moment. The goal in the off-season is to gain as much muscle mass as pos- sible, while attempting to add on as little fat as possible. During pre-con- test, gears are switched so that the goal becomes: lose a maximum amount of body fat, while retaining as much muscle as possible. In Dave’s last column he stated: “Remember, carbs spare the protein and fats you consume so that they may be used for building and repairing muscle.If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates, some of the fats and protein will, invariably, get used for fuel.”
OK, in the off-season Dave recom- mends the use of dietary carbohy- drates, because he knows they help to build muscle size, right? So, when dieting for a contest, wouldn’t it make sense to simply cut back on overall calories (so you are burning more than you ingest), but still keep some carbs in the diet to help maintain muscle mass? Is it necessary to cut carbs completely, when they obvious- ly play a role in the building and/or maintenance of lean tissue? Doesn’t it stand to reason that cutting them out completely would influence a loss in musclewhile one is cutting body fat? Yes, keto diets do work at burning fat, but the question is, “Are they optimal for a dieting bodybuilder, whose goal is not only to get shredded, but also to retain the greatest amount of their hard-earned muscle mass as
possible?” Would keeping a small amount of properly-timed carbs in the diet prevent you from burning fat? Absolutely not! Will they help you to retain muscle? Yes they will! Will one single cheat meal of carbs (as the Anabolic Freak recommends) out of the 42-56 you consume per week take care of the negatives associated with long-term ketosis? Doubtful.
Another thing that bugs me is that every top trainer in the industry will tell you that there are no absolutes in bodybuilding. While each of us has a basic philosophy that we believe in and work with, we also understand that every person is unique, and thus needs a slight variation of our basic plan based upon gender, lifestyle, metabolism, genetics, body type, etc., as well as whether the athlete is nat- uralor enhanced— sorry, this does make a difference!! As far as I know,
Dave recommends a keto fat-loss approach to everyone, whether male, female, drug-free, enhanced, ecto- morph, endomorph, mesomorph, dwarf, giant, Democrat, Republican or alien! OK, I am making fun, but you get the point. Each person must be dealt with on an individual level and in my experience no two people react exactly aliketo the same diet.
But hey, I don’t blame Dave for relentlessly proclaiming his keto diet as the Holy Grail of fat loss! This is what he has become known for, just as Mentzer was known for his heavy duty training, which he shoved down our throats at every opportunity, despite the millions of trainees who have gotten huge while working out 4-5 times per week at 1-2 hours at a clip! Perhaps Mike truly believed his system was superior, or maybe he
knew that selling something different could make him seem like he knew something the rest of us didn’t. Regardless, arguing with Dave today would prove just as successful as arguing with Mike… and Dave is still above ground.
Let me conclude this whole thing with one final point: before making a judgment in any facet of body- building, make sure you give every- thinga fair try. In other words, be your own scientist and experiment on yourself to discover what works best for you— even if under the guidance of a good coach. Always remember, what you have done in the past might have ‘worked,’ but it may not be OPTIMAL— which is what we must always be in search of if we are to reach our full poten- tial. Godspeed, my friends! ■
There are a few things in bodybuilding that are just accepted as fact; they are beyond reproach or question. We all KNOW that to optimize mass gains, it is crucial to consume ade- quate amounts of high-qual- ity protein. We all KNOW that the best way to con- sume high protein intakes is to spread them out into small frequent meals, to keep amino acid levels ele- vated constantly, in order to constant- ly keep ourselves in a state of anabol - ism. We know that eight meals per day is the best way to go! We are ALL WRONG!
How often protein should be consumed is just as impor- tant as how much should be consumed at each meal, as the summation of the anabolic response to the meal is not only how high the response peaks, but how long the response lasts. In other words, when a high-protein meal induces an increase in protein synthesis, how long does that response last and when can you stim- ulate it again? This will determine optimal meal frequency to maximize anabolism.
