical factors in causing obesity, and various D2 agonists are currently being proposed as possible drugs of choice to "cure" the obesity epidemic. Additionaly, D2 receptor dysfunction also predisposes individuals for various other addictive behaviors linked to the reward system (drugs, gambling, sex etc).

But let me get to the point. If there is a certain threshold of dopamine to be reached before feeling satisfied, and seeing that this response is blunted in endomorphs due to low receptor density, an intermittent feeding pattern would make a lot of sense for the endomorph trying to lose fat. Fewer and bigger meals would achieve the effect, while small meals throughout the day would just be half-assing it and never really deriving any pleasure from the food. The meals would be rewarding, and this brings me to the second argument for an IF meal pattern for endomorphs, which is the anticipation of reward.

Anticipation of reward has a very potent effect on dopamine levels. Think of how happy you were just hours before waiting to see an eagerly anticipated movie or going to an event you had planned for ages, only to find out that the movie/event itself was relatively disappointing (vs expectations). Parties, sex, food, gambling. Great excitement beforehand, yet often out of proportion to the feelings derived from the event itself.

Relating to the context discussed, the mere anticipation of the first meal after the fast, which is large and satisfying, may via increased dopamine have a suppressive effect on appetite. It may also improve other behaviors related to dopamine, such as sense of well being and motivation for work and achievement.

Therefore, endomorphs, and people with low basal dopamine levels (in psych referred to as "novely seeking" aka all-or-nothing personality types), may find themselves particularily suited to an intermittent fasting pattern. I should note that I am a legitimate novely seeker myself, as confirmed by rather extensive tests (long form Temperament and Character Inventory, for those in the know). Anecdotal reports from succesful clients also seem to suggest they may be of this temperament.

That being said, the above is a mere hypothesis at this point, and I am not really doing it justice by presenting it in a few lines in a Q&A post like this. More elaborate and referenced writings on this will likely appear in the book.

Extreme dieting, yet no fat loss?

Q: Recently, I got contacted by an old client of mine. He got very lean after his diet, but attending a few festivals during the summer got him out of his normal rut, and upon returning home he binged on junk foods for a few days. Eager to get back to his former leanness, he embarked on an extremely restrictive diet combined with copious amounts of cardio. Despite this rigorous regimen, appearance or scale weight didn't change much at all. He sought out my guidance again, and here are some excerpts from the conversation.

A: Yes, this is hardly surprising. You should have known better, but the correlation between prior dieting experience and rational behavior at times seem surprisingly weak. Even the best tend to do stupid shit from time to time.* As I've told you before, one of my friends is a coach himself, yet always hires another coach when he embarks on a pre-contest diet. Why? Most people tend to lose their objectivity and do stupid shit when left to their own devices. I used to do stuff I never would have advised anyone else to do, and it took several years before I finally learned.

It's the dumbbass diet you decided to put yourself on that causes the water retention. Extremely low calorie intake and HIIT cardio is a fantastic recipe for chronically elevated cortisol levels, which in turn causes water retention. If you've seen someone undergoing hydrocortisone treatment you'll know what I mean. The diet you're on now isn't much different, except the effects are more systemic rather than localized to certain tissues.

And then I told him my secret solution, which was basically to cut cardio substantially, along with a slight increase in calories, namely carbs pre- and post-workout.

The take away point here is this. Scenarios like the above, seems to happen a lot - people get lean, they binge, get some temporary bloatedness and they compensate by doing stupid shit against their better judgement. This will just aggravate the problem Fix your head and look at what the hell you are doing. A 1200 kcal/day no carb-no fat diet might sound like a good solution when your head is all messed up and you want to get rid of the bloat, but just wait it out and you'll see that it isn't as bad as you thought.

I should mention that cardio is the real killer here, not low calories per se. High frequency HIIT causes water retention due to cortisol. Long duration cardio, such as jogging for an hour or more daily, will cause it by an adaptive mechanism called hyperhydration. Competitive long distance runners and triathletes are keenly familiar with this, as they will sometimes lose weight after an event rather than when preparing for it.

Low calorie intake by itself is fine, but bad stuff happens when you add lots of cardio to the equation. And besides water retention, there's the more obvious drawbacks such as lethargy and general feelings of shittiness to cope with.

* In Fooled by Randomness, highly recommended, the author notes that researchers are overrepresented in failing to learn from past mistakes. In the same vein, I've noticed that theoretical knowledge about nutrition and training rarely show a strong correlation to good results among health and fitness minded people.

Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:27:00 +0000

I'll have another Q&A up soon, but I figure I'd drop by real quick and link some worthwhile reading and listening material.

* Ryan Zielonka writes about his experience with my RPT system.

"Intelligent HIT – the kind promulgated by Martin, at least – keeps volume to a minimum. Major movements are trained infrequently. Martin has taken his cues from guys like Arthur Jones and Stuart McRobert, altering the workout week to an extended 8-day schedule and emphasizing progressive overload over volume."

..."For the past four weeks I was in the gym three times every eight days. My bench press improved by 30lbs for five reps. My deadlift improved dramatically, over 80lbs for four reps. Back squat didn’t move as much as I would have liked, from four to six reps with a 15lb increase in weight."

- Ryan

Some pretty solid gains. I've been getting e-mails from people that tried my template from The Minimalist, reporting similar increases - the most notable being +160 lbs deads, +120 lbs squats and +75 lbs bench over 100 days (10 x 10-day cycles).

* In the trenches with Alan Aragon. Alan talks some sense on various issues. There's a brief discussion related to intermittent fasting.

* The Energy Balance Equation

For example, people will point out that replacing carbs with protein leads to greater weight loss although they have the same calories; ergo the equation is wrong. What they fail to realize is that protein has a higher thermogenic effect and this modifies the TEF value of the equation; the energy OUT side of the equation changes if you replace carbs with protein.

- Lyle

Let me talk about that last part for a minute. A new study recently came out where it was shown that increasing protein from 12% to 30% lead to an approximate increase of 75 kcal/day at the same total calorie intake (1). A researcher named Livesey proposed that the impact of 1 gram protein on your metabolism is about 3,25 kcal, and not 4 kcal (2).

Back in 2004, I came across Livesey's findings and created a diet called The Thermogenic Diet (4) - basically, a very high protein, moderate fat, low carb TKD (3). It's not very different from PSMF, but more liberal when it comes intake. I released it as an article on one of the swedish forums, where it became an instant hit, and still is. Among the many people that have used it with great success is natural bodybuilder and client of mine Andreaz Engström

Keep protein high, and you will lose fat at a higher calorie intake than on any other macronutrient combination. What's the point of this rambling? Not much, except serving as a reminder for you to eat your protein when dieting. A lot. Keeping protein high is a given; carb and fat intake is much more dependent on your personal preferences, and should be treated accordingly.

1. Veldhorst, et al. Gluconeogenesis and energy expenditure after a high-protein, carbohydrate-free diet. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul 29.

2. Livesey. Metabolizable energy of macronutrients. Am J Clin Nutr. 1995 Nov;62(5 Suppl):1135S-1142S. See this post for more ("Q: Why is protein kept so high on rest days?")

3. TKD - Targeted Ketogenic Diet (except with the Thermogenic Diet you'd not hit ketosis due to protein being so high)

4. There is no english translation available, but maybe I'll look into that if enough people are interested in reading it.

Questions & Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:05:00 +0000

I haven't updated in a while, so here's another Q&A to let you know I'm still alive and kicking. This is compiled from recent e-mails and forum posts. Click here to see all Q&A's.

Salt

This client brought up the topic of salt and water retention -

Q: "..I'm guessing salt at this point isn't the end of the world, but will cause water retention as I proceed a few weeks down the road."

A: Don't do anything with salt. Don't try to reduce it, don't try to increase it. It's shifts in salt/sodium intake that cause water retention, not high intake per se.

For example, if you go higher relative to habitual intake, you can count on some water retention. Go lower, relative to habitual intake, you might find yourself dropping some water weight. This only works in the very short term however - your body will soon adapt to the new 'baseline' intake and adjust water balance accordingly. This has to do with aldosterone, vasopressin and other hormones involved in water regulation.

This is also part of why I think the typical two week bodybuilding pre-competition prep (gradully reducing sodium and ending up consuming trace sodium on the final days) is stupid, as the same effects can be had in just a few days.

HIIT for fat loss

Someone linked me a site and wanted to know if the claims made were legit. I only clicked to see the heading - How To Boost Your Metabolism Using Interval Training - before I closed it down and told him what I thought about HIIT.

Quick summary -

1. There is no doubt that HIIT is superior to steady state cardio when it comes to improving metabolic conditioning when looking at effect/time invested.

2. Extremely overrated for fat burning. EPOC is minimal and certainly not as significant andf radical as some gurus/nutjobs/pranksters make it out to be. Choosing HIIT before lower intensity, steady state cardio solely for caloric burn is dumb as hell. Here's an example for you:

Let's use a fairly typical 10 min HIIT session as an example, in this case 15 s all out sprints followed by brisk walking for 45 s. 185 lbs male.

