The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

How many calories do you eat a day?
How many grams of carbs?
When do you eat your carbs?
If you had to pick just one, pre-workout carbs or post workout carbs?
Do you feel that cutting carbs from a pre-workout meal would trash your performance?

Asking for a friend.

 

What are your goals? That’s going to make a big impact on advice you get.


I prefer to workout fasted (before first meal) or semi-fasted (between my two meals) and eat dinner right after.

But that’s because I’m a fatty boy and it works best for me. May not be the same if you’re a skinny guy trying to bulk up or different if you’re going for power lifter life vs bodybuilder vs just being functionally fit, vs chasing abs, etc. ha

 

3,000-3,500

A lot on training days. Less on off days

Absolutely pre workout carbs. And intra carbs as well.

I feel weak as shit without carbs.

 

4095 cal on training days, 545g carbs.
3695 cal on non-training days, 445g carbs.
If it was one or the other I would pick post workout for carbs to help with recovery, performance would be lower with none pre-training.
Cutting carbs pre-training wouldn’t be a decision that I’d come to before taking a lot of unmentioned things into consideration. Are overall calories very low already? You should pull carbs from meals that aren’t pre and post first. “Trashing” performance is different from seeing a decrease in performance. If performance is being trashed, something is being done wrong and whatever is going on isn’t sustainable at all.

 

Goals are to train for my ultra (I'm pure volume right now, no speed work) in July then maybe by August transition to primarily lifting for strength and mass.
I'm a recomper though, I'm not one to ever do a traditional bulk. I hate dieting and just don't want to worry about losing the fat, even if it means accepting slower progress. Plus I have no real desire to ever be big or compete in lifting. It's simply just for enjoyment and to set goals and see some improvement.

My issue is, I have many years of experience with this and playing around with diet, I just can't do carbs. Like the carbs I know most guys consume, I would just die. No way I could consume 300-500g a day. I'm pretty sure I'd go into a diabetic coma and die.

Been having GI issues for years. The last couple years I get bad upper left abdominal pain radiating to my back. Comes and goes throughout the years. Nausea, vomiting, all the fun stuff. No one has been able to tell me fully what it is despite multiple CTs. I also have had what my doctor thinks are hypoglycemic episodes where I have abdominal pain, get clammy, confused, slurred speech, and pass out. It's RIGHT after eating and will happen if I eat primarily carbs. It's only gotten that extreme a handful of times.

I'm almost 31, 5'9'' 165lbs and probably 12-14% body fat at the moment. I'm not fat. I don't have a shitty diet, and I lift and run.

I'm on my third week of keto and no pain, no issues, no problems. I even quit all my anti-anxiety meds. Magically just don't need em. I feel like a new human being. I've done keto multiple times in my life and almost always do it for 2-3 months when I'm transitioning from speed work going to pure volume training. It always goes well and I always feel my absolute best on it.

Of course my workout performance isn't always stellar on it when we talk about fast paced runs longer than about 10-12 miles. Especially trail runs with vert. So thinking about doing TDK (Targeted Keto Diet) where I eat some carbs pre-workout. And come race time I'm probably going to need carbs during my runs.

I seem to be a unicorn in where if I eat carbs it fucks me up. I do notice if I eat oats or a banana before a speed workout I perform better. So carbs are needed for performance. But as a whole the higher carb diet makes me feel like shit the rest of the time. However outside of needing to bring my A game in high intensity lifting or running, I don't really need the carbs. I've gained mass on keto just fine, like I said I just can't bring it on higher weight lifts... but if I don't compete who really gives a shit? lol.

Just trying to look at ways I can experiment going further with what obviously works for me.

I also fast too and prefer to run fasted, but not lift fasted.

We are all individuals who need to find what works for us. I just find it odd I seem to personally defy what is nutritionally recommended for the type of training I do.

 

I’m assuming since you’re into ultras you’ve heard of Zach Bitter? I believe does a Keto diet and supplements with carbs during events… Sounds like you might benefit from reading up on his diet/protocols

 

DUH! World record holder in the 100 mile, and a keto/paleo/carnivore guy depending on his training.
I think about him with this. He had to quit dairy to cure a tooth abscess antibiotics for years couldn’t fix when he ran in college.
Guy is a beast despite training with less carbs than everyone else. Also does a podcast with Shawn Baker, MD a carnivore guy. Maybe need to listen more to them.

Thanks for the reminder about him.

 

Just remember when you set a new 100 mile world record, who was the one who gave you the best advice

 

Don’t hold your breath on that situation occurring haha

 

With everyone’s goals being different and individual like you say, makes it hard to give nutritional advice over the internet for free. Quite a bit of thought and time needs to be put in to arrive at what’s best for the athlete and their goals

 

As well as just listening to your body and what it puts out.

some people eat 2,000 calories and gain weight and some eat 4,500 just to maintain.

some cram carbs all day. And some focus more on fats.

It’s actually crazy how different everybody’s body reacts.

 

Nice long trail run today

 

Bump.

 

Excuse you.

 

Fighting a shoulder injury I believe. Haven’t had a ‘pain’ last this long since I’ve started lifting.

feels like a knife going into the side of it.

 

Muscle Tension , torn rotator cup , torn long head bicep , where is the discomfort located ?

 

Like on the front outside area.

 

Any time I have a pain that persists longer than a few weeks and takes me away from a normal training load for 2 weeks I see a PT. Yeah its money but they usually get me on the right path quickly and without additional time off or sacrificing my goals. I’m willing to pay for that.

Most lifters are at risk for shoulder issues because they spend a lot of time building up the big muscles around the shoulder (rhomboids, pecs, delts) but no time developing stabilizers in the scapula and rotator cuff leading to underlying biomechanical issues.

A PT will also help you with preventive shoulder stuff too which will be valuable for you moving forward.

Had my rotator cuff repair in 2016 and still do my shoulder PT religiously.

 

Flex Friday for the boys. Down from 284 to 265 on this cut. Just over a week to go, I'm hoping to see 250s


Feeling smol...

 

@Travish325 at least your arms look big. That’s all that really matters.
Who is running your nutrition program? Terry?