Carb cycling for optimal recovery and strength

[GermanHerman]

Hi Robert

Recreational powerlifter (m/39yo/~200lbs) here.
A good working diet when I trained 4 days a week was always
Breakfast - high Carb / low fat (oat meal, fruit, whey)
Lunch - med Carb / med fat (Rice or potato, chicken)
Snack - med-high Carb / low fat (on Training days high carb due to 50mg dextrose + bananas around workout, on Off days just a piece of fruit)
Dinner - low Carb / high fat (pork or Steak, veggies)
As well I used to have a cheat meal the night before my first Training day.
Currently coming from a low Carb diet (do not do that at home - Did not have much effect other then loosing strength and muscle mass -yay... !) since I got some Ego Problems (yes I thought 15% BF is too high) I am introducing more and more carbs again to get back to my original diet.

Easy question:
Option A - stick with how I laid it out above.
Option B - on Off days have a
- low Carb / med fat lunch,
- low carb / high fat Dinner and on Training days a
- high Carb / med fat lunch
- high Carb / high fat Dinner
Option C on Off days before Training days have a
- low Carb / med fat lunch,
- high carb / high fat Dinner and on Training days a
- high Carb / med fat lunch
- low Carb / high fat Dinner

Hope that makes sense to you BTW i Train three days per week with a Four day Training week (bench / squat / OHP / deadlift). My Goal is to stay relativeky lean while getting stronger.

What shall it be -A, B, or C?

Thanks!
Felix

[Robert Santana]

How strong are you?

[GermanHerman]

Definitely Not strong enough:

Squat ~ 500
Bench ~ 290
Deadlift ~ 550
Based on current numbers. Maybe a bit lower.

Cheers!

[Robert Santana]

Press and Chins?

The choice of how to cycle your carbohydrates will depend on when you train. In general, if you want to lose fat and stay reasonably strong then you will need to keep carbs and protein as high as possible for as long as possible (i.e. as high as you can keep them while still losing body fat). As the deficit gets more severe, the carbohydrates will need to be closer to the workout and intraworkout carbohydrates become more useful. That's the general overview of it; If you'd like more tailored advice, shoot me an email and we can set up a consult and/or coaching depending on what you are looking for.

[GermanHerman]

Press and Chins?

Yes - great assisstance!
Never tested my 1rm Press, but did lately 155 x 5 x 3 and 135 for 12 reps
Chins ~12 reps on first set when I am relatively fresh

The choice of how to cycle your carbohydrates will depend on when you train. In general, if you want to lose fat and stay reasonably strong then you will need to keep carbs and protein as high as possible for as long as possible (i.e. as high as you can keep them while still losing body fat). As the deficit gets more severe, the carbohydrates will need to be closer to the workout and intraworkout carbohydrates become more useful. That's the general overview of it; If you'd like more tailored advice, shoot me an email and we can set up a consult and/or coaching depending on what you are looking for.

Thanks mate - I will definitely consider that for my next meet. Hoch much time do you usually give, or better is reasonable for lets say 15 lbs of BF?

Cheers!

[Robert Santana]

You are probably somewhere around ~200-210 on it.

15 lb of fat should take a guy your size ~2-3 months to peel off. I wouldn't lose it during a meet prep though.