Sprints 2.5 min total = counting 25 kcal/min = 62,5

EPOC = 62,5 x 0,15* = 9,5

EPOC is approx 15%

Total for sprints = 62,5 + 9,5 = 72 kcal

Brisk walking 7.5 min total = counting 5 kcal/min = 38 kcal

Total calorie expenditure for a 10 min HIIT session = 110 kcal

...or the equivalent to 22 min brisk walking.

3. That last poit is very important. Even though you burn more calories in less than half the amount of time compared to, for example, brisk walking, HIIT is very draining on the central nervous system. In stark contrast to lower intensity cardio, which you can do for a much longer time, with much greater frequency. For someone interested in fat loss and strength maintenance, and not metabolic conditioning primarily, including HIIT too frequently is playing with fire.

So in conclusion, HIIT is great if conditioning is high on your list. And no, you can't have fat loss, optimal strength maintenance and conditioning all high on your list. Something has to give. Since most people, at least the clients I deal with, are interested in fat loss, HIIT is vastly overrated and the frequency to which it has to be integrated in order to create a substantial caloric deficit will cause most people to crash, and their lifts to plummet. Which is why I rarely recommend HIIT for someone that just wants to get lean, while keeping their strength up in the gym. If you aren't concerned with getting your resting heart rate low, and just want to look good naked, think twice before jumping on the HIIT bandwagon.

The fasted state is not an on/off switch

I often encounter questions that goes a little something like this

"...can I use milk/cream in my coffee during the fast?"

"...will I break the fat if I have a 1/2 cucumber during the fast?"

"...I accidentally drank a mouthful of regular Pepsi during the fast, is this considered a fast breaker?"

A: The fasted state is not an on/off switch that immediately gets turned off once you have a tiny amount of calories, like a lot of people seem to believe. The research is not clear on exactly what it is with fasting that causes the positive effects seen in the clinical trials, but some of the hypotheses revolve around

a) letting insulin levels drop below a certain threshold, rather than a semi-elevated state (which would be the case with a higher meal frequency approach)

b) creating an acute energy deficit (which you enter during the fast)

Note that I'm really dumbing this down to get my point across.

So, it's a question of a dose-response effect. Can you have some milk in your coffee? Sure, I wouldn't worry about it and I have it myself. Life would just be too damn boring with only black coffee, especially if you're used to having some milk with it. How much milk/cream? I would put the limit at 50 kcal total used throughout the fast. That's about 1 deciliter or 1/2 cup 2% milk.

Can you eat half a cucumber during the fast? Sure, I wouldn't worry about it, though I don't see the reason as to why you would do so. A cucumber won't fill you up, and eating something, anything, may actually stimulate hunger during the fast in some people. Not to mention the fairly strong hunger suppressive effects of fasting, which makes the need for eating something quite pointless.

In conclusion, use common sense and understand that the fasted state and the positive effects that may result from it isn't an on/off switch, or an 'all-or-nothing' kind of deal.

It's the same thing with the pre-workout meal I recommend for fasted training. For clients doing AM sessions, I recommend something along these lines

pre-wo meal of 10 g BCAA 5-15 min prior to session

Training at 8-9 AM

Break fast with pwo meal at 10 AM or as soon as you're done training: the 8-10 hr feeding window starts now (and not with the pre-wo BCAA's).

Some might argue that "oh, well the BCAA's are insulinogenic/they provide calories and that will take you out of the fasted state" etc. Yeah sure, but then again exercise has the effect of dropping insulin levels. And coupled with what is known from research on pre-workout protein and the effects on protein synthesis, the pro's of the 'fasted' pre-wo meal certainly outweighs whatever miniscule effect it has on insulin or the tiny amount of calories they provide.

Social drinking

Q: "Social life in London basically revolves around drinking. I have no problem cutting back, but cutting out completely will render me a social leper quickly. I intend to cut back on calories on days I intend to drink in the evening, but I was wondering what should I cut back on? I assumed that I should try to restrict carbs on the days I know I'll be having beer in the evening, but I don't really know what the closest analogue for alcohol calories is. Any suggestions?"

A: I get these type of questions a lot, in the context of dieting, i.e how to do damage control on days where you know you'll be drinking alcohol and eating out.

My rule is simple; go high protein, low everything else on such days, up until the occasion. Think lean meat and veggies, or similar, and then go for the lowest calorie option when eating out. This way you can still be in a calorie deficit, despite liberal alcohol intake.

On an intermittent fasting setup, break the fast with a big meal a bit later in the day and you'll have an even greater calorie sink. Have a meal before going out for drinks/beers/food, and then another one before going to bed. Two high protein meals and one bout of drinks, and you'll still be in a calorie deficit even if you get blasted at the social event.

But stay away from the junk, this is key. It's never the alcohol in itself that cause people to take a step backwards in their fat loss efforts, it's all the shit that tends to go with it - the snacking, the late night hamburger and fries at BK after the club and so forth. As long as you make an effort to stay away from the junk, you'll be golden. In fact, calories from alcohol does not seem to inhibit fat loss, or contribute to weight gain, in a way that can be predicted from the added calories alone (and there are studies to support this). However, it does loosen up inhibitions and weakens willpower enough for some people to make a night out an excuse to go off their diet and mess upp their progress.

Creatine on a diet

Q: What are your thoughts on using creatine during dieting?

A: Creatine is one of the few supplements that actually works and provides a noticeable boost in performance (for most people - 10% are non-responders). However, some people will retain water on it - how much depends, but enough to mask fat loss during dieting if you're unlucky. This might be frustrating and mess with your head. For this reason, it might be unwise to start creatine supplementation during a dieting phase - or at least be aware of the fact that water retention may occur, and not freak out because of it.

I should note that for most people, water retention isn't a big deal, and usually results in an initial weight spike after which body weight starts dropping again if you're dieting.

If you’re already taking it, I would advise continuing usage and see how, and if, it affects weight loss on the scale and mirror. It will likely not have a great impact, but if it does, and you feel it is discouraging, consider discontinuing usage (and be aware that some strength loss usually occurs when you stop taking it).

Maltodexshit

Q: What are your thoughts on maltodextrin/protein shakes post-workout? I usually have 40g protein and 100 g of carbs (maltodextrin) in my post-workout shake. Can I still have this?

A: Like protein shakes, maltodextrin is unnecessary, and in the end counterproductive during dieting. Maltodextrin is far worse than protein shakes.

The only benefit maltodextrin has in comparison to a lower GI whole food carbohydrate (potatoes, pasta, rice etc) is in the form of faster glycogen replenishment, when muscle glycogen is measured at the 8-12th hour mark. And this is completely irrelevant unless you plan on training the same muscle group in the morning. Which you won’t. Doesn't enhance muscle growth or improve recovery, it just shuttles carbs for storage a little bit faster. Relevant for elite athletes doing multiple sessions a day, completely useless for someone working out 3-4x/week.

In the end maltodextrin is just a shitty high GI carb that tastes like shit and won't fill you up for shit. Stay the hell away from it if you wan’t to get lean and stay full and satisfied during the diet. Why would you want to gulf down such a perverse amount of calories when they can be eaten instead?

That being said, yes, you can have it. Just like it says in the plan, you may swap foods in whatever fashion you like, as long as you stick to the calorie and macrocomposition guidelines for the day (and stick fairly close to the ones given for the meals).

Moving the feeding window?

Q: I couldn’t eat my last meal until 11 pm yesterday, even though my feeding window is set to 1-9 pm. Does this mean I should fast until 3 pm tomorrow?

A: No, you stick to 1-9 pm as usual. Sometimes life happens and your feeding window will be longer, your fast shorter, or whatever. This is to be expected and you shouldn’t stress or think too much about it. Do not be rigid or neurotic about keeping an 8 hr feeding window and 16 hr fast every single day.

Key point is you stick to your calorie/macros for the day and break the fast at 1 pm as usual the next day. You do not move the feeding window just because you had a meal outside your feeding window.

Fake weight plateaus

Q: a) I haven’t lost any weight this week. Is it time to drop calories?

or

b) I have gained 1 lbs this week and I’m really freaking out! How can I gain weight when I’m dieting?

A: There are some cases where you might find yourself not losing weight linearily – or even gaining, in spite of dieting. I see this all the time, but just because the weight isn’t moving down on the scale, it doesn’t mean that you’re not losing fat.
This is more common the leaner you are, and the longer you’ve been dieting. For example, while having initially lost on average 1 lbs per week the first five weeks, you might lose zero lbs week 6, but 2 lbs week 7. Which is why I am not too quick to change things, and only revamp plans when body weight is unchanged across a 2-week span.

Basically, some weeks might look like this (let's assume the prognosis is set to 1 lbs/week)

Week 5: 185 lbs
Week 6: 185,2 lbs
Week 7: 183 lbs ("catch up" weight loss occurs, also referred to as the "whoosh"-effect).

With women, I have seen this effect extend to three weeks; for example, stalling at 135 lbs week 4-6, then dropping 3 lbs over night in week 7.

Lyle McDonald has written about this phenomenon, though no one knows for sure why it occurs.

