I'm carb cycling and I read some interesting articles on how you can cycle your days. I saw two different weekly cycles that caught my eye. one was:

Monday = No Carb
Tuesday = Low Carb
Wednesday = High Carb
Thursday = No Carb
Friday = Low carb
Saturday = High Carb+
Sunday = Low Carb

And the other was:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday -- no carb days
Tuesday and Saturday -- high carb days
Thursday and Sunday -- low carb days

Which one would you all recommend?:confused:

None personally.

Carbs are very key, for me anyhow, post-cardio a.m. daily and also as part of my pwo nutrition after intense weight training (when done, usually 5-6 days per week) I can't have a no or low carb day if I weight train that day, because that would totally work against the goals of weight training and recovery. Eating no carbs after an intense weight training session because it's a day of the "cycle" that calls for no carbs, would totally work against the goals of my efforts in the gym and would be pointless.

I'm much more of a "timed carb" person, not cycling them with no regard to the activity/activities being done that particular day. I personally believe it's better to eat certain macros/combos/etc., depending upon what is being done that day in regards to exercise whether it be cardio or weight training or both.

~SC~

Like Swolecat, I always include PWO carbs but i also cycle. Since I started doing this, my muscles are growing better (even while in caloric deficit) and I'm staying leaner in general.

It depends on what you say is "low carb". Some folks would call anything below 100g daily as low. But I know I can grow quite well on as little as 50g daily and usual;ly keep carbs between 50-200 daily, not includfing carbs from green/fibrous veg. This is, in part - I feel, due to a significant increase to the aminos I ingest around the workout, even cardio.

I follow something similar to Tim Wescott's advice (http://www.mindandmuscle.net/mindandmuscle/magpage.php?artID=101). And as I do total body, it's possible that my highest carb day might be either an off day or lifting day. But it's working well.

Lots of ways to do it. Here is yet another:

MON: LOW
TUE: LOW
WED: HIGH
THU: LOW
FRI: LOW
SAT: HIGH
SUN: LOW
MON: LOW
TUE: HIGH
Etc...

(Refeed every 3 days.)

Or, similar to above, but possibly easier to schedule, just refeed twice per week, perhaps on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

What are you doing currently?

Personally I think carb cycling can be good or it can be bad. It depends on your training. If you train alot and do high volume weighttraining and cardio almost every day it´s not good at all, IMO.

If you do HIT style weighttraining and almost no cardio I think carbcycling can be a smart way to help fatloss.

Anyway, high and low carb days must depend on what you do that day and support your training. Training and diet is and always must be related and linked.

Anyway, high and low carb days must depend on what you do that day and support your training. Training and diet is and always must be related and linked.
That's not always true.

That's not always true.

That's what I was getting at. It doesn't seem to matter whether I'm getting 50 or 250g carbs on a lifting day... my lifts fall on happenstance days as far as carb intake and works well.

That's what I was getting at. It doesn't seem to matter whether I'm getting 50 or 250g carbs on a lifting day... my lifts fall on happenstance days as far as carb intake and works well.

It hurts your bodys/muscles ability to recover. If this is a problem or not depends on your training.

Sometimes I train alot. Perhaps weighttraining 4 days/week for 1 1/2 hour 40 sec rest between sets and 1-1.15 min rest between exercises. And cardio 4 days week 1 hour at 85-90% MHR. Typically there will be one rest-day. And this means 2 days with both this type of cardio and weighttraining.
I eat somewhat less carbs on the rest-day. But If I tried to eat few carbs on days when I´m traning it would destroy me. I need to be loaded with carbs when doing this type of cardio and also when doing the weighttraining if it´s part of a this type of training plan.

Ok, this is something I do for maybe 4-5 weeks to overload. And after this follows a rest-week and a new lower volume training plan after that.

