Caloric Cycling - for bulking and cutting

[Qea]

Dear all

From my recent post inquiring about the ABCDE program, I thought i'd start a new post regarding caloric cycling in regards to bulking and cutting

Personally I feel that it makes sense, as the human body is continuosly adapting to whatever environment you put it in.

i.e. the idea of diminishing returns

In training, the principle of exercise changes, shock techniques, etc all relate to preventing the body from homeostasis

So for nutrition, doesn't caloric cycling make sense too, regardless of whether you're trying to bulk or cut?

your comments are greatly appreciated

:cool:

[PowerManDL]

Caloric cycling does work, but the results from the ABCD diet have been sketchy at best.

If you want to get the best out of it, you'll need to take it to the most basic level-- controlling the peaks and troughs on a daily basis. That is to say, keep cals high for several days, then cut them for one or two (and vice versa).

Much like periodization in training, you should ideally have a general trend, ie bulking, cutting, or even maintenance, then fill in the fluctuations from there.

It doesn't have to be anything complicated-- T-mag outlined a program not to long ago whereby you keep calories at a maintenance level based on your daily energy expenditure, then let your training days and off days cycle the calories for you.

Fred Hatfield calls this concept the "Zig-Zag" diet, and from experience, it works wonders. The way he did it was to eat heavy (or light) for 4-6 days, then take 1-2 days of light (or heavy) eating.

Simple, but effective. To bulk, simply increase the trend a few hundred calories each week. To cut, do the opposite.

As a side note, I didn't even count calories (never have, and never will), just used my general observations on my food intake, quality and quantity, to judge my peaks and valleys. Needless to say, I was lean and muscular at the time.