“What’s going on? Back during my college days, one of my professors threw out the idea that after fat cells had been emptied of stored triglyceride, they would temporarily refill with water (glycerol attracts water, which might be part of the mechanism). So there would be no immediate change in size, body weight or appearance. Then, after some time frame, the water would get dropped, the fat cells would shrink. A weird way of looking at it might be that the fat loss suddenly becomes ‘apparent’. That is, the fat was emptied and burned off days or weeks ago but until the water is dropped, nothing appears to have happened.
For nearly 20 years I looked for research to support this, I was never sure if it was based on something from the 50’s or he just pulled it out of thin air as an explanation. Recently, one paper did suggest that visceral fat can fill up with water after massive weight loss but that’s about it.”

More here: The Whoosh Effect

Meal Frequency and Mass Gains

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:17:00 +0000

Good article by Lyle.

You can check out the progress I made with 16 hours of fasting and three meals a day here.

I should note that gaining muscle on an intermittent fasting setup is not for everybody. For some people, it's simply burdensome to eat the calories required for growth, in which case splitting meals in a more conventional manner is the better approach.

However, most find they get used to the meal pattern after a few days of adaptation, seen through decreased hunger during the fast and a greater appetite in the post-workout window (where the overfeeding takes place). This adaptation is mediated through the hunger hormone ghrelin, which increases/decreases according to habitual meal patterns.

The Four Horsemen

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:46:00 +0000

In a recent podcast, Lyle announced a collaborative book project with me, Alan Aragon and Borge Fagerli. This book will precede the book I'm working with, but will include a little something on intermittent fasting and bodyrecomposition by yours truly.

For those not familiar with Alan Aragon, he's a nutritional consultant, contributing editor to Men's Health magazine and also maintains the excellent Research Review. I highly encourage anyone with an interest in this field to subscribe to RR, and I do so myself.

Borge Fagerli is a personal trainer and the founder of MyRevolution, a norwegian company which provides their own line of supplements and online based training. An alround smart guy, and creator of "Myo-Reps", a rest-pause style of weight training (google it, there are thorough explanations/guides available).

I'm excited about this project, and it shouldn't be too long before it's out. At least not compared to the book I've been "working on" for two years or so. In reality, I spend more time thinking about writing than doing any actual writing. I've been getting some momentum recently, so I think my book will follow shortly after the collabo. But don't ask me for a specific date.

---

I also urge you to check out the podcast with Lyle, as he brings a lot of good stuff to the table, and even touches on some topics pertaining to the intermittent fasting style of feeding. It's quite long, but it'll be well worth your time.

Highlights

* HIIT and overtraining.

* Cortisol and water retention: why some people "can't lose weight" on 1200 calories and 2 hrs of cardio every day.

* Protein: requirements, digestion and other issues.

Check out my reviews of Lyle's books if you haven't already.

What's My Genetic Muscular Potential?

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Lyle wrote an article based on conversations with me, Alan Aragon and Casey Butt, with regards to the maximum muscular potential of natural lifters and realistic rates of muscle gain.

Here's my take on the issue.

"Martin Berkhan of Leangains.com has a somewhat simpler model than Casey’s, also based on his observation of top level natural bodybuilding competitors who are contest lean (e.g. 4-5% body fat).

His equation is:

Height in centimeters - 100 = upper limit of weight in kilograms in contest shape.

So take your height in inches and multiply by 2.54, that’s your height in centimeters. Subtract 100 and that’s your predicted maximum weight in contest shape (which is 5% body fat or less for males) in kilograms. Multiply that value by 2.2 to get pounds. So let’s look at body weight at 10% body fat using the same heights I used for Casey’s calculator. I’ve also calculated out lean body mass at 10% body fat.

Height Weight at 5% Body Fat Weight at 10% Body Fat Lean Body Mass
5′8″ 160 lbs. 170 lbs. 153 lbs.
5′10″ 171 lbs. 180 lbs. 162 lbs.
6′ 182 lbs. 192 lbs. 173 lbs.

While not identical, these values are certainly right in line with Casey’s calculator. I would note that contest lean bodybuilders are often highly dehydrated and may be glycogen depleted and this will tend to lower the measurement of lean body mass. We might realistically add 5-10 pounds of lean body mass to the above values to account for dehydration/etc. With that adjustment, they are more or less identical to Casey’s values "

Full article here

In addition to the above statement, I should add that while natural trainees tend to lose some lean body mass while venturing into the lowest bf% achieveable, this is more of typical scenario as it has pertained to the natural bodybuilders I have either spoken to or worked with.

I have also had clients hitting 5-6% body fat with 100% strength maintenance, indicating that no lean mass was lost. The main variable here is the time line, and a slower approach is superior to a faster approach, with regards to lean body mass maintenance when dieting in the single digits. Bodybuilders working against time may not be able to afford the luxury of a slow approach, which in turn may compromise lean body mass in the final weeks. According to my experience, going from lean to shredded, without sacrificing muscle mass or strength, is certainly possible with enough patience, and the right diet and training regimen.

Client Update

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Time for another client update.

May 9th: Added three additional clients - Jorgen, Chris and Mathilda. Added testimonials.

May 20th: Added new pic of Mikael R. Added three testimonials; Craig, Michael and Dave.

May 28th: Added a client - Andreas S. Added a testimonial - Joseph. Alright, these will be the last of the additions to this post before the next client update. I will hopefully have time for a blogpost next week, so check in for that.

See all client updates and testimonials on this site by clicking here and here.

Andreaz

Andreaz placed 2nd in the -70 kg weight class at Sweden Grand Prix. I used an unconventional contest prep, keeping water and sodium high until the very end. He came in great, but didn't have to suffer through the catatonic state and malaise of a conventional contest prep.

12 weeks out at 172 lbs

6 weeks out at 165 lbs

Competition day at 152 lbs

"There are many people who supported me on this trip in the form of love and friendship. However, one supported me with something that no one else could give; knowledge. Martin Berkhan is without doubt the best I have ever worked with.

What I am talking about when I say knowledge is scientific evidence and experience from x number of clients. He knows what will happen in the body before it happens.
I want to the give Martin a special thanks for the help with getting me in the shape of my life. I strongly recommend Martin to anyone who wants to stand on a stage."

- Andreaz

Mary

Mary placed 2nd in The 69th Annual NPC Cincinnati Open Bodybuilding, Figure, Fitness & Bikini Championships. I think Mary's effort is particularily impressive, considering she is juggling a hectic job as a firewoman, along with a very energetic 4-year old.

Before at 149 lbs, late December

After at 137 lbs, early April (3 week diet break in between pics)

"My main goal when starting IF was to have a lifestyle change, not just try a new diet. I stumbled upon Martin’s website one day, and was really impressed.

Of course, seeing that he was from overseas, I Googled him and looked up everything I could on him and IF. I actually found quite a bit of information through interviews he did with other fitness experts. Seeing that he was taking clients, I gave it a shot and emailed him. He was very responsive and helpful. When I told him my goals of dropping BF, he came up with a plan that worked for me, and my crazy work/lifestyle. It actually made my life easier.

He helped me lean down from 20%BF to 9.5%BF and I gained quite a bit of muscle mass (over 10 lbs of lean muscle mass from where I was a year ago), but Martin still kept me lean. I had taken a year off from competing, hoping to do well at my next show. As my show date got closer, Martin gave me some great training strategies that really kicked it into high gear for me. Although I got sick the week of the show, I was able to pull it together to get second place in my class! Even after the show, (and taking a week off to eat) I am still very lean.

One important point I want to stress, I have learned that Martin’s diet/training regimen is not just for people wanting to compete. It’s for anyone and everyone who wants to have a lifestyle where you are not constantly stressing about the foods you eat and the times you have to eat. I have talked with him quite a bit about living this lifestyle. It is so brilliant, in that, once you get the principles, you can work it around in such a way that it will fit any lifestyle. I set my diet up to eat three meals, which allows me to feel full after each meal. For me, eating five or six small meals a day made me hungrier, and I would actually break down and binge!

As cheesy as it sounds, IF and Martin have changed my life. I will never go back to my old ways of eating. Martin has given me a lot of information on IF that has the research behind it to back it up. He cites all his references so you can look it up for yourself. I would have to be an idiot to not do this for the rest of my life!"

- Mary

Bonnie

I had the pleasure of working with Bonnie LeFrak (www.bonnielefrak.com) from First Response Fitness Inc, and this is what she has to say about me.

"As an NSCA Certified Personal Trainer and Professional Bodybuilder, I thought I knew EXACTLY how to eat and workout to achieve a lean physique I could be comfortable in year round.

Seemingly, I did everything right....I ate "clean" and did what I considered to be an intense 5 day bodybuilding split. Additionally, I was logging up to 10 hours of cardio a week. Not sure how, but it happened... I became THAT person who keeps repeating the same thing over and over and getting zero results.

Luckily, that all changed when I discovered Martin Berkhan while perusing some of the blogs and web sites devoted to alternate day fasting and similar protocols. I studied his blog and was intrigued. I knew that I needed help and after a few email exchanges with Martin, I trusted in his expertise and signed on with him.

Without giving out all the details, let me say my program has made a complete u-turn. I am no longer slaving away for hours in the gym with nothing to show for it. Martin designed a workout program (for me) that has given me noticeable strength gains seemingly overnight. Stronger AND leaner.

