Well why does it suck then? I feel like it's helping. Sure there's better belts, but I can't spend $100-$200 on them right now. I mean my shoes are still ****ty for squatting, but they work for now. What's the problem?

I'm thinking of substituting my daily afternoon snack of toast and peanut butter with another protein shake. This will help reduce cals for cutting and improve in protein where I've been lacking ironically because of the cut.

In total, this would make 3 protein based snacks per day: a protein bar for my morning snack, protein shake in afternoon, and either protein after gym on gym days or after dinner on rest days.

Questions:

-Am I burying myself by using these 'fake' protein sources over real ones?

-Should a protein shake instead of my peanut butter/toast 1 hr before gym give me more 'lifting power'? Yes it's more protein but it's less carbs. Which is better for gym energy?

Forgot to update Friday

Fri

Squat 230lb 3x5
OHP 112.5l 3x5
DL 285lb 1x5

Not really. People who have a tendency towards getting fat need to be careful not to swap out the protein bar for a snickers and the protein shake for a frappe when they're off the program. But, you don't have a history there.

Carbs will give you more energy in the gym. They aren't necessary for you to maintain optimal gains at this point in your lifting, if ever. See recent discussion in the HC thread. You need to have the byproducts of protein metabolism floating around in your blood so that it can build muscle. As long as you're hitting your number or close to it, you'll have plenty.

Do you take creatine?

No for the creatine. Should I?

It's good for gym energy.

aright i'll look into it

should I be looking into Casein protein at night as well?

Here's Lyle on performance supplements:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/mus...s-part-2.html/

"Creatine
If there is a single dietary supplement in existence that can be said to work, creatine is probably it. With several hundred studies supporting it’s effectiveness and safety, creatine is arguably with one the must-have supplements for most athletes including team and mixed sports athletes (with a few notes made below)."

wow good to know thanks

Monday

Squat 235lb 3x5
Bench 170lb 2x4, 165lb 1x5
BB Row 135lb 3x5
Chin up 30lb 3x6

Bench got tough. I'll give it another go to see if it was a bad day or a stall at that infamous 170lb

imma pick up some creatine tomorrow. possibly casein too?

Casein supplement is a waste of money imo

even decent protein-heavy snacks late before bed though, should I not be worried about being quickly digested and muscle being 'lost' overnight?

Ok so what I've learned about Creatine is that I need to saturate my muscle cells with it before results will start to take effect. So I'm going to pick some up today and starting loading up, probably 20-25g a day for a week

It's recommended to take with a high carbohydrate drink. I don't really want to mix it with a fruit juice, or even milk, because I'm still cutting afterall and don't need the extra cals. What I'll probably do for the first week is just add a scoop of creatine to my evening smoothie which has strawberry whey and a bit of fresh strawberries and mangos along with peach crystal light.

Then my question is, once saturated, creatine before a workout wont necessarily give me that added strength, right? It should just always be present so long as the creatine is being consumed daily?

Second question is they recommend cycling the creating so the body doesn't develop feedback mechanisms and lower the efficiency with which the creatine is used. Should I go on a week-to-week cycle with, say, 25g one week and 5-10g of creatine the next?

Digestion and metabolic activity are not the same thing. After protein molecules are digested, converted into amino acids and passed into the bloodstream only then do they carry out the functions of growth and maintenance of the body, which is wholly separate from digestion of food.

This is why your average protein intake is what matters so that there is adequate amounts of amino acids within your system, not some snack that you ate and got digested before you fell asleep. In fact, this is why when you are bulking you still stick to a particular caloric number, and not just keep eating every time you feel hungry.

Right well that's sort of what I meant, I eat evenly throughout the day and get a good amount of protein, so I'm wondering if my pre-bedtime protein heavy snacks are sufficient in providing a constant amount of growth for the body? Wouldn't slower digestive proteins be better before bed so that the body gets the amino acids from the protein slower throughout the night?

there is no harm in a glass of milk with your snack at night but i don't think you should worry about it particularly. You'll be fine as long as you hit your macro numbers

You don't need to cycle creatine. Just load up, and take a maintenance dose forever.

http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/showthread.php?t=4388
^
bottom post by Lyle has a reference to study

As long as you're eating some of your protein, you should have plenty available at all times. Your body will slow it's protein metabolism down when faced with 150g/day or whatever you're consuming, since it can't process it all that fast and there isn't an intermediate storage mechanism in the body.

I think there's some evidence that a mix of proteins (even complete) is somewhat better than all of the same type. So if you're getting almost all of your protein from shakes, getting a few different kinds may make some sense.

I think it's kind of hard to get an idea from reading articles just how important each possible optimization is. If there is any effect from meal and protein timing it's tiny. Like less than 1% of the benefits you'd get from taking creatine.

Well good. I still get lots of protein from different meats, eggs, milk and protein-rich granola/yogurts etc. but I definitely do need at least 1 protein bar and shake a day to get up to that 150g+ mark while cutting.

So I'm loading with 20g creatine/day for let's say a week. What would you recommend as maintenance creatine amount after that, 10g? 5g?

5g. Once they're loaded that will be enough to keep them full. You can't force any more in there by eating more of it.

cool

Wednesday

Squat 240lb 3x5
OHP 115lb 3x5
DL 295lb 1x5
Facepull 110lb 3x15

Pretty good day, squats getting tough but grinding away. OHP hit 35lb plates and actually felt like I could do more, which is a new feeling for OHP, and DL I failed to get off the ground 1st attempt, but rocked a second attempt.

Might not be able to progress further in squats/DL until the creatine kicks in, but we'll see

Friday

Squat 245lb 3x5
Bench 170lb 3x5
BB Row 150lb 3x5
Chin up 30lb 3x7

Good end to the week. Still grinding squats but I'm gonna get proper vid on monday to make sure depth still good. Good news is that I think my foot angle is getting better. Got to 170 on the bench which is good news. Think my problem was rest timing and foot drive.

so here's an interesting dilemma: I'm shooting for ~2000cals/day. Around this time I'm at ~1900 and have 150g protein. Pretty good. Do I call it quits for the day here, having met a good protein goal and being under my caloric goal? (keep in mind i'm cutting) Or do I stuff back an extra 100cals worth of protein like cottage cheese for example? What is more +EV in my case. My level of hunger is neutral, I could go either way, so is cutting that extra 100 cals better than getting an extra 10-15g protein?

Monday

Squats 250lb 3x5
OHP 117.5lb 3x5
DL 305lb 1x5
Facepull 110lb 3x15

Squat was tough, but confirmed got proper depth (or at least very close to), see below vid. OHP was a bit tougher since I'm in PB mode, think I managed okay though. DL went phenomenal. After last week failing to get the 295lb bar off the ground but managing it after second attempt, I got the 305lb bar clean off the ground first attempt and powered through the reps. So much so afterwards I told my wife I could have done 3 plates (315lb) no problem. (Guess creatine/belt's working?) So hopefully Friday will be my first time DLing 3 plates.

Squat 250lb. I know I could stand to go a bit lower but I'm pretty happy with this since I was worried about depth last week. Any other comments?


OHP 117.5lb. I know camera angle sucks but hopefully we can make something out of it.


I'll have a DL video Friday when it's much more badass looking with 3 plates

Knees out more. I mean look at your right foot when you squat, its totally buckling in. Also, need to go deeper, still like 3-4 inches high.