James Wilson
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Rest. Not only does your body need the recovery time, but I feel it is just common courtesy to not bring your sickness public for others to catch.
BMR is a best guess. I’ve come to find that all metabolic testing systems are not without their margin of error. They use algorithms for height, weight, gender, activity, heart rate, etc… to factor in what you may burn. They do not account for hormones/thyroid or adaptions.
Competitors and dieters in general have adaptions. You add cardio, the body adapts and you are no longer burning as many extra calories because of the adaption. You lower your nutrition, you lose initially, but then the body adapts for survival purposes.
If you are extremely low calories and doing a lot of cardio and not competition shredded, then it is very safe to say you’ve suppressed your metabolism and that a reverse diet with a muscle gain type training system would be ideally suited.
I was talking with my friend, Amanda Latona-Kuclo during the Olympia this last year and she was telling me it has taken her 10 months of reversing and heavy-heavy training before her body started to respond appropriately again. She missed this past year of competitions because she needed to take that time off and restore her metabolism because her body was no longer responding.
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to cycle your training. You can only diet for so long and then your body will resist you, you have to taper cardio back and aim to increase total calories (slowly over time for adaption purposes or you’ll gain fat) and couple that with heavy resistance training.
It’s been my experience that if you do this right, you can get your calories up to your body weight x 15 and stay within 2-3 pounds of your current weight. You just have to be militant with your nutrition and the system of slowly increasing macros (mostly from carbs) over time.
Correlation isn’t causation. Just because all sorts of competitors do fasted cardio, doesn’t mean it is optimal.
I subscribe to this because I’m a geek, but here is the actual scientific study- http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/2011/02000/Does_Cardio_After_an_Overnight_Fast_Maximize_Fat.3.aspx
Essentially the Strength and Conditioning Journal (Feb/March)Volume 33 number 1 has show this style of cardio (fasted) to be the wrong way to go about burning extra fat stores along with the other thing most want to maintain their muscle by doing this as well and this practice has shown again to further breakdown the lean muscle in your body.
Overtime, fat burning is not an immediate process, it is one that occurs over the course of days not hours, so as you burn more carbohydrate during your workout, the body will burn more fat post exercise.The study has also showed that having food(carbohydrate) precardio has been shown to not slow down lipolysis in the individual and in the fasted state even going after the breakdown of more fat, the body will take those excess fats that aren’t oxidized and become re-esterfied(be stored back to fat). Also with the consumption of food before training increases the thermic effect of exercise(EPOC will be the highest by having food in your body not in the fasted state), yet another good reason to eat a little something before cardio in the am. This basically means that you are burning more cals while you are standing around after the workout is over.
Another negative factor to training in the fasted state is the impact on proteolysis(breaking down proteins AKA losing muscle), nitrogen losses more than doubled in the fasted state as compared to having glycogen within the body. Another good reason to have a little bit of food when doing cardio, whenever you do it.
the last thing it goes on to say is that in the fasted state, it will cause lower energy levels, thus decreasing the fat burning process. Performance here will suffer, especially when trying to do the far superior style of training, which is HIIT, (HIIT vs LISS), more energy when doing cardio=more cals burned both during and after physical activity, thus more fat burned.
So finally, given that training with depleted glycogen levels has been shown to increase proteolysis, the strategy has potential detrimental effects for those concerned with muscle strength and Hypertrophy.
So eat little meal and use those BCAAS to help retain lean muscle and burn more fat!
My personal opinion- I would reduce or eliminate the cardio. The cardio is siphoning off the nutrients you need to increase muscle.
2- Realize that carbs are the bodies preferred energy source for activity. Don’t be afraid of carbs, just increase them slowly over time and you’ll be able to retain your lean mass.
According to the American Dietetics Association, adults shouldn’t consume less than 130 total grams of carbs per day. Doing so makes it very difficult to consume the minimum of 25 grams of fiber per day.
I would pop your macros to-
Carbs 100 grams
Protein 110 grams
Fats 45 gramsNext week-
Carbs 110 grams
Protein 110 grams
Fats 46 gramsNext week-
Carbs 120 grams
Protein 110 grams
Fats 47 grams4th week-
Carbs 130 grams
Protein 110 grams
Fats 48 gramsAt this point, just continue popping carbs. Earn your carbs and be sure to push your limits. Always be on the hunt for than next level of resistance, even if it is 5 pounds, on all exercises.
This should provide you with a pattern to help with lean muscle increase without gaining much in the fat department. If you notice unwanted fat coming on, then taper back just 1 weeks worth of macros and hold for 2-3 weeks. Let your body adapt and stabilize a bit and then continue to proceed with another increase.
I’m a huge fan of shooting for optimal progress while doing as little total cardio as possible. That way when you have an event or something to lean out for, your body will respond rapidly when you re-introduce it.
A lot of people will argue that you won’t receive heart health benefits from not doing cardio; however, If you are constantly moving, keeping rest times short and pushing heavy loads, your HR will stay around 130-135 BPM on average for resistance training sessions. I personally don’t feel that doing extra cardio is necessary unless you have a desire to have distance cardio conditioning, too.
