The Training Week That Was 9/23-9/29 and Carb Backloading v2.0

Training 9/23 - 9/29

-Nothing

-Absolutely nothing

-Zero

My back has been giving me fits since Estes Park. I've been trying to train though it with zero success. With that in mind, I've done something that I haven't done in probably a year: I did nothing. No training. No sled dragging or Prowler. No reverse hyper. No yoga. No bar work. No tempo work. Nothing. I saw the chiro twice this week and my back hasn't felt this good in ages. Proof will be in the pudding as I'm restarting training for my next meet tomorrow. 

On to vastly more interesting topics: Carb Backloading. I've tried a number of different diets with my training, from Carb Cycling to a modified version of the Warrior Diet to Intermittent Fasting. I have found my most success from Carb Backloading and its sister plan, Carb Nite. I used Carb Nite for ten weeks right after my last meet and moved from 214-202 and lopped an inch and a half off of my waist, which has stayed off. I must say that I would HIGHLY recommend people try a wide variety of nutrition programming (including ALL of the previous programs) and see what works for you.  

So the basics of carb backloading: skip breakfast, stay ultra low-carb and stick to protein/fats/veggies during the day, train hard and then pound high glycemic carbs til bedtime. That's the 50,000 ft view; the actual mechanics are much more detailed than I can (or should) go into in a blog post. I highly recommend you pick up the book and read it for yourself. There are literally about fifty pages of references for the protocols to scratch your nerd itch, and these protocols are backed by the science. 

I won't go into big picture details, as none of these ideas are mine and I want to protect Kiefer's intellectual property. I will, however, give you some details on what has been optimal for me specifically. This is my second go round and I learned quite a bit from my first run of CBL. 

1. Gluten free is the way to go: I've never had any noticeable issues with gluten in my life. Having said that, I experimented with going gluten free for a week of backloads and the results were fantastic. No bloating, no feelings of impending doom, no issues with sleep and no morning-after carb hangover. I stick to white rice for my first post-workout meal, typically a bowl from Tokyo Joe's, a stir-fry at home and/or a yam and sweet potato. I get a little dirtier for my second meal, which is usually a bowl (or three) of Cocoa Krispies (with raw milk), some Rice Krispie treats or a Fro-Yo. I'm also terribly partial to Udi's gluten free muffins. The cinnamon and chocolate are the shiznit. 

 

2. Paleo is the way to go: I'm no expert on the Paleo diet, but it's very tough to make an argument against the idea of eating whole foods from smart sources. Carb-Backloading, within the Paleo realm, is still incredibly easy. Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, bananas, mangoes and cherries all make excellent high-glycemic backloading foods. Personally, I've noticed that I don't get as good results when my backloads are high in fruit, so I stick to the potatoes with a mango or banana or the side rather than the other way around. Honey and agave aren't the best ideas either, as they're actually quite low on the glycemic response scale. 

3. Find your upper and lower ranges: The first week I pushed the backloads very hard to see my upper limits and the second week I pushed them low to see my body's response. For me personally, staying at the lower end and cleaner works best as far as refueling and feeling good. It's probably a function of my style of training (Olympic weightlifting) that I stay at the low end as it isn't terribly glycogen depleting. Carb backloading isn't a one-size fits all protocol; you need to dial up the particulars for your personal situation. 

4. Watch out for too much fat in the morning: My "breakfast" is typically coffee with a half scoop of whey isolate and some combination of coconut oil and heavy cream. When I go overboard on the fats in the morning...the phrase "gastrointestinal distress" some to mind. If/when you go too far, you'll know. 

I like to think of the whole backload process as an extended post-workout shake. Pretty much the entire fitness industry agrees that a post-workout shake is a good idea in most cases. The ideal shake is typically high-glycemic carbohydrate and a fast acting whey protein, rich in leucine. So imagine the backload process as multiple meals within the post-workout window rather than a single meal. 

So that's that. Visit Dangerously Hardcore. Read the book. Listen to the Biojacked Radio podcasts, either on Soundcloud or through the Dangerously Hardcore website. Be open minded. Ask questions. I've implemented both diets with success. Be moar healthy and moar awesome. 

More Fun With Math and Online Coaching

To explore the concept of online coaching and time-dollars a bit further, let’s use my previous example (5 hours per week spent planning, time is worth $20/hour):

By hiring an online coach, this is an extra 260 hours per year of time not spent researching and writing your own training/nutrition. Let us suppose that a coach charges $500 for 13 weeks of programming. At the aforementioned $20/hour, it’s going to take you 25 hours of additional work (or $ saving/sacrifice) to afford this plan. In return, you will accrue a net gain of 40 additional hours of your life. 13 weeks is one quarter of a year, and we already established that you are gaining 260 hours per full year. 260*25%=65 hours, 65 minus the 25 extra "hours" you need to work = 40. At $20 per hour, that's an additional $800 time-dollars you've netted.  

To extrapolate: at $2,000 for an entire year of programming you would work an additional 100 hours @ $20/hour (or one extra hour per day for 20 weeks, a half hour per day for 40 weeks, etc). For the commitment of 100 extra hours per year, you receive a full year of programming and a net gain of 160 HOURS OF YOUR LIFE that you aren’t reading, plotting and planning. 160 * $20 = $3,200, or a 61% return. 

At some point, this is no longer a cost effective endeavor. I would argue this, because there are excellent online coaches who are very flexible and work with you on payment plans or reduced rates. But we do need to draw a line somewhere. One way to sort this out, using totally new values:

Let’s say you spend one hour per week (52 hours per year) with programming and your time is worth $20/hr. Your hypothetical annual “budget” is $1,040 or 52 hours. Any total programming that doesn’t break this price point or the number of hours expended is accretive to your life through time-dollar savings. A $1,200 annual plan is a net loss of (15%) in time-dollar terms since you will need to work 15% more hours (60-52/52) and thus “spend” more money (1,200-1040/1040) than you would be saving.

There are some caveats to consider with this math. The less time you already devote to planning nutrition and training, the less you will derive from this activity since you are investing very few time-dollars in the first place. Also: this is purely an exercise regarding planning. I've given no considerations to the actual training/exercise time, nor have I discussed results. I'll save those for later, but I think that is also a compelling argument. I believe the math behind training time may illustrate why Crossfit has such an intriguing value proposition, despite the high "cost" for box membership.

I did all this in a fairly short amount of time, so feel free to check my math and ask me if something seems off; I ALWAYS forget to carry the "1". The point I'm trying to make is this: your time is EXPENSIVE. By putting your time into dollar terms, i'm trying to illustrate the fact that you're spending money every second of every day. A little basic math can help you make choices that offer higher potential returns with lower risk to the downside.