Question of Strength: October
by Charles Poliquin


Lower Carbs for Endurance Athletes?
Q: Coach, your nutritional approach leans toward lower carbs and
lower grains for most of the population. But what about low carbs
for endurance athletes? Don't they need the energy from
carbs?
A: Here's the thing: If these athletes have the genotype —
the genetic constitution — to be endurance athletes, then
they'll naturally be carb-tolerant anyway.


They're not "made" to be power athletes, and that
goes for their nutritional tolerances as well as their physical
structure. Their diet should be 65 to 70 percent carbohydrates. And
remember, only 25 percent of the population is genetically
carb-tolerant.

I've worked with endurance-type athletes in the past
— swimming, biathlon, cross-country skiing — and
it's not uncommon for a cross-country skier to consume as much
as 6,000 calories per day, with 70 percent of those from
carbohydrate. These types of athletes used to not consume enough
protein, but that's mostly a thing of the past among those who
perform well.

You can't take 1970s research and apply it to athletes of
this century. Their training volume wasn't anything like it is
today, when it's not uncommon for some athletes to train three
times per day. Some national teams may have their athletes consume
as much as 10,000 calories per day. Unless they use carbohydrate
liquids, they're never going to make it.

So, carbs for hard-training, genetically inclined endurance
athletes? Sure.


Cross-what?
Q: What do you think of that Crossfit stuff?
A: I have no clue what the hell that is. Is that one of those
systems that's a mish-mash of everything?

Wait, I saw on article on that in Muscle & Fatness.
Looked like a bunch of cachexic fitness-model wannabes searching
for their souls in the weight room.


It reminds me of a Hungarian proverb: "If you only have one
ass, you can't sit on two horses." If you try to do everything in your workout, you get nothing.

Another way to look at it is to think of Tim Ferris's
example of wearing your underwear over your pants. It's
different, and maybe even fun for some people, but it's not
very effective.

No athlete has ever gotten good training like that.


When a Workout a Day Isn't Enough
Q: Got any general tips for training two times a day for
hypertrophy?
A: Twice-per-day training is the fastest way to gain strength
and size, if you can afford the time. Typically, you'd do
heavy, or "neural" training in the morning, and more
time-under-tension training in the evening.

Now, these are relative values. For example, an Olympic lifter
may do doubles and singles in the morning and sets of six in the
afternoon. A bodybuilder may do six reps in the morning and 20 at
night. So, you have to decide what's neural for that
lifter.

So, as a rule of thumb, you want to recruit higher-threshold
motor units in the morning, and lower-threshold motor units in the
afternoon. Or, you can do regular training in the morning and
eccentric (negative-only) training at night.


In most cases, the same body part should be trained in both
sessions — heavy in the A.M., lighter in the P.M. One example
would be 4 to 6 reps in the morning, 12 to 15 reps in the
afternoon.

If strength is your main concern, you'd want to do the same
exercises for both sessions. If you're focused on hypertrophy,
you may want to use different variations of the exercises. So,
powerlifters will do back squats twice per day; bodybuilders would
do bench presses in the morning and incline dumbbell presses in the
afternoon.

Also, you must leave four to six hours between workouts. This
time spread is critical. If you use a shorter time spread —
just two to three hours between sessions, say — you'll be too
fatigued.

As for each session's length, you could start with 20
minutes in the morning and 20 more at night. From there, you'd
work up to an hour each session. You have to take about 11 weeks to
get to two full-hour sessions per day.

Two key points: First, for every 10 days of two-a-day training,
you've got to do five days of once-per-day training to give
your body a break. I recommend training for about 40 minutes in the
morning on those days. After five days, you can go back to lifting
twice per day.

Second, without a proper post-workout drink after each session,
it's impossible to recover from this type of training. And
make sure to take BCAA and beta-alanine during each
workout.








