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Diet Weight TrainingDiet weight trainingRegardless of which pre-contest deit is followed during diet weight training, there are some food supplements that help you to get ripped up more quickly and to a greater extent. The first of these is lipotropic factors, which can be found naturally in such vegetables as safflower, or in capsules at a health food store. While there is no conclusive scientific evidence to say it actually works. That way, many top bodybuilders take kelp tablets prior to a competition. Kelp is rich in iodine, which could help to boost the output of your thyroid gland. Kelp is also rich in trace elements, but should be discontinued the last week of diet weight tr ining prior to a competition because of its substantial sodium (water-retaining) content. About 30 years ago, nutritionists discovered that eliminating carbohydrate foods from your deit during diet weight training would result in a rapid loss of body fat. You can actually consume a high number of calories in the form of fats, and still progressively reduce your body fat stores. Low-carb diets do work, but they have some very undesirable side effects. One of the worst is a significant loss of muscle mass. It is not at all uncommon for a bodybuilder to lose 8-10 pounds of solid muscle tissue when limiting carbohydrates. Partly, this is due to the fact that you will have very low energy levels when low-carb dieting, which prevents you from getting in your normal heavy, high-intensity training sessions. The body also steals energy from muscles during anaerobic and diet weight training. Low-carbohydrate diets during diet weight training can also play hell with your mind, causing violent mood swings. It's not at all uncommon for a bodybuilder to become very depressed while on a low-carb diet and binge eat as a result, wiping out all of his gains in contest muscularity. Low-carb diets work best for ectomorphic (naturally thin and small- boned) bodybuilders. Many of them seem to thrive on the high-fat content of such a diet, because it seems to help them maintain a higher degree of muscle mass than is possible when low-calorie dieting. But this effect varies from one man to another, and you should experiment with both types of diet during the off-season while doing diet weight training to see which one works best for you. If you plan diet weight training on limited carbohydrates, start out by consuming about 300 grams per day. (You can purchase an inexpensive carbohydrate gram counter at most drug stores.) Then each week, drop your carbohydrate consumption by 40-50 grams, until you are as low as about 30-40 grams per day. Some bodybuilders go to functional zero on carbs, but going so low on carbohydrate intake can turn virtually anyone into a moody maniac. If you do choose to diet for a competition by limiting carbohydrates, it is essential that you progressively increase your intake of supple- mental vitamins and minerals. While on diet weight training if are eating only meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk products, you are taking in very low amounts of many vitamins and minerals, which might cause a dietary deficiency, which could retard your progress. Following is a sample one-day menu for tight low-carb diet weight training dieting, which you can experiment with in the off-season: · Breakfast-fried or scrambled eggs, steak, half a cantaloupe, coffee and supplements. · Lunch-broiled chicken, green salad with safflower oil and vinegar dressing, iced tea, supplements. · Dinner-roast beef, green beans, iced tea, supplements. · Snacks-boiled eggs, hard cheese, cold cuts As you experiment with a low-carbohydrate diet during diet weight training when on an off-season cycle, you should take detailed written notes of what you are eating and photograph how your body is responding to the diet. Without these records, you really won't be able to tell over the long run whether you should use such a diet weight training prior to a competition, and what to expect the next time you use it. |
