the next episode...

offseason 2007-2008, the plan... in detail

there is a natural bb pro by the name of layne norton. who has his BS in bio chem and is currently working on a PHD in nutritional science. his area of specialty is skeletal muscle protein metabolism. i've been reading his posts, listening to his webcasts and his online guest appearances.

he has a very interesing idea in how i might make the best use of my offseason. by cycling your total caloric intake you can put yourself into a state of growth by elevating your natural hormone levels. you can put on more lean muscle mass, stay leaner, avoid the pitfalls of the bulk (tiredness, the bloat and the mental mind game of having more bf).

he does a 4-6 week cycle of maintenance + 500 cals/day followed by a 2-3 week cycle of maintenance - 300 cals/day. he claims its like continually coming off of a post contest diet and starting the offseason. a time when you are typically stronger, add muscle easier and you still tend to be somewhat lean.

this sounds interesting to me. i like the fact that i could stay leaner and could be in a better position to control any bad rebounds, (although george is convinced my last years rebound was more about my mental state than anything i did). however going 500 cals per day over maintenance scares me silly... so im going to adjust that a little bit. if you know me, you know i tend to err on the side of caution.

my under maintenace caloric intake will be 2100 calories. during my show prep diet i was still setting pr's at that caloric intake. there will be a 500 calorie defecit between my over and my under maintenance. which means during those two weeks that im under i should drop a few lbs of bf. as the main difference will be the carb intake i shouldnt lose muscular size.

the actual macro's are still the percentages that george calls for me. i want you guys to understand that i am merely modelling my offseason diet after layne's but that my guys still very much are george and b!!!

the plan for my workouts this offseason are simply a 4 week cycle of training more geared towards strength. heavy deads, heavy squats, push presses... during that 4 week cycle i will do the same workouts, each week trying to get more reps or more weight up. the next 4 weeks is more like the offseason cycle i did last offseason. every week there is a different exercise, the idea being to keep the body in a state of shock and hopefully growth.

the rep counts for most exercises will be 6-10. and NOTHING under 4 reps!!! the exceptions; my weak areas, my calves and my middle delts. i dont think either of these body parts respond to the heavy weight lower rep scenario. thus i am keeping the rep counts high here. as well callisto turned me onto an online article that suggested the real key to calf growth was aggressive stretching between sets. thus i am currently holding a 60+ second stretch post-set.

and finally cardio. it continues... but i will incorporate a more hit-like sprint into the standard 20 minutes on my over maintenance days. i will likely stick with my regular high but constant intensity for 20 minutes, on the under maintenance days.

i did my photoshoot a week ago saturday (no, i do not have any pics yet) and i've spent the better part of the week with less than stellar nutritional habits. thus, i start tomorrow a.m with 2 weeks of under maintenance.

i think this should be an interesting little experiment.