Have you ever considered doing a drug tested league like the PNBA/INBA or NGA?
This way you can still be excited about competitions and know you are on a more level playing field.
Hey Alla,
I’m obviously not Nicole, but I can tell you from one hardgainer to the next that you’ve got to eat and you have to overload your muscle fibers to allow for the growth.
Do you happen to know your energy balance, how many calories/macro grams you are consuming per day? What is your height and current weight, if you don’t mind sharing?
Hey Lucy,
I’m not Nicole, but I do have a pretty good background with this fitness stuff. Yes, I feel you should focus on a reverse diet and restoring your metabolism. Your body has adapted to survive with needing less.
Hey Racheal,
I’m obviously not Nicole, but I do have some background with training and could offer some insight.
Genetics will dictate where fat is stored as well as where it is pulled from. Running won’t necessarily target the fat on your legs and reduce them. Nicole runs to keep the muscle size with her quads down. She uses it to atrophy her quads a touch so that they are in better balance with her hamstrings and upper body. At least, that is what I have understood from her.
Running will help with body fat loss, but be conscious of your leg muscularity. You may benefit more from HIIT, like prowler pushes/pulls or sprints at a track to help maintain leg muscularity but also help with the dropping of body fat.
Metabolism, nutrition and training consistencies will dictate how lean you will be able to get.
Hope this helps!
Hey Diana,
I’m not Nicole, obviously, but I am pretty good with nutrition. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your height and current weight?
Studies have suggested that we don’t really need more than 1 gram per pound of lean body mass for protein. We don’t need quite as much protein as you may think we need.
Hey Caroline,
I’m obviously not Nicole, but I’ve prepped competitors and also gone through the wedding fiasco. I wouldn’t encourage prepping for a show and a wedding. That would be extremely stressful and would detract from the wedding experience. I would recommend focusing on just one major thing at a time.
My wife used to compete and she ended up having to get her body fat up to 22% before her cycle returned. She’s been plagued with hormone issues since where she will be on hormone replacement for life.
I would highly encourage you to try to get your cycle back. I wouldn’t wish the struggles my wife has had to go through on anyone regarding hormones.
Hey Danielle,
I’m obviously not Nicole, but yes, diet and training can most definitely interfere with your monthly cycle especially if body fat levels are too low. Some ladies are okay at or below 15%, but that body fat percent tends to be the edge and most women will lose their cycle when they drop below that number.
Are you getting any massage therapy done?
Long story, I had some major shoulder and knee issues. I was at the point where just raising my left arm caused extreme pain.
I stumbled upon a video with a previous Olympia Champ, Jay Cutler where he was talking about tissue work and how he spends $1,000 per week. I went through about 3 therapists before I found a good sports massage therapist and she was able to heal my shoulder and knee issues. I spent a good 2 months going weekly, then another month every other week and no I try to get at least 1 massage per month, more if funds and time permit.
Sports massage has amazing benefits for healing and I would bet that if you incorporated it, you would significantly reduce your pain if not eliminate it like I did.
Wide stance pushups will hit your front deltoid, but it won’t build mass. DB shoulder presses have been shown to activate the most amount of tissue, but if you are limited because of injury, I would highly encourage avoiding anything that causes pain until you are re-habbed and focus on the movements that you can do pain free. Work around the injury.
Hey Marina,
I can’t speak for Nicole, but I would highly-highly encourage sports massage therapy. When we start to experience pains like you are describing, it is usually a sign that some tissues are out of alignment. Tight muscles will pull the ligaments and tendons and bones/joints get pulled out of the normal pathways. This is typically what causes initial pain and then if ignored, the pains get worse and damage occurs.
Massage is by far the most under utilized aspect to a healthy body. I would definitely schedule some sessions with a quality therapist and see if that doesn’t help first.
Hey Amanda,
I can’t speak for Nicole, but I may be able to provide some alternatives? There is always Jay Robb’s egg white protein powders or if you are Vegan, MRM Veggie Elite is my favorite tasting veggie protein powder.
Those are just a couple options. Hope this helps!
Hey Denise!
I can’t speak for Nicole, but maybe I can offer some help?
Are you actually experiencing shoulder pain? Your title for the thread suggested that you have joint pain, but I’m not reading anything in your OP (original post) that suggests you have any actual pain/discomfort.
As for gaining strength- I’ve found that my shoulders have responded best to volume and limited rest times. If you can limit rest times to 30-45 seconds on isolated moves like cable rear delt flies, DB or machine lateral raises, upright rows, etc… the blood will stay in the muscle cells better and you’l have a volumizing effect where the cell tissue can expand creating a greater fullness to the muscle belly.
Also, it isn’t too uncommon for me to do 5-7 sets for the isolated movements.
I would also encourage incorporating Smith machine shoulder presses and just machine shoulder presses at the ends your workouts. You’ll have a safety net built in where you can push to absolute muscle exhaustion without worrying about form as much or getting injured.
You aren’t doomed at all. Keep pushing forward, keep hunting for that next level of resistance and you’ll get there.