The Post-Post-Workout Drink
Q: I've read that many coaches are now recommending two
post-workout drinks: one right after lifting, another an hour or so
after that. What do you think?
A: I tried it four years ago and saw no advantage of a post-post
workout drink. I'd rather go with one post-workout drink, then
have a solid meal an hour later.


Fail: Cryotherapy
Q: What do you think of cryotherapy, that post-workout
ice-massage stuff?
A: The latest research shows it has no effect at all on
post-workout recovery. It does zippo!

The only thing it does is increase cortisol post-workout, which
is a stressor. In my opinion, it delays recovery — as does
anything that increases cortisol — and is actually
counterproductive. And the newest research shows it does nothing
for DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). I've just never seen
it work. Waste of time.

A lot of soccer teams in the U.K. invested money in cryo-suits,
basically a suit that literally freezes you. They stopped using
these suits because they actually increased the number of
injuries — $150,000 down the toilet.

Listen, some things may sound good in a couple of initial
studies, but they just don't stand the test of time.
Cryotherapy was a hot topic a few years ago, but today you
don't hear much about it. Why? It just doesn't work.


On the other side, look at post-workout drinks. I was using them
in 1982, back when many of today's gurus were playing with
their G.I. Joes. These drinks are still around today and people
keep using them. Why? They work.

It's like squatting: always worked, always will. But look
at all the "superior" machines than have come and gone.
Things that work stick around. Cryotherapy didn't stick
around; post-workout drinks did.


The "Best" Rest Interval
Q: I'm confused about proper rest intervals for strength
gains. Some of the strong guys in my gym barely seem to rest;
others take forever between sets. What's the scoop?
A: Both systems are good, but for different reasons. Long rest
intervals allow the nervous system to recover. Short rest intervals
help to increase work capacity.


In physiology, you have two variables when you look at an energy
system: the power of the system, and the capacity of the system.
Power is analogous to your car's drive train. It determines
how fast it goes from 0 to 60. If you rest a lot between sets, you
improve the power of the system.

Capacity is like the gas tank of your car. If I cut my
rest intervals and force myself to repeat efforts without as much
recovery as I want, I'm expanding the size of my gas tank.

Which is better? You should use a blend. In the sport of
weightlifting, with the new rules, you may have to repeat the lift
after only a brief moment. If you don't have that work
capacity, you're up the proverbial creek with no paddles. So
you'll find that the best coaches use a mixture of short and
long rest intervals.


The Best Time of Day to Train
Q: Assuming a person has a choice, is there a best time of day
to weight train?

A: Actually, there are two, based on circadian rhythms: three
hours and 11 hours after you wake up.

However, your body will adjust its cycle to fit your pattern.
For example, if you always wake up at 6 A.M. and train at 7 A.M.,
that doesn't fit the circadian rhythms. But if you're
consistent and you always train at that time, your body will
adjust.

In 1982, I was part of a study group that went to Russia. I
asked a former world-champion Greco-Roman wrester, who was also an
M.D., what one thing Westerners should change about their
training.

He didn't even hesitate: we need to be more methodical, he
told me. Sometimes we train in the morning, sometimes at three in
the afternoon. We need a more established rhythm.

In my experience, having a regular training time is very
important. So for the average guy with a job, he'll see better
results if he picks a training time and sticks with it, instead of
training before work sometimes, at lunch sometimes, or after work
sometimes.

When you screw around with your times, you screw around with
your results.





Split Training: Back with Bi's or Tri's?
Q: With a split training program, what's better: back with
biceps and chest with triceps? Or back with triceps and chest with
biceps? Is the pre-fatigue from training biceps with back a good
thing or a bad thing? The biceps would be "fresh" if you
trained them with chest, right?
A: I like to work chest as the primary mover, then use biceps
work to recover in between sets of chest. This way the biceps are
fresh. So you can do a set of dumbbell bench presses, followed by a
set of curls.

Then, on back day, you can train triceps in between sets of back
work.

I first learned this from a world-champion powerlifter when I
was maybe 18 years old. It worked really well. Over the years
I've found this to be one of the best splits to do.