Along with a total workout overhaul, Martin gave me a detailed nutrition "prescription" that has given me lots of flexibility within specific guidelines. Needless to say, you get MORE than you would imagine when signing on with Martin Berkhan. He OVER delivers, and in this day and age, very few people rarely do.

Everybody has noticed that I "leaned right out" and I could not be more genuinely thrilled with my program and the very tangible results. I whole heartedly encourage anybody who is looking for a lean body and improved strength to read everything Martin Berkhan shares, and certainly make the investment in the best program you will ever use. What I have learned (quickly) is priceless. You will be equally delighted, I promise you that!"

- Bonnie

Julian

Julian made some spectacular gains and revamped his bodycomposition in a short amount of time. Notice the back area in particular, how the V-taper is coming through very nicely now (being almost non-existant at 222 lbs).

It's only 14 lbs between the pics, but Julian looks like a completely different person now. Though I've cropped out his face, trust me when I say it looks as if he sliced ten years off his age. Julian is currently working on his goal towards 10% bf, and I'm eagerly following his developement.

222 lbs, back

208 lbs, back

222 lbs, front

208 lbs, front

"When I was a student, I use to follow the “eat six meals a day every 2-3 hours if you ever want to see your abs” rule religiously. After all, this is what the experts suggest so it must be the only way, right? Even as a student the meal planning was quite difficult and some of my meals had to be meal replacements/nutrition shakes while others consisted of the usual suspects such as tuna, egg white, oats etc. Although I was in good shape (7% body fat) when I was a student it was really hard work (and I am not talking about the gym!). Meal preparation took over my life and I became obsessed with the amount of meals and meal timing, but hey, as long as it worked why should I change it?

The problem came when I started working as a professional, got married and my time became a lot more restricted. Meal preparation and timing became a full time job with a lot of planning and effort. I couldn’t keep up with the meal planning, professional and personal life and I got in the worst shape of my life. I new I needed a change.

I have always been interested in training, nutrition and supplementation and it has become a bit of a hobby for me but it also caused a lot of confusion. So many ‘experts’ touted their way as the only way – high carb, low card, GI diet, cardio, no cardio and so on. I got lost in the maze of information and I didn’t know what to follow anymore or who to listen to. What I did know and notice was that I was getting really overweight and getting more and more confused and I was also looking for a quick fix. I would start one diet and training programme and then stop after a couple of weeks because I read something else which conflicts with what I was doing – it was chaos.

One night while reading some articles Tom Venuto wrote I came upon an exchange of emails between Tom Venuto and Martin Berkhan (the same one featured on the Leangains website). Tom Venuto basically agreed with Martin view that meal frequency has nothing to do with speeding up the metabolism. I devoured the content on the Leangains website and I have to admit I was sceptical. I had followed or tried to follow the 6 meals a day approach for 14 years so how come I didn’t know about this 2-4 meal approach combined with fasting. Surely everyone would be using it as it seemed very straight forward and easy to follow. I needed to know more and that’s when I contacted Martin.

Martin was quick to respond and I found him very professional friendly and to the point. He is definitely a very knowledgeable, grounded individual with a no nonsense approach when it comes to training and nutrition. Martin constructed a training programme and a nutrition programme that best suited my busy lifestyle. He took me back to basics and it was as though the fog lifted when I went back to basics with a new twist – Intermittent Fasting.

Eating satiating foods, rich in nutrients based on my total daily energy expenditure and doing basic compound exercises was great. The best, without a doubt, is eating only three meals a day. What a pleasure waking up in the morning, pouring a cup of black coffee, eating a big lunch and two more meals in the evening. I thought I would be hungry on this diet and this was only the case for the first day or so but after that the hunger subsided and I haven’t been hungry since. In fact, I was hungry all the time eating six meals a day. The Leangains approach works for me and I would recommend it to anyone with a busy lifestyle (which is pretty much everyone these days!) who leads a busy life. Why on earth would you want to prepare 6 meals if 2 or 3 will do?

Although I would be the first to agree that there is still a lot of room for improvement in my physique I am definitely heading in the right direction. Not only have I lost 14lbs, but I have definitely gained some lean muscle mass and my strength has increased quite a bit. For example:

Deadlift (4 reps): Increased from 308lbs to 429lbs (increase of 120lbs)

Bench Press (4 reps): Increased from 220lbs to 297lbs (increase of 77lbs)

Chins with added weight (4 reps): Increased from 11lbs (excluding full body weight) to 44lbs (increase of 33lbs)

Seated Dumbbell Press (7 reps): Increased from 48lbs to 83lbs (increase of 35lbs)

I will be sending Martin another update in 12 weeks from now at which point I aim to be below 10% body fat using the Leangains approach (so watch this space). If you are reading this and you are still sceptical, just look at all the other success stories on Martin’s website. In fact just look at Martin – he obviously practices what he preaches and that is a life lesson for anyone who takes advice from someone else on a particular subject. Would you ask a poor man how to get rich? No you would ask a rich man. The same principal applies to nutrition and training.

If you are looking for some good, solid, well grounded scientifically up to date advice on training and nutrition which doesn’t take over your life then I recommend Martin’s approach. I love it!"

- Julian

Robin

Robin is a work in progress, but so far this is the definition of a magnificent body recomposition; from 154 (left) to 163 (right) but, quite clearly, less fat and more muscle.

8 weeks between pics (154 lbs left hand side, currently at 163 lbs right hand side)

Back

Front

Side

Robin has made some very substantial strength gains since we started.

Squat: 155 lbs x 7 to 240 lbs x 7 (+85 lbs)

Deadlift: 200 lbs x 5 to 255 x 5 (+55 lbs)

Bench Press: 120 x 7 to 155 x 7 (+35 lbs)

"In January 2009 my physical condition was a mess. During a time period of six months I had lost about 25-30 lbs due to a stressful environment and dire daily habits. I suffered from great difficulties falling asleep, required at least 8 hours of rest and had even greater difficulties getting out of bed.

I’ve never been particularly interested in neither working out nor following a diet even though I knew this path would lead to detrimental effects. Considering my condition, I no longer had any choice but getting my health back on track.

The last couple of years, I’ve been a frequent visitor on leangains.com and taken great interest in following the clients’ progress. Turning to Martin to getting my life back on track, adding quality weight and regaining a healthy physical condition was an easy choice.

Eight weeks down the road, I’m closing in on my objectives and my sleeping difficulties have been totally resolved. What completely blows me away, not being a morning-person, is to (on a daily permanent basis!) get up at 6 am with just 5-6 hours sleep and stay focused and alert throughout the day."

- Robin

Adrian

Before at 196 lbs, back

After at 180 lbs, back

Before at 196 lbs, front

After at 180 lbs, front

Mikael R

Mikael R is a work in progress and I'm expecting great things when he's done dieting in 4-5 weeks. Despite a fairly rapid drop in body fat% and weight, he's kept his strength intact, resulting in a dramatic increase in relative strength (now squatting close to 2x body weight for reps).

Before at 203 lbs, back

Now at 180 lbs, back

Before at 203 lbs, front

Now at 180 lbs, front

180 lbs, side

"Working with Martin I have lost 23 lbs and about 6" off my waist during the past 12 weeks. While I believe this can be done on any reasonable diet, using the Leangains approach and intermittent fasting I have done this without much effort whilst keeping most of my strength. Hunger has been a non-issue and the fact that you get to eat big and satisfying meals even while loosing weight makes me believe Leangains is superior to any other regime out there.

When choosing strategy for improving your physique, choose one that you can easily stick to and thrive on. I choose Leangains, and its flexibility along with its easiness combined with the awesome results it delivers, makes me highly recommend it."

- Mikael R

Mikael S

Another work in progress.

Before at 172 lbs, front

Now at 152 lbs, front

My results have exceeded my expectations by far, as I've lost fat without any muscle loss at all. Not only have I leaned down significantly, but I've also experienced an improvement in mood and have much better energy throughout the day, I'm giving this approach 10/10!"

- Mikael S

Rickard

Another succesful body recomposition. Weight remained the same, but Rickard found himself leaner and stronger after only 4 weeks.

Before at 178 lbs, front

After at 178 lbs, front

"When I got in touch with Martin I was a mess. My fat loss had stalled,
I had crazy cravings for different sweets all the time and I was on
the edge developing some kind of eating disorder.

Maybe I had already developed an eating disorder I was obsessed about
eating clean foods with as few calories as possible, so that I could
binge as much as possible in my crazy setup caloric intake. I also
could not stop thinking about food. I went around all day just
thinking of food, looking at pictures of food, in such a degree that
my friends started to think I was going mad.

So at this point I consulted Martin to help me with my diet and
training. The first thing I noticed after just a few days on the
schedule Martin gave me was that I was feeling stronger by the day and
my cravings for sweets were blown away. But I was still some what
obsessed with eating clean and avoided cituations where I could end up
with not absolute control of what I should eat. I brought up this
subject with Martin and after some well spoken words from Martin I got
something to think about and his words did sink in pretty quickly.

After a while I also had got my head together so much that I, we call
it dared, dared to add more energy dense foods to my meals. In the
same time I also got my mind of food all the time.

My new schedule also did help me get of the plateau in my efforts to
loose fat. But not only did it bust the plateau I was also doing
noticeable gains in mucle mass at the same time.