My wife loves Asics Gel-Kayano’s for her shoes. I am partial to Nike and I like Brooks, too. They just have to feel like a slipper and not look ridiculous for me. I’m not a shoe Guru though.
Hey Taylor,
I’m obviously not Nicole, but I do know fitness pretty well.
Do you ever foam roll or get sports massage therapy done? Massage therapy or foam rolling will break up the adhesions that are binding tissues together causing the knee pain.
Tissue work is vastly overlooked in most peoples fitness.
If tissue work from massage or foam rolling doesn’t fix the issue, then it would likely be your form on certain leg movements that is causing stress at the joint.
Hope this helps!
Hey Tania,
Everyone will respond a bit differently. I’ve seen Nicole state that she needs to do more steady state to keep her legs down. Where Erin Stern does more HIIT and zero steady state. I feel it is important to pay attention to how your body responds to both and utilize both to your advantages.
HIIT is going to retain a bit more muscle mass, which is what Erin Stern needed. Nicole states that she has to be on point or she gains easily, so doing a ton of HIIT to retain mass isn’t here prerogative, it’s bringing size down. Make sense?
Both have their benefits and their place.
Hope this helps!
Hey Mie,
I’m obviously not Nicole, but I am a board certified Nutrition Specialist. Staggering carbs is fine, but what about trying just a more moderate approach that is less up and down?
Example-
Carbs 205 grams
Protein 110 grams
Fats 60 gramsHit these ^^^ macros every day.
Then adjust and adapt your body to needing more carbs. Each week you pop carbs up just 5 grams. Leave proteins and fats roughly where they are.
This will play to a major advantage for your next show prep because your body will have adapted to needing 300+ grams carbs or so. Then you just pull in reverse for show prep. You descend like an airplane right into shows. This is what I do with the competitors I train; get their carbs up as high as possible while still staying quite lean in the off season and then the ladies step on stage at 9-10% and their low carb days were 130 grams and guys low carb days are 170-200 grams per day.
Our bodies seek homeostasis and the less we flip flop, the easier it is to figure out the direction to take for optimal progress.
Just something to consider.
Hey Erika,
I’m not Nicole, but I do have some education with nutrition that maybe I could offer some insight with?
We have essential nutrition needs from both fats and proteins. A good rule of thumb is to have fats range from your body weight x 0.3 to body weight x 0.55 for grams per day.
If you have higher carbs, then 0.3 to 0.4.
If you are moderate carbs, 0.4 to 0.45.
If low carb nutrition, body weight x 0.45 to 0.55 for fat grams per day.
Carbs and fats will be energy sources. Carbs are the bodies preferred energy source while we are active. Fats are the bodies preferred energy source while at rest.
Protein needs can vary too, depending on activity levels, dieting, etc… Studies have suggested that we don’t really need more than 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. If you have a rough idea of where your body fat is, then this is pretty easy to figure. Example, say you are 25% body fat, take your body weight x 0.75 and that is your protein gram needs for the day. If you are 30%, then multiply by 0.7. If you are like Nicole at 10%, then x 0.9 and you’ll have your protein gram needs.
Now that you’ve established fat and protein needs, the rest of your calories would come from carbs.
Hope this helps!
Hey Jennifer,
I’ve actually worked with many people that have had PCOS. A lot of general physicians will encourage a low carb diet, low calories and mostly cardio for nutrition and exercise. I’ve found that our bodies are highly adaptive and that it isn’t really the optimal thing to do.
With your nutrition, are you structured with macro specific nutrition, more just calorie counting, not counting anything just trying to eat clean?
You are craving carbs because your energy output is so much greater than what is being taken in. Our bodies are built for survival and they trigger cravings for nutrients that are deficient, which in your case is carbs. You’ll crave sugars especially because that is the fastest absorbing energy source.
When people aren’t balancing their nutrition quite right and they are eating too little based on their activity levels, these cravings can get really intense and this can often lead to a binge meal, then guilt from the binge, more deprivation and then a cycle continues. It’s better to have a bit more food, but still be in a deficit and stave off the binge cycle.
Hey Sara,
I’m not Nicole, but being 6,3″ myself, I can very much appreciate what you are going through. Us taller folk have a whole lot more gap to fill in-between joints and because our lever arms are so much longer, we have to fight physics, too when it comes to building muscle.
If you are not currently using a macro specific diet where you are hitting carb, protein and fat grams within a reasonable variance every day, I would highly encourage doing so. This will assure you the most educated way of adjusting nutrition based on what you are seeing for progress.
It is very normal to increase body fat while eating in a surplus for muscle gains. You have to be in a caloric surplus to illicit the muscle growth. The goal, obviously, is to keep fat gains as minimal as possible and that is where hitting macros will play a huge role. Hitting macros eliminates variables, much like a science experiment, so you can control the outcome much better.
The opposite holds true for leaning out; while you drop fat, a bit of muscle is going to be shed in the process. We train just as hard for a cut as a building phase so that you retain as much muscle as possible while you shed fat. Our bodies always look to shed muscle that it doesn’t feel is necessary for survival, so resistance training needs to be intense.
