Any of you guys out there who regularly follow my blog knows that I generally live a very low-carbohydrate lifestyle. Other than training days, I actually don’t consume carbohydrates. Hell, even on training days I only consume something of 110 grams. Needless to say, I am on a CKD type diet.

Nonetheless, my all time favorite day of the week has to be Saturdays. “Why? Might you ask”. Because on Saturday. I engage in what is called a carbohydrate refeed where for 9 hours I consume as much high-gi/low fat treats as possible. If my body is telling me to eat 9 pancakes w/ syrup, I’ll eat it. Drizzle extra syrup over the top? I’ll do it. However, once the moment comes where the 9 hours are up, I go immediately back to my old dieting ways. This refeed allows for a number of things for both my body and my sanity.

If you’ve ever dieted down you can tell when your body gets sluggish and tired. What sometimes happens as a result of the daily demands of working out and dieting, is that your body decreases a hormone called Leptin. Leptin is a tricky bastard because it helps stimulates other hormones in your body (the important ones) that are responsible with keeping your metabolism going and keeping muscle building happening. What happens though throughout Sunday – Friday is a fall in the body’s glycogen due to the dieting and a decrease in this Leptin. However, Leptin is very responsive to high glycemic carbohydrates / low fat meals. A person could nearly inclemently increase fallen leptin levels by momentarily eating these types of foods (i.e., the Saturday 9 hour refeed).  So it actually, despite eating junk food – does a body good.

And let’s just be honest. If you’ve ever dieted down for a bodybuilding competition, wedding or photo shoot; pancakes and high GI carbohydrates just sound absolutely delicious. I’m out people. I’m off to down a Monster Energy Drink and slam some pancakes.

Well, as October 4th rolls around so will my week-long nutritional hiatus. After spending nearly 10 months of dieting I have just spent the following week eating whenever I like, whatever I like, and how much I’d ever like. It’s been a great week of relaxation free of counting macronutrients, cardio minutes, reps, sets and all. Usually when I’m in a mass phase I’ll take a week off every 8-weeks but while I was in contest dieting mode, I damn went from January to September dieting down for my show.

An Oreo Cookie

Now that everything is said and done, I’m ready for Monday to come again & I’m excited again to eat, cardio and start lifting some heavy weight. Towards those last 3 weeks of contest dieting my weights went done and I began being more “cautious” with my weightlifting sessions. That doesn’t mean I didn’t lift heavy but rather that I wouldn’t “grind” though sticking points and attempting personal records (PRs). However, now it’s all coming back again and I’m foaming at the mouth to attack those weights and get back to action.

This blog, Bodybuilding Blueprint is about my offseason training. I’ll document my workouts, my nutrition, my goals, my ups, my downs and everything in between. Along the way if you have any questions, comments, or anything at all – don’t hesitate to e-mail, comment, or drop my a line and I’ll get back to you. No problem whatsoever.

So… Here we are… My first blog post of my off-season training. Well what I can first talk about vaguely (because I don’t have my notes in front of me) is my diet. This off-season I’m doing something new but healthier for my body. I’m an individual who doesn’t tolerate carbohydrates very well – with that said, this offseason I’m going to be keeping my carbohydrates lower than one my expect for off-season – around 100g on training days, and 0g on non training days. I’ll disclose my diet in a future blog post but right now – that is what I’m sharing.c

I’ll be training 3x a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday doing Dante Trudel’s (Doggcrapp Training or DC Training). This isn’t a new change as I’ve been using his principles since 2005 and wouldn’t contemplate using any other ideas or training philosophies. Hell, I was using the 3-Day split right up till 2 weeks out from contest – AND STILL PROGRESSING on lifts. So now that I’ll have more calories I’ll be back to the 2-Day split training across three days. My cardio work will be done at 5:15am on an empty stomach for 30 minutes – 7x a week for the start of this offseason.

The two biggest changes from this year and years past are A) the lower carbohydrate intake and B) the increase in cardio work. I’m going to do my damnest to make sure I don’t balloon up and gain 20-30lbs of fat during this offseason. While losing weight in the contest prep is fun and exciting to watch, a hour and a half of cardio a day is not fun and towards the end of it all you start to dread it. Nonetheless, my philosophy this year is preventative and to make slow & consistent changes in LEAN mass rather than packing on pounds of both muscle & fat – mostly fat.

Well that is all folks. Stay tuned to next post which will disclose my diet, training, cardio and scheduling in more detail. It’s an exciting journey and I have some lofty goals to reach. It’s going to be a fun off-season and I’m looking forward to making some gains and reaching these bodybuilding goals that I have.

Note: If you are taking this many supplements, you might want to hit yourself in the face with a tack-hammer

Hold up & stop the presses, this supplement issue it getting a bit crazy.  Don’t get me wrong and think that I am anti-supplements, because by no means am I. The thing is, I don’t think you need to take 20 different supplements every day to “optimize” 20 different things. It’s ludicrous and a complete waste of money.

They industry calls it a supplement business because it’s a “business” – to make money. Their marketing people create these fancy advertisements with sponsored bodybuilders models who’s job is to be the poster-boy for said supplement. It’s a business, an in fact, “U.S. consumers spent approximately $3.8 billion on weight-loss supplements in 2008, while the sexual health dietary supplement market grew 8% to $476 million in 2007″ Nutrition Business Journal.

Who am I to say that you shouldn’t take supplement X, Y, and Z. I myself use supplements, but I use them wisely. I have a simple little exercise for you. If you can’t count the number of supplements your taking on one hand, then you’re probably not eating as well as you should be.

Mo' Supplements = Mo' Problems

I think Biggie Smalls, Notorious BIG said it best when he said “Mo Money equals Mo Problems” It’s very much the same with the supplement intake. You don’t need to be taking everything under the sun. Instead, you should be spending that money on quality nutritious foods.

I am not a doctor so do not take my medical or nutritional advice as anything other than my own opinion. But in my personal belief, if you feel ABSOLUTELY that you must have supplements in your regiment, and nutritious foods cannot cover the basis, then I have some recommendations for you. However, you should only really have to have the following things.

1. A good protein powder
2. A multi-vitamin
3. a good creatine source