So with the help of Martin I got my head together, got a more relaxed
attitude to food, lost fat and gained muscles. All this in just four
weeks."

- Rickard

Jorgen

I know, not the best pics, but this client had some nice strength gains (~+10% across the board) while losing enough fat to make his abs finally come through. Some muscle growth occured in the process, which explains why the mere 4 lbs difference between the pics show a relatively substantial visual improvement. 8 weeks between pics.

Jorgen, before at 185 lbs

Jorgen, after at 181 lbs

Chris

I've been working with Chris on and off for a year or so, and this time he contacted me for a photo shoot prep, wanting to look as shredded as possible.

Today, it's almost one year between the pic below, and the later ones in black and white - the weight is more or less the same, but the improvements are very noticeable. Chris has undergone an impressive body recomposition to say the least.

Pic taken last summer, with a body weight of 176-177 lbs and a waistline circumference measuring 32 1/2:

Pic taken a few months ago, 178 lbs, waistline circumference of 32".

Latest pics, 175 lbs, waistline circumference of 31". 6,5% body fat, as measured by calipers.

"I’ve known Martin now for a couple of years, and have utilized his services off and on during this timeframe. His advice has been consistently helpful, and I’ve always appreciated his candor.

In the final stages of my latest fat-loss phase, I contacted him about helping me prep for an upcoming photo shoot. He was quick to offer a template outlining exactly what I needed to do. The attention to detail was quite impressive, including highly atypical guidelines for sodium and water manipulation. The results were more than satisfactory (as shown in the photos themselves), and I cannot recommend more highly the expertise of anyone than Martin Berkhan."

- Chris

Mathilda

My sister had been getting too complacent with her weight and eating habits, and decided to do something about it three months ago. I helped her on the right path and here are the results so far.

Measurements on Jan 20th (diet start)

Weight - 160 lbs/72 kg
Waist - 79 cm
Hips - 110 cm

March 20th

Weight - 155 lbs/70 kg
Waist - 76,5 cm
Hips - 105 cm

Measurements on April 25th, changes from 3 months diet noted in ( ).

Weight - 147 lbs/66,5 kg (- 13 lbs/-5,5 kg)
Waist - 72 cm (- 7 cm)
Hips - 101 cm (- 9 cm)

Well done, sis, I'm proud.

Andreas S

Andreas S is a work in progress, but has so far lost 23 lbs in 12 weeks, while having maintained his strength very well.

Andreas, before at 185 lbs, front

Andreas, now at 162 lbs, front

Testimonials (no pics available yet)

Andreas

No before-afters for this client, who gained a good amount of muscle and lost fat, but since he's diabetic, I thought it would be worthwhile to let him recount how well intermittent fasting worked for him.

"I decided to consult Martin for my diet and weightlifting program to get my motivation back. Since I am diabetic I never would of thought that I could get my insulindependence down so low, just from having a solid diet.
Ive learned from my dietician over the years that I need a high intake of pasta and potatoes, carbs in general, to have solid bloodsugar.

Martin quickly changed my mind. I was able to lower my insulindependency by 50% and my HbA1c was 6,0 before my diet and with Martins help I was able to lower it to 5,7 in 1 month. Its also a plus that my abs got visible and I increased my strength after every workout ;) Thank you for all help and your fast feedback!"

- Andreas

Lorentz

"While Martin remains humble about the advantages of his Leangains system compared to an otherwise clean, but extraneous, high meal frequency diet, I am personally convinced that his approach is vastly superior. How do I know this? I have been tracking my diet meticulously since 2003, experimenting and being highly aware of my reaction to many different calorie intakes and macronutrient ratios. Yet it wasn't until last year, around fall, that I considered altering my meal frequency, having read and become inspired by Martin's writings and results. I didn't hesitate to contact him, eager to see what he could do for me; very eager, as my results - I train for strength and muscle, not vanity - had become stagnant for some time.

The results exceeded my expectations and I am now a firm believer that men were not made to eat every other hour; the fast and feed cycle were a natural part of our lifestyle for thousands of years, and resorting back to these habits will result in greater strength, better energy and a more focused frame of mind. That is my belief, and here are my results after following the Leangains approach for four months.

October 22th, 2008

Body weight: 248 lbs

Squat: 350 lbs x 21
Deadlift: 450 x 8
Bench Press: 350 x 5
Strict Military Press: 235 x 3

February 21th, 2009

Body weight: 255 lbs

Squat: 405 lbs x 18
Deadlift: 515 x 6
Bench Press: 375 x 4
Strict Military Press: 250 x 3

I am very, very pleased with the expert advice provided by Martin, and I am eternally thankful to him for opening up my eyes to intermittent fasting and Leangains"

- Lorentz

Frank

"Life as a corporate manager in one of the largest companies in the US leaves little time for health and fitness, especially if you're a family man like myself. But if you've been working out all your life, you'll do your darndest to make it work somehow. Well, being at the gym five times a week, on an old Bill Philips routine, and trying to get those six meals a day didn't cut it for me anymore.

Got word of Martin from one of my business associates one day and thought I'd see what he could do for me. Thank God I did. Besides dropping my body fat and scoring new personal bests, he's made my life so much easier - by doing less, but doing it smarter. High yield for low investment is the golden egg in my world, and while it's hard to come by in the business world, it's easily accessible through Martin and his Leangains approach."

- Frank

Michael

"I started working with Martin because I was looking for a new approach to dieting. Back in 2005, I started going to the gym and saw good results, dropping from 250 pounds to around 180. I did this without following any specific diet recommendations. But then I learned, as many people do, a "better way": eat six meals a day and you'll see better results. I started following that recommendation while continuing to go to the gym. However, I wasn't able to finish the job and drop the final excess pounds I was carrying.

I worked with other online coaches, who got me stronger, but I wasn't satisfied with my body composition. Not to mention, maintaining the insanity of eating six meals a day, every three hours for the past couple of years was exhausting. I was tired of it.

I first came across Martin in an interview and then read the many testimonials on his site. I decided to give his intermittent fasting approach a try - I had nothing to lose - and I enjoyed it. There was a freedom to it and I was seeing good results. But after having progress stall in the past, I decided that working with Martin would help ensure I complete my goal.

The past four months have been incredibly productive. I've nearly finished dropping the body fat I want to, and I haven't felt the need to have "cheat meals" or worry about not eating constantly. Martin has been a first-class coach, with a fun approach to weight training and a results-producing approach to dieting. If you've stopped seeing results in your dieting, I recommend working with Martin."

- Michael C

Craig

"For the past 15 years, when it came to exercise programs, you name it and I tried it--from the popular ("zero carbs") to the obscure ("hunter-gatherer" diet anyone?), from the simple ("all pasta, all the time") to the insane ("the twinkie diet"). I lost weight alright, but in every case, I lose muscle mass too. I just didn't think it was every possible to maintain or increase strength while losing fat at the same time.

On a "google" search of the topic, I came across Martin's website and I was hooked immediately. The before-and-after photos and testimonials of his clients seemed too good to be true, but I thought, after trying everything out there, what have I got to lose?

Now, after losing almost 25 lbs of fat, while increasing muscle strength, I can honestly say that Martin's program for fat loss and muscle strength is unquestionably the best I have ever tried. I have also worked out with many personal trainers over the years, but Martin's knowledge of how to lose fat and increase strength far surpases that of any trainer I have ever used.

After years of being fed false, and in some cases, dangerous information by trainers and authors and dieticians, I needed to be "reprogrammed" to approach my goals the right way--and Martin has done exactly that, and more. I have changed my body in a way I never thought possible, and I urge everyone out there who feels like they have "tried it all" to contact Martin and start changing your body today."

- Craig Appelbaum

Dave

"Hi all. First post, and I felt it is appropriate to be on the BB.com thread that has made a huge difference in my life.

I wanted to offer a first hand report on the Leangains program. After stumbling across this thread a few months ago, I figured I would give it a shot. I contacted Martin Berkhan in early March to become a client. Martin responded quickly and had me fill out a brief questionnaire. I officially started Leangains on March 9th weighing in at 230.8 and with an estimated bodyfat of 25%. My goal weight was 200 lbs by June 30th, about 2 lbs a week. I was a fairly experienced lifter, but with a crappy diet and I was carrying too much fat. As a baseline, the first week, I was benching 245 by 5, squatting 315 by 6-7 reps (to or slightly below parallel not ATG), and I was not a regular deadlifter. I started deadlifting at 315/335 by 5.

Since then, I have followed the Leangains diet and workout routine pretty religiously. I drank a few times (3-4 drinks, one night with a lot more.) but otherwise have complied very well. I had never before counted my macros, but started counting on Fitday.com and spent $7 on a food scale. That was a well-spent $7.

Here are my results to date: Current weight as of May 13th: 207.4 lbs. That is a drop of 23.4 pounds in 65 days, or 2.52 pounds a week on average. The goal was to lose about 2 pounds a week, but I'm not complaining. My bodyfat is probably down to about 17-18% as an estimate and dropping. My bench has stayed about the same with a one rep improvement to 245 by 6, but my squats have gone up to 370 by 7 last week (works out to a 444 max and a personal record), and deadlifts are up to 380 by 5. My workouts feel fantastic on this protocol. I could not be more pleased with how things are going.