Our lab has demonstrated that the anabolic response to a complete meal By Layne Norton
www.musculardevelopment.com April 2009
326
MDcontaining protein, carbohydrates and fats peaks at 90 minutes and returns to baseline by 3 hours.1So
that makes it easy, right? We should just eat every 3 hours. Well, before you go running off with this informa- tion, read the rest of what I have to say. What is REALLY interesting about our findings is that while pro- tein synthesis had returned to base- line after 3 hours, plasma amino acid levels were still elevated above base- line and plasma leucine (the amino acid responsible for increasing pro- tein synthesis) was elevated almost 3x above baseline!
Accordingly, the activation of the mTOR pathway (mTOR activation initiates protein synthesis) was still maximized at 3 hours, whereas pro- tein synthesis had returned to base- line. Thus, increases in plasma leucine were able to trigger mTOR signaling and protein synthesis, but sustained elevations of plasma leucine and mTOR signaling were not sufficient to maintain elevated protein synthesis. This suggests a ‘refractory’ response of protein syn- thesis to prolonged elevations in plasma amino acids. Bohe et al. also demonstrated the refractory response to constant ele- vations in amino acids dur- ing a 6-hour infusion of essential amino acids.2The
infusion produced con- stant elevations in plasma EAAs; however, protein synthesis lasted only 2 hours and could not be fur- ther stimulated during the 6-hour period.
It is unlikely that eat- ing another meal 2-3 hours after the first meal would be sufficient to increase protein synthesis again, since amino acid levels are already elevat- ed. Therefore, in order to avoid refractoriness and maximize anabolism, it may be best to consume larger doses of protein to maximize protein synthe- sis, while allowing enough time (4-6 hours) for amino acid levels to
fall between meals, in order to resensitize the system.
Now I’ve probably shocked you so much that you spit your protein shake out all over your magazine and now you are cursing me for 1) ruining your new issue of MD, and 2) telling you the bodybuilding meal-eating protocol you’ve been following for so long may not be optimal for making gains! You worked so hard for so long, to ensure that you were always getting a con- stant level of amino acids in and now you’re being told that this refractory jerk is saying all your efforts are for naught! Well, I apologize for ruining your magazine, but I won’t apologize for busting on musclehead dogma— that is just what I do.
One possible mechanism to explain refractoriness (it really is a word, I checked), is that there is a membrane-bound protein stat, either extracellular or intracellular, which is sensitive to relative CHANGES in amino acid concentrations, rather than absolute concentrations. In this case, producing constant elevations in plasma amino acids would produce a refractory response, as an unchanging elevation in amino acids would not be sufficient to activate the protein. One
possible way to overcome this would be to consume a sizable dose of free- form amino acids in between meals to produce a rapid supraphysiological increase in plasma amino acids, which would also quickly decrease, to re- sensitize the system.
Another possible explanation for refractoriness may involve insulin. The time course of plasma insulin in our study seemed to track protein synthesis.1Bohe et al. also showed a
similar pattern during their infusion study.2While increasing insulin is not
required to initiate protein synthesis, it does maximize the anabolic response to amino acids.3,4Perhaps
elevations in plasma insulin are required to MAINTAIN protein syn- thesis after a meal. If this is true, it is likely that the mechanism is indepen- dent of insulin’s effects on the mTOR pathway, as our lab demonstrated that the refractory response can occur even when mTOR signaling remains elevated.1While insulin is not
required to initiate protein synthesis, it is known to stimulate peptide elon- gation (the elongation of a growing protein as it is synthesized) in skele- tal muscle.5If declining plasma
insulin concentrations reduce peptide elongation, it could possi- bly ‘short-circuit’ protein synthesis and explain refractoriness.
Consistent with both of these theories, Paddon- Jones et al. fed three high- protein meals, spaced 5 hours apart, with or with- out a 15-gram essential amino acid/30-gram carbo- hydrate supplement in between each meal and measured the anabolic response to each treat- ment.6They found that
over the course of the day, the group that consumed the supplement had a greater anabolic response than the group that did not receive the supple- ment. Perhaps consump- tion of the free-form amino acid supplement along with carbohydrate was sufficient to overcome the
NO JUICE
BODYBUILDING
www.musculardevelopment.com April 2009