My point is. When training like this it´s very important to eat to support the training. However, I guess, it´s probably always better. Even if you dont recognize any serious problems or any problems at all. It´s not easy to recognize if your muscles are growing 10% slower than they could. Or if you lose 5% more muscle than you have to when cutting...

But RM... I don't think that's true... we have, over the last 10-20 years overemphasized day-of nutrition, especially the need for pwo carbs. It is VERY important but I think what's more important is nutrition over a much larger window.

Many who follow traditional thinking might calculate the average guy needs 100g simple carbs immediately pwo plus additional carbs within the next 90 minutes. If he lifts 5 days a week, he might easily be getting 1000-1500g carbs weekly.

That was the prescription for me based on conventional wisdom.

Since honing my diet around consumption of EAA's and BCAA's, I've been able to 1) significantly reduce carb intake and 2) significantly increase muscle growth, even during a many-months-long caloric deficit.

I've carefully experimented with exact macros on lifting days, and with letting very based on the carb cycle. During these times I've experimented with 5 day bodypart splits (think 5 set, 20 rep legs, etc) and with 3-4 day total body (2 hours daily). Both were very intense.

Growth has been equal despite the workout/PWO regimine SINCE BCAA consumption was ramped up.

I think we'll find, over time, that pwo carb consumption is not as important (though still important) as once thought.

The problem is that you cant do cardio at 85%+ MHR unless you have enough carbs. Typically you want to train like this if you want to get faster and become a better runner/cyclist/whatever cardio you prefer. This is traning close to LT and perhaps you want to maintain this speed and intensity for one hour. In that situation your body can(almost) only use carbs as fuel. If there are no more carbs available for your body after perhaps 40 min you will have to slow down and it´s "game over" if your goal was to train at 85% MHR for one hour. This is very different compared to low intensity cardio at 60% MHR...or compared to HIIT. Very different energy systems..

I dont think carbs are that important if you only lift weights. Still important of course. But you can probably get good progress anyway.

Typically if I train like in my exampel I try to become better at lifting weights and also better at the type of cardio I do. I have 2 goals...one in the gym and one when I do the cardio and try to get faster/better.
Then, of course, the diet must support both goals. If the diet is good I should lose no muscle when doing the cardio. And some muscle growth should also be possible.
I prefer to train like this because I think it´s very boring to do cardio just to lose fat. I want a goal and to become faster..Makes things much more interesting.:tu:

Certainly... I'd agree if we are talking high-endurance. For example, I used to cycle centuries and occasionally sprints.

Absolutely you need fuel for that. But then, PWO carb supplementation isn't an issue as much as is carb loading before hand.

Well I currently do Mon Tues Wed Low carb and Thurs Fri Sat High Carb, and Sun Moderate carbs. Some people said you shouldn't do consecutive high carbs days. It;s really hard for me to try to find a good carb cycling schedule because I weight train 4 days a week mon/thurs lower body and tues/friday upper body. I do hiit cardio for 20 min in the morning on tues/wed and fri/ sat. I'm currently doing a two a day workout. In the pm I finish up the other half of my weight training and then I do 30 min of Elliptical on tues thurs and fri. Monday and wed I do a cardio class at my gym. Can you guys help me change my weight trianing days around so I can carb cycle a little better?:)

Try cycling carbs regardless of lifting days. I stand by what I said. It probably won't matter.

The other thing: try keeping your carbs to breakfats and also around the workout.

For example, if you are having 150g carbs, have about 50g breakfast, 50g pwo and other 50g about an hour later.

The other thing: try keeping your carbs to breakfats and also around the workout.


Exactly. Carb timing is better than carb cycling, IMO. (Although I hate pro/fat meals...)

Exactly. Carb timing is better than carb cycling, IMO. (Although I hate pro/fat meals...)

To the O.P.
Those other meals can be many things:

pro/fat
pro only
protein and fibrous carbs (I've been eating chicken with collard/mustard/turnip greens a lot, for example)
fat only :D