Diet adherence has been very easy for me. I workout from 8:45-9:45 am (approx) pretty much fasted, taking 1.5 servings of Xtend as I begin (and during) my workout. I also drink a Sugar-Free Amp before workouts for energy. I start eating around 10:00-10:30 am and finish by 6:00-6:30 pm every day, keeping my feeding period right around 8 hours. I don't worry if it is exactly 8 hours, but keep it close.

One of the great things about IF and Leangains is that I can eat enough food to get full and satiated each and every day, each and every meal, too, which really makes this not even seem like a reduced-calorie lifestyle. I was having a little issue at the start getting enough protein, but now take in 75 grams mixed in a shaker bottle mixed with milk or water and that gets me there. I am sometimes shocked at how little hunger I have outside of the feeding window. I feel like I am "cheating", because it shouldn't be this easy. Doing a diet like Atkins was brutal, and I lost strength, too, while this is very sustainable for me. This is not a diet for me, it is an easily maintainable lifestyle choice. Once I get down into the 10-12% bodyfat range (probably about 190 or so), I will post some pics. The great thing about this is that I have not the slightest doubt I will get there.

I just wanted to say thanks to many of you that are following the IF lifestyle with success. Your early testimonials in this thread, your progress pics and proof of success coupled with the before-after shots on Martin's web site led me to try this. Thanks to Martin for the great training, and I will continue on with him for the foreseeable future. "

- Dave Gerczak, Appleton, WI

Joseph

"Ok, where to start. Months before contacting Martin I was on the Zone diet. Everyone in the CrossFit community seemed to be doing it and getting good results. But I was completely famished on the 17 blocks a day a so called “expert” recommended to me. I wanted to lose fat, so I stuck with it…strictly. Well at least for 3 weeks, or so. And then the carb binges started, basically causing me to regain whatever fat I lost during the strict weeks! On top of the guilt and just feeling miserable in general, my performance suffered as well.

I kept thinking there was something wrong with me, since everyone except me seemed to be doing fantastic on the Zone approach. Even bumping up to 20 blocks didn’t do much for me. I still binged on sugary junk about twice a week. So, someone at the CrossFit forum recommended Martin’s services and I got in touch with him.

After a week on the diet, I discovered that I had been severely undereating on Zone. I couldn’t believe how much food I was allowed to eat on the Leangains diet and STILL lose fat! The sugar cravings dissappeared completely. My performance started improving again, and now I’ve beaten all my previous times on the benchmark sessions. So far I’m in week 6, and lost a total of 8 lbs, feel great and perform great. Love the fasting and the big meals, it really clicked with me from the start. I couldn’t be happier with the diet and the training I’m doing now, and I would highly recommend Martin and his Leangains program to anyone that is going through the same stuff I was."

- Joseph

Questions & Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Threw together some forum posts/replies to intermittent fasting related questions made in recent weeks, just to let you know that I'm still alive. Had two clients competing this weekend, and they both placed very well, so keep your eyes peeled for the client update I'm going to put up later this week or next.

Questions & Answers

Breakfast

Question: "Do you think it is possible that breakfast is actually unhealthy for humans and we're not wired for it?

When I was in elementary and middle school I never had breakfast, I didn't have any instinct to eat at waking time. My siblings and parents ate their breakfast looking like zombies and after their breakfast they were even more lightheaded.

On the way to school I actually would begin to feel extremely good and concentrated. At school I never had problems following the lessons, taking notes, memorizing. I would skip recession eating as well. I have always noticed my classmates being less productive and more confused after their recession. I had high grades and school was easy for me.

Beginning high school I was pressured into having breakfast and eating something at recession. As I introduced breakfast in my nutrition I started to lose concentration in classroom, I was ravenously hungry at recession and my grades started to suffer. I was lightheaded the whole morning and couldn't memorize things well.

After almost one year I was feeling worse the whole day (failing to make a connection with the addition of breakfast) I was so sick at the idea of eating one day that I skipped breakfast, and that morning I felt again good and concentrated in classroom. I finally decided to remove breakfast realizing that my instinct knew better than my doctor. I found out a lot of students who skip breakfast (consciously) feel a lot better and are a lot more productive and concentrated.

I have talked with people who keep telling me that if they have breakfast, a ravenous hunger is triggered the whole day and they would never stop eating. Yet if they follow their body lack of hunger in the morning, they never develop that hunger. Except for people who adapted by making an habit out of it, I don't know anyone who naturally feel the need to eat at waking time. Most people, expecially middle school students, I talk to gets sick at the idea of eating in the morning."

...I have always been told that at waking time our blood sugar are low and we need to eat. " (original post shortened)

Answer: While I don't necessarily think eating breakfast is 'unhealthy', it is certainly not a meal pattern we would be wired for from an evolutionary perspective. But then again, humans are highly adaptable and I'm not arguing that we should be clinging to what our ancestors did.

I can relate to some of the other things you've written, namely less alertness from consuming breakfast (and getting hungrier during classes). Some of my clients report better grades and motivation upon omitting breakfast as well.

Blood sugar is maintained within a very narrow range even during fasting. It never falls low enough to cause problems with attributes related to mental alertness unless you have a metabolic disorder (i.e diabetes) or raise insulin through exogenous means.

This was recently demonstrated in a study* using a wide variety of tests during a 48 hr time period, showing no detrimental effect of fasting (vs maintenance level calorie intake).

The authors of that study closes with the following

"It should be noted that preservation of cognitive function during
periods of restricted availability of food is a highly adaptive
mechanism. If adult human brain function rapidly deteriorated as
a consequence of underfeeding, the ability to obtain food would
be significantly degraded, which from a survival or evolutionary
perspective would not be desirable."

So, there is certainly no need to consume food upon waking in order to function properly from a cognitive perspective. And for some, like me, breakfast consumption may even impair concentration and focus for the remainder of the day.

*Lieberman et al. A double-blind, placebo-controlled test of 2 d of calorie deprivation: effects on cognition, activity, sleep, and interstitial glucose concentrations. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Sep;88(3):667-76

*More on this at the end of this post*

Feeding window

Question: "What are your thoughts about changing your window daily or weekly depending, Martin?

For example. I had my eating window from 13 to 22 yesterday, so I started my new window at 14 today. Now I'm thinking to eat my cals to 18:00 and then eat tomorrow @ 10:00 again. Seems logical?"

Answer: I would not recommend switching it up just for the sake of randomness. There are benefits in keeping the feeding window fairly constant, such as adaptations concerning the hunger hormone ghrelin (which tend to rise at times you're normally accustomed to eating). Vary it for practicality's sake, if anything.

Cortisol and fasting

Question: "Does fasting raise cortisol?"

Answer: No. Cortisol is regulated in a diurnal fashion and studies show that various meal frequencies and short term fasting has very little influence over it. Recent studies found no significant change in the rhythm of cortisol secretion, regardless of meal patterns, nor after 22 hrs of fasting.

Periods of environmental light are more important than meal times/frequency in regulating this hormone. Cortisol secretion is always highest in the early morning and lowest between 2000 and 2400 h.

Ramadan fasting alters diurnal rhytm, but leads to a decrease in mean cortisol.

Prolonged fasting and/or starvation is another deal.

Hunger and adaptation

Question: "13 hours in to my first day of IF and OMG I am hungry."

Answer: The hunger hormone ghrelin adapts to your habitual meal pattern, meaning you tend to get hungry on the times you normally eat.

A few days of adaptation may be required. And this varies between individuals, as some people find fasting easy from the get go, while others require a few days for the transition to the new meal pattern to be complete (meaning the fasting will become more or less effortless).

Fasted workouts

Question:"I have done workouts on an empty stomach for over a half a year now and I think it's better on empty than eating a regular meal a few hours before it. Biologically we humans are programmed very well to train this way."

Answer: Yes, training on an empty stomach is not a big deal, had some fantastic fasted workouts myself, but like I've said countless times before pre-workout nutrition is almost as important as post-workout nutrition. This is verified by research.

Now, pre-workout nutrition doesn't necessarily mean a full meal, but based on everything we know having some whey or BCAA shortly prior to, or during, the workout would be a much wiser choice than going through it completely fasted.

"Clean" eating

Question: "Ive been reading through the forums. I thought you have to get the clean foods like egg whites,chicken, fish, vegtables oats, sweet potatoe in order to get to 6 or 7% body fat. Some you you say you eat mcdonalds and cookies and still get the leanest you ever got. How is this possible when you see bodybuilders and most nutritionist on the websites saying you have to eat clean for you to get results? "

Answer: I've gotten ripped eating ice cream and cereal 3x/week. Clean foods are beneficial in terms of providing satiety and not providing as much temptation as 'unclean' foods or whatever you wanna call them.

I do agree that the majority of foods eaten on a diet should be clean*, but it's not an all-or-nothing deal (even though a lot of bodybuilders make it out to be). Regularily including some unclean stuff, may help with diet adherance and protect against unplanned binges - and may ultimately help with diet maintenance in the long term.

* not interested in semantic analysis, everyone knows what I mean.

