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By Jimmy Smith, MS, CSCS
Author
of The Physique Formula
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There are certain awkward times
during the course of a training year that, if not handled
properly, could lead to confusion, burnout, regressive training
or just clear lack of progress. The decision making times
often include questioning when to lean out for warm weather
or a special event, how to diet properly to hold onto muscle,
when and how to switch training focus and intensity or, as
in this case, when and how to transition from getting lean
to jacked.
Any lifter will tell you that
while results aren't a linear process, few can ill afford
to waste any time getting to where they want to be. As most
of the country goes into the fall season, most lifters find
themselves looking in the mirror and asking one question.
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"How
do I go from lean to jacked?"
If you're like most people, you've
spent the summer months trying to cut up your physique so that every
abdominal muscle is etched to near perfection and you've done a
damn good job too. The hard part now becomes how you transition
yourself out of a fat shredding machine to a muscle-building machine.
This is where most people fall into a traditional thinking trap.
The majority of the information floating
around the internet today and in the magazines is by in large fat
burning, muscle retaining information. The size information is often
spoken in absolutes and assumes the reader wants to gain slabs to
muscle. The bridge between your summer "cut" to your winter
"bulk" is the most critical stage of the year and is the
base for your pyramid of size for everything that you do from now
until next spring.
The Why's
I've already mentioned how this period
is when most lifters "lose" it and end up doing a traditional
fat bulk. While their intentions are good, most people just don't
get it. Having a successful transition period makes the rest of
the year that much easier. Which end of the spectrum do you find
yourself typically on? Do you have to fight to add that extra one
or two pounds of lean size in April before you diet or are you always
going into physique depression because you just ended up getting
fat all winter?
I'd say that it's probably close to
a 50-50 split. Both of those situations are physique wreckers because
they cause the trainer to panic to make up for lost time.
The principle of this program is based
on the fact that your dieting and training efforts for the summer
have left your body extremely insulin sensitive, which creates the
most anabolic timeframe of the year for you.
The best example that I can give you
is of a bodybuilder post contest.
Not one or two days after they've
eaten whatever they've wanted to and gained ten pounds, but three
or four weeks after. Assuming that they didn't have a follow-up
show, they went right back into off-season mode and increased their
caloric consumption with the main intent being on adding size. It's
not unusual to hear that so and so added five pounds almost instantly
when they began their off-season.
This is the height of your insulin
sensitivity since everything was geared towards using fat for fuel.
The ability to utilize and store carbohydrates in the way that we
want them is on almost a drug like level. A common misconception
is that you should slowly progress your caloric consumption in the
same way that you brought it down. This will only harm us in the
long run since the incremental raise will also desensitize our bodies
to insulin and hinder our ability to store carbs. We have to examine
the hormonal aspect of insulin to see the positive benefits of such
a rapid caloric increase.
1) Increased Intensity
The first and most obvious benefit
of this increase in calories is simply glycogen storage. Our training
has shifted focus from burning maximum calories to moving heavy
weight so we'll need our muscle glycogen full to do this. The water
retention aspect of increased glycogen never hurts either since
we'll have more leverage. The common problem is the fear of carbohydrates
since most people have gone all summer with a low carb diet that
it actually finally feels livable.
Anyone is going to have the fear of
adding carbs so they just assume they can get jacked by only eating
a few. They change their workouts and start trying to push heavy
weight, but get nowhere. Now it's into mid-October, the scale hasn't
moved, you only look fuller not bigger and you're weak, but those
abs still sit pretty. I haven't met many people who can't maintain
a relatively low body fat year round by eating quality carbs, you're
just cutting off your nose to spit your face.
2) Thyroid and Lipoprotein Lipase
As typical with any caloric restriction,
T3 will slow down in order to maintain muscle size and retain body
fat and the fat storing enzyme lipoprotein lipase will increase.
While they are the enemies in the case of fat loss, they aid us
in adding some quality lean muscle during this transition phase.
They only become an issue when you attempt to consistently increase
calories like a normal bulking period instead of following a targeted
carb and calorie plan.
It is actually advantageous to rapidly
increase calories since the body will step up the metabolic and
thyroid rates to use those calories, hence acting to keep our body
fat low.
3) IGF-1, GH, SHBG,
T
Our anabolic alphabet soup is the
Geo to insulin's Nino Brown. For those not familiar with the classic
movie New Jack City, that means that those important anabolic hormones
do whatever insulin tells them to. Insulin-like growth factor I
(IGF-1) can be viewed as the baby of growth hormone (GH) and insulin.
When growth hormone levels are high,
the body insulin is low, which is great for body fat reduction but
limits muscle growth. Growth hormone has very little to no anabolic
effect on the body when insulin is low and this is due to the lack
of IGF-1 production which increases nitrogen production and protein
synthesis, as well as increase new muscle cell growth.
Insulin is also needed to reduce sex
hormone binding globulin (SHBG), which locks up testosterone, especially
"free" testosterone, when insulin is low. SHBG is often
the enemy that eliminates "free" testosterone, which actually
determines how much muscle we build. Clients often come to me with
their blood work that shows how much total testosterone they have.
It is typically low and they become depressed since everyone knows
the testosterone and ultimate body connection.
I send them back to get their free
test levels measured and then we can begin to fix the problem. It's
actually easier to fix the free test then most people think since
the common trend now is to get hormone replacement treatment. A
much less expensive and smarter alternative is a combination of
an anti-estrogen like zinc and magnesium. Estrogen promotes the
dark size of SHBG and most people are deficient in zinc. With the
proper diet modifications, these two supplements have the ability
to raise free test in a short time frame.
The Lean To Jacked Program
Day 1
Barbell Deadlift- 5x5
Standing Neutral Grip Shoulder Press 5x5 301
Rest: 60 seconds
Beginning Partial Barbell Front Squat
5x5
Yates Barbell Row 5x5
Rest: 60 seconds
Day 2 - 24 hours later
Narrow Incline Barbell Press 6 X 8/6/4/4/6/8
reps 311
Weighted Chin-up 6x 4/6/8/8/6/4 reps 301
Rest: 60 seconds
Poliquin Eccentric Swiss Ball Dumbbell
Chest Press 4x6-8 reps 401
Incline Supine Grip Dumbbell Row 4 x 8-10 reps 311
Day 3 - 48 hours later
Sumo Barbell Deadlift 4x6-8 reps
Dumbbell Steps-ups 4x 8-10 reps
Rest: 60 seconds
Heels Elevated Front Squat 4x 6-8
reps 401
Snatch Grip Barbell Stiff Leg Deadlift 4x 6-8 reps 311
Rest: 60 seconds
Day 4 - 24 hours later
Standing EZ-bar Reverse Curls 4x 6-8
reps 401
Weighted Dips 4x 6-8 reps 311
Rest: 45 seconds
EZ-bar Reverse Preacher curls 4x 8-10
reps 301
Decline Barbell Triceps Extensions 4x 8-10 reps 301
Rest: 45 seconds
Cable Cross Body Side Raise 3x 8-10
reps 311
Seated Dumbbell Side Raise 3x 12-15 reps 301
Rest: 30 seconds
Day 5 - 24 hours later
Neutral Grip Chin-up 6x4 301
Single Leg Split Squats 6x4 311
Rest: 60 seconds
Barbell Floor Press 6x4
Suitcase Dumbbell Deadlifts 6x4
Rest: 60 seconds
About
The Author
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