Breakfast again

(in reply to another question pertaining to the need of eating breakfast and studies on the topic)

There's been heaps of studies "showing" that breakfast is good and healthy. How? Well, they're correlational.

Example

Breakfast eaters weigh less, as seen in a studiy looking at the eating habits and BMI of 10k+ US adults*

Conclusion

Breakfast must be good for you

* = eating breakfast implies fairly regulated eating habits.

That is, people who don't eat breakfast are more likely to show dysregulated eating patters; average joe skipping breakfast sure as shit isn't thinking "I'm doing IF now". He's the type to grab a donut on the way to work, eat junk food for lunch and finish the day off with a big dinner and snack in front of the TV.

Now, I'm not against children and teens eating breakfast, or anyone else for that matter, but given what I just demonstrated above, it might give you a hint on what the claim that breakfast = good for studying/tests is based on.

For example, breakfast skipping children probably usually come from different socioeconomic backgrounds/households vs breakfast eating children.

It may very well be that breakfast eaters ---> perform better than breakfast skippers ---> because they come from a familiy where breakfast eating is enforced ---> this implies a supportive or "stable" family---> children from supportive/stable families perform better on school tests etc.

Just an example. I'm not familiar with the particular study your teacher refers to.

In adults however, it has been demonstrated that fasting does not impact negatively on various cognitive tests (as recently evidenced by a study that had participants fasting for 48 hrs).

Low carb again

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Given that my post Low Carb Talibans caused such a stir, I thought it would be appropriate to link Lyle's latest article about low carb diets and the "metabolic advantage" Enjoy, folks.

If you consider buying any of Lyle's books, which you should, make sure you read my reviews.

Interviewed by Adam Steer

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Here's an interview I did with Adam Steer from Better is Better. Includes a book excerpt.

Other interviews, discussions and articles:

Interviewed by Leigh Peele

Intermittent Fasting Roundtable

Sure-Fire Fat Loss

Excerpt from Knowledge and Nonsense

---

There are only a handful of big names in the Intermittent Fasting game. As many of you will know, I'm a big fan of Brad Pilon and his Eat Stop Eat approach. But another name that continues to attract my attention is Martin Berkhan of Leangains. His approach is quite different to that of Brad, so I contacted him to see about getting an interview with him. To my great pleasure he agreed.

As you'll see, Martin's focus, like Brad's, is mainly on physique. However, the evidence supporting the health benefits of Intermittent Fasting just keeps piling up and I think that no matter what approach you take you'll reap the rewards of vitality and wellness.

Enjoy!

Adam: When asked to tell us a bit about his background and how he became interested in Intermittent Fasting, Martin was gracious enough to offer this excerpt from his upcoming book.

Martin:

"When I got into weight training and healthy eating, my goals were no different than most people’s; I wanted to get stronger and look better. I started out overweight and quite out of shape, the consequences of years of bad eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Because I put in work at the gym and eagerly learned everything there was to know about nutrition (or so I believed at the time), I made decent improvements over the years to come. Most noticeably, I lost a lot of weight.

I did it all according to the rules of the game, or at least how I had read and been told I should be doing it. And I was a slave to many rules. These rules dictated that I had to eat small meals throughout the day, that I needed “fast” carbs and whey protein after workouts, and that I should cut out carbs in the evening. Everyone that has spent some time reading fitness magazines, or browsed around on some of the countless fitness/bodybuilding forums on the net, should know what I’m talking about. There are many rules to follow if you want to optimize your results. Or so we are told.

This escalated to a point where I would get obsessed with my diet and everything pertaining to it; when to eat, meeting the right amount of protein and carbs in my meal plan, and so on. Whenever something happened that would interfere with my meal plan, I would get anxious and my mood would take a turn for the worse. Social interactions became crippled and my diet would basically dictate my daily routine. Simply put, I was obsessed with food and meal timing.

It was draining on me, mentally and socially, but I persisted because I feared breaking the rules in any way would have detrimental effects; muscle loss, a slowed down metabolism, or something else born out of irrational thinking.

I dabbled in many different approaches; low fat, low carb, cyclical ketogenic diets, the Paleolithic diet and others, always looking for that magic diet that would be easy to integrate into my lifestyle and one that wouldn’t feel like a neverending diet. I was always envious of guys that managed to look muscular and ripped without much effort.

At one point, I reached a point of diminishing returns. I didn’t think the amount of effort I put in was remotely proportional to the results I got. I had basically been spinning my wheels for years. I didn’t like how my life had become so centered around my diet, and I was starting to get fed up with my own behavior. I couldn’t justify it any longer.

Enter intermittent fasting

The high meal frequency diet I followed for years, called for eating around the clock. I always got too fat, too fast, when trying to gain muscle. The frequent eating also made cutting a chore and very challenging; contrary to popular belief, frequent feedings seemed to trigger my appetite, rather than keeping it at bay. Yet I never questioned the method - I questioned my discipline for my poor results.

It wasn’t until after some experiments with a lower meal frequency that I began to question the methods I had used in the past. This lead me to explore the research surrounding the topic of meal frequency - reading the studies myself and not letting so-called gurus, magazine and supplement companies give me their skewed and biased interpretation. My findings will soon be presented, but suffice to say, I discovered that the diet I had been following for so many years was based on one big hoax, with no scientific foundation.

Gradually, I started to lean into a more relaxed approach, which also felt more natural to me; fasting throughout the morning and not eating my first meal until 1-2 pm. I would eat more later in the day, often enjoying my largest meal around 9-10 pm in the evenings after workouts. I was never fond of breakfast, but always hungry in the evening, so this approach fit me perfectly. At a later point, I would move the first meal to 4 pm and then feed until midnight.

Suddenly, everything started to come easier for me. I got into great shape (177 lbs at 6% body fat), with relative ease. I played around with the approach some more, and gained a good amount of muscle mass with little fat gain (202 lbs at 9% body fat). And finally, I achieved my peak condition (195 lbs at 6% body fat) by combining periods of fat loss with periods of muscle gain; what some people would refer to as body recomposition. I revamped my body completely in 18 months.

After embarking on the intermittent fasting regimen, I also became more productive, focused and had lots of energy during the day. Contrary to my initial concerns, hunger was almost never an issue during the fast. I felt great. My head was clear and I didn’t spend much time thinking, or obsessing, about when, or in what form, my next meal was going to arrive. Worrying about such things had been my default behavior for a good amount of time and it was a relief not having to spend any more mental energy on it.

I wanted to look better and get stronger, and do it in a manner that appealed to me. Intermittent fasting turned out to be the approach I had been looking for all these years."

So, now you know how it all started. As for my education, I have a bachelor’s degree in Medical Sciences and Education and my major is in Public Health Sciences. But most of the things I've learned about nutrition and weight training is purely self-taught.

Adam: You've developed your own unique approach to fasting. Can you tell us about the guidelines of your methods?

Martin: 8 hrs feeding, 16 hrs fasting. Fasting means abstaining from food, not from fluids. You may drink coffee, tea, diet coke, whatever you like, as long as no calories are ingested. Trace amounts are acceptable - such as a tiny splash of milk in your coffe or the 1-2 calories found in a diet coke.

So, you might be eating between 1-9 pm, for example. On workout days, you train in between those hours and eat the absolute majority of your daily calorie intake post-workout. I usually set it up with three meals, as that is what I have found most practical. Some of my clients prefer two or four meals, but most do three meals.

Calories and macronutrient intake is always cycled, being higher on training days and lower on rest days.

That's the gist of it.

Adam: From what I understand, you have a very unique and effective approach to nutrition timing around workouts. Can you share with us how you approach workout nutrition (pre / peri / post) and what principles lead you to your approach?

Martin: I like to keep pre-workout nutrition to a bare minimum. Enough to satisfy a psychological need, enough to support and enhance the training session. No more. The greatest amount of calories should be ingested post-workout. By providing calories when they are needed the most, and are more likely to be used for muscle anabolism and recovery, you will get an edge. The insulin sensitizing effects of intermittent fasting on muscle cells further enhances the effect. There's more to it, but I'll save that for now.

That's the kind of theory and thinking that I'm basing my method on. I should note that there isn't a lot of research that can be applied in this context. So, unlike gurus that claim to have found The Truth or a magic pill, I'll put in a disclaimer saying that I might be crazy.

For me, writing the book has been about finding theoretical/scientific support for a practical approach that has turned out to work very well and not the other way around. For me, my clients and for many others that tried it.

Adam: There has been great anticipation for your book and I'm very much looking forward to reading it. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Do you have a release date?

Martin: No, and I need to keep my mouth shut, because I keep failing the deadlines I set up for myself. When I said I was going to have it out during the first quarter of 09, I was really in the flow of things and it seemed realistic at the time being. Then I got distracted. Work kept piling up. Moved to another city. Etc. Anyway, it's done when it's done.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like readers to know?

Martin: Be careful who you listen to. There's a lot of clowns and conmen in this industry. Also, egg whites and peanut butter. Don't frown until you try it.

Adam: Where can people go to find out more about you and your methods?

Martin: My site www.leangains.com. Yes, I'm lousy at updating. I'll get better when the book release draws closer. Right now I'm just busy as all hell.

Client Update

noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Haven't done client updates in a while, so here goes. See all client updates and testimonials on this site by clicking here and here.

John

John lost significant amounts of body fat and gained strength in 12 weeks.

John, before at 202 lbs

John, after 12 weeks at 184 lbs

"Its wierd, it almost looks like I have gotten bigger since doing this diet with you. Also, in the last few weeks, my arms and shoulders are veinier. I started the diet at 202 and I was benching 225 for sets of 6. At 182, I am doing 245 for sets of 5."

- John

Mary

Mary is a work in progress, as I'm prepping her for a competition in April. Here's a few teaser pics.

Mary before, at 149 lbs

Mary after three weeks, at 147 lbs

Mary after 4 weeks, at 146 lbs

Mary's doing a back specialization program, to better balance out her upper body with her lower body. She reports noticeable lat growth, which is awesome considering she's also lost fat.

Robert

Robert is another work in progress. So far, he's been doing great, showing rapid fat loss of 36 lbs in 10 week, while simultaneously gaining strength (no newbie gains).

Robert, before at 274 lbs

Robert, after 10 weeks at 238 lbs

Brad

56-year old Brad Reid, world record holder in the strict curl (242 lb class, 55-59) and the son of strongman legend Jack Reid, is a fan of Leangains and has been using my approach with great success. Brad is, without a doubt, my strongest client ever. He's currently training for a one arm chin.

Brad playing around with 225 lbs military presses.

On the one arm chin, I can't recall what I sent you but you may recall that my father, Jack Reid, was a cable pulling specialist and he held some records in one arm chinning. Robert L. Jones, in an article in 1939 Strength & Health, mentions him chinning with one arm while holding 50 lbs. in his non-chinning hand. He was about 190 to 200 lbs then at age 20.

- Brad, about his father.

I worked with Brad a while ago and recently touched base with him to hear how he's been doing since then.

"Well, I had become an avid reader of your blog and consulted with you for the "particulars" of a diet regimen to help me along. To me, this was money well-spent.

What I have found is that after coming a bit back off my low bodyweight mark and settling in at around mid 230s, that I was able to drop to 228 to 229 lbs. using the IF techniques you recommended over a matter of a few months. The secret for me to dieting is finding a routine where I eliminate the condition of getting "hungry" or famished between meals, and enter a sort of state of being where I just become "empty." Your IF regimen fits this criterion perfectly. Too, it meets the body's apparent requirement to go from states of being fully sated to slightly and temporarily deprived, but managing it in a manner where full satisfaction can be achieved in the eating window.

I enjoy your IF routine and more important, I can live with it permanently. Of what possible value can any strict diet discipline be to anyone if it can't be maintained, or if its side-effect is a feeling of starvation? These sorts of diets lead to failure and I don't want to waste my time on diet or training ideas I can't sustain."

- Brad

Heidi

Heidi made very good progress in just 4 weeks - check out the radical improvements in the lower back/glute area. Heidi also increased her strength slightly.

Heidi, back, before at 124 lbs

Heidi, back, after 4 weeks at 120 lbs

Heidi, side, before at 124 lbs

Heidi, side, after 4 weeks at 120 lbs

"I think the waist and backside is remarkable better. I like! I think the diet is great. I'm loosing fat almost without being any hungry, and I've got time to do other things then preparing five meals each day. In the beginning I thought it was a bit much food in each meal, but now it's fine! And I'm always looking forward to the dinner on training days. Mm, potatoes..... :) I have also learned to use vegetables as an own carb-source, according to pasta or rice that I always used before. This is something I will keep on doing, also when I'm done dieting. So that's a new and good experience for me! The training is also fine. I like that it's fairly quick training sessions, according to the West-side template I used before which took much more time. I think your services are good. You are giving good and quick feedbacks! :) "

- Heidi

Randy

50-year old Randy came to me with Chrons disease, which warranted a special diet setup with a minimum of starchy carb and a low carb intake in general. I put him on a high-fat diet, which turned out to work great, despite glycogen taxing Muay Thai sessions, and strength training on top of that. After 8 weeks with me, he was leaner, stronger and looked a helluva lot younger to boot.

Randy, before at 179 lbs

Randy, after 8 weeks at 167-169 lbs

I touched base with Randy to hear how he's been doing since (we worked together back in October-December).

"As far as diet, I am continuing the Leangains approach. This is actually very simple for me – I almost never have any cravings for food in the morning and I feel much better sleeping on an empty stomach than eating beforehand. I continue to work out hard with both strength training and muay thai and have lots of energy and feel strong."

- Randy

Chris

Got word from one of my old clients about his progress recently.

"The last pics I sent you were taken May 10th of last year. In those pics my waistline circumference measured 32 1/2"" (I think Chris was about 176-177 lbs in the above pic).

"In these new pics my waistline circumference is 32" even at a bodyweight of 178 lbs."

So he reduced his waist size while gaining weight, which indicates lean mass gains and fat loss. I was pleased to hear it. I should note Chris goals are more conditioning related, and not muscle gain per se.

"I began the IF "fat loss" protocol on January 1st, following a great deal of holiday gluttony... my waistline on the morning of that day was 33 1/4" (bodyweight 184 lbs). So I lost 6 pounds, an inch and 1/4 off my waistline in 30 days, and significant bodyfat in just 30 days. My LBM was monitored as per constant progression in my training (consistent strength gains in several lifts), training total body 3 days per week. Two of those sessions would be followed up with about 10 minutes of interval training (i.e., jump rope, sprints, etc.)

I'm very happy with the results. I'm taking a bit of a break from diet (as little as possible) since I will be traveling for a couple of days. But I plan to get back at it and continue another 4 week jaunt, hoping for another significant drop in bodyfat and increased conditioning before my 40th birthday hits this spring."

- Chris

Tom

While most people want to lose fat primarily, Tom came to me wanting to put on quality muscle, first and foremost. That turned out to be a great plan, and he actually lost body fat in the process.

While his body weight remained unchanged at 148 lbs, he made the following strength gains in only 4 weeks (no newbie gains).

Deadlift: 3 x 245 3 x 260
Incline Bench: 5 x 120 5 x 145
Chin-Ups: 12 x BW + 25 lbs. 8 x BW + 50 lbs.
Squats: 5 x 165 5 x 210
Dips: 12 x BW + 45 lbs. 10 x BW + 55 lbs.
Pendlay Row: 5 x 95 5 x 135
Incline Press: 5 x 80 5 x 105

Tom, before

Tom, after 4 weeks

"The first thing that I noticed about LeanGains was a dramatic increase in strength. I am not a huge guy and I am not necessarily really strong, but after starting the program, adding weight to the bar seemed a lot easier. My strength took off after about a week, and as long as I stayed on the program, I continued. For example, in 4 weeks, I doubled the weight that I was hanging around my waist for chin-ups and pull-ups, and my arms and lats started to grow as a result. I began to notice that my stamina improved, my muscles grew, and my body began leaning out very noticeably. I loved going from a 6 meal a day program to just 3 meals. I thought I would be starving because I ate 6 meals a day for years, but I felt satiated after meals. Meal preparation was simple and I actually enjoyed what I was eating, especially after workouts. During the fasting period, my mind was more focused and I couldn't wait to get into the gym, which kicked my motivation into overdrive. After just 4 weeks of LeanGains, I had someone comment on my physique and said I looked bigger and more ripped. I tried every program under the sun, and never heard that from anyone. I struggled in the gym for the past few years to get into shape and be healthy. After 4 weeks, Martin taught me more about how to feed my body and lift, than all the reading and researching I have done in the past few years. If you are hesitant to try using a nutritionist or another "bodybuilding program", I can assure you that LeanGains is anything but a risk or another "program". Martin has a wealth of knowledge and the program is tailored to each individual, unlike many other programs I tried. No matter what your goals are, LeanGains will get you there. I can not see ever using any other system again. I would recommend LeanGains to anyone who is ready to see results. After 4 weeks, I am sold for life. Thanks Martin!"

- Tom

(no pics available for the following)

Suleiman

"Hi Martin, I just wanted to give you an update, I am not one for poses but here are some raw numbers. Following your diet plan I was able to enter a competition at 166lb and deadlift 418 (2.5xbw). I have lifted more in the distant past but not at that weight.

I also came first equal in my category.

http://tacticalstrengthchallenge.com/results/20080913_International.html

scroll down to Men's Elite. I followed your diet to the letter but tweaked the training for the event.

Thanks again for your help."

- Suleiman

Jeff

"I've always been active and played a lot of sports, but family, work and a love for food caused me to gain 80 lbs over a four year time span. Been trying different diets throughout the years, but could never maintain them in the long run. With Martin's help I finally have some hope, having dropped 35 lbs in 8 weeks. I sleep better, look better, aint hungry and have plenty of energy. Just a better person overall, plain and simple"

- Jeff (285 to 250 lbs in 8 weeks)

Tanya

"Martin taught me that carbs aren't evil and that less sometimes can be more. I can feel my clothes getting looser and I'm improving my performance on the benchmark sessions - while training less than I ever recall doing! I love the Leangains diet, and I love not having to force myself to the gym five times a week anymore. Thanks for straightening me out, and showing me a sane way to train and eat, Martin"

- Tanya, devoted CrossFitter.